Reborn: Chapter 43

The water was never-ending. So vast and smooth, it was only as I caught sight of all of the bitey beasts in its depths that I found my stomach roiling with nerves. What if there was nothing left in the realm at all? Dannie might have sunk every land mass, taking with them all the inhabitants of the realm. How, even with power warping her mind, could she think this was a balanced world? It just made no sense.

I wasn’t the only worried one, the silence tense as all the powerful beings kept watch from the various sides of Inky. Thankfully, before I could overthink and freak out further, Shadow exhaled roughly, and with a wave of his hands opened a small portal in front of us. “We don’t have the time to spare,” he muttered, even though they’d all silently agreed not to waste any energy. Apparently, when it was a choice between time and energy, Shadow was making the hard calls.

The Concordes appeared below us and thank the gods it was not underwater. At least not the parts where we were, right above the lava chasm. Shadow had brought us to Trinity, the land of his birth, and the territory closest to the mists of the chasm.

Inky slowed as it dropped down toward the castle that had been Shadow’s childhood home. It appeared to be somewhat intact, but every building that had been around it was leveled into nothing more than ash. This was the destruction Shadow had wrought when he’d lost it. Even the great forests that had surrounded and protected his family home were no more.

He’d left most of the castle, but everything else around it was dust.

I watched my mate closely, but whatever he was feeling was well-hidden behind his stoic façade. He appeared to be a calm and watchful god, preparing himself for whatever his mother might throw at us. I wished I could compartmentalize on that level, but at least I knew I’d be able to pull him free of this when we were all done. When my Shadow could return and feel all the feelings.

Inky landed, but no phoenix goddess appeared. It was eerily silent as we stepped off the mist, all of us closing in ranks, waiting for someone or something to jump out at us.

I kept my energy close at hand, my wolf restless for a change; we knew we were stepping into what would be a fairly epic final battle.

Shadow moved forward first, and it was so empty here compared to my last experience with the grounds around the castle. That day there had been a battle, with Ixana’s soldiers trying to give their leader the time she’d needed to sacrifice my creatures to power her stone and create her own Nexus. Her bullshit need for power was why we were in this position in the first place because—

It hit me then, and I gasped. Shadow was at my side in an instant, his expression fierce as he wrapped his hands around my biceps. “What’s wrong? What do you sense?”

“She’s doing exactly what Ixana was trying to do,” I murmured, finally understanding. Shadow lifted my chin so I had to meet his fire-strewn gaze. “Dannie is creating her own Nexus. One that incorporates the mists of the chasm, along with the previous Nexus, and the power of the fae stone. She wants a Nexus that she will control as the highest power.”

The moment I’d said it out loud, I felt the truth of it deep in my soul. In the place inside of me that had been born of the Nexus too. The swirls in my stomach since we’d stepped onto the land here were not just nerves over this battle… I was feeling Dannie’s power. The Nexus power.

Shadow stared as if hoping to find the lie in my words, but we both knew he wouldn’t.

“There’s no reasoning with her,” he finally bit out, warning me. “If she’s gone this far, then she’s lost to the power of the sunburst stone.”

“The stone was not designed to be contained like this,” Len said from where he stood off to the side of us. “It’s why the loss of it has been a never-ending stressor for my family. The amount of power it is capable of holding makes it a formidable weapon. It was imperative it never fall into the hands that would use it as a weapon instead of a defense.”

Angel crossed her arms, her face drawn. “Dannie’s issue is that she merged it with her own power. Whatever reasoning she possessed was lost the moment she allowed a foreign energy to morph her own. Every being in this world has a counter. It’s a balance and checks game we all have to play, but suddenly, Dannie has no checks.”

“Actually,” Lucien said with a scowl, “she does have one. Us. We’re fairly formidable together and I believe together, we have a shot at ending her reign of terror.”

“Only if the fortress of binding works,” Shadow rumbled. “We have to weaken her first. And then we take our shot.”

No one said anything more, just nodding their agreement with Shadow’s plan as we started to move again, making our way further into the grounds of the royal compound.

“She’s close,” Shadow murmured, warning us when we were closing in on the castle. “We should start forming the fortress now so that we can send it forth as soon as she comes into view. We’ll have mere seconds to take her by surprise, and in that time, she cannot break our formation.”

Everyone nodded, no one disagreeing that this attack had to be timed perfectly or she would destroy us before we even had a chance to use the fortress. And since we were her only “check,” as previously stated, it was imperative that we didn’t fall before giving it a real shot.

Another thrum of power hit me in the chest, trailing down my body. It was the strongest burst of Nexus energy I’d felt since stepping into the realm. My wolf started to whine in my chest, her unease over that power growing. From the first time we’d entered this world, my wolf had been stronger and more out of control, and now I was starting to recognize her anxiety for what it was: She was uncomfortable with the Nexus power. My shifter and Nexus sides had been forced together, and for my wolf, it was unnatural.

With this knowledge came a surge of guilt that my beautiful wolf soul was trapped inside a being who should never have been a shifter.

She whined again, and I sent comforting thoughts toward her. We didn’t really talk to each other like we had the first time we’d shifted—now it was more of an emotional exchange—but we were always connected on a deep level. I felt her. I loved her. Even as I knew that I should never have had her.

“Are your creatures okay?” Shadow asked, no doubt wondering what the current expression on my face was about.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said, waving him off. “Focus on the fortress you’re in the midst of building.” The fortress that was dangerous enough to destroy everyone.

Shadow shot me a familiar look. It was his you’re acting like an idiot expression. “Can you feel them?” he pressed.

I closed my eyes and dug deeper into the power surrounding us. “Possibly,” I finally said. “There’s a lot of energy here, and it feels like Nexus energy. So it could be Dannie or my creatures.” Or both. “Maybe she’s sacrificing them for the power too?”

“Dannie should know better,” Angel said, her voice a little ragged from trying to weave the fortress strands. “She’s the mother of creatures, and no true mother would sacrifice their children for power. Her soul is corrupted beyond repair.”

They were all preparing me, and how could I argue with the truth in front of me?

Reece’s energy swirled around me, a dusty dry wind that I sensed could turn into a force of nature if needed. “You’re not alone, Mera Callahan,” he said in his rumbly voice that reminded me of Shadow, while still being unique to the desert god. “We don’t have packs in the desert lands, but we do have dynasties. Family units. Shadow is my family, and now… so are you. We will fight with you today, and if we die, there are no regrets.”

“Dammit,” I choked out. “You’re not supposed to make me cry before we go into a life-and-death battle.”

His chuckle was strained, as it was his turn to weave a strand of power. Reece reminded me so much of Shadow, and I wondered briefly if the desert lands had their own version of a true mate bond. If so, I’d bet ten to one that if Reece found his “mate,” he’d be as possessive as Shadow.

There was a reason I called him Shadow the Second, after all.

If we survived this, maybe I’d get a chance to find out.