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Have you sold your soul to the Shadow Bastard yet? What are you waiting for?
If this was what rising from the ashes meant for a phoenix, then I was embracing it to the fullest degree. This power… it was mine, and I would destroy any who stood in my way.
“Listen to me,” he rumbled, and there was so much command in his voice, I had no choice but to obey. “You’re the least useless being I’ve ever met. The way you adapted to the Solaris System, making friends, helping and learning, is nothing short of admirable. You went to the top of my never to be underestimated list, and I promise, that’s a small list.”
Shadow’s little Sunshine
“You’re the only one with a shot at getting these creatures out of here before Earth becomes their hunting ground,” Reece bit back. “You can handle me holding her for ten fucking minutes.”
Reece’s laughter. “Give up, Mera,” the desert deity said,
“Shadow cannot be bested when he sets his mind to a task. Let him take care of you.”
“Sunshine, just… I need to do this, okay?”
Angel was the sort of friend every woman deserved.
I’d finally opened the door that had been barred for nearly two thousand years. The door to Shadow’s destiny.
Shadow Realm: Built on the ancient mists of yin and yang energy. The royals are the supreme rulers, keeping under their control the creatures, except those that roam in The Grey Lands.
we reached six broad shoulders. The kings of the Solaris System had formed a semi-circle around the door, blocking it completely from view. Shadow and his merry band of assholes.
“How did you manage what the rest of us couldn’t in thousands of years?” I shrugged. “I got pissed off?” Vast, epically vast, understatement. “Never fuck with a woman scorned, and all that jazz.”
“You smell delicious, Sunshine.” He could scent my arousal;
“I need to know what you are, Sunshine,” he said softly, and it almost sounded like a threat. “You’re not going anywhere until the mystery is unraveled. The fact that you broke a near two-thousand-year-old spell on a door when no one else could, tells me it’s in my best interest to unravel your mystery.”
You’re still mine. For now.”
I got a glimpse of the true heart of Angel. And it was so fucking pure.
it was starting to turn into an epic sort of joke how all of these powerful things just bonded to me, or kidnapped me, or rejected me without asking for my damn permission.
Inky swelled, growing super large until it was a wall behind Shadow. Midnight apparently didn’t like that, bursting to life in a purple haze of whatthefuckery. “It’s dick measuring time,” I said, somewhat amused. My eyes met Shadow’s. “You gonna whip yours out too? You might be the underdog here, but I’d still put some money on you.” His lips twitched. “Anyone ever tell you your smartass mouth is going to get you killed?” Another snort of laughter. “Old news, my friend. Very old news.”
Focusing on the plump, perfect planes of his lips, I wondered how, for the love of shifters, I was lusting over the devil?
“What is coming?” His face gave away no secrets. “I have no idea, but one thing is clear: Nothing will be the same now that you’ve embraced your destiny. We’re about to find out the true shine of your light, Sunshine.” His smile was mocking. “Let the games begin.”
Midnight pressed into me, and I felt its confusion. You like him? “Yes.”
Well, fate was a nasty bitch. And the sun was often the brightest right before a storm. Luckily, I was well-equipped with both a raincoat and knee-high galoshes to handle whatever wild weather was thrown my way.
Midnight swelled and jiggled, and I heard the disembodied laugh in my head. My knowledge is yours. That one line might have been better than an orgasm.
I was slowly chipping away at him, and fuck, if that didn’t give me a sense of accomplishment I hadn’t felt before.
“Sunshine is about the least respectful being from any of the worlds I’ve ever met,”
“Seriously? You want to talk about the fact that since my change I can’t keep my nails down, those bastards growing like weeds? Or should we discuss the beyond-this-world gorgeous, sexy, sexy god who was eye-fucking you the entire time he stood in the room?”
He’s the perfect being to give your body to because girrllll, we know he has some skills. Did you see the size of his hands?”
he slowly turned to Shadow. “Your woman is scary, brother. She’s going to laugh out loud as she stabs me.”
Fuck, did my vagina just flutter? Like, I should not have been turned on by this display of aggression and arrogance, but I was.
There was no way he should have been able to hear me over the noise of his fire—it
but somehow, he did. He heard me.
“What are you?” Shadow rumbled. “That you make me feel…”
“Shadowshine is exactly how I see us,” he rumbled. “One too dark, the other too light, and nothing but destructive storms between us.”
Angel shot me a knowing smile. “I’ve never seen anyone rile Shadow like you do. Or, to be more accurate, it’s not the riling that’s odd, it’s the way he doesn’t kill you when it happens. If I know anything about the beast, it’s that he doesn’t like to come undone. He doesn’t want to be out of control.”
“Did you know that the royals of Shadow Realm have true mates?”
“Sometimes they are betrothed at birth, and sometimes it happens when they find the perfect match and perform the ceremony. Before they find this one, they will be open sexually, but they never…” She swallowed roughly. “And I can’t reiterate the never enough. They never kiss someone who is not their mate.”
“There’s an intimacy in kissing that not even sex can replicate. In the moment of a kiss, you share energy, power, the essence of you. You share a part of your soul, and in the realm, they reserve that for their true mates.”
“Your mouth says one thing, Sunshine,” he told me softly, “but your scent says another. Not to mention your eyes.”
It was time for me to step up the plan I’d made with Angel long ago to lose my virginity to him.
Was it weird that I had the random wish someone would get this guy a pair of grey sweatpants? I needed that experience. Like, bucket list needed.
“You find such joy in the most basic of life’s activities,” he said, his movements barely even rippling the water. “And after hundreds of jaded years, I find myself strangely desperate to feel what you do.”
“That was not planned.” “Nothing with you ever is,”
Apparently, being hungry and sexually frustrated made me cranky. It was a flaw… Whatever.
“Mera, Sunshine. This is a bad idea. I’m not good for you, and I make no fucking promises. Ever.”
“I’m not sure I can control my energy with you, Sunshine.”
“Sunshine, I’m going to destroy you before I put you back together. But I don’t have the time right now for everything I intend to do, so you’re going to have to stop tempting me and let me get on with the rest of my mission.”
holding on as tightly as you could did nothing if the other person was doing everything they could to shove you away.
This strange protectiveness I had for the creatures was growing with time. And now that I was here, seeing the beings of Shadow’s world, I could no longer ignore the urge to wrap them all up and keep them safe from those who would hurt them.
He made me feel safe. Safe and uneasy at the same time, the dual nature of my emotions toward him intense. It was ironic that the beast who had starred in my nightmares for so long was now the one to bring me safety and peace. Life was funny like that.
