Remnant pursed her lips in contemplation, ignoring the other protesting shifter, “what’s your name again?”
“Tttommac General.”
“Just Remnant if you please. Well Tomac. You’ve been out here for Goddess knows how long, destroying and pissing in my woods, and torturing one of your own kind with those two sadistic bastards.” She tossed her thumb towards the dead bear shifter. “Which tells me exactly what kind of mercy you deserve.” She leaned in and whispered. “None.”
Tomac dropped to his knees awkwardly in his shadow restraints. “Plllease miss. I’ll do anything you ask of me. Please don’t kill me.” He sobbed
“Goddess, just fucking kill him bitch—he’s an embarrassment to his own kind.” His companion spat at Tomac’s prone form. “Let me go to fight. I'd rather fight for my life then beg to the likes of ya like that little cunt there.”
“You’re going to regret those words, shifter.” Her hair swayed when she sidestepped away from him, shadows pulling inwardly toward her, a small smile dancing on her plush lips.
It wasn’t until Tomac lunged for his companion with bloodlust in his eyes and a dagger in his hand did I understand her game. The mad shifter, convulsing with rage, plunged his dagger deep into the chest of his unsuspecting friend over and over again. Lost in his animal, having been pushed to the point of breaking, the bloodlust consumed him, and Remnant Dark wielded it like she wielded the shadows swirling behind her—with cold calculated precision.
The Wildwoods shuddered with delight, relishing in the blood feeding its deep roots, its silvery canopy glowing brighter around us.
Disturbed by the sudden glow like an alert predator, Tomac stood with a snarl. His eyes, just as red as the blood trailing down his face turned on the shadow fae.
“Watch snout.” I slurred with fear just as Tomac charged. “Bloodwust.”
Throwing her hand out the shadows contracted inward, opening a pit of darkness. The force of their draw thrusted me against my chains, burning my flesh anew while the canopy bowed to her great power.
Mindlessly, Tomac charged head first into the swirling blackhole with savage intensity, the shadows closing with a loud snap behind him.
Released from the drawing force, I sagged back against my tree, away from the sharp sting of the irons while the forest lurched back to its natural resting state.
A rumble rolled up from deep in my chest and bursted out of me in loud booming laughter.
Goddess, she was phenomenal and she was mine.
Bright emerald green eyes turned on me—cutting through the dark night like the stars in the sky. Amusement and a tinge of worry dancing in their reflection. I soaked up every ounce of her undivided attention.
My only life purpose for the past century was to find her, forsaking all my duties and obligations—and now here she was. An avenging remnant of the past with her terrifying shadows and deadly blade.
Chapter 3
“Thatwas—”Iwrinkledmy nose at the bloodied camp. “Disturbing.”
I flicked my sword back into the void my shadows held for me and turned towards the last remaining shifter. Surprisingly, still alive.
I didn’t envy him that—being alive. I had imagined and hoped for my own death more than once in my self exile. Except the fae were immortal…unable to die of natural causes, including taking our own lives, I was forced to live my many years with the knowledge of what I had done and what I had become.
A monster.
I glared at the slumped form of the shifter hanging in irons that seared his skin, recognizing the power that had flared around him just moments before I steppedinto this camp.
The goddess had come, after thousands of years and abandoning us with a curse that was a slow torturous extinction, she had come.
For him.
Compelled, I took a step forward. The blood on him was more than a few days old but it did nothing to mar his beauty. My stomach flipped with anticipation with every step I took, the draw to be near him heady in its pull.
Even in his fae form, I could tell he was a powerful beast of a shifter and it was no secret of my undeniable draw towards powerful beasts. From the deadly creatures of the northern night, to the sunbathing dragons of the south, I had always been drawn by their ferocity, their deadliness, and their loyal instincts to protect. A weakness that had always led me into trouble and this time would be no different.
When his gold eyes had met mine, it took every bit of my focus to ignore the compulsion he stirred within me. Let alone the hot desire that rushed into me.
At that moment, I was more alive than I had been for almost a hundred years.
It made me want to kill him.
