His mouth parted in a sigh when my touch trailed over his smooth lips and his warm breath washed over my face leaving behind the scent of chocolate and spice. I licked my lips at the hunger that pooled deep in my belly at his delicious scent and forced my hand to trace the crooked contour of his nose with my fingertips. Enjoying that oneperfectimperfection of him and wondering why this specific injury hadn’t ever healed.
His long dark lashes fluttered on his chiseled cheekbones and I reached up to sweep back the light brown hair that had fallen over his brow. Long only down the center of his head, the sides of his head were shaved short, the texture of it much softer than the coarse bristle of his beard.
His tormentors had called himthe golden onemockingly. If they only knew how true his aura was to this name they wouldn’t have dared slander it. They would have trembled in fear before him. An ascended fae, goddess touched, a leader of all, the light within the darkness.
Snapping my hand back I finally exhaled and stared at the iron chains binding him. Memories of that cold metal burning my wrists and the emptiness I felt at being disconnected from my shadows made my stomach churn with revulsion.
Shaking my head, I rubbed at my wrists. “I am free…somehow I got free.” The mystery of that day, the broken iron shackle, was something I had never solved. Clenching my teeth, I glared at the chains. “Separ.”
Black tendril shadows immediately obeyed, severing the iron chains that held the powerful shifter. A singular breeze rustled my unbound hair and blew through the Wildwoods, the silver foliage whispering excitedly at my newly sealed fate.
Irritated, I kicked the iron chains that had thudded to the ground away from him and then looked up to see over two hundred pounds of pure limp muscle falling directly towards me.
“Shit!” I cursed, unable to sidestep the bronzed glory falling on top of me, I braced for impact.
Chapter 4
Iflungoutmyarmsin panic and shrieked when the unconscious shifter laid me flat, effectively crushing me beneath him. Only a growling snore indicated he had been disturbed by the event at all.
Hissing my agitation, I spat out the hair his chocolate scented snores had blown across my face and peeked around his massive body to glare at my shadows. “I do believe you did that on purpose!”
My shadows, sentient in nature, danced excitedly around us with silent laughter. I did not need words to understand that they were highly amused. I could read them as well as they could read me…after all, they had been with me since my birth.
Unlike my other shadow fae family, who controlled dormant shadows casted by light, my powers were alive, sentient…infinite. The elemental fae seers called it a dark omen, the shadow fae called it a blessing. Neither really knew where or how they came into being or why they chose me in particular. Even my own mother, who was a powerful ancient with the gift of foresight didn’t quite understand why I gained such a power although she considered them a loving blessing all the same.
“A mothers greatest wish,”she would say,“is to make sure their children would always be safe even when they were no longer able to protect them.”
Then she would laugh and joke that perhaps the shadows were really a blessing for her rather than one for me.
Closing my eyes, I shut down the well of grief that threatened to overflow and focused on my current problem.
Pushing at the shifter's heavy form, I attempted to disentangle myself from his massive body but my movement only caused him to nuzzle closer, straight into my cleavage. The prickling stubble of his beard on my vulnerable skin sent my heart racing.
“Help.” I gasped, frantically shoving at the shifter and wriggling my body away from his touch.
My shadows, sensing my panic, threw the shifter across the forest floor.
Gasping, I rolled to my hands and knees. Gulping air through my panic.
“Sorry. Sorry.” I choked, controlling the trembling within me.
In what seemed like hours but was mere minutes, I was finally able to breathe and sat back on my heels to gaze up at the night sky. The coolness of the shadows embracing me calmed the tension in my shoulders.
Looking at them, I gave them a wry sad smile. “Not your fault, my loves.”
A few moments passed before I chanced looking over my shoulder at the large fae male snoring contentedly in the dirt. I groaned, rubbing a hand down my face. How was it that his back was just as sexy as his front and that even in my panic, I still felt desire for him?
With a shaky sigh, I rose and waved dismissively at my shadows. “Just for that you are carrying him.” Kicking over one of the shifters bags, I sniffed with disgust at the contents. Black lace underwear—disgustingly stiff from the goddess only knew what, molted dried provisions, and an odd string of…goddess were those teeth?
My eyes traveled over to the last dead shifter, shredded to bits by his own companion, still bleeding all over the forest floor. “ForGoddess sake clean that up! Damn bloodlust ruined a perfectly good kill.”
Bloodlust. A shifter's curse as well as his greatest strength. When pushed past their emotional breaking point, a shifter's power was amplified. It was said to be the sole reason why the old shifter king had fallen—so driven by it from the loss of his soulmate, his own son had to put him down to take over the throne. A shame. He was a worthy foe during those times and I regretted never meeting him in battle.
My lips pulled back over my teeth when my gaze fell on the blazing fire. Fire in these woods drew unwanted attention—attention I could already feel was moving towards us. I had managed to live in these woods for over one hundred years without detection…many of the beasts here were my friends but that didn’t mean I trusted anything in the Wildwoods. They were called wild for a reason.
Summoning nearby dormant shadows, I doused the fire in a blanket of black, and allowed the moonlight to fill the small clearing. Inhaling deeply, I tilted my face up to the glow of the three moons of Faerie and basked in the peace their presence brought me. I would need it for whatever was to come next.
Cool wind blew playfully at my loose hair, whispering its secrets—a friend not foe was nearby. Then the subtle creak and groan of a werewood tree echoed in the clearing and I smiled.
