Wherever my soulmate was she at least had control of the shadows to battle against this cluster fuck. Racing and weaving, I easily dodged the large clumsy beasts, their smell assaulting my amplified predator senses drowning me in the stench of shit, blood, and the distinct smell of sex that had my stomach fucking roiling. My claws ripped through the ashes and carnage, seeing every move before they made it, my shifter side hitting me stronger than it ever had and it was...fucking glorious.
This—this was what it was like to be atrueshifter. No other beast controlled me, I was no longer a passenger in another's body.
I was just me.
My panther’s smell was mine, my vision was mine, my fucking choices were mine, and I chuckled inwardly at the euphoria that burned through every fiber of my being, finally at peace with my shifter side.
And although running through a blood soaked battlefield with bloodthirsty monsters, and my young club plastered to my back would send most into a goddess damn panic, my focus only sharpened more.
But as much as I was enjoying this newfound freedom in my beast, I still needed to get the Sheol out of here with my family intact, which meant the hunt for my soulmate would begin—my favorite kind of hunt.
I grinned. Remnant could and would never be lost to me. One way or another I would always find her…always come for her. It didn’t matter if it was in this realm, in another world, or in death. My soul was hers and it would always call to me.
Roaring, I leapt sideways, claws outstretched to rip through a charging beast. Riella’s hands dug deeper into me as we slid along the blood soaked grasses, my muscles coiling to launch us outward before crashing into another bumbling sex crazed beast.
Cut, weave, slash, lunge, then inhale…my soulmate’s scent was like a guiding beacon in a stormy frenzied sea. Instinct had me racing toward her with a mad focus, protecting my daughter along the way, tearing through beasts with my teeth and claws.
Soon it wasn’t just the grass that was soaked in blood and I licked at it hungrily feeling an even larger desire to kill that was beyond just my own panther senses. The pull to tear down and rip out every throat that surrounded me was immense and instead of dodging the next beast I met it head on, my teeth ripping into its throat before the monster hit the ground.
Throwing my head back I roared my triumph, immediately seeking my next prey, I needed more.
A small whimper at my back stalled my prowl.
Riella.
I blinked seeing the chaos in slow motion, a bloodbath of creatures, and I was no different than them in my thirst for more. What was fucking wrong with me? Where had that hunger come from? It felt like Ethereal’s rage when he lost control but much much worse. The need to simply devour without any intent sent a foreboding chill down my spine.
As if I didn’t already have enough to goddess damn worry about.
Fuck me.
Shaking my head, the world snapped back into place at an accelerated rate and I quickly dodged fire that razed down the beasts, forcing the others to combine to either fight or rut each other.
My eyes widened. The fire was controlling them, corralling them together! Like the herding of sheep which meant one thing—another predator was masterminding this furor.
Sharpening my gaze, my head immediately snapped upwards towards an unknown horizon of red skies, sensing a power akin to mine, where a regimented army of winged lifeforms watched serenely from above.
“Faedere!” My daughter’s scream reignited my instincts and we barely avoided sharp horns and hooved feet ready to trample us into fertilizer.
“Apologies my cub!”I sent through our bond. I was still unsure if she could hear me but I did not waste time wondering before I set off again, the floral scent of my soulmate overpowering the putrid stench around us.
Lilies after a fresh night rain. The vision and smell I fell asleep to every night for the past one hundred years.
“There you are, little umbra,”I growled to her from across the field.
“Hunting me shifter?”she snarked back, feeling the same euphoric adrenaline along our bond just as I experienced in battle.
I grinned, as if I couldn’t fall in love with her even more. My vision of her finally connecting with her scent.
The blue in her hair glinted in the firelight, her shadows swirling and lashing out around her in a deadly choreographed dance. Her clever emerald eyes flashed mockingly at her foe, a grim smile pulling across her kissable lips while she wielded darkness like an extension of her own body.
The distance was still too great for her to see us, but I could see her well enough. I saw Remnant Ezra Solaire Dark in ways no one else ever could, in more ways than even she could and there was no fucking way I was leaving this goddess damned place without her.
Chapter 27
Icouldsensemysoulmatedrawing near and felt a sense of relief despite the chaos of beasts, blood, and fire separating us—I was going to kill Shea.
Raising the shadows around me, I fell into the familiar dance I had been trained to do my entire life. Adrenaline pumping through my body as I faced the most grotesque creatures I had ever seen, a grim smile on my face. Using shadow like a blade, I cut down the monsters with ease. They were simple minded creatures acting purely on instinct, too large to move quickly, too stupid to recognize my shadows as a threat.
