Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters #1) - Jaymin Eve Page 0,123

really getting himself back to the Shadow Realm, to enact revenge on those who had wronged him, some of his enthusiasm might fade.

Or… probably not.

The blind trust they all had in Shadow was astonishing.

When we were about to step through to the lair, I heard my name echo through the room, and when I turned, I gasped at Angel, who was decked out like a fucking warrior. Girl was head-to-toe in what had to be custom-made silver and red armor molded to her body, fixed around the wings, with so many blades on her person, I lost count of the handles sticking out of various places.

“What happened?” I burst out, hurrying toward her. “Did Honor Meadows break out in war?”

She didn’t say a word, just threw her arms around me, hugging me like she thought she’d never see me again. I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t care because this was one of the best hugs I’d ever had. I sank into her and held on for life, needing the emotional connection that only a female friend could give you. Dudes and sex were great and all, but if you’d never had a ride-or-die bestie, you were missing out on a connection that couldn’t be replicated.

One we needed for survival.

“You were gone,” she said when she pulled away, her voice broken even if her eyes were dry. “I searched the lands and questioned them all, but no one knew what had happened. And our damn bond… It better start maturing because I can’t handle the stress of you wandering around on your own.”

Shadow joined us then, and in an instant, the grieving friend was gone, replaced by a badass warrior. Weapons were in her hands so fast, I couldn’t track the movement, and she didn’t even hesitate to attack him. What I took from this, and appreciated the most, was that Shadow didn’t act like it was a laughable matter to have her as an opponent. He paid her the sort of attention she deserved, treating her like a worthy adversary, as the pair sparred.

Shadow procured a black and smoky blade from thin air, and I wondered briefly if it was Inky, manifested into another form. Usually, it would be close by, but I couldn’t see it anywhere else.

Angel fought with single-minded focus, attacking over and over, never relenting or giving him an inch. She was beyond spectacular, and I honestly didn’t know who I was rooting for by the end. I kind of wanted them both to win, to be honest, but since I half-loved Angel and didn’t hate Shadow today, it was probably best to break it up.

“Guys,” I started, in an attempt to interrupt their intense need to stab holes into each other. “Let’s talk about it over dinner. I’m fine.”

No answer or pause. We were starting to draw a crowd, and I didn’t need this to turn into anything more than it was. Knowing Shadow, he’d want to prove a point when he had all of his minions watching. I had to stop them before it got to that.

With a deep breath, I did the stupidest thing I could think of, but also the one sure action to stop them in their tracks. I leapt between the two of them, just as Angel spun and struck with her massive, super sharp blade. She saw me in the last instance, screaming out a “Noooo,” but it was too late to stop the strike. Hoping I wasn’t about to be sliced into two, I lifted an arm and braced myself for the pain.

Everything after that moved in slow motion, and even though my destruction was closing in, I watched the rest of it go down with an almost detached curiosity. Shadow’s roar deafened everyone in the room, sending most of them to their knees, and when the spark of his power bit into my shoulders, I was jerked out of the way just as the blade sliced by my arm.

“Enough!” Shadow bellowed, not releasing me. His voice lowered dramatically. “I kept her safe, Melalekin.” Only Angel and I could have heard those words. “You have no quarrel with me.”

Her chest heaved, eyes still filled with horror at what she’d almost done. “Next time I won’t be so lenient, Darkor,” she murmured, also very low. This was a conversation between the three of us only. “Remember that.”

Then with one soft look at me, she spun and stormed off.

My breathing was still rapid, the sense I’d been closer to death than