Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters #1) - Jaymin Eve Page 0,127

you every single day, worried about you, and cried because I wasn’t sure I’d see you again, but not even for you will I stay in Torma with this pack.”

Simone’s face was fierce. “I would never expect that. I’m more than willing to leave here forever. Even my parents… They refused to do anything to help me find you. Not one thing!”

I reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly. “You’re the best friend I could have ever hoped for. You’ve stuck by me through so much bullshit that honestly, I can never repay you. But this journey I’m on now….” I sighed. “It’s dangerous and I don’t want you to regret the decision to come with me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Simone straightened, gesturing to the near-perfect braid in her hair. “If I can learn to braid my hair, I can do any freaking thing. I’ve shifted twice now. I’m vibing well with my wolf. You don’t have to worry about me.”

She didn’t understand. She would never be able to understand unless she experienced the world as I had in the past year. Shadow’s life was not for the faint of heart, and as much as she was full of fire and bravado, my friend had been more sheltered than me. She’d been babied by her parents, no matter how much she was hating on them right now.

I couldn’t steal her away, even if that was what she thought she wanted today.

“I love you,” I said. “And right now, I have no choice but to stay because I don’t know how to open the doorway to the library, but when I figure it out, I’ll be gone. I’m helping Shadow with something fairly important, and he can’t do it without me.”

She blinked at me. “Shadow?”

Fuck. How did I explain this to her?

“Shadow Beast,” I started, “is not exactly as the tales say. He’s definitely scary and powerful. He’s alpha, more than a little possessive, and multiple times over the past year, I’ve dreamed of stabbing him in the chest. But there’s also something… more about him. A deeper destiny that I didn’t expect. He’s surprisingly noble and good—when you’re not pissing him off.”

Her mouth was ajar, her eyes as wide as saucers as she silently stared at me. “You’re in love with the Shadow Beast?” she finally choked out. “The demon of our nightmares? The god who created shifters?” Leaning over, she placed a hand on my forehead to check for a temperature.

With a chuckle, I gently waved her off. “I’m not in love with him. That would be the height of fucking stupid. But I do need to finish this task.”

She screwed her nose up. “Surely, he can’t need you for anything. I mean, I don’t blame you for wanting to stick around, girl. According to the members of the pack who saw him, he’s about the sexiest thing on two legs that this world has ever seen.”

“Not just this world,” I muttered, irrationally annoyed that others had been discussing him that way.

Simone paled. “I don’t want to know. I’m barely wrapping my head around the fact that you’re finally here. Alive. After this long.”

My smile was genuine, and it felt weird to actually have a moment of happiness, while the rest of me was in a mini-panic over what had happened to Shadow and library…

Turning to Simone, I lowered my voice. “Do you have any idea what they did to get me away from Shadow? They used some sort of powder.”

Simone looked around quickly, her gaze darting left and right before she scooted even closer and whispered as fast as she could. “I know nothing for sure. They keep me out of discussions because I’ve shown time and again I’m Team Mera. But it has something to do with Dannie. They were holding her for ages, and I tried to break in and help her, but by the time I figured out a way through their guards, she was gone.” Her voice wavered as she breathed rapidly. “There was blood everywhere, though, Mera. So much blood that I’m not sure even a shifter could have survived.”

Everything stilled around me as white noise filled my head. Shadow had said Dannie had escaped, but from what Simone had seen…

She had not escaped unscathed.

55

Simone held on to me while I had my mini-breakdown, and when I was done, I got to my feet, my wolf raging in my chest. In normal circumstances, after a run, she would have been