Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters #1) - Jaymin Eve Page 0,90

around. “But… it’s only a distraction.”

I was eight feet away, and those words had me hauling ass toward him.

Just a few steps too late.

My arms were seized on either side, the grip firm and unyielding, and as a heavy object slammed into the side of my head, Shadow let loose a feral howl, the bright red flames of his eyes the last thing I saw as I was dragged away. No, actually, the last thing was a dozen or more shadow creatures descending on him, blocking his path to me.

The blow hadn’t been strong enough to knock me out, and I was already fighting—I’d only just gotten used to the last psychopath who’d yanked me out of my life without permission. No time to acclimatize to another.

My hands shifted into claws, fighting and scratching, but my captors held me in such a position that it was hard to reach them. They felt small, despite the strength of their hold, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get loose.

Sticks scratched me as I was dragged, and as much as I clawed across the ground, there was no breaking my abductor’s stride. It had to be a grekin, because the falster shouldn’t have had a grip, but then again, it might have been a completely new creature. There had been so many unexpected creatures on Shadow, and that meant they’d teamed up to hide their energy… Classic ambush.

“Let me go!” I screamed, finally finding my voice. “I command you to release me.”

The words flowed from me with more than just a human voice—wolf energy pushed them, and… What do you freaking know? The creatures stopped, releasing me in an instant.

Gasping for breath, I rolled to the side, ignoring my body’s protest about the abuse it had just experienced. As I stumbled to my feet, the sudden movement worsened the pain, but I had enough adrenaline and anger to keep me moving.

Chirping was the first thing I registered, and when two shadows zipped past me, I barely managed to track them.

“Stop!”

I knew the command would work; I’d tapped into the same energy I’d felt when I’d touched the Shadow Realm. Not that I was going to tell Shadow, of course, but it turned out he was right; I just had to find the path and keep following it.

The two creatures stopped flickering in and out of focus, ending in half-crouched positions, staring up at me. They looked like nothing I’d ever seen before, but if I had to liken them to anything, it would be a gnarled, tree-like leprechaun. No larger than knee-height—mine, not Shadow’s giant-ass legs—they didn’t wear clothing, but it wasn’t like they were naked, either. They didn’t have body parts like a human.

Two tree stumps with beady black eyes, a slash of a mouth, twig-like arms and legs, and an ability to move so fast, they were almost dizzying. Except, apparently, when I allowed my wolf to rise to the surface, using her power to halt them.

“What do you want with me?” I asked. These were the first shadow creatures I’d had a moment to question, and I wasn’t wasting it. “Where were you taking me?”

They chattered at me, this rapid-fire clicking and clacking sound, and outside of the library, there was no way for me to understand their language. “Fuck,” I muttered.

One of them tilted his head, watching me closely. “Fuck.”

I blinked. Was it repeating me, or did it speak some English too?

“What. Do. You. Want. With. Me?” I spaced each word out, using hand gestures to get my point across.

“Fuck!” the same one repeated. “Fuck, fuck.”

Great. I mean, I loved the word and all, but it was hard to have a complete conversation with just my favorite f-words.

“Mera!”

I spun at the shout, and not because it was Shadow barraging toward me like a madwolf on a mission. But because it wasn’t.

That shout had come from someone else completely.

Someone who sent my wolf into a tizzy as she growled and scratched at my chest, and I had no idea if she was trying to get to Torin to kill or fuck him, but she wanted him either way.

“No, stop,” I begged. “He rejected us.”

“Fuck rejected.” A harsh chirp of a word from one of the gremlin twins.

It was the other one this time, and now they had two English words in their arsenal. My favorite and my least.

“Mera Callahan, I command you to stay where you are!” Torin bellowed, half-wolfed out as he took off across the field