Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Shadow and Reece reacted in a heartbeat, swirls of red dust and shadows exploding in the room, just like from their children. They vanished too, presumably after their offspring.

Turning toward Mera, I was surprised to see her looking calm. “What just happened?”

“They’ve bonded to each other,” Angel told me, also relaxed. “They’ll be back shortly. This is just a short power journey—we can feel their energy close by.”

Mera hopped up on the bed and stretched out beside Angel, the two of them waiting patiently for their babies to return. Sure enough, a moment later, there was another burst of power, and the babies were back in the room, snuggled on their mothers’ chests.

Shaking my head, I had to laugh. “You do realize how insanely insane this is, right? Newborns shouldn’t be able to do any of this.”

Newborns shouldn’t even be able to hold their heads up and look around, let alone transport themselves off to places unknown.

Mera and Angel joined me in laughing, but I was fairly certain we were all amused by different parts of this moment. The room filled with dust and smoke and, a beat later, Shadow and Reece all but landed on their mates and children. “Getting a little slow in your old age,” Mera joked, then let out an amused shriek when Shadow’s smoke engulfed them completely.

A second later, there was no sign of my oldest friend.

“They outran us,” Reece rumbled, but he didn’t sound angry… he sounded proud. “Their energy is beyond anything I’ve ever expected.”

I backed up a step, sensing that it was time for us to leave. New parents need to bond with their babies—or so I’d heard. My parents had probably thrown me into a cot and left me there until I cried. But Angel and Reece were not like that.

Lucien must have had the same thought, staying with me as we moved toward the door. “Congratulations again, guys,” he called as we walked. “Your baby boy is just incredible, and I can’t wait to see what he does in life.”

“Enjoy your time bonding,” I added. “We’ll be back soon to see what Damon and Shadowshine Jr achieve, but first we have to head to Valdor for a little vampire bachelorette.”

Reece and Angel pulled their attention from their super-powered baby for a moment, but they didn’t stop us. “Keep us updated,” Angel said when we were almost at the door. “We can be there in a heartbeat.”

“I will send messages back through the library,” Lucien told them. “It should be okay, though. Best that you enjoy your time as a new family.”

We were out the door then, moving across the porch and into the forest.

“Do you know how to get out of here without Reece?” I asked.

Lucien’s smile was broad, and I tried not to fixate on the slight points of his fangs. “You underestimate me once again, B. I’ll get us out of here without a problem.”

I barely heard what he said, so focused on the urge to press my hand to the throb in my neck. Not just that, but I was also focused on the pulse in Lucien’s.

The blood inside me had to be forcing this obsession I felt to taste his blood again. Right?

Since I was frozen, Lucien just scooped me into his arms without permission and carried me wedding style for a change. He moved at a speed that had my head spinning, and with the blood pulsing inside me, it was a miracle that I didn’t vomit on him. He zoomed up through the layers until we were back in the sunset meadow, where the lighting was exactly as it had been earlier when we entered.

Lucien dropped me to my feet, his hands seeming to linger on the bare skin of my arms as he released me. My body reacted as if he’d grabbed me, fingers biting into my skin as he pulled me toward him, lips crashing into mine, while he—

Fuck.

A low groan escaped me. I could not keep having these out-of-control sexual thoughts about a vampire who’d made it clear that I was a duty. Pressing my thighs together to help ease the ache, I forced myself to focus. I needed my head on straight for this next Valdor adventure.

“I have a question,” I said to Lucien, grateful I sounded normal, even if I didn’t feel it. “Why would Carter want a mate who will die in a fairly short time compared to your immortal life?”

Lucien, in the process of opening a doorway, turned to meet my gaze. “I believe that if he bonds with you, you’ll live the same lifetime that he does. His blood will sustain you.”

Vampire blood didn’t sustain another vampire unless they had a blood call, but I wasn’t a vampire. “I’d have to drink his blood for the rest of my life?”

Lucien nodded. “Yes. Since it appears shifter and vampire energy are compatible, you’d eventually become a full hybrid. I’m not sure, then, if you’d need vampire blood or the imported blood we drink, but either way, your life should extend as long as you want.”

“Or as long as Carter wants,” I replied drily, “since I’d basically be his pet.”

The fact that Lucien spoke so casually of me being a hybrid and I didn’t even freak out about it told me that already the changes inside were affecting me. It didn’t feel weird to talk about drinking blood, which explained my reaction a moment ago in the forest.

“All of this is redundant, anyway,” Lucien said. “Carter will not claim you as a mate while I’m alive and my blood resides within your energy. We are prepared, and we will be even more prepared by the time the official summons arrives.”

I could only hope he was right.

“Please tell me being more prepared means food and sleep,” I said. The moment I mentioned sleep, a yawn nearly split my face in two, exhaustion pressing in on me.

It had been a damn long day, and I hadn’t even been the one to have a child. Just thinking about that reminded me of the twin souls. Baby and moms.

“Your energy wanes when you’re sad,” Lucien said suddenly.

Wait, what?

I blinked at him. “You can feel my energy? I mean, to the degree that you’re noticing it waning?”

His nod was brief, even if his expression remained closed off. “The more time we spend together now, the stronger my blood feels within you. I had no idea it would be like this.”

“Have you never shared blood before?” It had been mentioned earlier, but I wanted more information.

“I’ve never shared my blood with another being.”

I snorted. “Are you a virgin too?”

Whoops, that shouldn’t have slipped out. That was an inside thought.

Thankfully Lucien chuckled. “Sharing blood is an intimacy beyond what most would understand. Sex is one thing, but blood is deeper. You’re giving and taking of your energy and essence. It’s the lifeforce that keeps us all alive.”

And now I really wished I hadn’t brought it up, because when a sexy vamp locks glittering green eyes on you, crowding his big body into yours, there’s really no place for your mind to go but the gutter.

As Mera would put it: slutterbrain.

I had a really bad case of slutterbrain.

Lucien appeared to enjoy the burning heat in my cheeks, and let me tell you, it had nothing at all to do with embarrassment. Eventually he took pity on me and headed toward the nondescript white door leading back to the library.

That was all it took to remind me that I was about to head into Crimson City again. To compete in a contest that was designed to strip me of my freedoms.

No matter what Lucien said, a part of me worried that the masters had already rigged it to get what they wanted. Or more accurately, what Carter wanted.

If that was the case, our plan would go up in smoke.

Or blood.