Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Trying my best to clear my mind, I focused only on Mera as I hurried into the bedroom. It was a massive room, dominated by one of those California king beds that look like two beds joined together. There were more people inside than I expected, but Mera had never really been shy, so there was no reason to expect she wouldn’t have a three-ring circus staring at her vagina as she pushed a damn baby from it.

Needing this distraction from Lucien and vampire drama, I fully immersed myself in the scenery around me. Despite a complete lack of windows, the room felt cool and fresh, as if a nice sea breeze was drifting in—no doubt one of the powerful beings in here was responsible for that. I was grateful for how bright and open the room was too.

“Sim!” Mera cried out, reaching a hand to me as I hurried toward her. She was laid out on a blue duvet, towels under the white flowing dress she wore. Her legs were bent up and I assumed she was naked under the wispy dress, but I couldn’t see anything at the moment. On her right was Angel, wings away and dressed in a simple, black shift-dress, and on her left was Shadow in his usual black-and-scary attire.

Near the end of the bed hovering close to Mera’s raised legs was Gaster.

Now, normally, I’d be wondering why the goblin, whose job was to run the Library of Knowledge, was in the birthing room, but I’d learned a lot about him from Mera and Lucien. He was ancient and powerful, particularly gifted in healing arts, and no doubt a solid choice as a doula to help get this god-baby safely out of its goddess momma.

It was surreal to know that we’d soon meet the child.

Just had to get Mera through the next however freaking long it took first.

“Damn, girl,” I said as I moved closer to where Angel sat, knowing better than to push in on Shadow’s side.

Angel was Mera’s other bestie, an absolutely stunning warrior from the Honor Meadows world who was also super pregnant, her baby belly obvious on her tall, lithe frame.

I’d been nervous around the powerful angel-like being the first few times I’d met her. But just like with Inky, I’d found her loyalty to Mera comforting, and now we were solid.

“Thank you,” I murmured when she moved over to give me room to sit beside the sweating, panting, pregnant lady. Leaning over, I pressed a kiss to Mera’s cheek. “You’re having a freaking baby,” I said with a chuckle as I pulled away.

Mera cried and laughed at the same time, and I reached out and pushed back some of the mess of red curls from her face. Mera was stunningly beautiful, no matter the circumstances, but today she looked tired. Dark circles ringed her hazel eyes, and her tanned skin was pasty. As a goddess who healed almost instantly, it concerned me that she was struggling so much with birth, but we’d been warned that this god baby was going to be one of a kind. A special being who would need a massive surge of power to arrive unscathed into the world.

Mera had dismissed my worries, always confident that she was strong enough. And no doubt she was. I’d seen her weather plenty of massive storms in her life, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried.

My only reassurance was the calm on Shadow’s face. Perched beside his true mate, he held her hand, allowing her to squeeze the ever-loving fuck out of his palm. Despite the swirling fire in his eyes, the rest of him was the normal-looking Shadow Beast. Normal being seven feet tall, dark hair lightly tousled, bronze skin, and a face carved like a damn angel. He was the dark god to Lucien’s blond beauty, but only a fool wouldn’t see them for the predators they were. Predators wearing a façade of civility, but if you searched deep enough into their eyes, you’d find their primal, animalistic natures.

Right now, Shadow was keeping himself contained, and that allowed me to breathe deeply. If Mera was in true danger, the façade would vanish and we’d all be fucked.

Gaster pushed forward, moving some of the material so he could place his hands on her bare thighs. Mera lifted herself using her elbows and stared down her body at the goblin. “How’s it going?” she huffed, clearly ready for this baby to arrive.

He didn’t smile as he might normally, the furrowed lines of his face deepening as he nodded. “There’s no true precedent for a child like this, but from what I can infer, the child is healthy and so are you. It will come when it’s ready.”

“Just stubborn, like her parents,” Angel said with a laugh, and I turned to see her cross her arms over her chest, resting them on the large but perky belly she was sporting.

“You keep saying her,” Mera groaned, her body tensing as she reached for her stomach. “How do you know it’s a girl?”

“I just feel it, the same way I feel that Reece and I will have a boy.”

Mera’s face softened briefly, but that disappeared the moment she arched forward, her body shaking as she cried out. She gripped Shadow with one hand and her stomach with the other. “Contraction,” she gasped, trying to breath but seeming to mostly be sobbing. “I’ve died and it hurt less than this.”

A rumble escaped the giant beast, and some of my calm from before fled at the tendrils of darkness that were sliding across his skin. His use of the shadows reminded me of Inky and Midnight—Mera’s bonded cloud from the Shadow Realm—and I looked around to find they were high up near the ceiling, staying out of the way but still there for their bonded ones.

Mera’s contraction lasted about a minute, but it must have felt like a year for her, as she finally collapsed on the bed, breathing rapidly, her skin even more sweaty and flushed than before. Angel, moving in beside me, reached out and placed her hand on Mera’s shoulder, and it felt like she was sharing energy.

A creosote scent hit me as Angel leaned over, and if I’d closed my eyes, I could have imagined I was in the deserts. That had to be a part of her true mate bond to Reece, the desert deity. Before their mating, Angel had smelled like the strike of a lightning about to hit earth—an electrical storm of great power, as ancient as the worlds.

That was still there, but now there was an entirely new desert element.

Her baby with Reece was going to be strong, just like Mera’s.

Two powerful babies.

I really hoped I got to see the way they turned their parents’ lives upside down.