Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

When the next contraction finally broke, Mera declared that she needed to get up and walk around. Gaster assured her walking was a great idea, since she wasn’t fully dilated yet, and the baby still hadn’t made up its mind about the right time to move from Mera’s comfortable womb into this shit show of a world.

Shadow followed her, hovering like a worried mother hen, and Angel left to update the men who were all waiting outside. “Reece is freaking out,” she said with a chuckle, hands on her hips as she stretched out her back and walked to the door. “I’m sure the others are as well. I better give them an update before they bust in here.”

When she was gone, I got to my feet as well. “Can she hear his thoughts?” I asked, still trying to wrap my own mind around these Solaris System true mate couples.

“It’s mostly sensing emotions, among other things,” Shadow rumbled, and as usual, I got nothing else out of the broody male.

While he was escorting his hobbling mate back and forth across the room, Gaster got to work changing the sweat-ridden bedding and placing new towels down. When he left the room, arms full of sheets, it was just Mera, Shadow, and me.

Feeling somewhat useless, I just kind of bopped on the spot, my mind fracturing under the pressure of not thinking about the vampire and fate that waited outside this room. That bastard could have delayed telling me until after the birth, giving me this one last day to just focus on Mera and not my own impending doom.

I’d really liked living in blissful ignorance.

“What’s up, Sim,” Mera said as she marched closer to me, her body seeming to move more freely now that she’d warmed up. “I’ve seen that look many times before, and I know it means some dark thoughts are swirling in that pretty head of yours.”

She didn’t stop her get the hell out of me walk, but she also didn’t remove her shrewd gaze from my face, even as she moved toward the back of the room. Shadow shook his head, one hand out to catch her if she tripped since she wasn’t watching where she was going at all.

“I’m fine,” I said quickly, knowing if I said nothing, she’d just work herself up worse. “Worried about you more than anything.”

The look Mera shot me would have knocked a lesser being to their knees. It was filled with derision and disbelief and a definite side of you have to be fucking kidding me. “I’m going to forgive your lies,” she huffed out before pausing, both hands landing on her stomach as she breathed in and out for another beat, “because this is a stressful situation and I know you’re just trying to stop me from freaking out about whatever is happening to you. But”—another pause, her face screwing up as additional rumbles left Shadow—“I promise you, bestie, if you don’t tell me right this very second, I will not be held accountable for my next actions.”

A whiff of smoky air hit me as Shadow chuckled. It wasn’t a particularly amused sound, since he was likely still worried about his mate’s current discomfort, but he always enjoyed her fire. No matter the circumstances.

“It’s just a little issue with that stupid vampire out there,” I finally muttered. Mera would not let this go, and she needed to be focused on the childbirth she was currently going through.

Shadow chuckled again, the sound mingled with a low, deep growl. Mera’s forehead creased further as she stumbled toward me. “Lucien?” she said in a huff. “What the hell has he done now? Or at all, considering you’ve never really told me anything from your time in Valdor.”

One thing she hated was being kept in the dark, especially when it involved her friends. Mera was a lot of things, and insanely loyal was high on that list. If she didn’t know what our problems were, she couldn’t help us solve them, and that didn’t sit right with her.

“Compelled, remember,” I said quickly. Images and words formed in my head as I said it. Most of them were of Crimson City–an unofficial name that had turned official at some point, since that’s what Lucien’s home city was called now. The place I’d spent weeks getting to know as I fell for the vampire, only to learn that he didn’t even remotely feel the same.

I opened my mouth to attempt to tell her the smallest detail, but my tongue was still. My lips unmoving. My words frozen in my mind, never to be spoken out loud. Unless I could link my damn mind to Mera’s, nothing that had happened in Valdor would ever be revealed.

Mera was close to me now, her ashy scent stronger than usual as the flaming phoenix in her core skirted just below the surface of her skin. “There has to be a way to break this compulsion,” she snapped before jerking her head to the side to find Shadow’s gaze. “Mate, you’d better find a damn way to break the compulsi—”

Before she could get her entire sentence out, the door to the bedroom burst open, slamming hard against the wall. There was no way Angel or Gaster would enter like that, so I was already on high alert, shifting my position in front of Mera.

If I’d have had a second to think it over, I would have known there was no true danger. This was Shadow’s dominion, and no one could take him by surprise here, but instinct was a powerful shifter trait.

A growl spilled from my lips when Lucien raced into sight, and as he did, I felt a rush of heat from beside me. Turning, I was surprised to see it was Shadow who was stoking the fires of his power, darkness creeping from his pores as the literal shadows he was named after obeyed his command.

“You felt them,” Lucien snarled, his fangs visible as his body grew larger. Master vampires had this ability to hulk out when enraged.

“What are they doing here?” Shadow rumbled, his words barely comprehendible through his anger.

“It’s complicated,” Lucien said quickly, “but if we don’t address them, they’ll use the bounty status to break rule four.”

At this point I was confused, as was Mera who added her own impressive growl to the mix. “You two better stop talking in fucking code,” she shouted, “and tell me what the hell is happening in my library. I feel the disturbance through my bond to Shadow, but the bastard is blocking out most everything else to keep me calm.” She started waving her hands around, clipping my shoulder. “Do I look goddamn calm to you all?”

She looked like a beautiful, fiery, slightly unhinged shifter-goddess, but there was not one ounce of calm in her wide eyes or her slightly curved hands, which she waved like talons. We all knew it, and only Shadow was brave enough to step forward and wrap his arms around his pregnant mate.

His fire raged higher when it met hers, and I swallowed down my envy at the damn perfection of their relationship. Even at their worst, they still made each other better. Enhanced each other. Or some soulmate crap like that.

Lucien met my gaze as if he’d heard that thought, and as always, the memories of my last night in Valdor filled my head. My almost death, his mouth on my skin, his blood… My wolf slipped free, teeth sharpening as I snarled in his direction. He didn’t get to meet my gaze like that, with vampire energy riding along his skin, its golden glow increasing.

This was just beyond unfair, and I still had no idea why he’d burst into the room.

“What happened?” I finally asked, unable to hold my tongue any longer. “Is this something to do with the masters’ request that I return to Valdor?”

I might not be a magical goddess, but I also wasn’t an idiot. Lucien wouldn’t have entered this room unless he had a good reason—something serious. He’d asked Shadow if he felt them, which made me think the vamps were already here. In the library.

“Tier two masters from Valdor,” Shadow rumbled, his head tilted back like he was listening to a conversation the rest of us couldn’t hear. “They’re entering my library with violent intent. They’re asking permission to take Simone.”

His focus returned to us. “They don’t need permission for a legit bounty, though, and they know it.”

That was all I needed to hear. “I’m the bounty?” I got out, a slight shake to my voice. “I have to return to Valdor to answer questions about wha—” The words died on my tongue. Ah, this fucking compulsion was such bullshit. “Bastards couldn’t even let me be here for my best friend while she has a damn baby.”

Mera exploded, energy and fire swirling around us. Her scream rang out through the room, and I attempted to rush forward to see if she was okay. Her flames licked across my skin, and I felt strands of my long hair catch on fire just as strong hands yanked me backwards.

I landed against a firm chest, the scent of cherry-and-oak red wine engulfing me. I’d called Lucien “Crimson” as a nickname when I was in Valdor because not only was he the master of Crimson House, his scent also reminded me of my favorite red wine from back home. I’d drank it long before I knew vampires were real, and it was called… Crimson Heart. Crimson Heart with a cherry and oak flavor, which was a weird coincidence I didn’t really want to think about.

I hadn’t used his nickname for a long time, though.

“Stop,” I snapped, pushing myself away before I could get comfortable against the master vampire. “Just stop. I don’t need you to take care of me any longer. Look how fucking well it turned out last time.”

I was being unfair. What had happened was not his fault, outside of the fact that bringing me to Valdor had been a huge mistake. But the rest was on me. I’d chosen my own fate, and now I had to answer for it.

“I’m not taking care of you,” Lucien snapped back, and it was surprising to see him lose his cool so quickly. Mr. Suave was nowhere to be seen—he was almost animalistic. “I’m taking care of my responsibilities. I brought you into my world… into Valdor. I didn’t watch you closely enough. It was my frien—” He cut himself off, but even in her rage, Mera didn’t miss that little slip.

Her screams and fire died off, and with a Shadow Beast wrapped around one side of her, she managed to storm toward Lucien. “Your friend did what?” she raged. “What did they do to Simone that she can’t even speak about it with her family?”

The energy in this room was building, and I wasn’t at all surprised to notice Angel and Gaster, along with Reece, Len, and Galleli in the back of the room near the doorway. Mera’s baby-induced fury had even brought Inky and Midnight down from the ceiling.

All of them knew better than to step closer though.

Lucien straightened, still far too close to me. His hands remained in front of him as if he was prepared to pull me out of the way if Mera lost it again. “Simone trusted someone because I trusted him,” he said, and I was nearly shocked out of my fear and anger by that somewhat honest reply. “He led her down a path that almost took her life.”

I opened my mouth to add that Lucien had avenged me and killed his friend, but of course, I couldn’t say anything about it.

“The tier one masters,” he continued, “were the ones who compelled her silence. There’s no breaking it.”

“You’re one of those damn masters,” Mera said, more of her fire dying now that she was finally getting answers. “And you can clearly speak about it.”

“It puts her in danger,” he snapped back, not concerned even when Shadow shot him a dark look. The beast did not like anyone yelling at his mate, and the last thing we needed was for him to lose his shit too. This room would be nothing more than toothpicks if that happened.

Mera examined the vampire for many long minutes, and whatever she saw in him, it calmed her even more. Or maybe she remembered she was having a baby as another contraction sent her hunching forward, hands on her stomach.

Shadow held onto her, helping her breathe through it, and it seemed for the moment, vampire masters and bounty hunters were the last thing on anyone’s mind.