Deserted (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 4)

The intro to The Long Dream went on for many minutes, giving everyone time to partner up. This was the sort of dance where dynasties mixed and mate-bonds were formed. It didn’t really matter what partner you started with since you would switch every fifteen steps in a swirl of melody and beat.

Since I was displaying the ‘unmated’ chain on my wrist, it took no time for a male in a gold tunic from the sands of Crani to step up and offer his hand. He had dark brown skin, deep grey eyes, and a long straight nose. He wasn’t much taller than me, his shaved head almost equal in height to the red scarf across my crown.

‘Would you care to partner?’ he asked in his native tongue.

‘It would be my pleasure,’ I replied.

His smile was broad, teeth slightly crooked but not unattractively so. When I took his hand, there was a slight flare as our energy collided, but other than that, nothing else sparked.

Desertlandians only touched during their dances, as cautious as every other world with sharing energy, and it was considered very bad form to draw on any of your partner’s lifeforce while moving about the dance floor.

The Crani male swirled me closer, moving us into the starting position where we faced each other. Over his shoulder, I saw a broadly smiling Mera, and when our eyes met, she mouthed hell yes while waggling her eyebrows. There was nothing subtle about my best friend, but I didn’t care.

Turning back to my new partner, I found his gaze locked on my face. Unlike when Reece focused his attention on me, the Crani’s intensity didn’t stir butterflies in my stomach or leave my chest tight and uncomfortable.

‘My name is Hectar,’ he said, ‘and despite the fact that you wear the color of my least favorite dynasty, you’re too beautiful for me to hold that against you.’

That got a smile out of me as I switched my dialect to another that I expected he would know. ‘My name is Angel, and I’m just borrowing these colors. My heritage is Honor Meadows.’

His eyes widened. ‘No wings?’

‘Not anymore,’ I replied softly, and then thankfully, the beat started to pick up as the song moved past the intro. After that, there was no time for talking because if you lost focus, you’d lose your steps just as fast.

It had been more years than I cared to remember since I’d last performed The Long Dream, but my body remembered it like it was yesterday, falling into the song. Hectar’s smile turned into deep laughter as he held me just a touch longer than needed before I moved on to my next partner, an orange-clad man from the Yemin dynasty.

We had no time for a greeting or anything else as the steps moved even faster, all of us twirling and spinning. Partners continued to switch, male and female alike. Desertlandians, like almost every world, had same-sex mating, cross-dynasty mating, and all other forms of love. No one was discriminated against because of it—we all respected the gift of a bond, no matter how it arrived.

As we neared the closing beats of the dance, my heart felt lighter than it had in a very long time, and one thing was growing abundantly clear to me: I was the one to blame for the sadness in my life. Reece might have shunned me, but that was only from his world. I’d been the one who’d shunned myself from the rest of them.

A new partner grabbed my hand then, and I noted that he wore the black tunic of the Guardians. Only the Delfora and the Guardian sands were black, and as I lifted my eyes to meet his, I had to blink at what was quite a stunningly sexy Desertlandian.

His skin was dark, only a few shades lighter than the black of his tunic, casting a striking contrast to the pamolsa green of his eyes. He was tall as well, forcing my head to tilt back to take in his features.

“Hello,” he murmured, heat flaring in his gaze.

Strangely enough, there was a momentary stirring within me as well, a purely physical reaction in response to his unnatural beauty. We moved together in silence, but our bodies synced better than mine had with any other this moon. When it was time for him to swap out to the last partner of the dance, he side-stepped the Rohami male and swept me along, not missing a beat. I blinked at that but wasn’t altogether unhappy to still be in his arms.

When he leaned in, a spicy scent, rich and earthy like the land itself, filled my senses. ‘Name?’ he asked in a smooth, deep voice. Guardians were, in general, powerful due to their close proximity to the sacred lands, and this male was no exception.

‘Angel,’ I replied. ‘Yours?’

‘Darin.’

By the way he said it, I got the distinct impression that most beings here would have reacted. That name meant something, only I had no idea what that something was.

His hold on me didn’t waver as we continued to twirl. As the final beat trailed away, he spun me out of step, and I found myself much closer to him than was normal. His arm tightened across my hip before sliding over my back. Tilting my head again in an attempt to gauge his expression, a flash of red in my peripheral caught my attention, and that was when my interest in Darin waned

‘Is there a reason Reece of Rohami is staring me down like he’s about to stride over here and blast my skin from my body with his sand-driven powers?’

Darin’s question barely registered as all of my focus was on the desert god. ‘We’re enemies of a sort,’ I murmured.

‘And yet you wear his house.’

A chuckle choked from me. ‘It’s complicated, but suffice it to say, he doesn’t wish me happiness.’

It was Darin’s turn to laugh. ‘It’s your lucky day, then, because I might just be the one Desertlandian in this room who doesn’t fear Reece.’

That allowed me to finally bring my focus back to him. ‘Who are you that you don’t fear someone of his power and reputation?’ I asked, moving back a step so we no longer touched.

There was a glimmer in his eyes as they widened minutely. ‘I’m guessing you’re not a local.”

‘Honor Meadows.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, that makes sense. The lack of wings threw me off, but I can only assume that you’re not the typical transcendent.’

I shook my head. “You could say that.”

He settled into a smile. “I’ve always thought typical was overrated.” The beat of the next song picked up and he added, “Would you care to dance again?’

‘I’m afraid I don’t know this one,’ I said, noticing the other Desertlandians had fallen into a line, everyone in a line facing the same direction, before they all switched to another.

‘Well, maybe a refreshment?’

I only hesitated for a beat before deciding that it could be worth exploring that flicker of heat I’d felt before. After all, this was my moon to let loose and start a new journey. ‘A refreshment would be nice,’ I said with a nod.

Just as I was about to move out of the way of the line dancers, a flash of sudden and intense heat burned down my spine. Darin’s pupils flared as he looked over my head, and I didn’t need to turn to know who was behind me. The rumble of Reece’s chest rocked through me, and as I started to spin, ready to remind him that he could no longer dictate my life, a firm grip latched onto the base of my ponytail and scarf, tightening as he pulled me back against his body.

‘Reece,’ I hissed out between my teeth. ‘You have exactly two seconds to let me go, or I will rip your arm off.’

‘Stay still,’ he growled, holding me almost immobile. He wasn’t hurting me—this was a dominance move—but I didn’t play those fucking games.

Just as I was gearing up to use my power, Darin pressed in on my front, leaving me sandwiched between the two of them. The guardian was almost Reece’s height, and the sensation of being surrounded by powerful males actually dulled some of my anger.

A weakness of the flesh had finally gotten its claws into me.

‘Don’t push me, god,‘ Darin sneered. ‘Angel is with me tonight, and I will defend her right to choose that.’

Moving beyond their energies crashing into mine, I somehow found my independence again. Lifting up on my toes, I slammed my head back, cracking into the underside of Reece’s chin. As soon as his hold loosened, I spun and pummeled my fists into either side of his chest, aiming for the most vulnerable spots on his body.

Reece had no choice but to pull his arms into his sides and protect himself because I might be smaller, but I was far from weak.

Darin stepped in closer again, hands up like he was about to help me. Shooting him a narrow-eyed glare, I snapped, “Stay back. I defend my own honor.’ With one last spin I turned my body to slam my knee into Reece’s side, knocking him out of my way.

Fury beat at me as I stepped out from between them and walked away. ‘Now you two can kill each other,’ I called back.

Cursing those sexy-as-fuck, dangerous-as-fuck, and annoying-as-fuck desert males, I never looked back as I headed toward the exit.

This moon was supposed to be a new beginning, but as always, it was off to a rocky start.