Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 3)

Torma looked exactly the same as the last time I’d been there, but somehow, it was also vastly different. Maybe it was that I had changed and now looked at it with a different perspective, turned what had once been a beautiful and strong mountain community, into one that was rather tired and outdated.

The alphas had not been keeping the town or pack as they should have been. Money went into the pack house and lands, with little returning to build up everything else. I’d always known the school was a pile of crap that needed to be demolished, but I hadn’t really seen it everywhere else. No doubt because most of the time, my focus had been on hiding and surviving.

I was seeing it all with new eyes today, and I was determined that this time, Torma would change for the better. If it was the last thing I did.

As Shadow and I stepped into the pack lands for what would probably be the last time, my power spilled from me, washing across my form until I was over six-feet of badass winged wolf-phoenix. Shadow followed my lead, his Anubis beast form making an appearance, and I had no idea what the shifters thought when we strolled into the main street, the ground literally trembling beneath our feet.

Did we look like gods to them? Their awed and fearful expressions said yes.

One could grow addicted to that sort of power, if one hadn’t seen firsthand what craving power could do to a being. I would never be Dannie. I refused. Thank the gods for my friends and family, who would keep me in check if I ever lost sight of that.

“What’s your plan, little wolf?” Shadow rumbled at my side as gasps and cries rang out around us. Seemed the townsfolk were not sure what to do about the twin Egyptian-looking gods, covered in flames, standing in the middle of the main street.

“It’s time to call the Torma pack to their final meeting,” I replied, in an almost as impressive rumble of a voice.

I tilted my head back and howled. It was the howl I’d accessed that first night I’d shifted, when I’d called the Shadow Beast. A howl that was connected to my Nexus side, even if I hadn’t known it all the way back then. It was also a howl connected to the shifters, and with it, I could call and control the packs.

Shadow had the same ability, of course, since he’d kind of created shifters, but this was my fight. My true mate stood at my side, and not in my way.

By the time my howl had died off, shifters were already making their way toward where we stood in the middle of the street. There were thousands of them, my call leaving no stone unturned, as even ones I hadn’t seen for years found their way to where we waited.

Torin, Jaxson, Sisily, and a few of the other higher members of the pack pushed their way forward, each of them meeting my gaze with varying degrees of fear and anger. The pack enforcers were there as well, holding weapons, but none of them were stupid enough to try to take us on. They knew their place here, and it was finally my turn to be feared.

Simone was one of the last to arrive, but she got a spot up front as well, and I was beyond relieved to see her looking whole and healthy and happy. Somehow, she knew it was me, even with my new form, as she waved and smiled and bounced on the spot. I looked around for Sam as well, but the gorgeous brunette was nowhere to be seen.

Where’s Sam? I mouthed at Simone, and she sobered a touch.

With her pack, she mouthed back, and I was about to panic, until she waved both hands at me. She’s fine, she added. Tell you later.

I let out a relieved breath, nodding a few times before I faced the crowd again. Simone and I would catch up soon, and I’d find out all the things. But, for now, I had judgement to impart.

“My name is Mera Callahan,” I said, my power projecting my words out to all those silently waiting. “And when I lived in Torma, you all made my life hell. I was punished for crimes that were not my own, and for that alone, each of you will face my judgement.”

For the first time, there were gasps and sobs, as many of them started to beg, falling to their knees, praying for my mercy.

I hated it. “I’m not a god,” I continued, my voice calmer, “and thus, the life and death of the Torma pack is not a decision that rests with me.”

“It rests with me,” Shadow muttered, and I hid my smile.

“However, corruption and darkness runs deep in this pack,” I said with emphasis. “Each of you will be assessed, and if you have abused your privilege of being a shifter, of having a pack, of sharing the wealth and power that Torma contains, you will be stripped of your wolf soul. You will become a human, with all the frailties of a human, and there’s no appeal to change this decision.”

Shadow was staring at me now, his gaze heated, and when I turned to meet his eyes, the smallest of smirks tilted his lips. “Well played, mate,” he said sounding pleased. “Well played.”

The noise that had exploded after my last revelation didn’t ease until Shadow’s flames shot up above them, and he snapped, “Enough!” The bite of his power had every shifter shutting their damn mouths.

Torin was the first to step forward, and it might have been the most alpha thing he’d ever done. “I am the alpha here,” he said, as if he were reading my mind. “My people are innocent. You should judge me and me alone for the sins of Torma.”

I moved toward him, our eyes meeting since I was now his height. “Torin,” I said softly. “Bet you regret rejecting me now.”

He shrugged. “Not really. You’re weird-looking in this form, and I don’t know if I could get into the feathers.”

I sighed, not offended by this rodent. “Thank the fucking fates we aren’t really true mates. My mate—”

“Would like to destroy you,” Shadow said casually, his flames growing larger so Torin was forced to move away.

“Shadow Beast,” Torin choked out, showing him the fear that he was too stupid to show me.

“Torin Wolfe,” I snapped, “for crimes of being a dumbass and a really shit alpha, you’re stripped of your shifter soul.”

Shadow was the one who would take back his gifts, touching Torin’s shoulder to retrieve his shifter side. As Torin lifted his head and howled into the world one more time, a brilliant light left his body, and the former alpha collapsed forward, landing on his hands and knees. He remained there for many minutes, rocking back and forth as he adjusted to the change.

The loss of his wolf soul.

Sisily rushed forward from the crowd, wrapping her arms around Torin. The devastated look on her face told me that maybe… just maybe their relationship was actually real. No doubt that had been half the issue when it came to my bond with Torin. The other half was his dickhead of a personality.

“Take my wolf too,” Sisily snapped, lifting her head toward me, the hatred she’d always felt spilling from her eyes. She had no reason to hide it now, and I appreciated her honesty way more than the fake bullshit from last time.

“You don’t want to wait for judgement?” Shadow asked her.

She shook her head, looking determined and far stronger than usual. “Torin has always been my chosen mate, and I won’t give up on us now. If he’s a human, then so am I.”

I managed not to snort out the derisive laughter, because she would have lost her wolf no matter what, but now she got to dramatically sacrifice herself for Torin. Ugh, whatever. They could have their second rate, sad-ass love story. Mine was a million times better.

Shadow’s power shot out and locked around her, lifting her up to his level. He touched her briefly, and there was the same burst of light as her wolf was removed, before she dropped to her “mate’s” side.

Torin managed to pull himself together enough to wrap an arm around her, as she was the one now rocking back and forth and crying.

“You will live a normal, full life as a human,” I said, crouching down to their level. “Be grateful for your second chance, and don’t waste it. Don’t waste your human life.”

Torin and Sisily lifted their faces toward me, tears painting their cheeks in lines of sorrow.

“My wolf… He’s gone,” Torin choked out.

My heart ached because I could empathize, but he had brought this on himself. He’d had so many chances to do better. Literal years since his father had died, where he could have grown up and taken Torma to the place and prestige it deserved.

Instead, he’d remained a spoiled, entitled asshole. Just like his father, he’d abused his power, and now he faced the consequences of that.

Jaxson hurried forward and he lifted the pair, dragging Torin and Sisily away from us. They disappeared, but I wasn’t too worried. I knew Jaxson, and he would be back for his judgement. One thing he never shirked was responsibility.

Shadow’s power dragged the other powerful members forward first, and we both placed our hands on them. This was the way I could see their actions over the years and pass judgement. Some of them were easy to decide, with corruption and depravity the truest part of who they were, while others I really had to weigh up if they were deserving of this level of punishment.

Dean Heathcliffe sneered when he got close, and I absolutely did not want to touch him. “You deserve death,” I said without inflection, even if my eyes were telling him to drop dead.

Jaxson returned at that moment, and I was struck with the urge to touch them both. To see the truth of what Jaxson had been trying to tell me.

Shadow dragged them forward and held them in place so I could put a fingertip on both of their temples, digging straight into the past, searching for the time when my life had changed for the worst.

A room swirled before coming into focus, a familiar face sending a pang of grief through my chest. It was my father in one of the pack meeting rooms, with Dean and Victor. They’d been arguing, it was clear by the looks on their faces.

“Taking her friends away only makes it worse,” my father snapped. “You killed her damn bunny and she almost burned the town down.”

Dean laughed. “You birthed her, you deal with it. I’m protecting my family by ensuring my son is no part of her life. I’ll break him if it’s the last thing I do.”

The scene changed, and then it was Dean and Jaxson. The father was slamming his fist into his son’s face and chest and stomach, over and over, until a young Jaxson was limp and unresponsive. Torin was the one to rush in between the beta and his friend, holding both hands up.

“He won’t see her again,” a young Torin shouted. “She’s a traitor. We both know she’s a traitor and we’ll ensure that everyone treats her as such.”

Now my chest hurt, and Shadow must have sensed that, because he broke through the memories, separating me from them. It was fine, though; I’d seen enough.

Jaxson and Torin hadn’t been lying or exaggerating when they’d said that Dean would have killed his son before he let him be my friend. Fuck, it had been going on before my father had lost his shit and gotten himself killed. And I could no longer blame those two when they’d been doing the best they could.

I had suffered so much, but they had too, and in some ways that allowed forgiveness in my heart. Torin still didn’t deserve to be alpha, but Jaxson could keep his wolf. He was worthy of a second chance. Dean, on the other hand…

Shadow rumbled loudly beside me, and as I turned toward him, he struck out, plunging his hand into Dean Heathcliff’s chest and ripping out his heart.

Ah, now that was a fitting punishment. “Your sins have finally caught up with you,” I said to the former beta, and when Dean’s body hit the ground, no one made a sound.

He would not be mourned in death, just as he wasn’t respected in life.

A legacy all of his own making.