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Even though Ann doesn’t seem to have the same…connection to them.
She sets off walking again and Flame drops back. “She’s something, isn’t she?”
I give him a non-committal grunt and watch her. Ten steps after she’s taken off left, she stops like she’s listening. And even if it’s just some inner voice, she makes a quick U-turn and goes back.
Slade shakes his head. “This is so fucking easy with her.”
I nod. I search for shards all the time. Never have I found so many in such a drawn-out area. We’ve probably walked five miles already. This will quite literally change the way we work.
With every shard she hands off to Flame or Slade, their smiles spread. But by ability alone, she has a target on her back. After a while of suffering the fawning and flirting of Flame and Slade, she drops back to walk beside me. “What do you know about the Shadow King?”
Oh, that’s a dangerous question. Not as dangerous as the answer, though. “Why do you ask?”
She shrugs one elegant shoulder. I stop walking.Elegant shoulder?Oh God. This mating bond situation has me spinning. I don’t look at her again while I wait for her to answer. “He wants to marry me, so I figured I deserve to know more about him.”
“He’s a man who likes power more than anything,” I say, choosing my words carefully.
“But…he’s trapped there, right? He can’t come to get me?”
“No, he can’t. The king can’t leave the shadow realm or it will cease to exist.” It’s true, wethink, but it’s a hell of a lot more complicated than that.
“So, he’ll have to get me back there if he wants me?”
“Yes.”
I sigh. None of this is good news. He not only knows about her, but he’s decided he wants her for himself. He’ll have every troll and monkey in his army hunting her like a Christmas goose. Probably using his powers to a level he never has before. The only way to save her is to convince her to mate with us, to perform the bonding ritual, not that she seems to understand the practicalities of that point.
Or that we don’t like trying to push her toward the mate bond because it’s a smart move. That’s not what being together should be all about.
“And how did you guys become the official army to stop this guy?”
My gut clenches. “That’s…complicated.” And painful.
She seems to realize that I’m done talking. And, for once, she drops the topic. She goes back to hunting moon shards. As we come across more, we see more warriors hunting for them too. Yet every time another glows near her, the warriors stop their own searches and begin to trail her with awe in their eyes.
Before night has even fallen, the forest is crowded with warriors who are all watching her. She’s the new toy for a bunch of warriors who haven’t had anything to play with but themselves for a mighty long time. And they all want her.
But it’s more than that. In the years that we’ve been protecting this world, all we’ve experienced is loss. Our numbers are a fourth of what they once were, and we carry every death in our hearts. At times it feels as if we’re protecting a world that doesn’t even know or appreciate all we had sacrificed for it. So, to watch this woman ease some of the burden from our shoulders…it’s like watching hope take flight within all our men.
I overhear someone say, “She hasn’t accepted the mate bond yet.”
Another responds, “Why not?”
“No idea, but it means she hasn’t been claimed. No one could blame us if…”
I turn around and punch the asshole square in the face. He hits the ground and looks at me with wide eyes, wiping the blood from his nose. The man he was speaking to stares at me like I’ve grown another head, and a growl slips from my lips.
Multiple warriors move away from me.
Onyx signs, “What’s wrong?”
I sign back, while Phantom watches me, “They think that since the mate bond hasn’t been completed, she can be claimed by anyone.”
Onyx and Phantom’s eyes narrow.
Flame holds up his hands as if in surrender. “We would never.”
“Oh?” I say, and there’s a threat in my voice.
