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What he’d just done to Gadric was unheard of, and I studied the off-worlder with greater interest. If I had been invested in my job, I’d have attempted to apprehend him like the others around me, but I had the feeling it wouldn’t matter. One of the other Watchers jumped forward. Without fail, before they got within feet of the man, they each shifted.Even those who were not shifters.
A veritable zoo began to form around us, but instead of reacting to being turned, they didn’t attack. They weren’t feral. They stopped—thenbowed.
Clothes and weapons fell to the floor as more changed. One by one, the bridge was whittled down to just me and him.
A cold wind whipped between us, forcing a shiver through me.
Wise, ancient eyes stared back. While beautiful, there was also great sorrow and a savageness there. The dichotomy made it hard to look away from him. His very presence called to me, demanding my attention—but there was no way I planned on telling him that.
It took a few moments before I found my voice. “That was impressive. Also a good choice for Gadric. He’s probably better off this way, but I can’t say I’ve seen that trick before.” I gestured at the animal pack around us. “Who are you?”
“Pan,” he answered. “I am the god-king of Arcadia.”
The pull. The voices. The indescribable feeling clawing at me. It was him? It never once occurred to me that it was a man calling me. Certainly not the man from my dream. I’d thought . . . well, I’d thought it was destiny or some shit, as cheesy as that sounded. Or that I was a step away from losing my mind.
There was a reason I’d never told a soul.
“God-king,” I mused, flicking my ombre blue braid over my shoulder. “That sounds important.”
His face didn’t crack, and even though he tried to hide it, I saw amusement in the quirk of his mouth. “Do you have a point to make before we return to Arcadia?”
Return?
I’d never been to Arcadia before . . . no one had.
“For someone who is soimportant,” I paused, letting my eyes travel the length of him in an assessing manner while suppressing the desire to lick my lips, “why are you here, for me, specifically?” I pushed my power toward him. That power that caused the massacre of my kind. The one that could drive a person crazy.
TheEyes of God.
I wanted to know what I would see in his soul. What kind of man was standing before me, and what his intentions had been in his past. What kind of person had just crossed through this portal?
My powers could tell me a lot. All I had to do was choose to look.
Nothing happened.
All I found was . . . a wall. A dark wall blocking my access. I occasionally had trouble reaching someone, especially if they were good with shield magic, but it was rare to see absolutely nothing.
Pan regarded me closely with tight eyes and flared nostrils, and I felt a prickling sensation along my spine, like he knew I’d just been trying to pry into the depths of his very being.
That was impossible.
No one knew I was a peacock shifter, and no one knew I held those powers.
My entire life, my family and I kept my secret hidden from everyone because it was safer to be considered a useless, broken shifter than a peacock. Most people didn’t ask what kind of shifter I was, but the few I’d been forced to answer thought I was an abused wolf. One that was horribly mutilated, and therefore didn’t shift, but was really good at fighting and had a smart sense about people. Afterall, who better to fight and not give a solitary fuck than someone who had nothing to lose?
So how could this newcomer have an idea of what I was just trying to do?
“I’m here to bring you home.”
“Home?” I repeated slowly in disbelief. “To Arcadia?” His eyes narrowed, and while he didn’t answer, that was answer enough.
I considered his words. I could go. I could also turn around and leave. Though something told me the god-king would have something to say about that.
Truthfully, I didn’t want to walk away from this.
Part of me always knew I’d walk through that portal, but I couldn’t stand the guilt of knowing I may not return. Hesitation made me complacent for six months. I didn’t want to spend more of my life stuck in a liminal state while trying to find my purpose.
I was the only one of my kind that survived that night. My mom—Danni’s mom—found me untouched beside the body of her fallen mate. There wasn’t a scratch on me, nor was there a peacock shifter nearby. She had no idea where I’d come from, only that her first mate, Scott, had protected me.
