Page 31 of Shadowed Spirits

“Hmm. Strange.” Ajax shrugs and dismisses me to talk quietly with his twin.

Adriel sighs in exasperation. I’m guessing he often has to wrangle Ajax during hellhound business. “Si doesn’t have to do anything. He should’ve been trained since he was a pup, and that failure is on me. Since neither you nor Prue have red eyes, I thought the hellhound side wasn’t passed on and didn’t try as hard as I should’ve to stay in touch. You’ll never know how sorry I am for that, Si.”

“Thank you,” Cain rasps, his voice roughened by the emotion he’s trying to stop from getting out. Sadness, regret, loss, anger, and even a bit of hope flit across his face as he stares at his grandpa. Adriel seems like he genuinely cares, but it’s probably hard for Cain to hear that he cares now that he knows he is a hellhound. Cain still deserved Adriel’s concern, even when he was just a regular wolf shifter. What he is shouldn’t determine how much his family loves him.

When it’s clear Cain isn’t going to say anything else, I try to get any info I can to help him later, when he’s less overwhelmed by all this. “Can he still train if he wants to?”

“Absolutely. You can come to me for training at any time, Si. Whether that’s in a day or a million years, I’ll be here. All of us—your other grandfathers and your grandmother—will be here for whatever you need.” Cain dips his head slightly in acknowledgement but doesn’t say anything. Adriel’s face falls, but he recovers quickly to give him a bright smile. “The conclave isn’t needed anymore, so we’ll get out of your hair. I’ll set up a visit with you soon. We’d all love to catch up with you and Prue.”

Adriel reaches out his hand for Cain to shake. After Cain grasps Adriel’s hand in his, the four hellhounds stalk out of the throne room. None of this helped Cain understand his hellhoundside any better, but I guess at least we have a resource if we need help with it.

Relieved to be done dealing with hellhounds for now, I turn around to look at my mates and stop in my tracks when I see Levi has a massive pair of black, feathered wings. “Holy shit. You’re a fallen angel.”

CHAPTER 16

IZZY

Levi chuckles, the deep sound helping break some of the tension from earlier. “I’m not a fallen angel, little raven.” His pitch-black wings extend more than a foot taller and wider than him when they’re tucked into his back. His wingspan has to be over thirty feet with those enormous wings.

“Yeah. If one of us were an angel, it’d be me.” Hades stacks his hand under his chin and looks up in what I think is supposed to be an angelic look but just looks unhinged on him. “Alas, angels don’t exist, earthling. His wings are just one of his forms.”

My eyes widen as I look at Levi. “What are you, then?”

“I’m aversipellis,which is known as a shapeshifter on Earth. Unlike animal shifters from your realm, I have multiple forms.” Levi’s raven wings rustle and shift while he’s talking, almost like they’re trying to find somewhere comfortable to lie on his back.

“That’s so cool,” I gush. “What are they?”

Instead of answering my question, Levi takes a deep breath and shifts into a huge screech owl. After flapping around me for a few moments, he lands on the ground and transforms into a massive snake. He has to be almost three feet wide and over twenty feet long. His big snake head rises from the floor to be level with mine. I swear, snake Levi smiles at me before heresumes his human form, minus the cool-ass wings. “I can also turn into a kraken, but that form is too large for this room.”

“That’s awesome! I’d love to see you turn into a massive sea monster sometime.” I can’t wipe the goofy smile off my face at seeing Levi transform into his other forms. I’ve been wondering for ages what he is. It takes me a moment to realize something. “You have a tattoo for everything you can transform into.”

“Yes, little raven. The tattoos are my creatures, not just something reminiscent of them.Versipellesreceive their creatures when they come of age. On rare occasions, we can gain tattoos when we are older if certain forms are drawn to us. That’s how I got my wings. I have more power when I am in my winged form, so that’s why that creature came out during the confrontation with the hellhounds.”

I wonder why the wings were drawn to him and what type of creature they are. I’d love to have a pair of gigantic wings. Flying sounds amazing.

I glance at his brother. “So, is Hades a shapeshifter too?”

“No. I’m afavilla.” Hades holds out his hands and conjures a purple flame in one and a pile of violet ash in the shape of a skull in the other. “My affinities are fire and the dead, hence the human myths of me being god of the underworld. Being able to control themanes, or shades, as humans call them, probably helps with that reputation too.”

“Huh. The more you know, I guess. So, are we all good to go? Do you have any other creatures you’d like to introduce us to so they can attack us, or should we be on our way?” My tone is snarky, but I can’t help it. While I know it’s not Hades’s fault Mira and the other hellhounds were dicks, I’m pretty done with the creatures of this realm, at least for a little while. I’d like to come back and meet some of the common people, but that’ll have to wait.

Hades rolls his eyes, like I’m an overdramatic toddler. “You’re exceedingly theatrical, earthling. You had everything handled, just like I knew you would. You’re free to leave. If I need anything, I can send a carrier pigeon with an instructive epic poem on it.”

My nose scrunches in confusion. “Can pigeons fly between realms?”

Hades looks at me like I’m dumber than a bag of rocks. “No, of course not.” I narrow my eyes at him and flip him off when Seph looks away. He cackles, earning another glare from me.

We say our goodbyes. Seph gets a little teary-eyed that we’re leaving and clasps my hands in her smaller ones. “Come and visit as soon as you can, Izzy, okay?”

I squeeze her hands in reassurance. “I can do that, Seph.”

Zeus gives me a warm hug. Poseidon ruffles my hair affectionately and tells me, “Be safe, kiddo.” I give him a small smile and a nod, not having the heart to tell him that I haven’t been safe in a long time.

After pulling his brother into a bro hug and whispering something I can’t quite make out, Hades meanders over to me. He flicks me on the forehead when he reaches me, and I bat his hand away. He’s almost as annoying as Aiden. “Try not to die and all that jazz, earthling. You’re too entertaining to have a short life.”

“I’ll try, since I live to serve you, Hades,” I deadpan.

“Finally. Someone around here has the right attitude.” Seph shakes her head and smacks Hades lightly on the stomach. He kisses her passionately to distract her, and I take that as our cue to leave.