Page 16 of Shaped By Darkness

Or not at all.

But Serena's never been one to sit around and wait for things to handle themselves, and I don't expect her to start now, which is why I'm not surprised when she starts sneaking out. Pike stopped sleeping in his wolf form a few days ago, which allows her to leave easily, whereas she might have had a problem before. I don't ask him why he stopped, but I see the longing in his eyes, and I have to assume it has something to do with his inability to be her comfort while human.

Pike's always been the fun-loving one. His wolf has an energy about it that draws people to him, and he hides behind jokes and his good looks. Nothing ever mattered to us the way Serena does, and the way he's used to handling things doesn't work on her.

Storm hasn't come back to the room since the night Serena confronted him, and the rest of them sleep like the dead after training each day. Between combat training with Garrett and his soldiers and training not only our mental shields but also our elements with the King and Queen, everyone is doing what they can to feel useful.

And it's not doing a lick of good.

None of us has made any kind of headway to help. What good does having strong magic and alpha beasts do if we can't help the one person who holds a piece of our soul?

No, sleep isn't something that I care to worry about right now.

Serena sits at the window long enough to ensure nobody has woken before she moves to the door on near-silent feet.

She's always been stealthy, able to sneak up on the guys, but not me.

I give her to the count of one hundred before following her at a distance. Thankfully, my beast allows me to move silently; not to mention, Serena’s not in her right mind. I’m not sure that she would realize I was behind her even if I didn’t try to hide myself.

For the last few days, she’s made her way back to the library to continue to pore over books that don’t help or to simply walk the grounds, but not tonight.

Tonight, she passes through the castle and goes right to the garden before making her way to the training yard. As far as I know, she hasn’t been out here since the incident at the village. While we’ve been training our magic and bodies, none of us wanted her to push herself too far, which is why we have been switching off time with her in the library. If she stays occupied, it’s easier, safer.

I watch from a distance as she stretches and runs through workouts we taught her years ago, back when she was timid and shy and unable to defend herself. She’s not that person anymore, even if she doesn’t believe it.

No, Serena is the strongest person I’ve ever met. It’s one of the many things I love about her.

After a while, she moves from her workouts to working with her shadows, and for a moment, I’m in awe. The shadows, her elemental darkness, was something none of us were ready for, and not that long ago, it scared the hell out of her.

Not anymore.

Even from this distance, I can see the confidence she’d lacked before as her shadows answer her call and quickly bend to her every whim. It’s amazing to watch, and I couldn’t pull my eyes away even if I wanted to.

Serena has always been mesmerizing, but now…I’m not sure what it is, the bond or perhaps my beast is drawn to the power as she moves in what appears to be a dance that only she and her shadows understand.

Hours pass, and she’s a panting, sweaty mess as she falls to her knees, exhaustion written all over her face. I want to go to her, to wrap her up in my arms, bring her back to the room, and demand she rest, but I know that won’t do any good.

She lets her eyes fall closed, falling back to sit on her butt, legs crossed, as she pulls in deep breaths and blows them out slowly through her mouth.

With each breath, the shadows gather around her more and more until they take the form of a beast, and not her rabbit.

No, the beast isn’t hers, but it’s one I’m no less familiar with.

Lyle’s bear is huge. There's no way you could mistake it for a regular bear, even if you didn’t know what he was.

Serena said she used to take the form of Garrett’s beast and fly with him, but it wasn’t something she was able to replicate without a lot of effort, and even then, it was still only partial. Right now she’s taking Lyle’s form completely, to the point that if I didn’t know it was her, I might not have guessed it.

When did she learn to do this?

And why would she put herself through the pain of taking his form out of every beast she could choose?

Lyle’s beast only lasts a moment before the shadows vanish as if they were never there. Serena remains, but she’s no longer calm the way she was a moment ago. Instead, she sits on the ground with her chest heaving enough that I can see it even from here, just like I can see the tears that roll down her cheeks.

I’m moving before I can think better of it.

No, I didn’t really want her to know I’ve been following her around and risk pissing her off, but right now, she’s already upset. I’ve never been able to handle seeing Serena cry, but this isn’t just a few tears because she’s mad or had a bad dream.

She’s breaking in front of my eyes.

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