Page 29 of Shaped By Darkness

Ryker wasn’t born with his shadows. No, his were agiftfrom Draven, the same way his beast is.

He won’t tell me what it is, won’t show me, and refuses to talk about it. The only thing I know is that his beast has wings, and I only know that because my shadows mocked them the night we faced Draven.

Draven…

What I wouldn’t give to crush him. He doesn’t deserve the air he breathes, let alone the powers he has. As if him seeking power wasn’t bad enough, he decides to treat his own son like an experiment as he kills anyone who might stand in his way of gaining it.

Because of his insane need for power, Ryker doesn’t even know what his original beast was and, like me, has no access to any other element while also wielding a ‘broken’ darkness, as he refers to it.

Serena is my mate.

I’ve thought about her nonstop for years, but now it’s different. This isn’t a constant ‘what if’; she’s mine.

“I know you're happy you finally got your dick wet, but could you please pay attention?” Pike’s words make my cheeks burn, but I bite back any smart-ass comeback because he’s not really wrong. I wasn’t paying attention, and while the way he worded it was crude and not at all the reason for my distraction—well, mostly not—Serena is.

She’s the reason for everything.

Keep your heart eyes to yourself, you're not my type.He throws his head back and laughs as I shoot him a glare.

I don’t have heart eyes, but even if I did, you have no room to talk. You're just as in love with her as I am. Besides, you fuck someone who has my face! What do you mean, I’m not your type?

That only makes him laugh harder, doubling over with his hands on his knees.

“For your information, I’m usually the one getting fucked, thank you,” he chokes out, and by the gods, I wish he hadn’t.

Before I can stop it, my mind makes a mental image, and I’m left gagging as I try to think ofliterallyanything else.

“Holy hell, why would you say that?”

Pike is on the ground now, laughing hard enough that he has tears rolling down his face, and, honestly, I can’t even look at him. I don’t give a shit what he and Storm do, but damn, I did not need the mental image of my twin fucking him. It’s too much like myself, and I love Pike, but not like that.

“Your face!” Pike wheezes as he hits the mat below him, gasping for air, and I hope he passes out. “Oh my god, your face! That was amazing!”

Once again, I feel my cheeks heat, this time for a totally different reason.

It doesn’t take more than a thought for me to transform. Large paws taking the place of my hands as I fall toward the mat, and I’m on him in a second. He shifts just as fast while we roll around on the ground like children.

We jump apart before facing off, muzzle to muzzle. His tongue flops out, drool dropping to the floor. While neither of us is human right now, I can see the excitement, read the way he’s baiting me, trying to push my buttons.

It’s working, but I know better than to move first. Pike is big, but he’s also fast and a superior hunter, even when he’s messing around. When he was younger, his father used to make him catch his meals, or else he wouldn’t get to eat. So while all our beasts can hunt and are predators, only Pike has ever had to rely on his to survive.

I used to think Pike’s father was the worst man I ever met, and while I still think the world would be better if Lyle had killed him, I think Draven’s kid has it worse. His father is like a real-life supervillain.

Pike whines, unable to stay in one spot for long before he finally caves, darting forward to drag his fat, wet tongue up the side of my face, leaving a line of slobber so thick it’s dripping down my face onto the mat.

That’s it!

I move to lunge for him, but I never make it as I’m plucked out of the air.

‘Children…’

Even in my mind, I hear Blair’s lack of amusement. He stands, transformed from the waist down, his tail wrapped around my waist, holding me still only inches from Pike.

‘Save it for combat training. The fact that I can still reach into both of your minds so easily tells me you're not taking this seriously. If you don’t want to learn to shield your mind so you can hear all about the way we fuck each other. Or worse, end up susceptible to each other's feelings and feel it as we fuck each other…’

He doesn’t finish, but he doesn’t need to. Instead, he looks between us, brow raised, as if to ask what we want to do.

“If you want to play, that’s fine, but stop wasting Queen Rosalynn’s time.”

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