Page 42 of Shadows of Light
The shadows seethed. They wanted to befree, to kill any who got in their way whether they deserved it or not and to make those who threatened the host pay.
The woman rattled the shadows’ control of the host, but they had to protect her. However, they wouldn’t let her win or break their hold over the host.
He wastheirs.
And there was a new threat out there.
“They’re plotting against us,” the shadows hissed to the host. “Your brothers, the arach, the witches, the lycan, and the vampire are plotting to capture and take you from us. They are the enemy. Wemuststop them.”
* * *
The lycan partof Cole tried to shift as it sought to take control over the shadows. It wanted its matenow.
She’d been in danger tonight, and he’d missed the impending attack. The shadows, though powerful,couldn’tknow everything.
They’d missed this plot to come after Lexi, and because of that, the enemy breached Dragonia. They sentwendigosafter her! Those monsters, with their unending hunger, had entered Dragonia to kill her.
And I missed the ones who planned it!
It could happen again, and if he wasn’t at her side….
Cole couldn’t think about what might happen then. He had to be with her but couldn’t go to her like this. He was falling apart; the shadows were tearing him down, trying to take over, and whispering of vengeance.
And he so badly wanted that revenge. He yearned to go after all who posed a risk to Lexi and tear them apart. He’d hunt them across all the realms, but that meant leaving her.
The shadows had gotten him to the battle quickly tonight, he’d beaten Lexi to the fight, but he should have been at her side, not skulking like a fox through the night. But he had to leave; the shadows sought to keep killing after their enemies were all dead.
He had to take them away before they started slaughtering those who didn’t deserve it. He allowed a couple to remain to watch as she left the battlefield and returned to the safety of the palace, but he took the majority with him and buried them in the darkness.
And now they were trying to bury him too.
A guttural roar tore from him. His back bowed as his hands clawed at his bare chest, and his face elongated into a snout. But as the lycan sought to break free, the dark fae also sought to take control.
It didn’t happen often, but a dark fae could fall in love.
And once a dark fae loved, they loved deeply.
Cole’s head bent as his shoulders hunched, and he tried not to scream as war raged inside him. He battered his hands against his forehead and temples.
FUCK!
His nostrils flared, and his lungs burned. He couldn’t breathe; his chest was too constricted from the fury and longing tearing him apart. Bones and joints cracked and popped as he started to shift.
“They are the enemy,” the shadows said. “We can’t kill the woman, but we can eradicate the others.”
“No!” Cole snarled.
He knew what his loved ones wanted to do, and he didn’t blame them, but it infuriated the shadows. There was no way to separate him from the shadows, he was becoming increasingly certain of that, but his family and friends wouldn’t give up.
At least not yet. Eventually, they would come to see the truth as Cole had and concede defeat, but they would do everything they could to save him until then.
He wouldn’t let the shadows hurt them because of it. His control over them was spiraling; with every passing day, their madness seeped deeper and deeper into his soul, but he would keep those he loved safe from them.
There was no other choice.
His hands hit the ground, and claws scoured rocks as they shifted into paws. The wolf almost broke free before the shadows exerted their dominance again.
The lycan part railed against their control.Nolycan could stand to be dominated; only an alpha was ever allowed to do so.
