Page 16

“ T hank the fucking goddess.” I sighed and brushed my nose against hers, purring gratefully.

She stiffened in my arms and I pulled away quickly realizing my mistake. Shifters naturally demonstrated their emotions through touch…except my soulmate wasn’t a shifter. She was a shadow fae and she had no idea who I truly was to her even if our bond struck me to my knees one hundred years ago.

“Put me down, shifter.” She hissed coldly.

Reading the violence within her and liking it , I reluctantly lowered her gingerly to the ground. Brushing my lips against the soft outer ridge of her ear, I growled softly. “We have a situation.”

She tilted her head sideways, her eyes flickering to the watching water fae and then back to me. “I don’t trust you.” She murmured, her hand trailed down the front of my chest.

I gripped it tightly and brought it to my lips, whispering against the soft pale skin of her fingertips. “Trust in them less then. There was no waterway here moments ago and I have already killed one of them for getting too close to you.”

Remnant shivered then and pushed away from me.

The loss of having her so protectively within reach felt like a punch in the gut but she hardly noticed.

Instead, her chin tilted high, her spine snapped to attention, and it felt as if she commanded the air we breathed…

one could almost mistake her for an air elemental.

Seconds, it took only seconds for her to transform from a helpless unconscious fae into the hardened war general that all the legendary stories were made of.

“Kira.” Remnant barked. “Is this how you would greet your oldest friend Solaire?”

My brows rose. Solaire? Was she really taking my advice and trusting them less? Somehow that was hard to believe.

Something was wrong and it stunk with the lingering fear of the nightmare that still clung to her, no matter the flawless performance that said otherwise.

Kira’s siren laughter filled the static tension between us.

“Oldest friend indeed. You've been getting us into trouble ever since we were little fries, Solaire .” Her voice curled around Remnant’s name with mocking amusement.

“I’d ask what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into this time?

But it’s hard to ignore the disgusting, gigantic shifter next to you. ”

Remnant shrugged with a sparkling gleam of mischief to her smile. “Beasts have always been drawn to me, unfortunately, shifter scum included.”

I cracked a vicious smile and inhaled deeply with a purr. “It’s your scent that draws me, Solaire. My beastly nature just cannot get enough.”

The cat chuckled mockingly. “Your a poor excuse for a shifter, fairy boy. Smell harder because I know prey when they want to run and your little soulmate…she reeks of running.”

My body tensed with panic. “ You laugh but if she goes with the fish bitch so will I, even if it's as a goddess damn prisoner. She’s not leaving my sight ever again.”

“I'm not going anywhere near that goddess forsaken water, fairy boy.” Snarled the cat. “It’s not my problem your soulmate wants nothing to do with you. I can understand the feeling.”

The water around Kira had not stopped swirling in its threatening manner when I noticed they were both staring at me. “You sure your new little pet is well, Solaire? He looks a bit sick in the head.”

I licked at my fangs and hissed. Several of her guards averted their eyes.

Kira snickered and shook her head. “I'm not so sure I want a deranged shifter loose in The Under after he so…” she looked down at her dead guard still floating in a circle around her, caught in the whirlpools, “murderously accepted invitations to my realm.”

“An invitation you say?” Remnant flipped her hair over her shoulder, her body swaying in such a way that it drew the gazes of all around her.

My eyes trailed down the delicious curves wrapped in leather…

and fuck me, so did Kira’s. I had almost forgotten that water fae joined in pods.

One male for multiple females. Their males were more like toys to them.

Pets…tools to be used for reproduction. Since the fae’s infertility, the male water fae’s status had fallen even lower.

“I hadn’t realized invites were delivered with a full platoon of warriors and with your full powers on display, Kira. ”

Kira giggled. “Oh Solaire darling, you know I love a good entrance. Besides, we have so much to catch up on. Much has changed since you have been away.” She waved a webbed hand towards me dismissively. “Especially with shifter scum roaming these lands.”

I smirked her way. “Awe. Do I make you nervous Kira?” I purred.

Remnant didn’t bother to glance in my direction. “Surely a single shifter in these free lands is no threat to you, Kira. A waste of your newfound talent.” She waved to the newly created waterway.

Crossing my arms smugly, I waited for the next pathetic excuse that would coo from Kira’s siren lips.

She smiled secretly. “You flatter, Solaire. I wonder, would you like to see the rest of my talents?” She ran a clawed hand down the front of her scales.

Remnant rested her hand on her hip with an amused smile gracing her lips. “A fine temptation, perhaps, I wouldn’t mind exploring.”

Kira smiled brightly and shot a look of triumph my way.

Fearfully, my hand halted Remnant before she even took a step towards the waters. “You’re running and I want to know why? You must know we can not trust them.” I said lowly enough for only her to hear.

Remnant glanced down at my hand and the sharp sour scent of her sudden hatred instinctively made me release her with shock.

“There is no we, shifter.”

I inhaled deeply, stealing myself before she even took another step away from me. “We had a deal.” I graveled out.

Remnant raised a haughty brow. “And I will fulfill it, eventually.” She stepped into the water and peered back over her shoulder with a challenging smirk. “Follow if you must, my little pet beast.”

My eyes narrowed when she turned her back on me and I shook to refrain from dragging her back to safety. Kira giggled and covered her mouth with a webbed hand to hide her victorious smile.

Gnashing my teeth, I hissed before following Remnant like the loyal little pet beast I was. "Challenge accepted," I growled out, watching her body stiffen before stepping into Kira's welcoming arms.

Kira’s eyes met mine and I tensed from the urge to rip them clear out of her head. But first I would start with her leering webbed hands that were trailing lower and lower down the sides of my soulmate.

Remnant grasped onto Kira’s salacious hands and pulled them from her body. Grumbling, I stepped into the water next to them both, purposefully stomping on the dead water fae still floating freely, and shoving its prone body into the submerged murky sands below.

My cat groaned. “You're going to get us killed again, aren’t you?”

“Undoubtedly.” I answered back.

Turning towards Remnant and ignoring the scathing glare the water fae leader gave me, I spoke truthfully, knowing what she saw in my eyes right now would scare her.

“I will always be here for you. If that means I must play the role of your little pet beast and follow , then I will obey . Nothing will ever harm you again, not on my watch.” With emphasis, I snapped the spine of the submerged dead fae with my waterlogged boot.

The others stiffened with vengeful fury but I paid them no heed. I studied my soulmate intimately. Her green eyes shuttered closed, hiding the pain my words created, and then opened with the same iced coldness as before. “So be it, shifter. ”

Kira laughed cruelly, the scent of her anger not so easily hidden from my senses.

“They are so cute when they are desperate aren’t they Solaire?

” Kira snapped her fingers and another water fae guard with orange hair stepped forward holding something akin to black tar in her webbed hands while keeping her spear pointed far away from my soulmate.

I flashed a brief smile of appreciation in her direction and lifted my boot from her dead comrade. Allowing the mangled body to rise to the surface and float away from us. My thanks for her caution around my soulmate.

Remnant’s lip curled up in disgust at the sludge, paying no attention to my games. “You think after all these years, you’d at least find a way to make this process a bit more pleasant.”

The water fae leader laughed again. “Where would the fun in that be? Besides then everyone would come to our lands. The Under is ours and we don’t share it. Nay, the sludge will always be the only way to transform into a water fae to explore our world.”

That was the truth, the water fae kept their secrets in their own watery depths. Much of their culture was unknown and even those whom I befriended, who were no longer loyal to the deep, never gave up their buried secrets.

Remnant took the sludge from the orange haired warrior, scowling. “Unfortunate that. Bottoms up.” Swallowing it with a shudder, she plunged elegantly below the glittering crystal surface of the river just moments before her pale skin transformed with black scales.

Kira’s satisfied smile sent a foreboding chill down my spine before it turned on me.

“Well little pet shifter ? Are you loyal enough to follow? Males usually can never be trusted in this manner.” She said flippantly, brushing her long pink hair away.

A deep guttural growl escaped me. “Give it to me.”