Cursed Mate (Feral Shifters 3)

He nods grimly. Not Felicity, then. Quinton sent these.

Fury gives me a fresh rush of strength. I leap onto the lopsided table and reach for the shadow on the ceiling, snarling wildly. I can only guess that our old alpha has figured out how to harness the shadow power from the stone more effectively. He’s essentially swayed the shadows Felicity sent to his own side, commanding them for his own use.

I leap off the table and catch another shadow with my teeth. Before I can give it a shake to stun it, tendrils whip around my face and squeeze. Suddenly, I can’t fucking see—it pins my eyelids shut and closes around my snout. A cold slithery sensation slides inside my nostrils.

Stumbling backward, I search blindly for the wall. The first thing I find is the refrigerator, which works for me—metal is harder than drywall or plaster anyway. Tossing my head wildly, I start beating the shadow against the fridge. Each blow makes my head ring, but the third hit makes the shadow release me. I suck in a breath and then leap after it as it tries to get away.

Amora shouts something that I can’t quite understand over the ringing in my ears from my self-induced concussion. I latch on to the escaping shadow and drag it toward the stove, where the burner is still smoldering with the remains of the last shadow I flambéed. Slamming the shadow on top of its melting compatriot, I wait a millisecond for it to catch on fire, then turn to help Amora.

Kian is on his back, trapped under five different shadows and rolling around like a turtle who can’t get up. Despite the overwhelming appearance that he’s in trouble, I can tell he isn’t, so I bypass him and bound across the kitchen on all four paws. Amora is crouching behind the broken table, both hands batting at a shadow crawling over her hair.

I skid to a stop next to her and latch on to the shadow, hauling it off her. Opening my jaws, I try to throw it across the room, but it holds tight to my teeth. I snap my jaws shut and tear into it, then spit it out on the floor.

As I straighten, Kian does as well. He’s still battling at least three shadows, while more are pouring through the door, oddly stark in the sunshine. He stumbles back, falling under the weight of the creatures, and I watch as his giant bulk slams into the basement door.

The whole thing explodes into matchsticks under his weight. He and the three shadows vanish into the darkness beneath with a series of painful sounding thuds.

A split second later, from the cellar room beneath us, Frost roars.

It’s not a human sound. It doesn’t even sound like a regular wolf. That’s his shadow wolf roar.

Oh shit.

The beast is loose.

Things just got way more complicated.