Deserted (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 4)
Deserted: Chapter 50

The twin moons still burned brightly across the sky, and I prayed that their energy would be enough for me to regroup and fight my way out of here. My eyes never left Reece, who looked calm, showing no indication that he had set a suicide plan in motion to save the worlds.

Part of me wanted to rage at the unfairness of our path; it was too much to ask of us. We’d already spent centuries apart, and now, when we finally had a chance to live, it would be ripped from us one more time. But if we did this together…

Palming my blades, I sliced at the sand holding me, and while the energy-infused tip did part the barrier, it wasn’t open long enough for me to slip through the shield. Reece didn’t turn my way as I fought, but I knew he felt my fire and sorrow. All to no avail.

If only I could figure out a way to harness the power moon—an event that happened once in thousands of years. If I could tap into that power, we’d have a shot. Maybe we wouldn’t even have to die, since the gods were still weak, and until Death rose, we had a chance.

I released my blades as an idea hit me. Maybe my way to the moon’s power was through my bond with the desert god. He could tap into parts of this land that I’d never be able to, even at full strength. Closing my eyes, I dropped to the ground and fisted my hands into the sand, drawing on the bond that was deep in my essence. Filtering through my normal strengths, I dug deeper to replace the power of the Desert Lands, and it was there, strong and perfect. But no matter how many times I tried to grasp onto its core, the essence slipped through my hold.

My scream was near deafening as I released my frustration, my eyes still closed as I pushed deeper into my power well. Deeper than I’d ever gone before. This was the part of myself I’d cut off when Reece was no longer in my life. Where my pain lived. My shame. Every part of my soul hurt in there, and I was instantly reminded why ignoring this depth of myself was a favorite pastime. It was a cut that would never mend. A burn that seared deeper and deeper, even as I tried to exorcise the ruined flesh. In any other circumstances I’d give up the fight, too weak to crush the demons here, but this moon I would never stop.

I took the pain and used it to fuel my determination.

The sand heated under my hands, and at the same time, there was a flutter deep in my stomach. A foreign sort of flutter that caught all my attention. I choked out a cry at what I felt there. Impossible. I’d been searching for Reece’s energy to use the sands, and I’d found it, only…

How in the damn worlds had this happened?

Before I could break down at the achingly tragic truth of my new existence, so perfect and so bittersweet, there was a roar from outside of my sand bubble, and I finally had to open my eyes. Pushing up against the sands to stand, I choked on my next breath to see the gods surrounding Reece. Despite their alien features, with too many or too few parts, it was still obvious that they were furious. Reece must have given up on his pretense of joining them, and as he stepped back, I was the only one to notice he was leading them to the blood-infused glass pillar he’d created.

Just as his back touched it, he lifted his hands into the air, and the land rumbled as he drew on its energy. Turning in my cage, I found another gap in his sand, and through it, I saw the pillars trembling as black sands smashed against them.

At least, I thought it was the sands, until bones burst into our clearing, the barrier no problem for them. The dead crossed where the living couldn’t, and I knew every part of his plan now. Reece was using the bones, those powerful guards, and he was about to set them free on the ancient gods to give himself enough time for the sacrifice.

Ivory, gold, black and bronze bones from many races closed over the top of the ancients, and as Reece tilted his head back, he clapped his hands together. The shockwave knocked me a few steps away, and I scrambled back to the small gap in my sand in time to see every bone was now ash, showering down to cover the gods, who raged at this unexpected attack.

Reece turned, then, and met my gaze, and there was so much regret and pain and resignation in that one look that I lost conscious thought, screaming and smashing my arms against the sands, begging him not to do this. Not now. Not when we had so much to live for.

He just needed to give me time, a chance to save us all. I could do it, if he’d only wait—

His lips parted as he called my name, and then, with a final sigh of air, he threw himself up and onto the glass pillar. Time and space lost all meaning as my rage and agony took over, washing all other senses and emotions away. After some seconds, I noticed the ringing in my ears, and that was when I registered the screams. My screams.

Falling to my knees again, I could no longer hide from the truth of what was happening. Reece had sacrificed himself to save the worlds, and all I could do was watch as his body slid down the glass, lifeforce slowly expelling from him. Normally, a pillar such as that would not kill a being of Reece’s strength, but through our bond, I felt his solution to that problem.

Our eyes were locked together; he hadn’t looked away from me as he died, and he was fucking killing me. As I pressed into the sand, I felt his power building. Building in the only way an eternal could destroy themselves: an explosion of his essence.

The gods started to howl then, but they were trapped in the bones, which had already started to pull them back into the sands where they would be held forevermore.

Reece’s plan was working, which meant fuck all to me if I still lost him.

Forcing my frantic mind to calm, I stood and released my hair, needing the calming ritual of braiding before battle to get into a frame of mind that might include a solution before it was too late. As the long strands covered my shoulders, I reached up to braid it again, settling my brain into warrior mode. I was all that Reece had left in his corner, and I would not let him down again.

As I worked through the thick strands, I reached a small knot. Transcendents didn’t get knots, a quirk of our magical energy, and yet here it was. Tugging at it, because I needed my braid done to focus completely, I tried to ignore the swells of Reece’s power that told me he was almost gone.

The sharp pain against my scalp was brief, and as the hair finally released, a single speck of silver dust drifted in front of my eyes. It took me a fraction of a heartbeat to understand what I was seeing.

Silver sand.

Catching the fleck with one hand, my other hand dropped to my stomach as I put the pieces together. What I’d felt before was a miracle, and that explained this second miracle clutched against my palm. There was no time to truly marvel at this as Reece’s energy swelled stronger, and I knew this was my last chance to stop him. I’d been given a gift, and I could not waste it.

Slamming the hand with my speck against the barrier, I gasped at the silvery shimmer that burst through the red sands, dissolving his barrier like it had never been there. My body moved on instinct, tearing toward its mate, our bond vibrating in my chest.

‘Reece! Wait!’ I cried, hoping he would give me the seconds I needed.

Just as I was within touching distance, red sands rose to cover his body, and as my fingertips scraped across his arm, the world went dark. In the darkness there was a second of still reflection, and then the explosion blew me across the clearing.