“He’s repairing the library,” Gaster said.

Sam gasped and clapped her hands. “I understood you.”

Gaster’s smile was broad. “Oh, that’s wonderful news. The universal translator is back in effect. Hopefully, the rest can be returned as easily.”

I would have crossed my fingers if I could manage to move my hands. Of course, I could have fought against his hold, but it wasn’t worth interrupting such an important task just to exert my dominance. Returning the Library of Knowledge to its former glory was essential to the well-being of my soul.

“What were you trying to tell me before?” Sam asked Gaster, excited to freely be able to communicate with him. “It felt super important, and there was no time to run into the dining hall to find out.”

Gaster’s smile was gentle. “You were stacking Faerie history with Valdor history, and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings by undoing all your work. I was trying to show you the marks on the books. That’s how we catalog them for the shelves.

Sam blinked at him. “But your face was so serious…”

Gaster nodded. “Oh, yes, knowledge is the most sacred of gifts we possess. It must be treated with the sort of reverence that speaks of its importance.”

When her wide eyes turned in my direction, I was trying to hide my smile. “He’s into books,” I said cheekily.

Gaster waved a finger in my direction. “And are you not, Ms. Shifter? You spent most of your waking hours in here sneaking books off the shelves, thinking none of us would notice.”

My smile turned into laughter. “Oh, Gaster. I knew you indulged me, and I was very careful to always place them back in the correct position. Respect the library and it will respect you.”

He was beaming, like an adorable little ray of sunlight. “You’re a true blessing, Mera Callahan. We have all benefited greatly from having you in our world.”

My chest went tighter as my eyes burned; it meant so much to hear him say that. I’d grown up a pack burden and outcast, so to now find myself respected and appreciated… It was an overload on my fragile emotions. I mouthed thank you to Gaster and he nodded, but then we all had to shut up because Shadow was stepping up his game.

His power wrapped around Gaster and Sam, locking them down in the same manner as I was. They both started to protest, but only until the next explosion of energy left Shadow. Flames burst free from his body in an impressive arc, coating everything in shades of red, gold, black, and amber. The colors of the Nexus. The colors of Dannie’s phoenix. The color of my wolf when she burst into flames.

Creation power.

His fire whipped through, clearing the old, followed by his shadows, rebuilding the new. Through my connection to Shadow I felt him tiring. A rare occurrence for one as strong as the Shadow Beast, but I wasn’t too worried. He knew his limits, and we were in no immediate danger today, so it was best to try restoring the Solaris System before we went to war.

26

It took Shadow half a day to bring the library back into working order, and when he was finally done, he was barely able to stand. I personally liked the beast on his knees, but this was neither the time nor the place to take advantage of that. Instead, I attempted to haul his heavy ass up, dragging him to the newly reestablished seating area so he could sink into one of the cushion chairs to recharge.

Sam stayed with me, but Gaster had already hurried off to check if everything was as it had been. From what I could see of my library, it looked just as I remembered pre-Dannie, so I spent my time focusing on Shadow.

“Are you okay?” I asked, kneeling beside the cushion he was sprawled across. He tried to move forward, but I pushed him back. “You basically just rebuilt an entire travel system, maybe give yourself a second.”

Shadow’s eyes darted toward Sam, and I knew he was unhappy about being this vulnerable around an unknown shifter. I mean, we all knew he could kill her with a blink of his eye, so there was no real danger to him, but it was part of his nature to distrust a stranger.

“I’ll recover in a few minutes,” he rumbled gruffly.

Reaching out, I took his hand but didn’t push for anything else. Sometimes you just needed a little support when times were hard. I had no idea if Shadow had ever had a person like that in his life, but he certainly did now.

The moment our skin connected, the fire of our powers rose together, visible between our palms. Shadow tilted his head in a way that indicated he hadn’t expected that. “Your power is restoring some of mine.”

The moment he said that, he pulled away, and despite my best attempts to hold on, there was no fighting his strength. “Let me help you,” I protested.

The rumble in his chest told me everything he thought of that statement. “I won’t drain your power to restore mine. There’s no immediate danger, and I’ll recover shortly.”

Gods save me from stubborn beasts.

“How did I even do that?” I pushed. “Share my power with you?”

His expression gave nothing away at first, but when I continued to stare him down, he released a long breath. “We’ve formed a bond,” he said, giving no indication how he felt about that. “At some point, the sort of true mate connection that’s common in the Shadow Realm and among shifters has settled between our two energies.”

I eyed him closely, keeping my expression neutral, even though my heart was slamming against my chest. I’d been feeling a connection, but I hadn’t realized it was a true mate one. “You don’t sound very happy about that,” I attempted to joke. “But I’ll have you know I was picked first for every sports team up until the sixth grade. I’m an excellent choice.”

His lips twitched. “That’s your sales pitch? For an eternal true mate bond? You got picked for sports?”

I crinkled my brow as I tried to think of something else. “Uh, is that enough? I can probably make some cooler shit up?”

He shook his head as his expression finally thawed. “Sunshine, there’s no being in any of the many worlds I’ve traveled who is worthier than you. But I do worry that with our fates so entwined, if I fall, then so will you. I cannot live with that.”

Unsurprisingly, the possibility of me dying with Shadow caused not even a blip of concern. “Dude, if we go down together saving the world, I’m okay with that.”