There was no adequate way to describe the sensation of stepping through the fabric of a world, and when we emerged under the first layer of Angel’s territory in the Honor Meadows, I was basically speechless. Again.

A rarity that amused Shadow to no end.

“In time you’ll come to expect that much of what you see is an illusion,” he said, chuckling at the gobsmacked expression I wore. “We all wear masks and use power to disguise parts of ourselves.”

I swallowed roughly. “Yeah, I mean, I know that in theory, but to see a world turn from a twilight expanse of golden fields into a sunlit realm of clouds and waterfalls, after you cut through that golden field layer, is not really an everyday occurrence. I mean… how in the actual freaking illusion are they doing this?”

It was as if Shadow had peeled a layer of a painting away to reveal a completely new scene below. Or maybe it was like peeling an orange to find a pineapple below. This layer looked, felt, and smelled different to the one above, and I was really starting to understand the many layers of Angel herself.

“It’s just magic,” he told me. “Your eyes see what you’re told to see, and it’s only if you look closer that you’ll notice the delicate edges waiting to be peeled away.”

I thought on this as I followed Shadow along a white fluffy expanse of cloud, marveling at how we weren’t plummeting through it. “Would my wolf have seen the edges?”

He looked back at me. “Not when you were first here; you were resistant to the truth. But today, you could see it all if you allowed the true power within you to rise up.”

“Part of me is still weakened by my wolf side, isn’t it?”

We’d never spoke explicitly about it, but I’d pieced it together from what Dannie had said, and what I also felt inside. I was a hybrid—that much was true—but I could be so much more than. I could be like Dannie; I just didn’t know how to take that step to becoming that Nexus-born being. I wondered if I might have to figure it out to before this battle was done.

“No part of you is weak,” Shadow said gruffly, “and your potential knows no limits. Continue to evolve, and you’ll be the strongest of us all.”

I couldn’t imagine that ever happening, but it was a nice thought.

Shadow picked up his pace, and I noted that the waterfalls around us seemed to stream from above the clouds. The way the light sparkled off the teal-tinted water made it look so damn enticing. Right up until a few unfamiliar creatures splashed through the strands, looking like a hybrid of a unicorn and shark, with a sparkling gold-tinted horn, pearlescent skin, and very sharp fangs.

“The cogarish,” Shadow told me. “They’re native to this world. Their horns are used to reinforce a lot of the armor the transcendents wear—when the cogarish dies, of course, since they’re revered and protected here.”

“How many different creatures live in this world?”

Shadow shrugged. “There’s no way to tell. The layers hide everything, but as far as I’m aware, the only true sentient beings are the transcendents. Otherwise, it’s just these smaller creatures.”

“Do the different families here fight with each other?”

Shadow considered my question. “Again, their secrets are their own, but I don’t believe petty squabbles are part of their makeup these days. Their evolution is old and near flawless.”

Flawless. I liked that. Maybe there was a chance one day, if humans and shifters got their shit together, that we, too, might one day be perfect.

Shadow continued on, only stopping when he reached a particular sparkle of light, and as he had done before, he cut through the layer, taking us from the cloudland into one of water. Huge bodies of water that we used our power to walk above.

“Angel can live in any of these levels?” I asked. “Are they all real?”

He looked around, seeing and smelling everything I did. “Is anything truly real? Or is it all a product of our imagination?” Before he bent my brain further with his philosophical questions, he continued. “But as far as I know, each layer here is as real as the one before.”

To test this, I reached down and ran my hand through the water. It was wet and cool, leaving a residue of liquid on my fingertips. When I touched those fingers to my lips, it tasted a little briny.

“How is it that you still don’t understand the danger of putting a foreign object in your mouth?” Shadow asked with a shake of his head. “For all you know, the water here could kill you in an instant.”

I gawked at him. “You didn’t say anything when I had your dick in my mouth. Where was your concern then?”

He blinked, and then he laughed, a deep, rolling rumble that had many parts of my body sitting up and paying attention. When he finally stopped laughing at me, he stepped forward and cupped my cheek. “I’d kill my mother just for the fact that I might have never heard your inane chatter again. You don’t think before you speak, and it’s… refreshing.”

Forcing myself to swallow the thick swell of emotions, I managed a smile. “She will never take this away from us again.”

He nodded, pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead, and… how was that so freaking hot? I would swear I felt it in my vagina, if the flutter there was any indication.

He turned and walked off before I even had a chance to pull myself together. “Wait,” I called after him, hurrying to catch up. “You didn’t confirm that the water won’t kill me?”

“I didn’t confirm that my dick won’t, either,” he called back over his shoulder. “Guess only time will tell.”

I muttered under my breath as I splashed after him, my magic keeping me mostly dry. Shadow didn’t slow until he reached the next layer, and this time, we stepped into the water, popping out into a new layer.

I straightened to find that this level was what I’d liken to the Amazon jungle. It was humid, filled with millions of plants and trees, some towering over us, others bushy and thick, and the scents. An overwhelming number of foreign smells filled my nose, making my head spin for a second before I filtered them out.

“This is the layer she lives in,” Shadow murmured. “I can feel her energy now that we’re here.”

The flutters in my chest went haywire, confirming that the jungle level was the one. “It’s insane. I literally couldn’t feel her in our bond until we got here. I’m starting to understand Angel’s fascination with your mate’s maze house in the realm.”