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.”