Ah, I understood what they’d been waiting for. “I think because I was reborn as a hybrid shifter, there’s a part of me that can never be awoken again. I’m not pure, but I’m okay with that. My shifter side is what allowed me to leave the Shadow Realm and be part of the other worlds.”

Angel nodded a few times. “Yes, yes. You’re right, and with that in mind, I best fill my well of energy so we can be on our way.”

She went back to the layers of her land, continuing to eat through them like she was a starving shifter who’d just finished her first change. I’d never actually seen her eat before, but this she definitely enjoyed.

“Where are you storing it all?” I knew she filled her regular strength through meditating with the land itself, but this had to be so much more than normal. So where was the extra going?

“I’m layering it upon my skin,” she rumbled, tilting her head back as a burst of light expelled from her mouth. “I’ll take as much as I can.”

“Until now, Angel refused to power herself using the extra energy,” Shadow said dryly, “for fear that others would consider it an act of war.”

She scoffed. “They’d have stood no chance against me, but you are correct. I can no longer tolerate war. It was easy to allow the power to rest here, providing me with a safe haven that none could infiltrate.”

No wonder she’d been so shocked at our arrival. The thought that her sanctuary was so easily infiltrated must have filled her with a level of fear that would have felled a lesser being.

When Angel took her final layer of power, she was literally glowing, sparkles of gold falling off her skin like glitter. “We must return now,” Shadow said, and he wrapped me up before Angel could touch me. “Mine,” he added for good measure, nailing the angel-faced beauty with a glare. “Even as powered up as you are, I will destroy you if you claim Mera again. The first bond is bad enough. Don’t make it any worse.”

I was missing something here, but there was no time to ask. Angel’s eyes flashed to a deep molten gold. “Don’t push me, Shadow Beast,” she snapped. “You cannot lay full claim to Mera, since there’s more than one bond connected to her energy. Mine, Midnight’s, Torin’s, and now yours.”

I cleared my throat. “Look, I fully intend to murder Torin, so you can scratch his ass off that list. If I’d had my memories in Torma, he’d already be dead.”

Shadow was pissed, flames sliding up and across his body as he pulled me tighter into his chest. “Mine, Melalekin. Last damn warning.”