Rocking against him, I was hit with frustration that there was no time to seal this new soul-bond with some good old-fashioned sexing. We were already naked, and it would have been so easy to slide onto his impressively hard cock, but today we were rocking PG-13 since we still had a world to save.

“Come on, Sunshine.” Shadow growled, clearly having the same thought. “The others are waiting for us.”

He moved back far enough to magic up a pile of clothing in his hands before he all but threw them at me, his energy dressing my body faster than I could have done myself. Comfy sweats and sneakers covered my sensitive skin, and I still had to marvel at his skill in choosing just the right outfit for me. Even if I figured out how to create my own clothing one day, I was fairly certain Shadow would still be better at it than I was.

“Tell me about Dannie,” I said, watching as Shadow dressed himself as well in the same manner. “Did the cage work?”

His fire flared again at the mention of his mother, and clearly, he was not ready to talk about what had happened yet. “Your energy sealed the fortress,” he finally rumbled. “It drained you until you shattered like ash in my arms.”

Fuck. Seriously, fuck.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” I said, wrapping my arms around him again. “I promise I would never have touched it knowing that I’d hurt you like that. I wanted to stop Dannie too, but it was a stupid risk.”

He let out a curse. “In hindsight, it was the best choice to make. She remains caged, and I believe it’s slowly draining her. But if you ever take a risk like that again, I will punish you so thoroughly, you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

My lips twitched, and I managed not to encourage this line of thinking. Not today.

“Draining her is good,” I told him. “So now we just wait until she feels weak enough, and we release the cage, hold her down, and tear the stone from her?”

He nodded. “Yes, we’ll have no choice but to free her long enough for one of us to rip her to pieces. And in regard to that, there’s one problem only you can help us with.”

Before I could open my mouth to ask what the hell he was talking about, a flash of amber over his shoulder caught my eyes.

“Angel,” I breathed.

My rebirth had allowed some of my shifter frailties to fall away, and with that came a new, clearer vision when I looked at beings like Shadow and Angel. They were so much brighter and more brilliant to me now. The shine of their power and strength filled my eyes and my heart to the point where it felt a touch overwhelming.