“Yes,” he snapped, seemingly unable to get more words out through his anger. At least until he said, “Are your creatures here as well?”

“I don’t actually know. I feel their energ—” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because that was the moment they crept into view. Maybe I’d somehow called them with those words, or maybe they’d just been slower to appear, but as the hundreds of shadow creatures made their presence known, my power exploded.

I hadn’t done anything to initiate the explosion, the power reacting of its own accord, in a similar way to how my wolf used to occasionally burst free from my skin. This time, it was the change, washing over me so I went from human-looking Mera to phoenix wolf Mera in a heartbeat, flaming wings and all.

Shadow’s chest rumbled, his energy reacting too, as he shifted into his Anubis form, flames still surrounding us both. Our clothing was destroyed again, the energy of our shift always leaving us naked, but in this form the extra hair covered us.

There was a beat of stunned silence, and then the royals rushed forward, bowing and chanting at us. They called us “Nexus gods” and offered up every sacrifice one could think of in worship. I had no idea what I was going to do with fourteen thousand barrels of “gre gre,” or what gre gre even was, but apparently, I was going to have more than enough of this unknown item coming my way soon.

As immensely uncomfortable as this entire situation made me, I didn’t belittle their actions or beliefs in any way, nodding and thanking them before focusing my attention on my creatures.

My wings spread out farther, the flames shooting into the air behind me as I stepped forward. Thankfully, everyone got out of my way so I didn’t have to stress about accidentally burning a royal.

Come to me.

I called the creatures, as I had so many other times. The ones who had been visible stepped forward… followed by so many others. The hundreds quickly turned into thousands, all of whom must have been squished in the very back of this deceptively huge courtyard.

I opened my arms, and even though there was absolutely no way for me to reach around the group, my power didn’t have the same limitations. It crashed over them all, like a wave, and as it touched their essence, my bonds to them clicked into place.