Chapter 1
Bonded to the Fallen Shadow King - Chapter One
Briar
I dropped the maroon glass mixing bowl onto the beige tile floor with a crash.
Blinding-hot pain engulfed my left hand, and I turned toward the kitchen sink. My feet and legs stung from where small shards had cut into me, but that pain didn’t hold a candle to the burning on top of my hand.
I gasped as the agony intensified, making it feel as if I’d thrust my hand into a fire of blue flames.
On the floor, red velvet cake batter splattered the tile, reminding me of blood.
My heart clenched. I’d seen too much blood already; I didn’t need to see anything resembling it again anytime soon. At least the bowl had been nearly empty.
My older sister, Ember, yelped and shoved the cake pans into the oven behind me. She quickly closed the oven door and turned to me.
Are you okay? she asked, using our wolf-shifter pack link.
I’ll be fine, I reassured her as I turned on the cold water and put my hand underneath it. Even then, the pain didn’t ease—in fact, it increased.
Are you two okay? Ryker, our pack alpha and my sister’s fated mate, connected. Are you being attacked? There was a thump above our heads from what must be him jumping out of the shower.
We’re fine. I hated that I’d caused panic. Both my sister and Ryker deserved a little bit of peace. That was why I’d offered to bake with her, after all. It’s just… My hand is killing me. It feels as if it’s on fire.
Ember was at my side in an instant, her copper-red hair falling forward as she bent to examine my hand under the running water. The harsh kitchen lights made her olive skin appear pale.
“Let me see.” Her light-green eyes narrowed with concern as she gently took my wrist.
I winced as she turned my hand palm down. The water ran over my skin, but the burning sensation didn’t subside. I’d never experienced anything like it before.
“What the hell?” She gasped as her fingers hovered just above something forming on top of my hand.
Through the haze of pain, I followed her gaze. Black lines twisted on my skin, forming an intricate pattern, like a moving tattoo. The design looked like some kind of butterfly.
The black butterfly pattern shifted before our eyes, its lines blurring and reforming. I inhaled sharply as the wings began to extend, stretching across my knuckles and down my wrist. The black ink transformed into a deep crimson that pulsed with its own light.
“Ember, it’s moving.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
The wings elongated, curling around my wrist. The edges transformed into licking flames that seemed to dance across my skin. What had started as a butterfly was now something impossible, a fire butterfly with flames that formed perfect wings extending from a normal body.
“Ryker!” Ember shouted aloud this time, her voice tight with fear. “Get down here!”
Heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs as I stared, transfixed, at my hand. The flames weren’t just burning. They were becoming part of my skin.
Ryker burst through the kitchen doorway and stepped up to my sister, water dripping from dark-brown hair that clung to his forehead. Beads of water ran down his bare, muscular chest to the waistband of his jeans. His gold-flecked brown eyes locked on my hand.
“What is that?” He leaned down to examine my skin more closely. His presence usually calmed me, but even his steady pack-alpha energy couldn’t quell the panic rising in my chest.
“If we knew that, I wouldn’t have been frantically calling for you.” Ember rolled her eyes.
I almost laughed. I loved how snarky she could be. Still, now wasn’t the time to lose focus.
I…I don’t know. I went back to using our pack link, afraid of how my voice would sound.
With Ryker being my alpha, he’d know how much I was panicking.
But I also knew he wouldn’t want my sister to freak out, which she often did when it came to me.
It just appeared. One second, I was cleaning up cake batter, and the next.
.. I trailed off as another wave of fire radiated from the mark.
Ryker’s fingers hovered over the design, not quite touching. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“I would say it’s witchcraft, but there are no shadows over it to indicate a spell.” Ember tilted her head as she studied the intricate, fiery lines crawling across my skin. Unlike most wolf shifters, due to our unique heritage, my sister could see the magic of witches’ spells.
Ryker shook his head, and water droplets from his hair hit my face. “Yeah, I wouldn’t think a witch could do that.”
“Fuck!” Ember slammed her fist against the pale-gray granite counter. “It has to be a fae thing. Nothing else makes sense.”
The word fae sent ice through my veins despite the burning in my hand. Ember and I had believed the fae existed only in fantasy stories until a week ago, when our Many-Greats-Grandfather had visited us.
We shouldn’t have been surprised. Humans didn’t believe that wolf shifters, witches, and vampires existed either, and the few who did were considered crazy. Yet here we were.
“But why?” The crimson flames pulsed brighter, and I could feel each movement slither across my skin. “I thought you said that only your fae magic would be activated, not mine.”
Ryker’s brow furrowed. “We don’t know enough about fae magic to—”
The burning sensation suddenly shifted, transforming from a piercing agony to a gentle warmth pulsing beneath my skin. I sighed in relief. The fiery butterfly continued its dance across my hand, but now it felt almost…pleasant. Like fingers gently tracing patterns on my skin.
“The pain is receding.” I flexed my fingers, wanting to know if that would impact the tattoo, but it remained steady.
Ember’s gaze darted between my face and the mark, her look anything but reassured.
She exchanged a loaded glance with Ryker, whose jaw had tightened into a hard line.
They were having a private conversation through their mate bond—I could tell by the way their expressions shifted in silent communication.
My heart dropped. I hated when people worried about me. There were so many other things that deserved their attention.
I forced my lips into what I hoped was a convincing smile.
“Hey, I’m okay. Besides, we still have to finish this cake.
” I pulled my hand out of the water and dried it with a paper towel.
“The icing won’t make itself, and those strawberries need to soak in the syrup for at least thirty minutes before serving. ”
Ember’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious right now? You’ve just been branded with fae magic, and you’re worried about dessert?”
I shrugged, trying to project a nonchalance I didn’t feel. My stomach was in knots, but that didn’t mean everyone’s needed to be. “What good will panicking do? The mark’s already here. Might as well have cake while we figure it out.”
Ryker’s lips twitched, almost forming a smile despite the tension in his shoulders. He placed a hand on Ember’s back and said, “She has a point. We need time to research this properly anyway. Finishing the cake will give us time to think clearly.”
“Fine,” Ember huffed and turned to open the cabinet to get a clean mixing bowl for the icing. “But this conversation isn’t over.”
I bent down to pick up the larger pieces of broken glass from the floor. I couldn’t register what the two of them were talking about as I threw the glass into the trash, then carefully wiped up batter and the smaller shards. The entire time, Ryker tracked my movements.
The intensity of his gaze made me pause, so I walked past the island and into the walk-in pantry to grab the broom and dustpan. But as soon as I walked out, Ryker was watching me again. My skin crawled.
What? I began sweeping up the remaining glass.
You don’t fool me, Briar. You’re still scared, he linked to only me as he smiled at Ember. I can feel your emotions through the alpha link.
My shoulders slumped slightly. Please don’t tell Ember how worried I actually am.
She’s finally starting to relax. She deserves a night without feeling worried or like I’m being threatened.
I tried to seem unbothered as I discarded the last of the tiny glass fragments.
Besides, this is just a weird tattoo. We’ve been through worse.
I didn’t have to mention what that meant.
Both his childhood pack and ours had recently been slaughtered by vengeful vampires, and though we’d ultimately exposed and defeated them, we were still recovering and settling into our new pack.
For now, I’ll let it go. She’s so happy baking and being with you. But after we eat, we tell her. I refuse to keep things from her.
Ember strolled across the room and opened the silver refrigerator to grab a block of cream cheese, seemingly oblivious to our silent exchange. “We need to finish the frosting. Briar, can you measure out the powdered sugar while I beat this?”
“On it.” I stored the broom, grateful for the distraction. The mark on my hand pulsed with warmth as I came back and washed my hands before getting to work.
Briar, Ryker pushed.
Fine, after dinner. There was no stench of a lie because I meant it. I just hadn’t clarified when, after dinner, I would. I was hoping for never, but I was quite certain I wouldn’t get away with that for long. Not with how much Ryker cared for my sister and, by extension, me.
He seemed satisfied as he focused on Ember, watching her do the other thing she loved most—baking.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur of forced smiles and feigned normalcy. The cake turned out beautifully—three layers of red velvet with cream cheese icing and syrup-soaked strawberries. But I barely tasted a bite.
Unfortunately, our other packmates, Kendric, Gage, and Xander, had decided to stay with King Harry, our wolf-shifter ruler, and his daughter, Princess Liv, to protect them, which meant I got to eat with Briar and Ryker alone.
Great.