Page 16 of Shannon in Sombra
“Down for a nap. She should be sleeping for the next hour or so.”
His lips curve, his fangs so incredibly erotic as he widens his smile. “I don’t have any painting to do for the afternoon. Are you heading to the library?”
After yesterday, I decided I need a small break from the EL. “Nope.”
He moves into me, laying his big, warm hand possessively on my hip. “Maybe we can go to bed, too. For maybe an hour or so.”
In answer to his tempting proposition, I go up on my tiptoes, clutching him by the back of his neck so that I can kiss him. Mal groans into my mouth, tugging me toward him as he deepens the kiss. I let him, and I nearly decide to say ‘screw it’ and lead him upstairs, but then I hear high-pitched laughter coming from near the house and, sorry, Mal.
I pull back, moving my hand so that I’m patting his cheek. “Raincheck?”
His brows draw together, the lusty daze in his eyes sharpening at my flippant question.
Huh. Oh. Right.
Rain.
“Sorry. Bad choice of words. I mean, later? I’d like to go outside and see if I can find them for a chat.”
“I’d do anything for you, my Shannon?—”
Including suffering with a hard-on until it deflates because sex can wait a little bit longer, huh?
I drop my hand, patting the space behind his pecs. I tap theA&Nin my name. “Girl talk, babe. I love Kennedy to death, and most of the villagers are cool, but it’s great to talk to any of the girls who still live on Earth. What if Sierra and Hope”—and I gotta know howthatfriendship happened since, last I heard, Billie was Sierra’s best friend and her pop persona’s manager—“go right back to Earth. To Manhattan or New Jersey or wherever they’re living now that’s nothere?”
I need the gossip. The updates. More importantly, how did my TV show end? What movies are coming out? Has any of us figured out how to make the internet work here yet? Magic, turns out, is a great electricity boost. Basic devices like my e-reader and electric shaver get charged by one of Loki’s spells, but damn it, I miss my streaming services and my TV!
Get me entertainment like that that works in Sombra and I’ll be more than happy to stay for the rest of forever. Until then, I’ll stick with the EL, plus getting my fixes when one of the human mates who can still live full-time in the mortal realm—like Hope, Sierra, and Amy—occasionally visit.
Amy is childfree. So is Hope; as she says, she loves her nephew and nieces to pieces, but never wanted any kids of her own. Sierra is about halfway through her pregnancy, only recently starting to show, but since she’s probably the most photographed woman in the world, it was definitely a big bombshell that she’s giving up her touring life, especially when it was obvious that it was due to settling down and starting a family at the height of her career.
That’s right. Whiskey Rose herself, America’s pop princess, is mated to a red-eyed Sombra demon hunter named Dagon. She’s pregnant with his kid—and I can only imagine the online speculation about who the father must be—and would never have been able to hide it as easily as I did.
Hope, on the other hand, is a sweet if a little scatter-brained librarian from central New Jersey. Poor girl thought she was being haunted because theGrimoire du Sombrawas following her around. In reality, since her mage mate, Sammael, was technically a ghost at the time after he tried to cast the matefinder spell himselfandhe was the one trying to get her to read theverus amorspell to summon him to her, shewasbeing haunted.
I didn’t know that, though. When I first met her, Sammael had been taken from her home in the same enchanted gold chains that he once threatenedmymate with. She drove all the way from Westfield to Jericho to bring the spellbook back to Turn the Page, hoping Kennedy could help. Sorry. She was already living her HEA with Loki, while I was the lucky chick who had to help her save her mate.
So… yeah. Not a big fan of Sammael because, like with Glaine, your girl holds a grudge. Loki’s just lucky that I found it in me to forgive him for ramming Mal with his horns, but that’s because of Kennedy. I like Hope. If we ever get as close as me and Ken, I might soften toward her mate.
Glaine, though? Billie’s awesome, but the grumpy guard hasn’t got a prayer.
Malphas likes him. My Mal likeseveryone.
And that gives me an idea.
“Why don’t you go talk to Dagon and Sammael? Keep them company while I got catch up with Hope and Sierra?”
A soft acquiescing sigh from my big demon mate because he says, “Glaine had already found his way over. Loki took Sammael with him, heading off somewhere to talk ‘mage’, but Glaine was sent to speak with the hunter.”
Sent… “Billie made him go?”
I thought I saw their downstairs light on last night. Interesting that the head of Haures’s guard was in Nuit before the rain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he sticks around nowafterit.
Then Haures doesn’t have to make an appearance at all, does he?
Malphas nods.
I grin. “Perfect! I’ll go wait outside until I see the girls, and you keep Dagon and Glaine company while we have a little girl talk. And,” I say, before he can ask, “I’ll stay right by the house so I’ll know if Alana cries.”
