Page 31 of Shannon in Sombra
But some unknown human dick kidnapped Alana. For whatever reasons he had—whoever the hell heis—he crept into our house through the back while Mal and me were indisposed, stole my daughter, and headed right toward the shadows. Dagon swears it. He points out all the bootprints he found that back up his theory, and by the time he’s done, I realize I don’t care. He says some guy brought Alana into the shadows with him. Fine. Then that’s where I’m going.
I thought that Mal would be right beside me. He’s my mate. Though, as a Sombra demon, he insists on serving as my shadow, when it comes to our relationship, we go together. After the misstep he made, hiding Duke Haures’s visits whether he had the best of intentions or not, I never thought he’d do something like this again.
But he did. He stopped me, and though I know I’ll never turn on my one true love, in that moment, I swore I felt my heart crack.
Malphas is the only one I can truly trust. The only one who understands what I’m going through. Not only because he has my essence and I have his, either. But because this is his daughter who’s been taken, too, and he wants her returned to us at desperately as I do.
Iknowthat. To the marrows of my bones, I believe that… and that’s why I nearly broke to think he would rather let someone run off with our child rather than face the shadows.
I was right. I never should’ve doubted my mate, even if the moment was a fleeting one. After all, Mal was right. I needed to be prepared. Shoes. I needed shoes. Real clothing. We don’t know what kind of magic works in the thick, heavy shadows, but between Loki and Sammael, I have two mages in Nuit who might be able to help us.
So, against my better judgment, I hurry back to the house to get everything we might need. Malphas runs with me, and I can tell from the tightness of his muscles that he honestly expected me to ignore him and possibly sacrifice myself by facing the shadows myself before I was ready.
I send pure love down our bond. Even if it’s just the two of us against the rest of the world, if I know one thing, it’s this: Mal will always, always do what he thinks it’s best for me. I’m his mate. Sometimes, I need to let him.
We go in through the back. Within minutes, I’ve pulled on a fresh change of clothes. I throw my hair up in a ponytail, then stab my feet into a pair of sneakers. Mal tugs on a pair of actual tanned leathers—and if I wasn’t in the middle of a nervous fucking breakdown, I might muse on what kind of shadow animal did the tanners use to create pants like that—and keeps the rest of him bare.
Together, we make the mistake of heading out through the front. And maybe it’s not a mistake—maybe, like everyone else that happens in the shadows, it wasmeantto be—because, waiting for us outside of our home, is about half of the village.
It’s still raining. Enough of it falls that, no matter how hot Sombra is, they’re… if not wet, at least damp. Malphas told me that the rain stings against a demon’s skin. It’s not all that pleasant for a human, either.
And, yet, here they all are. A lump lodges in my throat. I swallow it roughly.
Because, nearest to the porch, I see my friends and their mates. Kennedy and Billie, Sierra and Hope, even Tandy… they’re all here, offering their support while also waiting for me to tell them what the hell has been going on since my scream broke the quiet earlier.
I firm my jaw. Raising my voice, I say, “Dagon followed tracks into the shadows at the end of Nuit. Of Sombra. I don’t know who did it, but some guy… ahumanguy… took Alana. He took mybaby. I’m going in there and I’m getting her back.”
I don’t have time for questions. I’ve given an update, and every moment I’m in Nuit, that’s a moment that I don’t have Alana back in my arms.
Grasping for Malphas’s hand, craving that connection,needingit, I’m ready to start dashing back to the edge of the shadows when someone calls out to me.
“I’m coming with you.”
I would know that voice anywhere. From the friendly greetings when I’d stop in at Turn the Page after my trip to the Beanery, to all the days we sat talking in the EL, watching over Alana, marveling over our lives and our mates… I know that voice.
And I know exactly why she makes that offer: because she loves my daughter as her own, just as she loves me as her friend. Of course Kennedy would offer.
I have to refuse. Ihaveto.
“What? No. Ken, no. It won’t be safe.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. But you’ve never been in there before. I have.”
“Yeah, but?—”
“No buts. Loki will come with us. He spent over a hundredyearsin those terrible shadows. He’ll help, too. Won’t you?”
She turns to her mate, looking up at him through the fringe of her lashes. With her soft honey-blonde hair and heart-shaped face, I can’t imagine anyone telling her no. Especially not her mate… but he has to. She’s super pregnant. He can’t risk her?—
“Of course, I will, my heart,” grates Loki. “I have magic now, and the experience of spending long years in the dark. If you want to join the hunt, I will join it alongside you.”
“Hang on. Hunt?” I echo. “I’m not hunting?—”
“But we are,” murmurs Mal, squeezing my fingers. “We are hunting the ruthless human who might hurt our innocent spawn. Hunting him is exactly what we must do.”
He’s right. Obviously, he’s right.
And though Loki is a born mage, with the tell-tale purple eyes, a hundred years as a lost demon has turned him into an even more ruthless hunter. That can help us. So can his magic. I’d let Loki join us in a heartbeat, but Kennedy… I can’t. She’s so close to having her own child?—
