Page 37 of Shannon in Sombra
What? No. I was going to go first.
My head swivels, searching for my mate’s golden eyes. “Mal?—”
Right there, he lays his hands on my shoulders. “I will always follow you, my flower. But, this once, I need you to be the one who comes second.”
When it came to me throwing myself down there, I didn’t care. But now that Mal wants to go…
“I don’t know. What if there’s some kind of monster waiting for us on the other side?”
His golden eyes gleam. “There was a time you thought I was a monster.”
He’s not wrong. I mean, in my defense, anyone would think the same when a seven-foot-tall shadow demon with glowing eyes, pointed ears, horns, and a freaking baseball club between their thighs popped out of an inter-dimensional portal into their apartment.
But my demon mate is so much more than that. He’s kind-hearted. Devoted. Loyal. The best lover I’ve ever had, the sweetest companion, and Alana’s father.
How can I stop him from going after our daughter and protecting his mate?
I don’t argue with him. And maybe everyone else expects me to, but there’s no time for that.
Squeezing his side, I send a pulse of pure love down our bond. “Be careful, okay? And I’ll be right behind you.”
“I’ll shout when it’s clear,” he promises.
He holds true to his word. After what feels like the longest three minutes of my life, eventually I hear Mal calling my name. Assuming that means it’s safe for me to follow him, I do.
I understand immediately what took so long. Malphas had to dig furrows into the ash to fit his body. As big, tall, and bulky as he is, he’s left a path that’s tight yet easy enough for me to take. In less than two, he’s taking my ash-covered hand in his, tugging me out of the hole and pulling me to my feet so that he can embrace me.
One by one, the rest of our group crawls on their bellies in the ash. Loki brings up the rear while Kennedy nibbles nervously on her dirty thumb. Her pregnant belly gave her a little bit of trouble, and only having her mate behind her, talking her through it, led to her finishing the crawl.
Freya waits for Loki to check over his mate before she joins her human.
Rearing back on her hind legs, she chatters up at Kennedy.
She exhales. “Okay. Fine. You can stay. But if you see any threats, I want you to run back home. I know you can do it. You’ve already done enough.”
Freya chitters, eyes flashing brighter than the orb that Loki conjured again, showing off that this side of the shadow block is exactly the damn same as the other.
Kennedy crouches down, meeting the ungez so that she can ruffle her shadows. “I’ll be alright. I have Loki.”
Freya makes what I can only describe as a disbelieving scoff.
Seriously.
Kennedy laughs softly. “Behave, Freya. You’re being a naughty girl now that you helped.”
“Okay. If no one else is going to say anything about this, I am. Kennedy, what the hell? You speak shadow rat?” Tandy asks, barely bothering to hide her amused yet incredulous tone.
“I’ve been trying to tell you guys all along,” Kennedy says, pausing so that Freya can scamper up her body and settle around her neck like a shawl. “Ungez are really, really smart. And she’s not a shadow rat, okay? She’s more like a mix of a cat and a squirrel, thank you very much.” Excitement suddenly creeps into her voice. “A squirrel-cat that just got us closer to finding Alana!” She points. “Look!”
A butterfly.
It’s another butterfly.
Is it the same? No clue, but if we’re supposed to follow the damn thing, it’s such a relief to see it flapping away on the other side of the tight channel we just wormed our way through.
I laugh. Part relief, part that stubborn hope I’m allowing myself to cling to… I laugh, and I’m just glad the unfamiliar sound doesn’t frighten the glowing butterfly away.
And then, after giving Freya a pat of gratitude of my own, I say, “Someone’s gotta tell Apollyon that we’re taking ungez off the menu. And Mal, baby? When we get Alana back, we’re getting her a Freya of her own.”
