“Emon.” Remnant cooed at me, like one would to sooth a child.
“Little umbra…” I whispered brokenly. Even in my momentary rage with Bane, I had not scented any blood from her, but I knew my soul would not be calm until I absolutely knew for sure. Retracting my claws, I brought my bloody hands up to her face. “Are you okay, did he harm you?”
Remnant snorted and leaned her face into my hand. “Of course I am okay, Emon. Bane is harmless. I was his novice for many years, nothing he does surprises me anymore. You should have known better.”
My puffing sigh of relief blew her hair back into the shadowy darkness.
“I can’t—” I swallowed hard. “I can’t bear to even think about you being harmed.” I trembled. “I need you Remnant, let me show you…let me take you away from here. Just this night, to show you the truth. You said we need to make time.”
She frowned in the shadowy darkness. “But the others…tomorrow—”
I kissed her lips softly and groaned when she kissed me back. “We will be back before tomorrow. Let me show you.”
Remnant shivered and then leaned in kissing me again. “Okay.”
I pulled back and stared hard into her emerald depths. “Be sure, little umbra. Tell me—tell me you choose this.”
Her hands reached up and covered my own. “I choose this, Emon. I choose you, shifter.”
I released a satisfied groan and pulled her tightly to my chest. “Little fiends.” I growled at the shadows around us. “You know what to do.”
Snapping, the shadows plunged inward, instantly transporting us to the location I projected in my mind.
Chapter 66
TheshadowsdissolvedandI stumbled back from Emon, staring wide eyed. “Did they just portal us?”
"Yes." He said warily.
I slowly turned and gasped at the large expansive cave we were in. Crystals of all colors dripped from the ceiling like icicles. Their glittering points ominously hovered above us. A gentle waterfall with an aquamarine hot spring glowed in the center of the cave, its steam curled up from the beckoning waves making walls glitter like a starry night sky.
Another slow turn and I looked down, to see the smoothly polished gemstones light up with each step I made. Fascinated, I tapped my foot and smiled when the floor shimmered with color from the vibration.
I looked back at Emon who quietly watched me.
“How?” I said with a mixture of wonderment andirritation.
The floor lit up his carefully guarded expression. “I thought you knew. When you never asked how I got back to The West Isles so quickly from The Under. I thought you knew.”
I hugged my arms against my body feeling shame from never questioning it before. “I never knew…” I looked up at him frowning, “over two thousand years and I never knew that they had the ability to portal travel.” I whispered.
Emon stepped forward and I let him fold me into his body. He kissed the top of my head and I smashed my face into his heated chest. “It seems both our powers have been keeping secrets from us.” He mumbled into my hair. “My panther never bothered to tell me he lost his name nor his memories. All those years living with him inside of my head and he never told me either.”
I sniffed into his chest, breathing in the security his dominating presence gave me. “Where are we?”
Emon tilted my head up and I was lost in his golden light. He smiled. “It’s called the Lover’s Cave, a powerful place in the Red Caps. Shifters used to spend their honeymoons here after binding themselves to each other.”
A blush spread over his cheeks and over the crooked bridge of his nose.
I giggled the uncommon nervousness pouring off of him, brushing back the hair falling between his eyes. “Not a very creative name, shifter.” I watched my hand trail down his face, over the stubble of his beard, and then traced his lips.
Emon chuckled and nipped playfully at my fingertips, his nervousness diminishing as quickly as it came. “And yet very informative. It tells you everything you need to know.”
Dropping my hand, I pressed myself closer to his radiating heat. “Is that what we are now, lovers?”
His face turned serious and his demeanor nothing but vulnerable when he whispered. “It is what I wish for and more…” He swallowed. “If you’ll have me.”
This side of him was one that I wanted to claim myself the keeper of. The one and only keeper of, for this was his heart, a gift that he was freely giving to me.
