Page 62 of Shadowlands Omega

I growl and look up at her. “I’m out of options.”

“There are plenty of options.”

“I want to wed you under the blood moon knowing that you’re safe.”

She stills…and softens, rubbing her hand down her face. “I will help you, but you cannot involve the rest of my family. Promise me.”

I am backed into a corner. Because I cannot make that promise. Owenna is already on the hunt. “I need rest. You need rest,” I say. “We will talk about this further tomorrow. I want to take a trip to the ports…”

“Not tomorrow. No way will you be well enough — and not during the day…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you can’t very well search for creatures of darkness in daylight, can you?”

The way she says it, so simply, makes me shudder. We’ve done some exploring at night, but not enough. There is aknowingin her gaze that compels me to say what I do next. That, and the drugs Okayo has me on. I offer her a confident, dare I say, cocky smirk and suggest, “You are already helping, then, Kiandah. Why don’t you make up to me these scars I took by remaining in your rightful place in my bed and, when we’re well enough, joining me to vanquish the undead at nightfall?”

She is silent for far too long before finally, harrumphing in a petulant way that makes me smile because it lets me know I’ve won.Again. She settles again beneath the covers, drawing them up over us both, and I revel in the feel of her warm body next to mine. It’s like drinking a forest fire. Incinerating and painful and consuming. I bite down on her shoulder and she swats at my cheek. “You are incorrigible.”

“Thank you.”

She laughs begrudgingly. “You do not take insults well.”

“I didn’t hear an insult.” She laughs harder and I use the opportunity to say, “Your brother will have to join us when we go hunting for monsters.”

She opens her mouth, shuts it, then nods. “Because you gave him a red cloak to protect me?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for that. It is an exceptional honor.”

“It was an obvious solution to the problem of the Crimson Rider who assaulted you.” She shudders. I pull her closer on a growl. “You need a bodyguard that I trust not to touch you. Your brother fits the bill. He’s got the same fire you do. He’ll make a good Rider.”

“It’s…” She bites her lower lip. “He used to dress up in red capes all the time when we were children. He always wanted this. You…you don’t know how you honor my family with this.”

I hope she feels the same when she discovers Owenna’s new rank, but I cannot share that with her until we are wed. Owenna’s rank will remain what it is only because so few know of it. If she becomes compromised, her colors are lost, so only Lord and Lady of the Shadowlands can know, along with the other Black Cloaks operating with her in the darkness.

“Once you become my Lady and the undead army has been vanquished and I am certain that there will be no threat to you among my people, he will be absorbed into the Riders’ regular ranks. Until then, I want him shadowing you anytime you move beyond these castle walls. No exceptions.”

“And my brother was okay with this?”

Her surprise surprises me. “Of course. He wants to keep you safe.” I growl as I nuzzle into her very short hair. Her curls are barely regrown, but are so soft against her scalp. Her head is so small and perfectly shaped. I open my mouth to tell her how much I love her hair and the smoothness of her skin and see if she wouldn’t mind a quick fuck, just to help the both of us go to sleep, but she spares herself — us both — by speaking first.

“If I stay all night,my Lord,” she says teasingly, in a way that annoys me and makes me smile at the same time. “Then there will be nothing you can say to stop me from coming with you to look for the undead when you’re clearheaded and no longer in pain.”

“Make it every night and we have a deal, my queen.”

She reaches her way around my body and awkwardly takes and shakes my hand. I smile. “Deal, except if I’m cross with you. I reserve the right to kick you out of your bed — our bed. It’s mine now if I’m being invited to share it indefinitely.”

I smile, feeling lighter than I ever have, and breathe in her wonderful scent. “Whatever you say, my queen. Whatever you say…” And I drift off to the sweetest dreams I can remember having in all of my long days.

18 | Yaron

Shadow Keep

“You must be out of your mind, Kiandah, if you think you’ll be joining a war party to hunt for undead Alphas.”

Her lips are tightened to a tiny point. She shoves her finger in my stomach as we square off against one another. “You promised.”

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