Page 29 of Shannon in Sombra

“Fuckbeing distracted. I should’ve known.” Shannon slaps her hand down on the wet ash angrily, spraying it over our feet. “My daughter was in danger. I should’veknown.”

I wish I had. To protect Alana, to save Shannon from suffering, knowing that someone has stolen our spawn…

Dagon steps out of the way of her justified anger. “If you had ever experienced mate sickness, you would know that sometimes the gods make these choices for us.”

“Your gods, maybe,” retorts Shannon. “Not mine. Not Mal’s. The gods who are looking out for us would never want us to get laid so badly that they’d risk our baby.” She rubs the wet ash on the shadow coverings I wove for her before rising up from her couch. The way her ridge-free brow furrows… my strong mate has forced back the worst of her fear in favor of planning her next move. “This is the last print, right? And you found the first one outside the back of our house?”

That’s what Dagon explained to us as he led Shannon and me to the outskirts of Nuit. Just in case, Apollyon and Glaine were going house to house, seeing if any other villagers could tell us where Alana was, while Loki and Sammael—the only two mages in our clan—were using their magic to locate our spawn.

As a hunter, Dagon used his skill to track the male responsible for taking Alana. I had hoped that, when he brought us to the edge of shadows, lined by the skulls… I had hoped that he left Nuit, heading for a neighboring village.

But as Shannon peers at the dark shadows with a clever eye, I suddenly understand that it won’t be as easy as chasing after him before he can join another demon clan.

Whether or not Dagon’s human mate is as crafty as mine, he doesn’t understand the harm in telling Shannon, “Yes. And every indication is that he brought your spawn into the shadows with him.”

Dagon’s Sierra is with spawn now. If anyone ever threatened their child, the hunter would do whatever it took to get her back—just like I shall.

I am an artist, yes. But I’ve also learned from Nox, trained with some of the other hunters in Nuit, and am filled with Shannon’s essence. That’s why, when Dagon admits that the male brought Alana with him into the inky black shadows, I expect Shannon to march right toward them.

She does. Without the sneaks she instructed Loki to conjure for her, without any other covering than my shadows, my wee human mate is careful to avoid the skulls even as she heads for the wall of shadows at the end of Nuit.

My mate is connected to me, through our essence exchange, our bond, and the shadows I gave her so that she wasn’t walking around the village square completely bare. Even then, she seems surprised when I dash in front of her, holding up my hands, blocking her from marching straight into the darkest shadows in our realm.

Shannon recovers quickly. Fisting her hands on her hips, she glares up at me. “Every minute we’re dicking around out here is another minute some whack job has Alana. I can’t let that happen, Mal. I’m going to get her. If you guys don’t want to come, that’s fine. I’ll go by myself.”

“You know I will follow you anywhere?—”

“Then what are you waiting for? Chop chop. Let’s fucking go.”

I glance at Dagon.

He shakes his head, red eyes blazing back at me.

He doesn’t think Shannon should go into the shadows. Of course not. When this is the place where Sombra demons come to die… it scares the essence out of me to think of my Shannon getting lost in the dark.

But we can’t abandon Alana, either?—

Taking my quiet as my agreement, she darts around me. My heart leaps as I close my arms around her. I’m in my solid form. I nearly swallow her whole in my embrace, but I can’t just let her go. If I do, I’ll never see her again.

I know it down to my bones. At the very least, we go together. But if we can go prepared… whoever stole our spawn won’t stand a chance.

I want to explain that to my mate. However, before I can, she wiggles in my hold. “Mal. What are you… no. I have to get her!”

“We will,” I promise.

“Then let me go. I told you. We’re wasting time here!”

“Shannon,” rumbles Dagon. “You cannot go on your own.”

“You think I’m an idiot? I know that. And I’m not going on my own. I have Malphas. My very own goddamn shadow. He’s coming with me. Right, Mal?” Turning in my hold, her eyes search my face, head tilted up so that she can meet mine even as the rain tracks down her cheeks. Rain… or are those tears? “Babe? We’re not going to just stand here and let him have her. Right?”

I look over Shannon’s head, meeting Dagon’s flat stare again.

He grits his teeth, upper fangs digging into his flesh. Like me, he shifted to his solid form when the sensation of the rain falling through our shadows became too much to bear. “You don’t know what you’re asking. I led a human female into the shadows once. We nearly didn’t survive the journey.”

Dagon is the new target of Shannon’s pointed stare. “But did you die?” she demands.

His expression turns confused. “I am a Sombra demon. I am immortal. The shadows nearly ended me… but here I stand before you.”

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