Page 34 of Shannon in Sombra

Either way, my sweet, innocent baby would be stuck with a monster.

She’s in here. Dagon followed the human male’s tracks into the shadows. Even Lucian and Damien are convinced we have to go this way to find her. We just have to follow the butterflies—which would’ve been so much fucking easier if the butterfly leading the way didn’t suddenlydisappearon us.

Even worse, I may be shit when it comes to directions, but I know I saw half of a thigh bone sticking out of the ash, perched against one of the burnt trees that hide in the shadows. When I see it again about ten minutes later, the same angle, the same divots dug out of the bone as though a pair of violent claws went at it, I kick it.

Losing the butterfly was bad enough. It winked out right before I noticed the bone. That’s probably why I was so pissed that I kicked it in the first place, butfuckit felt good to get out some of my aggression.

It’s only mildly better than dealing with the shame that I allowed my baby to be taken.

So the red moon basically roofied us. So Nuit was supposed to be safe, just like there shouldn’t have been any human guys in here. As far as I can tell, there’s only been one: Connor, Amy’s abusive douchebag of an ex. And since Amy confided in me that Nox brought Connor to the shadows to keep him away from his mate and, you know,killhim, I highly doubt he was around to nab my baby.

Besides, Connor’s abandonment in Sombra was almost twenty years ago. I’ve been in the shadows for a half an hour, tops, and I feel like I’m losing my mind. Connor couldn’t survive, right?

Does it matter?

When Alana needs me… needs Mal… does it matter who fucking took her?

I want my baby back!

I thrust my fingers through my hair, shoving it out of my face as the thigh bone soars into the dark reaches of the shadows, landing with a muffled thump against the dry ash. “We followed the stupid butterfly. We’ve gone in fucking circles. What are we supposed to do now?”

Dagon crouches down to the ash in front of him.

Sierra scoots closer to him, her calf bumping his knee. “What are you looking for?”

“Tracks,” he says, answering his mate. “I’ve been using Loki’s spell to search for the same bootprint. The human male came this way, but I don’t see any more prints.”

“Where was the last one you saw?” That’s Glaine. The soldier twists his wrist, keeping himself—and his sword—ready. “If the faripoz has gone, we might have to backtrack and find the way the human has went with the spawn.”

“The faripoz has done its purpose,” confirms Lucian.

“For now,” adds Damien. “Until the wicked wind whips it along a different path, the innocent calling out for its familiar.”

What?

Another prophecy? Or some more gibberish that makes sense to him and no one else?

I bite down, trying not to lose my ever-loving shit. Taking out my frustrations on the riddle-speaking doppelseer next would be a bad idea, I know that, but when he says shit like that… when he’s not helpful, at all… it’s not that easy.

Good thing I have my mate. Mal brushes up against me, his touch tethering me. He’s so sure that I can do this. That I, too, can doanything.That together we can find Alana… and no way in hell am I going to disappoint him.

Through my gritted teeth, I say, “Please, Dagon. Do you remember?”

He nods. “This way.”

Loki makes sure that Kennedy is tucked next to Sammael and Hope before he surges forward, lending more light to the hunter.

We just have to retrace our footsteps and figure out where we lost the kidnapping print. He can’t just disappear, right? Humans don’t fly. Portals don’t work in the restless dark that marks the edge of this demon world. Sammael proved that when he tried to move further ahead, hoping to catch the unknown human guy before he got too far. He couldn’t even summon one. It’s up to us to track him?—

—but it’s im-fucking-possible.

He shouldn’t have been able to disappear. Heshouldn’t. But when Dagon goes back and finds the last bootprint he saw, he wasn’t wrong. It’s thelastbootprint. In between one step and the next, the guy has vanished.

Worse, there’s a… awallthere. Loki’s light shows a patch of black that is so impossibly dark, it’s not a shadow. You can’t see through it. If there’s something on the other side, I can’t tell. Wherever the kidnapper’s taken her, I can’t follow him. I try. I run to the ends of it, where Loki’s light illuminates the ash and the burnt trees. I see more of the same behind the wall, but I know… I justknow… that I would be wasting my time going around it.

I have to gothroughit—and I can’t.

And that means I can’t go after Alana.

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