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“No.” My gaze darts to the woman who sets down her coffee cup, looking like she wants to leave. “It’s complicated. Can it wait?”
“Not until you explain why you haven’t bonded with your umbra.”
I blink. “What did you say?”
“The handsome blond with the gray sweatpants?” She flashes her eyes. “That’s how the unbonded ones all camouflage when exposed to the light.”
My throat suddenly feels extremely dry, and I place a hand over my mouth. I’ve felt so off-kilter this day and a half that I haven’t had time to ask her hard questions, which is crazy because I’m not usually so easily distracted.
I lean into her and whisper, “What do you know about them?”
She glances over my shoulder. “Is Mr. Roberts coming back anytime soon?”
“No.” The word slips from my lips before I can even stop it. “I mean, I don’t know.”
“Your umbra’s absorbing him, yes?”
I keep my features perfectly still because if she knows so much about where my mate originates, I don’t need authorities from another dimension coming over to arrest us.
“It’s alright,” she says with a tiny smile. “That’s what umbras do if they want to stay in our dimension for the long term.”
“Right.” I run my fingers through my curls. “He didn’t tell me any of this.”
“Neil and I needed help to work things out when he first crossed over.”
“You’re human, right?” I whisper.
“Yes,” she says with a smirk. “Are you?”
“I’m confused that you know so much about them.”
“It’s only because someone else told us how things work.”
Jessika tells me that the umbras are a race of shapeshifters who live in the deep waters of a world that suffers from global warming. Over the millennia, they developed a way to cross dimensions, but creating the rift requires getting a summons from a soul mate.”
“So who put the meditation on Youtube?” I ask.
She raises a shoulder. “Probably another umbra who crossed over early and wants to help others. But you realize the only way for your mate to be with you properly is by absorbing another human?”
My features tighten. “I see.”
“Is yours with Mr. Roberts?”
A pang of guilt strikes my chest. It’s one thing to justify Mr. Robert’s demise to myself. Quite another to admit it to Jessica. I have to remind myself that setting him free would have hurt an innocent monster. I give Jessika the subtlest of nods, not wanting to throw my mate under the bus, but I’m desperate for information on what happens next.
Jessika places a hand on my arm. “It should take about three hours to digest someone of Mr. Roberts’s size, but make sure he uses that form when out in public.”
“Why?” I ask.
Jessika stares at me as though I’ve been struck dumb. “So he can take over the coffee shop, of course. I’m going to need a place to work until Neil gets his first check.”
My heart skips a beat, and I glance around the busy café. “You mean all this will be his?”
She grins. “It’s how the umbra get settled so easily in this dimension. But you’ve got to make sure he takes on Roberts’s appearance for at least a few weeks before starting to make subtle changes.”
I give her a blank look. This is a lot to take in.
Jessika wrinkles her nose. “Do you honestly want to be seen in public with Mr. Roberts?”
