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“Are you sure about that? What about your family? They must think you’ve just up and disappeared.”
Honestly? They probably didn’t even notice.
“Loki’s the only family I need.”
“And your store? I don’t know what kind of deal you had with your landlord or anything, but it’s still there. All the books are inside. You could open it up tomorrow.”
I could?
That store was my life. I loved Turn the Page, and I sacrificed so much for it.
I don’t even hesitate. “Or you could.”
“What? Kennedy, no. That’s not what—”
Too bad. “I mean it. I’m not sure how all the logistics would work or if you’d even want the store, but take it. I’m that sure that I’m staying here. In fact… hang on. Okay?”
I wait for Shannon to nod, then I scoop Freya up, settling her on my seat as I get to my feet. Before Shannon can ask me what I’m doing, I left the front room, scurrying into the bedroom.
After I explained to him what I wanted, Loki conjured me a bookshelf woven from shadows. I have three treasured books that Lilith gave me perched on the first shelf, and theGrimoire du Sombradisplayed on the one below it. Grabbing the leather-bound tome, I return to Shannon.
“Here.” I offer it to her. “Take this with you.”
Shannon crosses her arms over her chest, a small smile on her face. “Fucking hell. Iknewyou had the book all along.”
Obviously. How else would I have summoned Loki?
“It worked for me. It worked for you, too. Maybe there’s someone else it’s meant to find, and another Sombra demon who’s waiting for their mate.”
I’m still clutching the book in my hands. Though I’m holding it out to her, she stumbles backward with such force, it’s like I whacked her with it.
“Shannon?”
She clutches her shoulder, eyes gone wild as she whips her head around. “Mal!”
That’s panic in her voice, and fear thinning her lips before she turned her back on me.
My stomach goes tight as I move toward her. “What? What happened? What’s going on?”
Shannon is staring at my closed door, almost like she can see through the wood and out into the village if she tries hard enough. “I don’t know. It’s… I think that was Mal. I think he’s hurt. I… shit, Kennedy. I gotta go.”
I’m so confused. “Go where?”
“To Mal. Something’s wrong.”
“But he’s with Loki.”
The look she throws me over her shoulder as she dashes for the door tells me that she hasn’t forgotten that for one second.
“Mal protects me,” she says, groping for the doorknob. “And I protect him.”
It’s a tricky one. Loki conjured one for me when he realized that, with a human mate, the door couldn’t just be decorative. I can’t zoom out of the ceiling or pass through the door like he can. Shannon got lucky with it earlier; either that, or she’s panicking enough now that it’s a struggle.
“Give it a jiggle, then a turn and—”
She’s got it. Without a second look back at me, she bolts out the door.
For a couple of seconds, I stand there, holding the book, trying to make sense of what just happened. Then, reaching out instinctively for Loki, I stumble when it hits me that I can’t. I wasn’t really paying attention, listening to Shannon instead, but I don’t think I have since I left him outside.
