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She rests the book against the small of Mal’s back, bowing her head over the page so that she can write on the page.
“Something I meant to do before it went missing.” Glancing over at me, Shannon winks, then finishes what she’s doing. After sparing a quick squeeze to Mal’s side and a murmured ‘thank you’, she lifts up the writing her name in her slightly slanted print. Written in all caps, she’s added:SHANNON CREWESbeneath the other two names that were already there.
Then, her grin turning mischievous, she holds the stick out to me. “Your turn.”
“Do I want to know why we’re writing in this book?” I ask, taking the stick.
“Probably not. But since I’m going to tell you anyway… think of it as a library book. Everyone who checks the book out and gets their demon leaves their name behind. Susanna Benoit was first,” Shannon says, pointing to the script at the top. “Then Amy—”
The first name is written in script. Susanna M. Benoit. After comparing the handwriting to the additions to theVERUS AMORpage, I decided the mysterious Susanna did the translations. The second name is a childish scrawl. I just assumed it was a kid in Susanna’s family who added their name.
That’s why I’m slightly taken aback when Shannon says that Amy has a demon of her own.
“Can’t help but notice that Amy looks like she was maybe seven,” I point out.
“Nine,” Shannon corrects.
I nearly choke. I was being facetious, but she’s dead serious. “Did you saynine?”
“Yup.” At my look of horror, she waves her hand absently. “It’s not what you think. Amy summoned her mate when she was a kid, but they didn’t actually bond until she was in her mid-twenties.”
With a glance back over to where Loki is basically vibrating in place, his need to touch me, to hold me, toloveme so strong it’s spilling out of his big body, she adds almost conversationally, “Nox was in the duke’s dungeon until then, wearing chains just like his. It was a lot harder for him to get out of them than your beast.”
He’s not my beast. Not anymore. He’s my mate, and I’m not going to let anyone cage him—or chain him—while I’m around.
Sending a message to Loki that I’m just about done, I place the stick to the page as Shannon holds it for me. I smudge theKbecause I’m not used to writing with this type of pencil, but the rest of my name comes out pretty decent. Following Shannon’s lead, I addBarnesnext to it.
She nods in approval, easing the front cover closed before she hands it back to me. “Good. Now the next chick who finds it won’t think she’s alone.”
I’m about to ask Shannon if she’s so sure that someone else will when I realize that that’s a ridiculous question. I did, didn’t I?
And before me, Shannon did. So did Amy and Susanna, too.
Hugging the book to my chest, I wonder who will be next.
Shannon gives me a knowing nod. Then, patting her big demon on the back, she says, “Well now that that’s all settled, what do you say? Ready to go home?”
If her mate is anything like mine, when Mal’s eyes light up, he’s already imagining Shannon half-naked. “I can summon the portal back right now.”
His eyes aren’t purple. He’s not a mage like Loki is, though he doesn’t have to be. With a human as his mate, Mal can rip a hole between worlds after the first time Shannon called him to her.
Loki explained that to me. Hecouldbring me home, but if anyone but ever laid eyes on him in the human world, we would be breaking Duke Haures’s first law. That might mean chains, or it could mean death, depending on the ruthless ruler’s mood.
And, no matter what, Loki will never risk me.
I wonder about what it’s like to be a Sombra demon’s mate in the human world. To never be able to announce proudly that he’s yours, to have to hide in the shadows with him. It can’t be easy, and I have to admit that I probably made the best decision staying here. In Sombra, I don’t have to hide.
It’s definitely better this way, even if there are things I miss about my old life…
While Mal’s arms start to glow with the same golden runs, at the mage, Shannon turns and waves. “See you soon, guys.”
“Shannon, wait.”
“Yeah?”
“Sorry about stealing the book. I just… I had to. You understand that, right?”
She glances up at her mate, narrow face full of love and affection as she meets his golden gaze. “Oh, yeah. I gotchu. And no worries. Like I said, the book seems to find someone who’s fated for one of these guys. If you didn’t sell it to me, who knows? Maybe I would’ve been the one to steal it from you.”
