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I’m losing her. She’s going to act like she can’t help me… unless I give her a reason to.
“I saw your name.” At least, Ithinkit’s her name. “You and Kennedy. Some kid named Amy, too, and Susanna… her script looks like the same handwriting next to the ‘true love’ spell. Maybe it was her first book. It’s mine now. Well, Sammael’s… but he’s gone. Theytookhim.”
Shannon blinks.
Okay. So maybe I shouldn’t have unloaded all of that one a stranger if I didn’t want her thinking I was a lunatic, but I’m desperate.
And then she says, “Sammael? You know Sammael?”
Hang on—
“Youknow Sammael?”
Instead of answering my question, she comes waddling out from behind the counter. And, hell, I do meanwaddling. From chin to chest, you never would’ve guessed what she was hiding beneath that sweater, but as Shannon scoots past me, heading for the door, I can’t help but gape.
With the low belly on her, she’s gotta be like eight or nine months pregnant.
Too busy staring, I don’t realize what she’s doing until I hear the lock on the front doorsnickshut, followed by her pressing down on the switches, killing all of the lights.
And, whoa, maybe I shouldn’t eventhinkthe word ‘killing’ right now…
“Um. Is everything okay?”
“Huh?” Shannon must see the guarded look on my face because she laughs. “Sorry if I scared you. It’s close enough to closing to shut down a little early, and I think… yeah. This is a conversation we should take upstairs.”
Upstairs? “I don’t understand.”
She points at the ceiling. “I have a small studio built above the store. It used to be Kennedy’s apartment, but she gave it to me and I gave it to Mal. You should meet him.”
“And he can’t come down to the store?”
“No. He can’t.”
Oh. Never mind. Idounderstand.
“Ah. You got it.” She grins, tucking a stray strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “Come on. Follow me upstairs.”
* * *
Mal,it turns out, is really Malphas.
Another seven-foot-tall demon with black horns, red skin, butgoldeneyes, he is Shannon’s bonded mate.
The studio she mentioned is his. An artist from Sombra, he lives with her in the human world, staying out of sight, and working on his paintings while she runs the store she took over when Kennedy decided to stay with her Sombra demon mate in the other world.
Because, yup. Kennedy has a mate, too, and I actually got to meet him. It’s Loki, the demon who showed up with the soldier to take my mate.
I tell them everything. It’s so much easier to just word vomit, getting it all out instead of obsessing over what could be happening to Sammael right now. Shannon interrupts a few times to ask questions, while Mal just sets his paintbrush down and moves closer as though instinctively protecting his mate from the threat of another demon coming to take her.
At least I finally understand what was up with Loki having the name ‘Kennedy’ carved into his chest like that. One glimpse of Malphas and I see that he’s wearing ‘Shannon’ on his.
It’s a Sombra demon thing, kind of like wedding rings for humans.
I have a hundred questions to ask them. They’re living proof that a human and a demon can have a successful relationship, and maybe after I can find Sammael, I’ll have to take another trip to Jericho with him to visit Shannon and her mate.
I just have to get to him, first.
When I finally finish my explanation, Shannon bobs her head. “Okay. So they took him to Sombra. Do you know where?”
