Page 29 of Taken By the Twins

Damien didn’t even wait for the command. As Jared starts screaming, Damien grabs one of the chintzy awards from by the TV that Jared packs with him and carries wherever he goes as some sort of validation. Crossing the distance easily, he cracks it over the back of Jared’s head, then backs away from Jared.

Fromme.

Jared crumples as Damien moves to the other side of the room. The screams stop, but I can’t help but gasp.

“Holy shit, Damien! Did youkillhim?”

“For speaking to you in such a manner, I should have. But, no. He will sleep, and when he wakes up, he’ll have a bump on his head and the absolute certainty it was all a dream. But if he thinks to use his tongue against you in any way, his head will ache again, and he’ll know better than to offend you.”

I stare at him, stunned.

Firstly, that is the most Damien has said to me since we’ve met. Secondly? I’m sold. This demon came all the way here to warn my ex away from me, and when Jared ran his mouth, Damien didn’t just take care of it with his brute strength.

Using their magic, he’s going to accomplish what I never could: getting Jared Turner to leave me the fuck alone.

Pushing off of the couch, I dash around Jared’s prone body, then fling myself at Damien.

He’s in his shadows, but that doesn’t stop me. I’ve learned that, go about an inch or two past the hazy outline of a shadow demon and you find flesh. I do now, throwing my arms around him, squeezing him tight.

For a split second, I think he’s going to slither out of my grip. Maybe this much physical affection is too much for him. He freaked out a bit when I tried to kiss him, and this hug is definitely more intimate—but he doesn’t.

And when Damien hesitantly lifts his arms, returning my hug, I let myself melt against his shadows.

Damn it. It feels right.

It feels like home.

Theyfeel like home.

And, when I finally pull away from him again—the first to break the embrace—I offer a hand to each of the demons before telling them, “Let’s go home.”

Because Sombra?

I think that’s my home now, too.

CHAPTER 11

PROMISE

LUCIAN

Ihave never seen Damien so close to going fully demonic than I did when he was in his shadows, swooping over the human male, frightening him.

He was still my brother. Stillgood. He wouldn’t hurt the male, not if he believed it would cause pain to our Tandy, but I knew what he was doing. Certain mages have the ability to remove memories from human minds. There is Sammael, Haures’s former head mage, who was gifted in the skill. He could take memories, implant memories, do everything he could to keep the secret of Sombra and its demons hidden from the humans.

There was a hunter. Nox. I saw his future many times, though when we invited him to our cabin to offer him a prophecy, the stubborn hunter refused us. His mistake. I could’ve warned him that I saw chains in his future for visiting his human mate before she was mature enough to accept him, and that after his long imprisonment, he would find his way back to her—but when hedid, he needed to be wary of the strange vessels that the humans use to get around since they can’t do shadow travel.

There’s a price to pay for those who ignore the doppelseers. Nox no longer has control over his forms, though he’s been happily mated to the duchess’s kin these last two decades so he doesn’t mind paying it.

The same with Loki, a former student of the School of Mages. He stole the matefinder spell and cast it centuries before his human mate was destined to be born. The spell backfired, turning him fully demonic. And though we saw he would recover in time, it wasn’t easy—and if he hadn’t been too proud to accept the doppelseers’ vision, it might have been.

For ages, we have kept an eye on those males whose futures were entwined with the prophecy that would either end existence in Sombra as we know it, or if we can change it, ensure prosperity and eternity for anyone who calls it their home.

It is Tandy’s home now. Watching her run to Damien, not knowing how close he was to losing the last of his essence and reverting completely to a mindless mass of shadows… watching our mate wrap her arms around him, searching for his embrace, before offering me her hand to guide her back to Sombra… this is her home.

We are her mates.

I want to finalize our bond as soon as we return to the cabin. The gold moon approaches, and my certainty that we need to be fully mated before it completes its ascent has grown stronger and stronger since Tandy summoned us to her.

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