Page 33 of Taken By the Twins

Because this… this is not Damien.

He’s ademon.

No. Not a demon. Lucian is a demon. Damien isdemonic, and as my shaky fingers fly to my face, covering my cry of surprise and anguish, I can’t help but think I’m too late.

I lost him. Damien wasn’t ever mine, not really, and I lost him.

Or did I?

His eyes are pure white, his features terrifying as he roars, but he strangles the sound as he falls back on his heels. Remorse washes over his face and his roar becomes a howl of pain as he dissolves into his shadow form right in front of me.

I’ve noticed the holes strategically placed around the cabin before. Lucian told me they were ports for shadow travel. In Sombra, they can’t quite travel through walls, but in their shadow forms, they can condense into a fine mist and freakingflyif they have to.

And that’s exactly what Damien does.

I immediately run outside after him. It should be impossible to pick out Damien’s shadows out of the millions of others that make up this place, but ever since I was brought to Sombra, Lucian told me that the second spell I read in Sierra’s apartment was a mating promise.

I gave myself to them, just like I did my essence when they took my hands, and a bond was formed that could only be broken if I forsake them entirely. There would be no going back. No second chance. I’d never see them again, and since I didn’t know what that meant for them having my freaking soul, I never went that far.

Then I started to like the idea of being their mate, and I decided I never would.

Did I believe there was a bond? Not really. Between Damien and Lucian, definitely, but between the three of us? Honestly? I figured that was just something he was saying to get me into bed at first.

Tell that to the way I feel something deep in my chest, pulling me in the exact direction Damien flew off in. Not only that, but I… I’m pretty sure I can see him.

I can go after him. I can explain, or I can apologize… something. But I can’t just let him disappear into the shadows. He won’t come back. I don’t know why, but I’m sure of it. Losing Damien will break Lucian, too.

I can’t let that happen.

CHAPTER 13

IN THE SHADOWS

TANDY

Three steps. I make it three steps past the threshold of the cabin where I stopped before Lucian materializes out of the shadows, grabbing me gently and pulling me against his solid chest.

I immediately struggle, even though I know who has me. But I have to.

“Let me go, Lucian. Now!”

He does. As though he’s also remembering the way that Jared grabbed me, setting Damien off, he immediately releases me once I tell him to.

I whirl around, pointing my finger up at his face. “What are you thinking, grabbing me like that? Damien justflewinto the shadows. Thewoods, Lucian.” The woods he warned me about, the ones right on the edge of the shadows. Because of freakingcourse.“We have to go after him.”

Lucian’s tone is mournful. “I cannot.”

What? “Yes, you can!.”

“I promised him that, if this happened, I wouldn’t follow him into the shadows.”

And? “Youdid. I sure as hell didn’t.”

“Tandy—”

“Do you trust me?” I ask Lucian.

“Of course I do.”

---