Page 43 of Taken By the Twins

Something is happening to me. My head feels hazy. My heart is ponding. My fingers are tingling?—

The child is coming.

Duke Haures is coming.

Holy fucking shit, if this prophecy doesn’t change like Glaine’s did,the end is coming.

As the echoes of my mate’s prophecy comes skittering down our bond, I shake my head and fist my hips.

The end is coming?

Huh. Not if Tandy Lewis and her doppelseers have anything to say aboutthat.

EPILOGUE

MALPHAS

As the first human-demon spawn to be born in this age—the only human-demon child that any living Sombran knows of—it is only fitting that my Shannon and mine’s child will arrive on the night of the gold moon.

We knew that they would. The doppelseers foretold our spawn’s arrival, knowing that the twin moons of Sombra would be out, the gold one heavy and round as it shed some illumination on our world of shadows. They didn’t know the exact gold moon it would be, but every demon can sense the approach of the gold moon instinctively.

After all, during the gold moon, mated males experience mate sickness to a certain degree, whether they are bonded or not. They need their females, and any bond between them is strengthened by an intimate touch when the gods shine down on us through the power of the mystical moon.

Petting your female’s cunt. Tasting it. Leaning back as she takes your cock into your mouth, pleasuring it with her tongue… there are ways to be intimate with your mate to silence the mate sickness without making it so that your mate will carry yourspawn. But if you do choose to claim your female when the gold moon is at its peak, you will conceive.

I thought my Shannon knew that. With my essence running through her veins, telling her all she needed to know about her Sombra male, I thought she understood. She was the one who welcomed me into her cunt before our deadline ran out that fateful gold moon. I would’ve ended up, trapped in Sammael’s enchanted chains, tossed in the demon duke’s dungeons by Glaine if Shannon hadn’t claimed me with her words, then her cunt later that night.

Now it has been many cycles since I laid my beautiful human out on her bedding, giving her my cock, and creating an immortal bond that will tie us together for the rest of our immortal lives. It has been just as long since the seed I planted in her womb blossomed into something precious. Something that is part of Shannon, part of me, and the spawn I will do anything to protect.

I worship my flower. I did from the moment she ripped me out of my bathtub, summoning me to her human realm, and seasoning me with sage before serenading me by banging one of her cooking utensils against the metal vessel. There isn’t anything I won’t do for her, and seeing her cradle her belly with one hand while squeezing tightly to mine with the other, I pray to the gods above to allow me to take her pain so that she can birth our child easily.

It’s possible. Like how we have a bond that stretches between us, allowing the essence exchange, if Shannon wills her pain to me, I can shoulder it.

We already have a connection. Her colorless hand is wrapped around my red one, the way she’s gripping me reminiscent of the red-and-white minty treats that Shannon slipped into my oversized sock—no, I correct, my stocking—that I left out for Santa Claws again this year. She knows they are my favorite, andwhile I am still rather worried about a jolly prowler sneaking into our quarters while we are asleep, I celebrated the human holiday with her while waiting for our spawn to arrive.

Now they are almost here, and as my mate squeezes my hand tightly before throwing her head back, moaning, I can’t wait to meet them.

After another short cry, my mate relaxes against the bedding before gritting out, “I really hope I’m not breaking your fingers.”

“You are fine, my mate,” I coo, soothing her.

“I mean, you’d deserve it, Mal. You and your magical shadow dick did this to me in the first place, I’ve been knocked-up for two Christmases now, and if that’s not bad enough, this kid of ours is too solid to be shadow.” My mate blows air out through her nose, rubbing the bottom of her belly. “Fuck. These contractions suck ass.”

“Give your pain to me.” My voice is pleading, and I stay solid myself so that she can grip my hand fully. As my shadows, a touch would give her pleasure, but the way she is sweating along her hairline, I don’t know if that would be enough to overwhelm her discomfort. No. It’s better that I take it, and Shannon focuses on birthing our child. “Through our bond… without essence… I shall take it from you.”

She narrows her pretty blue eyes at me. “You can do that?”

“I can try.”

She exhales roughly, staring up at the ceiling, watching the golden moonlight stream down from one of the holes. “Just don’t leave me, Mal. That’s all. And if I get nasty when I start to push, just remember that I love you.”

Reaching out with a shadowy claw, careful not to scratch her cheek, I turn her so that she has no choice but to look at me. “I adore you, my Shannon. I always will.”

Her eyes glisten. After spending so long at my mate’s side, it no longer unnerves me that they’re dim. In fact, I startle whenI approach one of my fellow demons since glowing eyes staring out of a mass of shadows belong to Sombra, and I? Malphas? I belong in Shannon’s world with my mate.

We are in Sombra now. As soon as Shannon recognized the signs that our spawn was coming, we opened up the pathway that leads from Jericho to Nuit. It’s instinctive now, after all those trips we’ve taken to meet with the healer, and I was carrying my mate to the house I keep in the village within minutes.

Apollyon and Lilith saw our approach. Lilith came with me so that she could help get Shannon comfortable, while Apollyon went in search of Azazel. That was hours ago, and both the clanmother and clan leader have left us to our privacy. Azazel keeps checking on my mate, watching her cunt closely, waiting for a sign that our spawn is crowning before disappearing into the front room.

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