Page 44 of Taken By the Twins

That, I fear, is my fault. I am her male. Since our bonding, I am the only one who should be blessed with the sight of her cunt, and it took me many cycles to get past my jealousy over the healer needing to look for himself.

I’ve been good. But between the way his gold eyes gleam as he ducks his head near my Shannon’s spread legs and her pained, muffled panting as another contraction hits her, I’ve found myself growling under my breath in a way that seems to unnerve Azazel.

I have no choice but to swallow the sounds when Shannon’s grip on my fingers actually seem to mangle them. “Okay.Okay. I don’t think that was just a contraction that time. I think this baby is comingnow.”

“Azazel,” I bellow.

The healer appears in an instant. He’s in his shadows, flying through the open doorway, shifting to his demon form as he crouches down in front of my mate. After a previous warning,he keeps shadows woven around his lower half, but he also adds them as a layer of his claws so that he can reach up and wait to receive our spawn.

I’ve never watched one be born before. And, my attention solely on my mate as Azazel instructs her to push when he tells her to, I don’t see it happen now. I do, however, hear the high-pitched keening cry as our spawn comes into the world.

“It is a female,” Azazel announces as he gathers the child up in his shadows.

For a moment, Shannon closes her eyes. Lying back on the birthing nest, she shudders out a relieved breath, then asks in a raw voice, “Where is she? Can I see her?”

Azazel pauses, his back to us. The healer hesitates, and then he murmurs, “Lilith has offered to act as my help. She will clean the afterbirth off and swaddle your spawn while I tend to you, Shannon. Then you can meet your babe.”

I want to do so, but I’d prefer to see the healer examine Shannon and make sure my flower is doing well after the birth. I trust the clanmother implicitly, and after spending the last year visiting Nuit, so does Shannon.

While Azazel takes care of my mate, I drop a kiss to her sweaty brow. “You did amazing, my Shannon.”

She looks tired, yet exhilarated. “I’m so glad she’s here. But just in case I haven’t told you a million times already? You want to fuck on the gold moon? Use your hand, babe. Kay? I’m one and done.”

“One spawn is enough for me,” I promise.

“Good.”

Shannon closes her eyes, resting while we wait for Lilith to bring our child back to us. Azazel finishes first, declaring that Shannon will need to take three separate herbs, two potions, and sleep as much as possible as a new mother, but other than that, she will recover well.

That is the best news. I’m soaring from hearing that—and that’s when Lilith shuffles into the room, holding our newly clean spawn, wrapped up in a blanket.

She murmurs her congratulations before offering the spawn to Shannon. Then, as the blanket falls away from our daughter’s face, both the clanmother and Azazel slip out of the room.

And I suddenly understand.

Our daughter has my eyes. Bright and gold and glowing healthily, they reflect against her pale skin.

No. Not pale.

Colorless.

I am red. Shannon is white. She would joke that our spawn would be pink. She is part Sombran so, no matter her color, I expected she would be made up of shadows.

She hasnone.

Shannon chuckles, a finger going to the tiny nub on our daughter’s brow. “Looks like Amy won the pool. They’re not fully developed horns, not yet, but she definitely won’t pass for human. ‘Course, her eyes are glowing, too. See, Mal? She has your eyes. Your eyes and my skin tone. Ooh, see these tiny little tufts of hair, too? She might just be blonde like her mom.”

My lips quirk upward, a small smile at her obvious delight—even as my heart starts pounding.

Shannon doesn’t realize what this means. When she delves into my essence, she will, but for now, I understand the concern written on Lilith’s features, and the hesitation on Azazel’s before they left us alone in our quarters.

I understand it, and I refuse to acknowledge it.

This is our spawn, and no matter her appearance, I will love her always.

Azazel bows his head. “I will inform Apollyon that we have a new villager in Nuit.”

I would have expected that Lilith would go and tell her mate; both that our child is here, and that she resembles Duke Haures’s unique appearance. But if Azazel needs a reason to leave our quarters, that is fair enough.

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