Page 25 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“What makes you think it’ll show up here?”

“It was stolen when my uncle was murdered by the same jerks who kidnapped me.”

His words felt like a bucket of ice had been dumped down my back.

“That’s even more reason to get you away from here. It’s too dangerous.”

If they killed his uncle, they could easily kill him. Suddenly I realized that, despite the oracle’s vision of Morgan being injured, I’d been counting on Morgan’s captors keeping him alive. That’s what the people who caged him, Ogden, and the others had done.

But if they’d murdered his uncle, would they kill him too?

Sweat broke out across my forehead.

“That’s why I’m in disguise.” Morgan patted his wig. “Don’t worry. No one will guess. I’ve been doing this for a few months now, and it’s been fine.”

It really wasn’t fine. Did Venus know Morgan was a unicorn when she’d enlisted his help today? And who the hell was this Rudy Tada guy that Venus thought a retired shadow jumper and an inexperienced unicorn were the right people to guard him?

I had half a mind to report her to her superiors. Except if she hadn’t told me about this event, I never would have found Morgan—Morgan, who shouldn’t be anywhere near this damnplace. Venus didn’t seem like the type to throw a unicorn to the wolves, but I couldn’t think of any other explanation.

I obviously needed more information, like how Morgan even crossed paths with Venus.

“Who were you talking to?” I held up the earbud I’d taken from him earlier.

“V, of course.”

“V… as in?”

“Oh, right, I guess you wouldn’t know that. It’s my cousin Violet.”

His cousin. Violet. So not Venus. “Is she a unicorn too?”

Morgan snorted. “Of course not.”

“Of course not,” I muttered. At least that was something. Morgan must be the child of a supe and a human, with Violet being the product of the human side of the family. “Are there other unicorns in your family I should know about?”

“Why?” Morgan’s face turned guarded.

His gaze dropped to his clenched hands. He twisted his fingers together and looked up at me with big, luminous eyes. Framed by his long, thick eyelashes, they almost looked iridescent and so, so pretty. His contact lenses did nothing to dull his natural magic. I cleared my throat. I had the strangest wish to see him without the contact lenses, the makeup, the wig, or the bizarre clothing.

“They might be at risk too,” I said.

Morgan shook his head. “It’s just me.”

There was something he wasn’t telling me. I wanted to push to find out about this artifact he was so keen to acquire, but before I could ask anything more, my phone vibrated. Morgan passed it to me, and I saw a text from Gage. It was so unlike the demon to text that I did a double take.

Gage: Update me. Now.

“I need to call my team,” I said.

“Please. Don’t tell them about me.”

Fuck. The way he looked at me. It made me want to promise him things I shouldn’t.

“Ogden already knows,” I pointed out. “He’ll have told Gage.”

“I don’t know who Gage is. Can he be trusted?”

“I trust him with my life.”