Page 84 of Stubborn as a Shadow

Someone had found us.

It was like my earlier happiness had jinxed us. Because if this was Gage, he’d have found a way to announce himself immediately. But our intruders hadn’t done that, which meant we were screwed, and not in a good way.

What a rookie mistake. I never should have let my guard down until I knew Morgan was safe. But at least our intruders weren’t trying to be quiet. They were giving me plenty of time to come up with a plan.

With the fire burned down to a few golden embers, the air had cooled again. Morgan was pressed against me for warmth, so at least I didn’t have to go looking for him to wake him.

“Hey,” I whispered as I brushed my hand over his hair.

His body jerked. “Huh?”

“Morgan…”

He lifted his head and looked around, blinking blearily into the shadow-cloaked room.

“Dark,” he mumbled as he curled his face against my shoulder. “Sleep.”

A second later, he wiggled against me. Having spent the entire day pleasuring him and finding pleasure with him, I knew what that wiggle meant.

“Hey,” I whispered again. “I need you to wake up. And not for sex.”

He groaned and pulled the blanket over his head, which meant it covered part of my face too. I pushed it out of the way.

“Someone is here. Outside the cabin.”

His head popped up again, and the blanket fell away.

As a shadow jumper, I could see in the dark. It was where my kind lived, and of course the Eternal Magic had made sure we could navigate through the shadows. So I saw every detail of his face as he squinted at me. His left cheek had creases from where he’d had it pressed against the blanket. His curly hair was in wild disarray. But what killed me was how fearful he looked as his fists clutched the blanket.

“Huh?”

“We have to get out of here,” I said. “Someone found us.”

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. “Do you want me to shift and skewer them with my horn? Then they won’t be so quick to attack people in the middle of the night next time.”

That was the last thing I wanted. Morgan should never need to harm someone to protect himself, especially now that he had me. I was darkness. I’d take care of the dark things.

But I really should have made a better plan before it got to this point.

I shook my head. “No. Get dressed. Remember your shoes and the jacket. Get ready to run.”

33

I FORGOT HOW BIG MY HORN WAS

MORGAN

My heart pounded as I pulled on my clothes. Why were people always coming after me?

People were supposed to love unicorns; every Saturday morning cartoon said so. What was wrong with these people?

Maybe they just needed to see me shifted to feel the awe. I could prance and show off my sparkly hair. People liked sparkles, right? And the colors in my mane were stunning. Colors always made me happy.

Yeah. I doubted that would work.

I grabbed one of the fireplace pokers and dragged it along with me. It was the only weapon I had.

“Okay,” Nelson whispered as he pulled on his shoes. “I’m going to distract them, and you’re going to make a run for it. If you can flag someone down on the highway, do that. Get them to take you to Willow Lake or as close as possible to it?—”