Page 15 of Hitched to the Shadow Creature (Monster Matchmaking #3)

A ya

Cold stone pressed against my back as I curled up on the narrow cot.

Three days in this cell, and the only change had been the guards who brought tasteless gruel twice daily.

My fingers traced the iron collar around my neck—the dampener that blocked my connection to Varkolak and suppressed the shadow abilities I'd only just discovered.

"Eat." The guard shoved a tray under the door slot. Same gray mush as yesterday.

I ignored him, turning to face the wall. My stomach growled in protest, but I couldn't bring myself to eat. Not when I knew what they planned for me.

The separation ritual. The words echoed in my mind like a death sentence. Elder Niall had explained it with clinical detachment yesterday. They would sever my bond with Varkolak, permanently erase our connection as if it had never existed.

"You'll thank us later," he'd said. "These pairings were never meant to happen."

Footsteps echoed down the hall after the guard left. Not the heavy tread of the guards, but lighter. Female.

"Psst. New girl." A whisper came from the adjacent cell.

I rolled over, pressing myself against the bars separating our cells. "Hello?"

A pale hand extended through the bars. "I'm Leena. They got you too, huh?"

I reached out, our fingertips barely touching. "Aya. What do you mean 'too'?"

"Shadow-matched, right? Against the council's precious plans."

"How many of us are there?"

Leena laughed bitterly. "Six that I know of. We're all down this corridor. All matched with the 'wrong' shadow creatures."

My heart raced. I wasn't alone. "They're planning to separate us from our matches?"

"In three days. The new moon ritual. More powerful then." She paused. "Been sick in the mornings?"

The question caught me off guard. "How did you?—"

"Shadow babies. We all have them. That's what scares them most."

My hands flew to my stomach. I'd assumed the nausea was from stress, but now I closed my eyes and focused inward. There. Two tiny flutters of energy, unlike anything I'd felt before. Half shadow, half human.

"Twins," I whispered, tears springing to my eyes.

"Holy shit," Leena gasped. "That's rare. Listen, we need to get you out of here fast. The ritual would?—"

"Kill them," I finished, sudden protective fury rising in me. No one would harm my babies. No one.

Over the next two days, I met the others through whispered conversations, Leena, Maya, Dahlia, Teresa, and Jun. All matched with shadow creatures the council hadn't approved. All pregnant. All prisoners.

"They can't keep us forever," Teresa hissed during our brief exercise period. "The Integration Festival is in three days. People will notice we're missing."

"Not if they tell everyone we chose separation," Jun countered.

I paced our small shared yard, keeping my voice low. "My shadow abilities were just starting to develop before they collared me. Varkolak was teaching me."

"You can manipulate shadows?" Dahlia's eyes widened. "None of us can do that yet."

I nodded. "Just barely. But maybe..."

Late that night, I lay on my cot, hands resting on my still-flat stomach. Focus, Aya. Feel the shadows. Despite the dampening collar, I sensed something, a flicker of darkness responding to my call. The twins? Their shadow essence reaching out to help?

"Please," I whispered to the darkness. "I need to protect you."

A tendril of shadow curled around my fingers as weak, but present. The collar grew warm, then uncomfortably hot against my skin.

For three nights, I practiced while the others created distractions. Tea spilled on guards. Fake illnesses. Anything to keep attention away from me as I worked with the growing shadow energy.

On the third night, the night before the ritual, the collar cracked.

"Now," I whispered to myself. With a final push of will, shadows enveloped the metal, and it shattered.

Power rushed through me, intoxicating and wild. I extended my hand toward the cell door lock, and shadows slipped inside it, manipulating the mechanism until it clicked open.

I tiptoed down the corridor, freeing the others one by one.

"Holy shit," Leena breathed as I unlocked her cell with shadows. "You're like, super pregnant, aren't you? The babies amplified your abilities."

"Twins," I reminded her with a grim smile. "Double the shadow power."

We moved as one through the darkened hallways of the facility, my newly strengthened shadows concealing our movements from the guards. When we reached the outer door, I felt my energy flagging.

"I can't maintain this much longer," I gasped, sweat beading on my forehead.

Dahlia gripped my hand. "You don't have to. We'll run together."

We burst into the night, six women fleeing across the moonlit grounds. Alarms blared behind us as we reached the perimeter fence.

"Up and over," Teresa commanded, boosting Jun toward the top.

My shadows gathered once more, forming a ladder of darkness against the fence. One by one, we climbed to freedom.

"The Integration Festival," Maya panted as we ran into the forest. "It's our only chance. Everyone will be there. They can't silence us all."

We traveled through the night, following Teresa, who knew these woods. By dawn, exhaustion nearly claimed me, the twins draining my energy as they grew.

"There," Jun pointed as we crested a hill. Below us, the city of Navistal spread out, its central plaza already filling with people for the festival.

"Somewhere down there, our matches are looking for us," Leena said, eyes scanning the crowds.

"If they're still alive," Dahlia whispered.

I straightened, sensing something familiar. "Varkolak's there. I can feel him." The bond, weakened but not broken, pulled me toward the city.

We staggered into Navistal as the festival reached its peak. Colorful banners hung between buildings, and humans and shadow creatures mingled in celebration of their integration. But beneath the festivity, I sensed tension.

"There!" Maya pointed toward the central stage where the Magnus Terra Council sat in their ceremonial robes.

And surrounded by guards, kneeling before them, Varkolak and five other shadow creatures.

"What are they doing?" Teresa gasped.

"Public punishment," Jun said grimly. "For defying the matchings."

Rage and determination surged through me. Without a word, I broke into a run, shadows swirling around me as I pushed through the crowd. People gasped and stepped back, creating a path as I moved.

"Stop!" I screamed as I reached the edge of the stage.

The head councilman paused mid-sentence, his eyes widening as he saw me. "Impossible. You should be?—"

"Locked away?" I climbed onto the stage, my shadows dancing around me. "So you could murder my unborn children?"

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Behind me, the other women emerged, forming a line at my back.

Varkolak's head snapped up, his dark eyes finding mine. "Aya," he breathed, struggling against his restraints.

"The matching program was manipulated," I announced, my voice carrying across the suddenly silent plaza. "These men—" I gestured to the council members, "—decided which of us could be paired with shadow creatures. They imprisoned those of us who formed bonds they didn't approve."

"Lies!" Elder Niall shouted, rising from his seat.

"Then explain this." Leena stepped forward, throwing a handful of papers onto the council table. "Records we took from your facility. Lists of which humans were 'acceptable' for shadow matches."

"And this." Teresa pulled out a vial. "The drug they've been giving us to weaken our bonds."

The crowd murmured, growing louder as understanding spread.

"They fear what we can become together," I continued, moving toward Varkolak. With a wave of my hand, shadows cut through his bonds. "They fear our children."

He stood, towering beside me, his warmth and strength filling the empty space I'd felt since our separation. His hand found mine, fingers intertwining.

"The DNA matching program was created to find true compatibility between our kinds," Varkolak's deep voice resonated. "Not to serve political agendas."

"I carry his children," I announced, placing our joined hands over my stomach. "Twin shadow-human babies. The first of their kind."

The crowd erupted in shouts—some supportive, others fearful. The council members conferred frantically.

"Order!" The head councilman banged his gavel. "These accusations are serious?—"

"And true," came a new voice. An elderly woman pushed her way to the stage, leaning heavily on a cane. "I designed the original matching algorithm. And I can confirm it was tampered with."

One by one, more people came forward, lab technicians, program administrators, all with pieces of evidence showing how the council had manipulated the matches to maintain their control.

As the truth spread, I felt the babies stir within me, a flutter of shadow and light, of possibility and hope.

Varkolak's arm circled my waist, pulling me against his solid chest.

"You came back to me," he murmured against my hair.

"Did you doubt I would?" I tilted my face up to his.

His dark eyes softened. "Never. But I feared what they might do to you. To our—" His gaze dropped to my stomach, wonder replacing concern.

Guards led the council members away for questioning, and as the crowd demanded reform, Varkolak lifted me into his arms. Our shadows merged on the ground beneath us—no longer separate, but one intertwined with darkness.

"The matching program was right about us," I said, touching his face.

He turned his head to kiss my palm. "It wasn't the program that matched us, Aya. It was fate."

Above us, the sun set on the Integration Festival, not an ending, but a true beginning for shadows and humans alike.