I stepped behind her, arms sliding around her waist, chin resting gently on her shoulder. My voice stayed low, calm, meant only for her.
"These are shadow guards," I explained quietly. "They answer only to me. Invisible when I want them to be. Untouchable. They'll stay with you—always. Nothing touches you without going through them first. No one sees them unless I allow it."
She turned her head just enough to look at me, eyes wide with a mixture of awe and lingering aftershocks from what we'd just done. "You… you can do this? Command shadows? Make them protect people?"
I pressed a soft kiss to the curve of her neck—right over the faint bite mark I'd left earlier. "I can do a lot more than that, Auntie. Powers I've kept hidden for a long time. Telepathy. Shadow manipulation. A few other things that make life… interesting. I didn't want to scare you. But after today—after everything—I'm done hiding them from you."
