When Malura had brought a shade-loyal hatchling into the clan, Darron was one of many to voice his concerns. However, the clan's leader Crail eventually decided that she could stay, and while most dragons eventually came to at least begrudgingly tolerate Shade, Darron could not do even that.
His mate Canopy shared his concerns over whether she could be trusted, or if she would turn on the clan eventually - until that fateful day, when the ceiling came crashing down and killed half the clan. When the resulting Emperor tore through the survivors, cutting their numbers in half again, it was Shade who stepped forth and fought it. It was her who lured the beast outside and even chased it off, almost losing her leg in the process.
After this, none of the survivors questioned her loyalties, Darron included.
What he did question, however, was the shade's motivation in this. It had spent considerable amount of energy ensuring that its minion survived the fight, then afterwards "revived" the mortally wounded Leimakid - now loyal towards the shade, of course. Only Malura called this a miracle.
When they revisited their old lair the next day to search for other survivors, the shade had already left its mark there. Akos, the only other surviving Imperial, came into contact with this corruption, and became terribly sick. Then, a few days later, the shade itself appeared inside the lair, wearing the skin of one of their deceased clanmates. It was allowed to stay only under the condition that it would not corrupt any dragons - which was later changed to not allow dragons to become corrupted unwillingly, after Yoldu decided she too wanted to become stronger.
It was around this time that Akos, who'd been unwillingly shade-touched, decided to leave the clan and search for a cure elsewhere. Darron had begged his mate to come with him and Akos, to leave the clan before it was too late, but she'd refused. And though his heart broke when he left Canopy behind, he just couldn't bring himself to stay, to let himself be dragged down towards damnation with them.