Page 38 of Commanding Chaos

“You need rest.”

“We all do.” Ember offered her phone again. “Take Shade and Chrys home first. Just follow the map.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” I said, and Ash laughed.

I glanced in the rearview mirror, and Shade ground his teeth, his pinched expression sour, as it tended to be. He inhaled deeply and let out his breath in a huff. “Why are you the only one who didn’t get hurt?”

“Cool it, Shade,” Ember said over her shoulder.

“No, someone’s got to say it, and since you all are blind to this guy, I will. I don’t trust him. He hardly lifts a finger to help in a fight, but when he does… There’s something going on, and I don’t like it.”

“There’s nothing going on with him.” Ash turned in her seat to glare at her adversary. “You’re just jealous he’s stealing some of your thunder, that you’re not the big strong man on the team anymore.”

“Enough!” Ember straightened, showing each of them a palm. “I am too tired to deal with this shit. I want everyone to go home and get some sleep. That’s an order.”

“Sounds good to me,” Chrys said.

We rode in silence as I followed Ember’s map first to Shade’s home and then Chrys’s. When we returned to the coven headquarters, Ash turned in her seat and opened her mouth to speak.

Ember held up a hand, stopping her. “Shade is suspicious, and that’s a problem. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

Ash nodded. “Miles is too. Chrys hasn’t mentioned anything, but…”

“Tomorrow.” Ember exited the van and slammed the door. She was already in her room by the time Ash and I made it upstairs.

“Her injuries must have been extensive.” I took a cup from the cupboard and filled it with water before offering it to Ash.

She drank the entire contents. “Thanks. Yeah, I think it’s stress too. She’s responsible for the coven right now, and everything is going to shit. She feels alone.”

“She has you.” I opened the pantry and gestured inside, but she shook her head.

“Ember always feels alone. I need my bed before I pass out in the kitchen.” She turned and walked down the hall.

I followed closely in case she stumbled. She made it to the bed and fell face-first onto her mattress. I waited for her to sit up and remove her boots, but she didn’t move. Kneeling at the end of the bed, where her feet hung over the edge, I untied her laces and slid her shoes off, revealing pink stockings with purple kittens and yellow hearts. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” The mattress muffled her words. “Do my feet stink?”

“Your stockings surprised me.”

“We call them socks.” She drew her knees toward her chest as she rolled to her side and moved higher on the bed. “Good night.”

“My body also requires rest. Where would you like me?”

She sighed heavily and lifted her head, her gaze flowing down my form. “I’d say the couch, but you wouldn’t fit.” She closed her mouth, her jaw moving as if she were chewing the inside of her cheek. “You can sleep next to me if you promise to keep your hands to yourself.”

My mouth watered at the thought of all I could do if she hadn’t added the stipulation. “Your sister will have a conniption.”

“She’d have a fit if I put you in Cinder’s or our parent’s bed too. At least here I can make sure you don’t sneak out and wreak havoc on Salem.”

“Havoc is my cousin.” I toed off my shoes and lay next to her before she could change her mind.

“Is he a prince too?” She returned her head to the pillow.

“A duke.”

A beautiful smile played on her lips. “When I said, ‘hands to yourself,’ I meant all parts of your body. Tentacles and tail included if you have them.”

I chuckled. “I have neither.”

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