Page 118 of Death and Donuts

“No, she won’t.”

I leaned my head against Cross' bare shoulder, and he ran his fingers through my hair, likely trying to comfort me. Instead, he touched a spot on the back of my head that felt a little tender, and I winced.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I think I hit my head on the car when Vivian pulled me out of it.”

I stood beside him, watching the shadows from the setting sun grow as Shepard’s men took turns using the homes to wash up and change.

When Shepard finally emerged from one of the houses, barely any light remained. Freshly showered, he carried a shirt for Cross while speaking on the phone.

“Let me know if anyone else reports in. I’ll reach out to Hugh with the news. We need to be ready for any backlash from this. Yeah. We’ll leave soon.”

He hung up and tossed the shirt to Cross, who caught it with ease.

“Detroit, Tank, and Army have already checked in with Doc. Their locations were like this one. Towns empty of humans. They’ve already left to check on Boulder and Buzz. Once Anchor and Vena are done cleaning up, we can head out.”

“Has it been quiet back home?” Cross asked.

“Yeah, which either means we took them by surprise with this move, or these nests are just the tip of the iceberg. We might need to expand our scrying.”

Cross let go of me to put the shirt on, which gave Shepard the opening he needed to steal a hug from me.

“She hit her head,” Cross said. “She’s got a headache that’s getting worse.”

I frowned at him, not sure how he knew, but he wasn’t wrong.

“I’m fine,” I said to Shepard. “Why do you need to call Hugh?”

“He needs to know we haven’t found Orphia or the ring.”

Shepard kissed my head when Anchor and Vena appeared then moved away to tell everyone we were leaving in five minutes.

Once we were ready, Anchor got in behind the wheel, and Vena took the copilot seat, leaving me to sit between Cross and Shepard. Cross toyed with the ends of my hair while Shepard called Hugh. His half of the conversation was brief, summarizing an estimate of vampires killed in each location, that he was waiting to hear back from the last few groups, and that he had doubts they would find the ring or Orphia based on what Adriel had said before he died.

“Make sure Effora knows this isn’t over and that her cooperation is still needed.” Shepard paused and sighed. “I know. We’ll do our best.”

Shepard ended the call and reached down to rest a hand on my leg. He looked tired. I took his hand in mine and smiled at him.

“Do alphas take vacations?” I asked.

“Occasionally,” he said. “You’re welcome to plan ours.”

“I’d like to go somewhere tropical,” Cross said. “I haven’t seen a palm tree yet.”

“You’re not invited,” Shepard said without rancor.

I shook my head, which made my stomach lurch a little. However, I made sure my grin stayed firmly in place.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii,” I said. “Maybe when all of this is over, we can go.”

“I’d like that,” Cross said.

“Still not invited,” Shepard said as his phone rang.

“He forgets I don’t need an invitation.”

“Curran,” he said when he answered. “I was just about to call you. Yes, you heard right. Adriel is dead. He killed himself, or I would have brought him to you.” He paused to listen, andI heard the deep, rumbling voice of the dwarven king, though I couldn’t make out what he said.

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