Page 22 of Veil of Shadows

He shook his head softly. “Do we have any other choice?”

I stalked toward him until I was in his face so close that I felt his breath pulsing against my lips.

“There isalwaysa choice,” I said as I stared into his dark blue gaze.

I whipped around and stormed off into the woods, following the footprints and paw prints all the way back to the compound. I didn’t know how I felt about the guys any longer. Only hours ago, I think I would have convinced myself to stay with them. To live among them. To accept whatever the fuck this mate shit was so that I could live a life that felt I was almost destined to live. A life of peace and serenity. A life of thriving, not merely surviving. But not if it was like this. Not iftheywere like this.

There was no destiny waiting for me in the hands of torturers.

I didn’t breathe a word to Dom the entire way back to the compound.

7

DOMINIC

Her silence unnerved me. She didn’t say a damn thing to me as we made our way back to the compound. I kept my senses sharpened, just in case there were straggling vampires looking for their comrade. But as I followed Bexley back to the compound, only one thought crossed my mind.

She’s a good fucking woman.

Not just good for us. Or good to us. Or, even good, in general. But morally sound. She was smack dab in the middle of a situation that called for none of her shit. Heavy handedness was the only thing that worked with vampires because it was the only thing they dished out. They were snakes in the grass, exploiting and lying their way through the world just to get what they wanted. I didn’t expect someone like her to know that, though. Not with all of the intricate history between shifters and vampires. I felt for her. Really. But at the end of the day, I sided with my Alpha, and not just because I had to.

“Bexley, come on,” I said as she raced toward my house, “at least talk to me.”

She held her finger up at me, as if she were silencing a child.

“Bexley,” I said curtly.

She shot me a look over her shoulder before she bounded up the porch steps and slammed through my front door.

I barely got it closed and locked behind me before her hardened tone met my ears.

“How the fuck can you be okay with this, Dom?” she snarled.

I swore, if I didn’t know any better at that point, I’d swear she was a wolf. “There’s a lot you don’t unders?—.”

She charged me, and it took all I had not to dart my hand out and wrap it around her fucking neck.

“There is no excuse for beating and battering someone for information. Ever,” she said as she gnashed her teeth together.

I shrugged, my tone of voice calm and collected. “Good thing vampires aren’t someones, then.”

She scoffed. “You’re seriously okay with this.”

“Yes.”

She threw her arms out. “Are you okay with beating and torturing everyone that you need something from?”

I don’t hesitate. “No.”

Her face twisted into disgust. “Just the ones who deserve it, right?”

I nodded as I clasped my angry hands behind my back. “Yes.”

She shook her head and clicked her tongue. “Guess you guys and Delilah have something in common, after all.”

I took a step toward her as I white-knuckled my grasp on my hands. “Take that back.”

She held her head high with pride. “No, I won’t. There is never a situation that calls for torture. There is never a situation that calls for unnecessary bloodshed. I’ve staked my entire career on it, and I’m not about to let some mangy, good for nothing?—”

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