Page 24 of Veil of Shadows

“Now would be a good time to throw one of those if you’re uncomfortable. All right?” I asked.

I watched her nod again, but she didn’t say anything. I gave her a few beats of silence, just in case she was trying to choose a color. But the sound of her voice never once hit my ears. So, I scooted to the edge of my chair, planting my elbows onto my knees, and leaned toward her.

“I need to hear you say it, sweet girl,” I said as I lowered my voice.

She drew in a shaky breath. “I understand, Dom. I hear you.”

I tilted my head and waited for something else. Anything else. But, nothing else came. No safe word. No color. No comment. Nothing.

She was such a good girl for me.

“How are you feeling?” I asked as I stood from the chair.

I perched on the edge of the bed next to her arm while she spoke. “Coming down out of my anger, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

I shook my head softly. “No, I just meant, how are you feeling?”

The breath she took was infinitely stronger than her other ones. “Better.”

“Good girl,” I praised, cupping her cheek. I scooted a bit closer to her, hovering above her as I studied her face. I enjoyed the way my praise made her shudder softly. “Can I get you anything?”

“A new life,” she muttered.

I tried my best not to let her words absolutely obliterate me. “Anything else?”

That’s when she finally graced me with the presence of her beautiful golden stare. “It’s not right, you know.”

I searched her gaze. “I know you think that.”

“I know Iknowthat.”

I stroked some hair away from her forehead. “Seriously, what can I get you right now? Water? A snack?”

But when her stare dropped to my lips, I watched those cheeks of her tint again. I watched as desire blew her black pupils wide open, damn near swallowing her shimmering amber stare. A grin crept across my face as she quickly looked away. She cleared her throat, as if that would somehow stop me from dropping the pieces into place. I reached out and gripped her chin, bringing her gaze back to my own. And without another word spoken in between us, I dipped my lips down and captured hers.

A groan fell from her lips and down the back of my fucking throat.

8

BEXLEY

The war raging inside of me was too much to bear. One second, I wanted to slaughter all three of them for nothing more than their thought process. But, as the leather bindings around my wrists heated up against my skin, all I thought about was forgetting everything. Maybe I couldn’t outrun it. Maybe none of the training I experienced with the CIA was meant to get me out of my situation. Maybe… maybe there was no purpose at all. No higher calling. Maybe we were all just out here trying our damnedest to survive.

And when survival was in play, a different set of rules had to be executed.

The second Dom’s lips fell against my own, however, all thoughts fell to the wayside. His tongue plunged into my mouth, lapping against mine as goosebumps fled across my entire body. I tugged again at the restraints. My fingertips sizzled with a need to touch him. With a need to run my fingers through his haphazard brown hair.

That is, before I felt something sharp slip beneath my shirt.

“Dom,” I said breathlessly as my eyes widened.

He froze. “Might wanna be careful with that moving, sweet girl.”

I slowly raised my head and looked down, only to find that his fingernails elongated into those talons all of their wolves seemed to have. The sharp nail slipped beneath my shirt, and I watched as it slowly ran up the fabric. It peeled away effortlessly, as if the fabric itself made a pact to completely obliterate itself for the sake of that talon. I watched him run it all the way up my torso before he hooked it beneath the sports bra I had on.

And in one slow, fell swoop, as he dragged his talon up and into the air, my shirt and sports bra slipped haphazardly down my sides, exposing my stomach and bare breasts to the world.

“There we go,” he growled as he bent forward.

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