Page 37 of Veil of Shadows

Voss charged me, getting into my face.You wanna try that again in my face, commander general?

I hunched my shoulders, closing the distance between the four inches I still had on the man. I stared directly into his eyes.You’re acting like a fucking prick. Get off her back.

“Hey,” Bexley said as she stuck her head down the stairs.

Both Voss and I whipped around to face her.

“Yes?” we both asked in unison.

Her eyes danced between the two of us. “You’re both going to get some rest, too, right?”

Voss nodded. “I do one more set of rounds to the pack, then yes, it’s bedtime for me.”

“Ronyn?” she asked as her gorgeous brown stare shimmered in the light of Dom’s staircase.

I bowed my head softly out of respect. “I’ve got one last order to give my troops, and then yes. I’m also headed to bed.”

Bexley smiled softly. “Good. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?”

Then she disappeared back up the steps and out of sight.

You two better look rested in the morning,Dom said in groupthink as I heard him and Bexley walking around over our heads,otherwise, she’s going to know you asshole are lying through your teeth.

Voss stormed past me, heading for the front door.Just keep her away from the fucking windows and we’ll be fine.

I followed him out onto Dom’s front porch before I reached out to my troops.New goal: we need to capture another vampire for interrogation purposes. We’ll have to do as many as we can to confirm or deny a working theory, but we’ll do this one at a time.

Voss interjected as I watched him storm off toward the rest of the pack’s homes.If you scent one, call out. Howl. But, whatever you do, don’t go after it yourself without me, Ronyn, or Dom. That’s an order from your Alpha. We’ve buried enough.

Groupthink lit up with responses of understanding and confirmation. I kept tabs on who checked into the conversation, and after all of the troops had acknowledged their Alpha, I leapt off the porch and started toward Voss.

“So,” I said as we approached the first doorstep, “what’s the plan after rounds?”

“Sleep,” Voss said, bounding up the steps.

I paused. “With everything swirling around us, you really want to sleep?”

He knocked on the door. “You’re saying you want to deal with a pissed off Bexley in the morning when she realizes we didn’t sleep?”

He had a good point.

“Get your troops squared away, and then go get some rest,” Voss said as the door whipped open.

Before I could interject, he disappeared into the house.

I couldn’t fathom it. Sleeping at a time like this? It seemed wrong. Like a waste of resources. So, I helped Voss with his rounds. We checked in on the pack and helped with any of the children that still needed to be tucked in. I slipped into Mom’s house, hugging her and giving her a kiss goodnight before she slipped upstairs herself. I watched Voss as he came out of the last house, his body pointed toward his own home as he damn near sprinted back to his place.

Holy fuck, we really were going to try and sleep the night away.

After watching Voss slip into his home, my gaze turned back toward Dom’s place. My legs moved before my brain was even clued in to where I was headed, and before I knew it, I found myself heading up the stairs of Dom’s home. I eased his bedroom door open. I found the two of them in bed, with Dom’s arm grasping her tightly from behind. The two of them were sleeping soundly, wrapped up in one another while the sounds of crickets chirping flooded through the opened windows.

I walked over to a chair next to Bexley’s side of the bed and eased myself down into it.

“You gonna be there all night?” Dom muttered.

I kicked off my boots and propped my feet up on the edge of the bed. “Go to sleep, Dominic.”

While he shifted around and grunted to himself, I simply folded my hands in my lap. I leaned my head back against the wall. The hell with sleep. I’ll sleep when I’m dead. But, if we weren’t hunting, scouring the woods for a new vampire, or running exercises, then I needed to be watching. Waiting. Protecting.

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