Page 44 of Veil of Shadows

BEXLEY

I giggled as we all flopped back down to the couch. How all four of us fit on that three-cushioned couch, I’d never figure it out. But, the more we drank, the slimmer we all seemed to believe we were. The afternoon waned into evening time, and one by one the musical acts never ceased to impress me. Man, they had a lot of talented shifters in their pack. Or, maybe it was Merida’s strong-ass wine that made them good.

Either way, I found myself really looking forward to the autumnal solstice celebration.

“Oh my God,” I said breathlessly, wiping the sweat on my brow.

“Come on, let’s get this furniture moved back before Voss kills us,” Ronyn said as the last musical act finally vacated Voss’s home.

“Here, lemme help,” I said breathlessly.

“No need,” Voss said, picking up the couch I was sitting on.

“Oh!” I squealed as I curled my legs up onto the cushions.

My jaw dropped open as Voss just… picked me up. On the couch. Like, the entire couch. With his bare hands. He dipped down, placed his hands beneath the couch, and lifted it as if it weighed nothing. He held the couch out in front of him like hewas serving a fucking dinner platter to someone at a table. My eyes widened and held his cocky, confident gaze as he pivoted around in his living room and set his couch back down against the window it once sat beneath.

“There,” he said.

I studied his face. It didn’t even look like he exerted himself. “How—how did?—”

Voss chuckled. “You’ve got a lot to learn about us yet.”

My gaze volleyed to Ronyn and Dom before they came back to Voss. “Can all of you do that?”

“No,” Voss said plainly.

As I sat there, trying to process what just happened, I watched Ronyn and Dom clean up the plates and dishes while Voss just… manhandled his fucking furniture. He picked up the loveseat sofa as if it were nothing and put it on his shoulder. His fucking shoulder. Just like it was a sack of potatoes. I couldn’t help but to gawk and stare as he pieced his living room back together without so much as breaking any form of a sweat. His face wasn’t even red. He didn’t even try to catch his breath!

Jesus, how strongwasthe man?

“All right,” Ronyn said as he made his way to the front door, “I need to go get my troops transitioned out.”

Dom followed Ronyn in stride. “And I’ve got to wrap up plans for this solstice celebration. Plans stop for no one around here.”

“You two go,” Voss said as he backtracked into his kitchen. “Keep me updated and let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Ronyn and Dom said in unison.

Then, just like that, the two of them were gone. The golden rays of the sunset swallowed them whole as they walked out of Voss’s home, and I slowly turned to the towering man as he put on a pot of coffee in the kitchen.

“Thirsty?” he asked. “I always enjoy a cup of coffee before I go on a walk.”

That perked up my ears. “Would you like some company on your walk?”

A shadow of a grin ticked his cheeks. “Sure. Want some coffee before we head out?”

I shook my head. “If I have any caffeine, I’ll never get to sleep tonight.”

“Still riding the high from the afternoon?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “Something like that.”

I stood there watching the coffee percolate. It filled up the pot, and what I expected wasn’t quite what happened. He picked up the steaming hot coffee pot and popped off the plastic lid. He tipped the damn thing up to his lips, and I reached out to try and stop him.

“Voss! You’re gonna burn yourself!”

But, as I watched him chug that pot of coffee down, he didn’t wince. He didn’t growl. He didn’t fucking flinch. Piping hot, steam rising from his mouth while he chugged it back, and not once did he howl in pain or anything. My jaw hit the floor with shock. His Adam’s apple bobbed with every glug he took until the goddamn pot was completely empty.

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