Page 84 of Veil of Shadows

I nodded toward him before I turned to Ronyn. With the meeting behind us and a plan of action in front of us, there was only one last thing to ask.

“All right, commander general. What’s our next move?”

27

BEXLEY

Jacob’s chuckle caught my attention and pulled my stare back to his. I didn’t even realize I had zoned out until his sound pulled my gaze back to him.

“Bex, you’re like a sister to me. I know when you’re no longer hungry. One plate never cuts it for you.”

I sipped my water before setting the chalice down again. “Just taking my time.”

“Any reason why?”

I shrugged. “Not in a rush, I guess.”

He tilted his head as a sympathetic furrow came across his brow. “Do you want to talk about it?”

My mind raced as I stared down at my empty plate. I was officially in the belly of the beast. Not the best place to be without backup. But, then again, it was advantageous. If Delilah wanted me that badly, then I had a shot at leveraging that want to dig to the bottom of whatever the fuck was going on. I was in a precarious position, yes, but I had the skillset to use it to my advantage. I just had to focus.

And focusing meant feeding my body.

“Are you feeling sick right now?” he asked.

I slowly raked my stare over to him. “No.”

He smiled softly. “Then, maybe we’re not as bad as you’ve been made to think.”

Made to think. That was an interesting choice of words. I assumed the worst, which meant if Jacob knew about the pack and the woods and the guys and how attached I had become to them, then so did Delilah. So, I did the only thing I knew to do with the skills I was encouraged to tailor during my training.

I leaned into the fact that I was already there and decided to make it look like I was finally coming around.

“Fine,” I grumbled to myself as I filled my plate with meats and cheeses.

“There we are!” Jacob exclaimed as he clapped his hands. “Now, we’re talking. I had the kitchen cook up all of our favorites.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment before I picked off a piece of the turkey leg that I grabbed. I tossed it into my mouth while Jacob watched me with those piercing brown and red eyes of his. It was unnerving, to say the least, but the way the tender, juicy meat melted on the tip of my tongue helped to relax me a bit.

Pretty soon, I held the entire fucking turkey leg to my face while I devoured it.

It wasn’t hard to lose myself in the decadence of the food, so I simply allowed it to happen. Jesus Christ, I was starving, and I inhaled slices of cheese that tasted like the heavens while turkey leg juice dripped down my chin. I probably looked damn near maniacal, but I didn’t care. I was hungrier than I realized, and I wouldn’t be able to accomplish a damned thing with an empty stomach.

“Cheers,” Jacob said, pulling me from my calorically induced trance.

I saw him holding out what looked like a coffee mug, and I quickly grabbed my chalice. Turkey leg juice slithered all overthe jewel-encrusted cup as I clinked it against his. And as his smile grew, I couldn’t help but to allow mine to do the same thing.

“To catching up,” he said.

I smiled softly before I took a long pull of my water. “To catching up.”

I turned my attention back to my massive plate of food. If protecting everyone on the outside meant staying here on the inside, then it was simply the sacrifice I had to make. Whatever the hell Delilah had going on, she was able to brainwash one of the most dependable people I’ve ever known. That meant whatever plan she crafted was in the works for a while.

And if there was anything my job at the CIA black site taught me, it was that something like this could only come down from the inside.

“Good God,” I groaned as I leaned back in my chair with a full stomach. I rubbed it softly as a yawn escaped through my lips. I shook my head to try and clear the food coma already settling hard on my shoulders. “Thanks.”

Jacob chuckled softly. “For what?”

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