Page 70 of Veil of Shadows

Soon, the smell of smoke wasn’t even prevalent in the air. Soon, all of the screaming in the background ceased to exist. Soon, it felt like I had stepped into another world where darkness and silence reigned supreme. The stench of Delilah’s walking corpse intermingled with Bexley’s luscious floral-scented hair, and I charged forward. I had no idea how far away I moved from the pack. I had no idea if anyone was safe. Groupthink was shut down, and I was fine with it. I couldn’t worry about the packs. I couldn’t worry about Ronyn and his men. Bexley needed me.

My mate needed me.

And it was the only thing that kept pressing me onward.

“Come on,” I growled as I shifted temporarily back into my naked human form, “where did you take her, you bitch?”

I shifted back into my wolf form and took off to the top of another hill. I needed height. I needed a vantage point. I knew that vampires were quick movers, but even they had a terminal point where they needed to stop and rest. They weren’t impervious, after all. Maybe I had chased Delilah long enough that she needed to stop and take a second.

Did vampires have to catch their breath?

Did their lungs even work?

I raced to the top of the hill, clamoring up its rocky façade with my talons. Desperation clung to me as the fur of my wolf became soaked in sweat. But, when the wind kicked up, I noticed that the intermingled scent of death and delight had already faded.

No, no, no, no,I growled to myself as I skidded to the top of the massive hill.Come on, Delilah. Where did you go, you cunt?

As I gazed out over the darkened landscape, with no sign of that fiery glow in sight, anger gripped my heart. The wind kept kicking up, dissipating their scent and erasing them from the forest altogether. I swiveled in place, sharpening my eyesight as far as it could go until it damn near gave me a fucking migraine. But, there was nothing.

No glow of a fire.

No scent to track.

No footsteps to follow.

There was just… nothing.

Tell me you found her. Please,Dom said weakly as he finally reached out into groupthink.

I shook my wolf’s head as I continued twirling around in circles, desperate for any sort of a lead.Nice to hear your voice, Dom.

Did you find her?Ronyn asked.

I need another healer!Merida cried out.

What’s going on?I asked.

Did you find her, Alpha?Ronyn asked hotly.

But as I stood at the top of that incredible hill with the view of the forest all around me, my gut curdled as I answered.

Kill every vampire you come across until we find Bexley. That’s an order for the entire pack.

Oh, God,Dom said breathlessly.What the hell did she do? Why the hell would she do this?

Over my dead body,Ronyn snarled.We can’t just start slaughtering them on impact. It’ll create a tit-for-tat situation.

I growled as I skidded back down the muddy mountainside.Well, I’m Alpha of these packs right now, and what I say goes.

Well, you might be Alpha, but you made me commander general for a reason, Voss. I’m the protector of this pack. And Bexley is part of this pack. So, if we want her alive, we do this intentionally and with a plan. Got it?

I got down to the bottom of the hill only to shoot myself back to the top of a tree before I shifted back into my naked human form. Tree branches poked me in all sorts of unsavory places as I tried to get another, better angle of the forest. I sharpened my eyesight as the hair from my wolf slowly crept from beneath my skin. I felt my teeth sharpen as I ran my tongue along them, my night vision activating so I could do another sweep of the dense forest all around me.

And yet, no matter what angle I found myself in, whether in human or in wolf form, there was nothing.

No scent.

No trail.

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