Page 129 of Shrouded in the Dark
I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I started laughing. She was just so cute.
“Cody!” She wiggled to get out of Jasper's lap, but his arms wrapped her up, pulling her into his chest. “Jasper!”
“Sorry, Becca.” I took a deep breath. “You just make everything better.” She stopped wriggling and a flush appeared across her cheeks.
“That was teleportation,” Gary answered her question. “Lario is an old vampire and is extremely strong.”
“Teleportation? Seriously?” She took a deep breath, calming down. “That’s actually kind of cool.” She sighed. “Gary, what was that? I feel like the brunt of a joke.”
Her stepfather gave a sigh as well. He pulled off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Essentially, from what I could gather from what was said and what Lario told us at the end, Tarragon wanted to see shifters. It’s possible the Fae were hoping to use them again, but you guys were able to put that to rest right away. So, we’re attacking the compound of the Venandi in Texas sometime next week. I need to speak with Wyn right away, so why don’t we go back to our rooms and meet up later today for dinner? We don’t need to leave until tomorrow. This didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would.”
We stood, following him out and up to our room. Becca was quiet until we’d gotten inside the room with the door closed behind us.
“I’m not usually a violent person.” She started to pace the room. “But I want to punch every single person in that room in the face.” She paused to look out the window. It was almost lunch time. “This whole thing has left me feeling slimy.”
Jasper sat on the end of the bed as I leaned against the desk. We watched Becca as she worked through what she was thinking.
“It was a waste of us coming here, that’s for sure.” I crossed my arms. “There’s no way any shifters would help with the way these people have acted.”
“I think that was the point, though.” Jasper patted the spot next to him as Becca glanced over. “Think about it. Lario spoke in my mind before the meeting to give me the forewarning. The resistance obviously doesn’t trust the Fae, but they don’t want to waste this chance to achieve their mission, so they played along, but they knew we wouldn’t play ball with Tarragon, not after meeting him.”
Becca sat next to him on the bed, looking confused. “So was this show for us or for him?”
“Both.” Jasper stretched his arms over his head. “I honestly think Lario is someone we can trust. The other two leaders? Probably not, my fox was uneasy with them, but the vamp? Yeah.” He yawned in the middle of his sentence. “Sorry. I guess the early morning is catching up. Let’s take a nap.”
My wolf’s tail started moving. Nap time sounded pretty good to me.
Chapter 30
Becca
My mind couldn’t shut off. Cody and Jasper were snoring away as I stared up at the ceiling. During that ridiculous meeting, my animal had paced. She’d been so ready to attack Tarragon. He rubbed us the wrong way. As for Lario, she hadn’t wanted us to rip his fangs out, so I’d take it. She wasn’t sure about the other two leaders, especially Volinda. She gave off the vibes of a ‘mean girl’.
I sat up, smacking my hands on my cheeks. There was no use worrying myself sick over things that happened. I could only move forward. It sounded like we would be going with the resistance next week because we’d need to support Wyn.
Thinking about Wyn, I pulled my phone out and checked my messages. There was one from Axel letting me know that they were halfway to the compound about an hour ago. I sent him a quick text letting them know I missed them.
I felt for our mate marks, feeling reassured that the ties between all of us were still strong. The two in bed were the strongest since they were right next to me.
Speaking of, I turned a little and took a picture. Jasper was the little spoon while Cody was the big spoon and they were both snoring softly. It was adorable.
My phone buzzed and I smiled as I answered. “Axel, how’d you know I was wanting to talk to you?” I kept my voice low, even though I knew that the guys would wake up to the slightest noise if needed.
“Because I miss you, too.” His low rumble made me shift where I sat. “What happened at the meeting? You sound sad.”
Was I sad? I didn’t think I was. I was disappointed. Gary had talked the resistance up like it was the saving grace for shifters and it turned out that they were a hell of a lot different from that.
“Not sad. Frustrated maybe.” I told him what had happened at the meeting. At some point, he’d put me on speaker and I could hear Seth and Wyn grumbling during my explanation more clearly. “I guess the big takeaway is that the Venandi are going to be taken down next week, hopefully. Gary was going to call Wyn about it.”
“I didn’t answer the phone, kitten,” Wyn answered. “I’m driving. I figured if it was important, he’d call back.”
“Seth’s letting you drive?” I couldn’t help teasing them a little.
“Har. Har.” Seth didn’t miss a beat. “Thanks for letting us know what happened. It certainly gives me a lot to think of.”
“We’re going to be there when this happens, Seth.” I shocked myself as I spoke. “I can’t let Gary do this alone. We can’t let Wyn be the only one putting himself in danger. Even if it feels like they played a trick on us, I want to stop the hunters. In order to do that, we need to be at this.” I took a deep breath moving forward. “We may have to deal with the Fae later on, but shifters deserve to live without the fear of being killed in their homes. I don’t want what happened to Cody or me to happen to anyone ever again.” I heard a slight crack from my phone. I pulled it from my ear and noticed a dent where my fingers had tightened on the device. Oops. I put it on speaker at the lowest setting.
“Of course we’re going to be there, baby.” Seth’s tone was gentle. “I wouldn’t let Wyn handle this on his own, even if he could. You’re right. This isn’t just about our pack. It’s about all shifters’ futures. If we can stop these hunters, then my little brother has a chance of finding his own mate in the future without worry. Not to mention future children.”
