Page 150 of Shrouded in the Dark

“Please, Cody. I love you.” I pressed my forehead against his. “When you wouldn’t wake up after you passed out, I thought my world had ended. The guys felt the same.”

Cody huffed and his arms wrapped around my middle, pulling me so that I was laying on top of him now.

“Sorry, fair maiden.” He kissed my temple. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I stayed in his arms for a while longer. We’d started to doze off when a knock on the door woke me up. Jasper entered the room with a tray filled with food. Behind him, followed the rest of my pack.

After Tarragon had been defeated, the chaos of the night had continued. Axel’s front paw hadn’t started to heal and Cody had collapsed with a huge burn on his chest. Even with the advanced healing of being shifters, they were in a lot of pain.

Thankfully, the stuck-up necromancer, Volinda, ended up being able to help with the witches who were still conscious. They’d been working on Axel and Cody’s injuries when Lario and Gary returned from the compound that was set ablaze in the distance.

“Gary! You’re okay!” I’d shifted back without any problems for once.

“Hey, kid!” Gary covered his eyes and turned his back. “Clothes! You need clothes!”

“Oh.” Glancing around, I’d forgotten about the whole naked thing momentarily. Wyn appeared next to me, pulling the borrowed hoodie I’d thrown off earlier onto me. “Thanks, Wyn.”

“Well, looks like we missed a lot.” Lario stood over Tarragon’s body, pushing his boot into the ribs. “Pity. I wanted a piece of him.”

“Gary, what happened at the compound?” I wrapped my arms around my middle as I watched the witches working on Cody.

Wyn pulled me against his side. I tried to ignore that my mates were nude and there were other women around getting to see them. Attacking allies who looked at my naked mates was bad.

“The curse stole the lives of anyone who got caught in it. Luckily, most of our people were able to avoid it.” Gary rubbed the back of his head. He was covered in dirt. “It interacted with anything that held an electrical charge, hence the explosions. The Venandi are gone. There are only a few survivors from what I can tell so far.”

I looked up to Wyn. He’d not shown any emotion but I could feel his arms around me, shaking ever so slightly.

“What about kids?” That has been the one thing I’d agreed on at the meeting. Kids didn’t deserve to suffer for their parents' decisions.

“The men we had on the inside got them out this afternoon.” Lario came back over to us, holding something in his hand. “Once your mates are stable, we need to move before the human authorities find us here.” He held up Tarragon’s limp appendage and grinned. “Whoever did this, I owe you a great deal. This is the greatest thing I’ve seen in a very long time.”

“Is that—?” Gary gagged. “Oh Lord.”

“That would be Becca. She ripped it clean off.” Seth had been with Axel, speaking with the witches. “That’s our mate.” The pride in his tone made me stand a little taller.

I don’t remember much of what happened after that. The adrenaline that had been pumping through my veins disappeared and I’d fallen asleep in Wyn’s embrace.

I’d woken up in a bed between Cody and Axel the next day. They were the most injured of our group, but thanks to the medicine the witches gave us to speed up their healing abilities, four days later, they were almost back to one hundred percent.

Cody was a difficult patient. The rest of the guys left him to me when he tried to bite off Jasper’s fingers the night before.

“We’re having lunch in bed.” Jasper set the tray on the nightstand next to me. “As long as it’s safe to approach.” He narrowed his eyes at Cody.

“Sorry.” Cody widened his eyes pathetically. “Don’t be mad.”

I giggled as they all sat around us. Jasper got behind Cody, leaning against the headboard.

“I heard from Gary.” Seth ran his hand along Axel’s arm. “Everything seems to be contained. They haven’t heard from any other Fae, but they’ll all be on alert. Lario sends his regards.”

I leaned my head back against Wyn’s chest as he picked me up into his lap. We’d spoken to Felicity yesterday. She’d taken the news of her parents’ demise surprisingly well. Sero even introduced himself to me over the phone. They’d been arguing about something when they hung up.

“Does that mean our pack is safe?” I reached out my hand for Seth’s free one. We were all touching now.

“We’re safer than we were before. News of the Venandi’s destruction has already reached other shifters. We may have more coming around more often now.” Seth squeezed our hands together. “The Fae are up to something. There’s no way Tarragon acted alone, but I’m sure his dick being sent to them from Lario will be a good deterrent.”

Looking at each of my mates' faces, I smiled. I flooded our mate marks with all of my feelings for them.

“I love you. There’s no way anything can stand between us. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.”

The End.