And he did, going slow, being sweet, not fucking but making love to me. Again giving me what I needed but didn’t know I’d need. A long, intense orgasm that left me sated and languid and meant, once he’d tangled himself up in me, on the eve of a day that would end with fighting, I didn’t have to search for it.

I fell fast asleep.

* * * * *

“I can’t believe fuckin’ vampires have a fuckin’ non-smoking policy.”

It was the next night and this was Jabber complaining about the state of affairs not only in the compound but also in the safe room in the bunker below the compound where we were all hunkered down, waiting out the fight that was either happening above or imminently going to happen.

That “we” included Leah, Sonia, Jian-Li, and me. With us was Regan, a beautiful, dark-haired woman who looked like Callum’s sister but was actually his mother. Under Callum’s orders, she’d arrived at the compound several days earlier. She was sweet and nice and openly adored her family, so, obviously, I dug her big time.

The “we” in the bunker also included a seriously ticked off Chen (who was better but not better enough that Abel would let him fight, which was not a decision Chen agreed with, but his other two brothers and mother did; hence, he was there). And lastly, an also better-but-still-not-great Jabber, who never liked being cooped up, and doing it knowing my dad was somewhere close and in a hairy situation, he liked it less.

Moose had yet to return and this freaked me out, but I couldn’t think on that.

I couldn’t because I was freaked out about whatever was happening above us. We’d been there hours. They’d been reporting in that all was clear but way too infrequently to my way of thinking.

Now they were not.

We had guards in the room, guards outside the room, guards stationed in the hall, and guards securing all the routes to the bunker. These guards were being led by Caleb, who surprisingly didn’t bitch about this assignment but, instead, took it seriously.

That was nice and even flattering. Callum’s brothers were definitely action wolves so that said a lot.

But I was not thinking about how flattering Caleb taking his assignment without bitching was.

I was worried about what was happening that meant they were no longer reporting in.

The good news: I was not reacting physically to whatever it was and I was hoping this meant Abel was not in danger.

I didn’t get agony in my gut when Callum or Lucien were in danger so I couldn’t help Leah or Sonia with their own worries. Sonia was actually being very cool, acting calm and collected, and her being this way helped me not to totally lose it.