Page 38 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

“I won’t stop,” I said, more softly now, but with an iron edge beneath it. “If Rene slips further, I’m sending more. I won’t let him fade without a fight.”

Con looked like he wanted to argue more. Instead, he let out a slow breath and eased his grip on my arm. His palm slid down until his fingers just brushed my wrist, a small contact that carried more concern than any shouted lecture.

“At least let me know when you do it,” he said. “So I can catch you if you fall on your face.”

I snorted. “Romantic.”

“Efficient,” he replied.

Despite everything, a smile tugged at my mouth. “Fine. You’ll be my spotter.”

“Already am,” he muttered.

The truth in that settled over us quietly.

Across the room, Raven kissed Jana’s forehead, then stepped out from behind the bar. She wiped at her cheeks, disguising the motion as a casual swipe at an imaginary smudge of mascara. Her eyes found ours near the entrance.

Time to go.

“What’s the plan until Marcus calls?” Con asked as Raven threaded her way back across the floor.

“Wait,” I said. “And try not to break anything.”

He gave a short nod. “You’re terrible at that.”

“I know.”

Raven joined us, flanked by music and neon and the fading comfort of the club she once treated as a second home.

“Jana’s staying here tonight, Marcy is in the club with another pack member. They will stay with her,” she said, voice calm despite the fatigue etched into it. “She’s safer on pack territory tomorrow. Lucian will meet her at dawn.”

“Good,” Con replied.

Raven slipped an arm through mine. “Let’s go home,” she whispered. “Rene will want to see us when he wakes.”

I didn’t tell her he might already be awake because of the pulse of energy I had pushed toward him. I didn’t mention that she hadn’t felt it, that it meant things were worse than she knew.

That was a conversation for another time.

For now, we stepped out of Club Spice and into the cool night, carrying with us heartbreak, thin hope, and the quiet burn of power I refused to stop using, no matter how dangerous it became.

CHAPTER 8

The drive back to Shadow Bone passed in a quiet that felt stretched thin. Raven sat in the back seat, her forehead resting against the cool glass, watching the city blur into streaks of neon and shadow. She didn’t speak, and neither did I. The bond hummed low against my ribs, a tired, uneven throb that mirrored her own exhaustion.

Halfway down the highway, I twisted in my seat to look at her.

“What did you and Jana talk about?”

Raven blinked slowly as if returning from a distant place. “She’s staying at the club tonight. Isra’s too shaken, and she wanted to keep an eye on him. Jana said she’d leave with Lucian in the morning.”

“And Isra?” I asked softly.

Raven’s shoulders slumped. “Jana promised to stay close. She knows how badly he’s hurting.”

“She’s a good kid.”

“She is,” Raven whispered. “Better than any of us deserve.”