Night Veil Read Online Free

whispered. “Hush. I know, I know you’re out there hurting, but I can’t do anything about it right now.”
    The wolf growled again and I pressed my lips tight, my heart sore. The memory of Grieve’s face, of his hands on my body, his needle-sharp teeth nipping at my skin, swept over me and I dashed my hand across my eyes, careful not to mar the mascara and liner I’d put on. Grieve was lost to the enemy. Myst had claimed him for her own. I was determined to win him back, but in the depths of my heart I was afraid that none of us would come out of this alive.
    “Cicely! Get a move on!”
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” I hurried into my favorite boots—a pair of Icon Bombshells—and slung my purse over my shoulder. Polishing a smudge off my left boot, I decided that I was as good as I was going to get, especially after a tussle with a goblin and a Shadow Hunter.
    My hair hung free, smooth and ink-black to my shoulders, and I pulled it back into a sleek ponytail, then slipped on a pair of driving gloves and my leather jacket. I slid my moonstone pendant over my neck and secreted it beneath my sweater, then clattered down the stairs.
    “Let’s get this show on the road,” I said.
    Rhiannon was waiting, freshly showered herself, in a pair of khakis she’d paired with a plaid button-down shirt, and a camel wool coat.
    My cousin was as bright as I was dark. Heather, her mother, used to call us Amber and Jet—fire and ice. Her hair was flame red, my own jet-black. We were both twenty-six, both born on the summer solstice—she in the waxing hours, me in the waning. I was short and sturdy, Rhiannon tall and willowy. Opposites, yet we had referred to ourselves as twins when we were little.
    Leo looked snazzy as usual. Geoffrey insisted he dress well for work, and most day-runners had extensive—and expensive—wardrobes. Leo was lucky. In his case, Geoffrey financed his expenses. Leo’s tawny hair was a mass of curls barely skimming his neck and he towered over me, more lean than gangly.
    “Be careful,” Kaylin said, looking up from his spot on the sofa, where he was reading while petting a half dozen cats who sprawled around him, including Bart, Leo’s Maine Coon familiar. “You go off half-cocked and try to stake Lannan and you’ll be in a world of hurt.”
    Lannan. My face flushed and I let out a low growl. Lannan Altos was near the top of my wish-you-were-dead list, only slightly lower than Myst. He was a vampire—one of the Vein Lords—and I was bound to him by an ironclad contract. He’d mind-fucked me once already while drinking the monthly blood tithe I owed him. Next time it would be worse.
    Lannan wants to break you, Ulean whispered on a light current of air.
    I know, trust me. I know. He can try all he likes, he won’t do it.
    Ulean brushed me with her impatience. Don’t be too cocky. Lannan has thousands of years of experience. He is a master of head games. Just be careful.
    I will. Have no fear. I’ve already made too many mistakes. I’ll watch my back.
    “Cicely? Promise us you won’t go off on Lannan? We can’t afford to alienate him.” Kaylin caught my gaze and would not let go.
    “Because he’s helped us so much already?” I shot him a nasty look. “Lannan knew he was infecting me and that I’d infect Grieve, and now look at the whole mess. The Indigo Court is far more dangerous than they were, even if they can no longer walk under the sun. They were bad enough before; now they’re like a pack of rabid dogs. With nasty big teeth and soul-sucking abilities.”
    Geoffrey and Regina, agents for the Crimson Queen—the queen of true vampires—had come up with a hunkydory plan to stop the Vampiric Fae. Only it hadn’t worked right. It prevented the Indigo Court Fae from walking abroad during the day all right, but now light sent them into a feeding frenzy—a rage from which they could not extricate themselves until the darkness once again hit. I’d been the weapon, unknowingly