Page 119 of Veiled

I roll my eyes and chuck a pair of socks at his chest. “Wow. Thank you so much.”

The door opens, and Aiden steps in and freezes. His gaze flicks from me to Matt, luxuriously draped across my bed, to the socks now sliding down Matt’s shirt.

He blinks once. “Matt,” he says dryly. “Why are you in our bed?”

Matt doesn’t even flinch. He just lifts one eyebrow like he’s the victim here.

“I was just telling your lovely—wait, is it fiancée? Or wife? I keep losing track.” His shit-eating grin completely betrays the innocent tone he’s attempting.

“Boyfriend.” I correct at the same time Aiden answers, “Both.”

I shoot him an insincere glare, but he meets it with a big smile.

“Right…” Matt goes on, “Well, I was just telling Lee I’m supervising. And all good supervisors need to work from a distance so we can see the grand scope of things.”

“Uh-huh.” Aiden gives me a quick kiss before leaning over and picking up a pair of my jeans to hang up like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“Plus, I’m willing to bet you don’t want me folding her unmentionables.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Aiden points and gestures for him to move without even looking at him, “Just get off my side, I don’t want to smell you on my pillow when I go to sleep tonight.”

“Oh, this is your side,” Matt echoes with a laugh. “So domestic. Tell me, Lee, how long until a little Lee is running around asking Uncle Mattey to carry her?”

Aiden’s face breaks into a stupidly proud grin while I groan.

“Shut up. Both of you. Now, did you get the text for next week or not?”

“Yes, Mom. I got the text telling us the location changed for Ghost Walking to some place called the vault.” His sarcastic voice turns somber. “Can’t say I’m surprised after yesterday.”

Aiden pauses mid-fold, brows rising. “What happened yesterday?”

I shoot Matt a glare. He knows the rules: we aren’t allowed to talk about class details with people not in our class, including Bravo walkers.

“Oh, they—”

“Nothing happened, Honey.” I rush before whatever hidden eyes and ears lurking around campus hear Matt recall how, during the exercise where we had to sense and evade the Bravo assistants tracking us, Abel “accidentally” lodged his dagger deep in Sean's throat.

He claimed Sean came for him first, but Sean’s weapons were still sheathed at his thighs, and we all know there had been bad blood between them since they failed their first mission.

I swallow hard, trying to push the image of Sean’s pale face, vacant eyes, all the blood pooling around his body, out of my mind. The instructors made us analyze what went wrong, to take notes, to memorize the angles of the wound.

And then they made us continue the exercise.

My panic had only lasted seconds, flashbacks trying to tear me away, but thankfully, Matt knew what was happening and was able to pull me back from the edge before the rest of the class noticed.

Sean lost his life, while Abel was just given the memory tincture and kicked out of the program quietly.

Aiden reads every thought written across my face. Even without knowing the details, he steps in and folds me into a hug, arms banding around me like he can shield me from anything I can’t outrun.

Matt clears his throat, unnaturally loud in the tense room. “Sooo,” he says, forcing a grin that doesn’t reach his eyes, “How about the dragons, huh? I really felt a connection with the young one who was with you before the red one almost smoked you.”

Aiden’s arms tense around me before he pulls back, staring at me expectantly. Fucking Matt, today.

“Sweetheart, I think you forgot to mention almost dying when you gave me your recap of the day.”

Matt’s face finally registers the disaster he’s just created. “She didn’t almost die, die,” he backpedals, hands up. “He just—threatened her a little. A growl, some smoke, maybe a few teeth—minor stuff. Anyway, I’m gonna go ... somewhere else.”

“Yup! Thanks for all that, Mattey.”