92: The Night that Wouldn't End

“You should try to get some sleep,” Dmitri’s hot breath tickled my ear as he tucked me against his chest; “There isn’t anything else we can do to prepare any more than we have already.”

He was right. But even though I was thoroughly exhausted and my eyelids felt heavy, I couldn’t seem to close them and let sleep take me. I laced my fingers through the hand he had resting on my hip and tucked it under my chin, forcing his embrace to tighten around me.

“You need to rest too,” I whispered over my shoulder.

His soft, rumbling chuckle made his chest vibrate against my back as he held me. “That would be easier to accomplish if I couldn’t feel all the anxiety you seem to have been hiding from all of us all week.”

I pinched off the emotional flow in our bond from him to me.

“Don’t do that,” his deep gravelly voice sent a shiver down my spine.

“I don’t want to be the reason you didn’