would take first watch and keep the computers going, along with Heather and Dan, Jasmine and Bobby, and Marj and Berkfield. That was the normal protocol; let the young bloods do the daylight and the less severe darkness with one senior couple. This time, Krissy would be on light duty and was only assigned so she could stay near J.L.
But during the heart of the night, those with serious combat skills, night vision, and old vamp assets were on call. That meant Jose and Juanita, Tara and Rider, and Yonnie and Val were up. Then in the dangerous transition period from darkness to dawn going into full daybreak, the Neterus were up with Mar and Shabazz and Inez and Mike, whose audio capability could pick up a phantom whisper anywhere in the house at that hour.
The worst part of it all, though, was the waiting . . . waiting for the Dark Realm to make a move, waiting for J.L.'s complex programs to make sense of the chaos . . . waiting for the Covenant to provide reinforcements and a recommendation . . . waiting on the Light to give them sure guidance . . . waiting on a strategy to gel in her and Carlos's minds. Right now she felt like she was about to leap out of her skin.
Sensing her tension, Carlos stripped his T-shirt over his head and flung it toward the bedroom hamper and missed. "Get some rest, boo. We ain't gonna figure it out tonight and the shift change is gonna kick our asses like it always does. We haven't done this drill in a while, and you definitely need your rest."
She watched the muscles move beneath his bronze skin as he unzipped his jeans and bent to unlace his Tims before stepping out of them. What seemed like steel cable made his shoulders and the width of his back expand as he moved to complete the simpletask. Reflex caused her gaze to slide down his spine and over the steel-cut lobes of his ass and thighs. Her husband's body was like a piece of stone art, and she always enjoyed watching him change his clothes, even if nothing in particular was going on. It was like appreciating a finely crafted sculpture. Damn . . . they'd broken the mold when they made him.
"I can't turn off my mind, but at least I ate," Damali said after a distracted moment while drying her damp locks with a thick terry towel. She sat cross-legged in their huge king-sized bed in a pair of cut-off shorts and one of Carlos's wife-beater T-shirts, fending off the miscellaneous random thoughts that floated through her mind.
"Noticed you didn't touch the falafel they sent." He gave her a half smile as he stripped off his boxers and found a pair of gray sweats to put on.
"Ruined that dish for me for life, you know. Damn!" She coaxed her mind and line of vision away from his groin.
Carlos laughed. "I couldn't watch Rider eat the mac and cheese and forget brown rice or white rice, period, for a long-ass time."
"But I feel Rider, though," Damali said, flinging the towel away from the bed in a sudden rush of annoyance. "I feel violated by all of this. Like . . . WTF, ya know?"
"Right-and since Ayana's not in the room," Carlos said, sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed, "whatthe fuck! "
Damali stretched out her legs and fell back with her arms outstretched. "I know, I know, I know . . . and the team is gonna freak when we tell them-like I'm already freaked out that all this is happening while all this is happening, kiss my ass-what are we gonna do?" She didn't even want to say the wordpregnant out loud now.
Carlos shrugged. "Make it up as we go along, like we always do. If you haven't noticed, I'm trying very hard to keep my head on straight, keep doing this by the numbers like we always did . . . that's why I'm going to sleep-will get up for our shift, just have to keep on the grind." He lay next to her on his side and leaned down to kiss her. "One thing I'm not gonna do, though, is stay up for eight hours and worry, then try to deal with this bullshit fried. Even vampires and whatever stop and regenerate, so you know we mere mortals need to. Get some rest, baby."