Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood #7)(128)

When she turned around, she saw a massive shape through the glass. Rehvenge had been waiting and watching for her, and the fact that he was looking forward to this as much as she was made her smile so wide, her front teeth tingled in the chill.

Before she could go over the door in front of him slid open, and he strode across the distance that seperated them, the winter wind catching his sable coat and sweeping it out from his body. His glowing amethyst eyes flashed. His stride was pure power. His aura was undeniably male.

Her heart leaped as he stopped before her. In the glow from the city, his face was hard and loving at the same time, and though it no doubt froze him to the bone, he opened his coat, inviting her to share what body heat he had.

Ehlena leaned in and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight, breathing his scent deeply.

His mouth dropped to her ear. “I missed you.”

She closed her eyes, thinking those three little words were as good as I love you. “I missed you, too.”

As he laughed softly with satisfaction, she both heard the sound and felt it as his chest rumbled. And then he cuddled her closer. “You know, with you against me like this, I’m not cold.”

“That makes me happy.”

“Me, too.” He turned them so they could both look out over the snow blanketed terrace and the skyscrapers of downtown and the two bridges with their stripes of yellow headlights and red taillights. “I’ve never gotten to enjoy this view up close and personal like this. Before you…I’ve only seen it through the glass.”

Held within the cocooning warmth of his body and his coat, Ehlena had a sense of triumph that together they had bested the chill.

With her head lying on his heart, she said, “It’s magnificent.”

“Yeah.”

“And yet…I don’t know, only you feel real to me.”

Rehvenge pulled back and tilted her chin up with one long finger. As he smiled, she saw that his fangs were longer, and instantly she was aroused.

“I was thinking the exact same thing,” he said. “At this moment, I can’t see anything but you.”

His head dipped down and he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her some more while snowflakes danced around them as if the two of them were a centrifugal force, their own slowly spinning universe.

As she slid her arms around the back of his neck and they both got carried away, Ehlena closed her eyes.

Which meant she didn’t see and Rehvenge didn’t feel the presence that materialized on the top of the penthouse’s roof….

And glared at them with red, glowing eyes the color of freshly spilled blood.





FORTY-TWO




Please don’t wince if you can manage it—okay, that’s good.”

Doc Jane moved over to Wrath’s left eye, flashing her penlight right into the back of his brain, as far as he could tell. While the spear bored into him, he had to fight the urge not to jerk his head back.

“You really don’t like that,” she murmured as she clipped the penlight off.

“No.” He rubbed his eyes and put his wraparounds back on, unable to see anything but a pair of shiny black bull’s-eyes.

Beth spoke up. “But that’s not unusual. He’s never been able to tolerate light.”

As her voice drifted, he reached over and squeezed her hand to try to reassure her—which, if it worked, would reassure him by extension.

Talk about ruining the mood. After it had been clear that his eyes had taken a little unscheduled vacay, Beth had called Doc Jane, who had been down in the new clinic space, but more than willing to house-call it stat. Wrath, however, had insisted on going to where the doctor was. The last thing he wanted was for Beth to have to hear bad news in their marital chamber—and nearly as important, to him, that was sacred space. Apart from Fritz coming in to clean, no one was welcome in their bedroom. Even the Brothers.

Besides, Doc Jane was going to want to do tests. Doctors always wanted to do tests.

Persuading Beth had taken some time, but then Wrath had put on his sunglasses, wrapped his arm around his shellan’s shoulders, and together they had walked out of their chambers, down their private staircase, and onto the second-story balcony. Along the way, he’d stumbled a couple of times, catching his shitkickers on the corners of runners and misremembering where steps were, and the rough going was a revelation. He’d had no clue that he relied on his faulty vision as much as he apparently did.

Holy…dearest Virgin Scribe, he’d thought. What if he went permanently, totally blind?

He couldn’t bear that. Just couldn’t bear it.

Fortunately, halfway through the tunnel to the training center, his head had pounded a number of times, and suddenly the light glowing down from the ceiling pierced through his sunglasses. Or rather, his eyes registered it. He’d stopped and blinked and whipped off his wraparounds and immediately had to put them back on as he’d stared up at the fluorescent panels.

So all was not lost.

As Doc Jane stood before him, she crossed her arms, the lapels of her white coat bunching up. She was fully solid, her ghostly form as substantive as his or Beth’s, and he could practically smell the wood burning as she considered his case.

“Your pupils are virtually nonresponsive, but that’s because they are nearly contracted to begin with…. Damn it, I wish I’d done a baseline optical on you. You said the blindness came on suddenly?”