Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood #7)(213)

“Leave me…” he mumbled. “Just leave me. Go…”

Ehlena’s face came back in front of his, and her lips moved with deliberation, as if she were trying to explain things to him—

Abruptly, having her so close triggered the bonded male in his blood and caused some of his depth perception to return—and he was relieved as her face started to assume its normal contours…and colors.

Rehv lifted a shaking hand up, wondering if she would let him touch her.

She did more than that. She clasped his palm hard and brought it to her lips for a kiss. She was still talking to him, not that he heard what she was saying, and he tried to concentrate. Stay with me. That was what it looked as if she were trying to communicate to him. Or perhaps he was picking up on that through the way she held on to his hand.

Ehlena reached out and stroked his hair back, and he got the impression she mouthed, Breathe deep for me.

Rehv inhaled to make her happy, and as he did, she glanced at something or someone behind him. She gave a quick nod to whoever it was.

At then pain exploded in his right shoulder, his whole body torquing, his mouth cracking wide to let out the scream.

He didn’t hear himself yell. Didn’t see anything else. Agony knocked him out cold.





SEVENTY-ONE




Ehlena rode home in the back of a black Escalade with Rehv curled up in her lap. The two of them were mashed into the rear section, but she didn’t care that there was barely enough room for his huge body alone. She wanted him this close.

Needed to put her hands on him and keep them there.

As soon as they’d torn the hooks out of his shoulders, she’d done the best she could with the horrible wounds left behind, quickly packing them with sterile gauze that she taped in place. The second she was done, Zsadist had picked him up and carried him out of that godforsaken chamber, with her and Vishous providing guard.

Xhex had been nowhere to be found on the trip out.

Ehlena tried to reassure herself that the female had gone to join the aboveground fight with the slayers, but the rationalization didn’t stick. Xhex never would have left Rehvenge until he was safely free from the colony.

As fear flickered through Ehlena’s chest, she tried to calm herself by stroking the stripe of thick dark hair that ran down Rehvenge’s head. In response, he turned his face into her, as if needing the comfort.

God, he might have symphath in him, but he had proven where his heart was: He had destroyed the princess and protected them all against those terrifying creatures in the masks and robes. Which said everything about whose side he was on, didn’t it? Without him somehow taking control of the colony, there was no way any of them, including the Brothers who’d been fighting lessers on the lawn, would have gotten out of there safely.

She glanced up at the others in the SUV. Rhage was wrapped in leather jackets, naked and shivering, the color of congealed oatmeal. They’d had to pull over twice so he could throw up, and given the way he was swallowing with such force, they were going to have to do that again soon. Vishous was next to him and didn’t look much better. The guy’s heavy legs were draped over Rhage’s lap—and with his head turned to the side and his eyes squeezed shut, it was pretty obvious that he had a concussion from where the princess had struck him. And way up front, Butch was in the passenger seat, reeking of a sickly sweetness that was no doubt making Rhage’s stomach worse.

Tohrment was behind the wheel, driving steadily and smoothly.

At least she didn’t worry about how they were getting home.

Rehvenge stirred and she immediately focused on him. As his amethyst eyes struggled to open, she shook her head.

“Shh…just lie there.” She stroked his face. “Shh…”

He shifted his shoulders and abruptly winced so hard his neck cracked. Wishing there were more that she could do for him, she retucked the blanket that had been wrapped around him. She’d given him as many painkillers as she dared, as well as antibiotics for the shoulder wounds, but she’d held back on antivenin, as he didn’t appear to have been bitten.

Given the way the princess had been carnaged, apparently those spiders and scorpions stung only on command, and Rehv had been spared that for some reason.

Abruptly, he grunted and strained, his hands pushing into the floor beneath him.

“No, don’t try to sit up.” She gently held his chest down. “Just lie with me here.”

Rehvenge collapsed back against her lap and brought one of his hands forward. As he found her palm, he mumbled, “Why…?”

She had to smile. “You ask that a lot, you know.”

“Why did you come?”

After a moment, she said quietly, “I followed my heart.”

Evidently, that didn’t make him happy. On the contrary, he grimaced as if in pain. “Don’t…deserve…your…”

Ehlena stiffened in alarm as he started bleeding from his eyes. “Rehvenge, stay still for me.” Trying not to panic, she reached for her backpack full of supplies, wondering what kind of medical crisis he was having.

Rehvenge caught her hands. “Just…tears.”

She stared at what appeared to be blood on his cheeks. “Are you sure?” When he nodded, she took a Kleenex out of her parka and dabbed his face carefully. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”