Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3)(121)

Every marking instinct in Z’s body fired off at once, and there was no holding back the growl that came out of his mouth. He whipped the phone away from his face until the sound faded.

“…too close to dawn.”

“What was that?” Z said with a nasty edge. “Bad connection.”

“You think this is a f*cking joke?” the lesser spat.

“Easy, there, wouldn’t want you to throw an embolism.”

The slayer panted with fury, but then got himself under control. “I want to meet you at nightfall. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, you and I, and I don’t want to be rushed by dawn. Besides, I’ve been busy the last few hours and I need a break. I took out one of your females, a nice-looking redhead. Popped her a good one. Buh-bye.”

Now Z’s growl got into the phone. The slayer laughed. “You Brothers are so protective, aren’t you. Well, how about this. I got myself another one. Another female. I persuaded her to give me that number I dialed to find you. She was really forthcoming. Cute little blonde, too.”

Z’s hand went to one of his dagger handles. “Where do you want to meet?”

There was a pause. “First the terms. Naturally I want you to come alone, and here’s how we’re going to make sure that happens.” Z heard a female moan in the background. “Any of my associates catch your Brothers around and this one gets sliced up. All it will take is a phone call. And they will do it slowly.”

Zsadist shut his eyes. He’d so had it with death and suffering and pain. His own and others’. That poor female…“Where?”

“Six-o’clock showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Lucas Square. You sit in the back. I’ll find you.”

The phone went dead, only to ring again immediately.

Now V’s voice was strangled. “We have a situation. Bella’s brother found Wellsie shot in his driveway. Get back home, Z. Right now.”





John watched from across the desk as Tohr hung up the phone. The man’s hands were shaking so badly the receiver rattled in its cradle.

“She probably forgot to turn that cell on. Lemme try the house again.” Tohr picked up. Dialed quickly. Flubbed the numbers so he had to start over. And all the while he was rubbing at the center of his chest, his shirt in disarray.

As Tohr stared into space, frozen as their home phone rang, John heard footfalls coming down the hallway to the office. A horrible feeling went through him like a fever’s bloom. He glanced at the door, then shifted his eyes to Tohr again.

Tohr obviously heard the heavy pounding, too. In slow motion he let the receiver fall to the desk, the sound of the ringing over the open line loud in the room. His eyes fixated on the door, his hands gripping the arms of his chair.

As the knob turned, voice mail kicked in and the sound of Wellsie’s voice came out of the receiver. “Hi, this is Wellsie and Tohr. We can’t get to the phone right now….”

Every one of the Brothers was out in the hall. And Wrath was in front of the grim, silent group.

There was a clatter and John looked back at Tohr. The man had jacked up onto his feet and knocked his chair over. He was trembling from head to foot, sweating through his shirt in great patches under his arms.

“My brother,” Wrath said. There was a helpless tone to his voice, one totally at odds with his fierce face. And that powerlessness was terrifying.

Tohr moaned and grabbed at his sternum, rubbing in fast, desperate circles. “You…can’t be here. Not all of you.” He put one hand out as if to push them all away and then he backed up. Except there was nowhere to go. He banged against a file cabinet. “Wrath, don’t…my lord, please, don’t…oh, God. Don’t say it. Don’t tell me….”

“I’m so sorry….”

Tohr started to rock back and forth, arms going around his middle as if he were going to throw up. His short breaths went in so fast he began to hiccup, and he didn’t seem to exhale at all.

John burst into tears.

He didn’t mean to. But reality was dawning and the horror was too hard to bear. He dropped his head in his hands, and all he could think about was Wellsie backing out of the driveway like it was just another day.

When a big hand pulled him up out of the chair and he was held against a chest, he thought it was one of the Brothers. But it was Tohr. Tohr was holding him hard, clinging.

The male started to murmur like a crazy man, his words fast and incomprehensible until they finally coalesced into some kind of meaning. “Why wasn’t I called? Why didn’t Havers call me? He should have called me…. Oh, God, the baby took her…. I knew we shouldn’t have gotten her pregnant….”

Abruptly everything changed in the room, as if someone had turned up the lights or maybe the heat. John felt the shift in the air first, and then Tohr’s words dried up as he obviously sensed it, too.

Tohr’s arms loosened. “Wrath? It was…the baby, right?”

“Get the boy out of here.”

John shook his head and held on to Tohr’s waist with a death grip.

“How did she die, Wrath?” Tohrment’s voice went flat and his hands fell from John. “You tell me now. Right f*cking now.”

“Get the kid out of here,” Wrath barked at Phury.