Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3)(24)

John wanted to know the details of what had happened, but it was hard to pry in the car in the dark, what with him having to sign or write. And Tohr didn’t look like he was into talking.

“Here we are,” Tohr said.

With a quick swing to the right he shot them onto a cramped dirt road, and John realized he suddenly couldn’t really see anything out the windows. There was an odd haze to the wintry forest around them, a buffering that made him vaguely nauseous.

From out of nowhere a huge gate materialized from the foggy landscape, and they skidded to a halt. There was another set of gates right beyond it, and as they entered the space in between, they were caged like a bull in a cattle chute. Tohr put down his window, entered some kind of code on an intercom pad, and they were free to go out the other side into a…

Jesus, what is this?

An underground tunnel. And as they headed down into the earth on a steady decent, several more gates appeared, the barricades getting more and more fortified until the last one. This was the biggest of them all, a shiny steel monster that had a HIGH VOLTAGE sign smack-dab in the middle. Tohr looked up into a security camera, and then there was a clicking noise. The gates slid apart.

Before they went forward, John tapped Tohr’s forearm to get the man’s attention. Is this where the Brothers live? he signed slowly.

“Sort of. I’m taking you through the training center first and then we’ll go to the mansion.” Tohr hit the gas. “When classes start you’ll come here Monday through Friday. Bus will pick you up in front of our house at four o’clock. My brother Phury’s on site, so he’s covering the early classes.” At John’s look, Tohr explained, “The compound is all interconnected underground. I’ll show you how to access the tunnel system that links the buildings together, but you keep it to yourself. Anyone who shows up uninvited somewhere is going to have a serious problem. Your classmates are not welcome, you feel me?”

John nodded as they pulled into the parking area he remembered from a night long ago. God, it felt like a hundred years had passed since he’d come here with Mary and Bella.

He and Tohr got out of the Range Rover. Who will I be training with?

“A dozen other males about your age. They all have some warrior blood in their veins, which is why we chose them. Training will last through your transitions and then quite a while afterward, until we think you’re ready to go out in the field.”

They walked up to a pair of metal doors that Tohr opened wide. On the other side was a corridor that seemed to go on forever. As they went along Tohr showed off a classroom, the gym, a weight room, then a locker room. The male stopped when he got to a door made of frosted glass.

“This is where I hang when I’m not home or in the field.”

John walked in. The room was pretty empty and very unremarkable. The desk was metal and covered with computer equipment, phones, and papers. File cabinets lined the back wall. There were only two places to sit, if you assumed flipping the wastepaper basket over was not an option. One chair was standard-issue office equipment, over in the corner. The other was behind the desk and hump-ugly: a ragged, avocado green leather monstrosity with dog-eared corners, a sagging seat, and a set of legs that gave new meaning to the word sturdy.

Tohr put his hand on the thing’s high back. “Can you believe Wellsie made me get rid of this?”

John nodded and signed, Yes, I can.

Tohr smiled and walked over to a floor-to-ceiling cabinet. When he opened the door and punched in a series of numbers on a keypad, the back of the thing released outward into a dim kind of passageway.

“Here we go.”

John stepped inside even though he couldn’t see much.

A metal tunnel. Wide enough to fit three people walking side by side, and so tall there was some space above even Tohr’s head. Lights were set into ceiling every ten feet or so, but they didn’t carry far through the darkness.

This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, John thought as they started walking.

The sound of Tohr’s shitkickers rebounded off the smooth, steel walls, and so did his deep voice.

“Look, about meeting Wrath. I don’t want you to worry. He’s intense, but he’s nothing to fear. And don’t be freaked out by the sunglasses. He’s nearly blind and hypersensitive to light, so he has to wear them. But even though he can’t see, he’s going to read you like a book anyway. He’ll know your emotions clear as day.”

A little later, a shallow staircase appeared to the left, leading up to a door and another keypad. Tohr stopped and pointed down the tunnel, which continued forever, as far as John could tell.

“If you keep going straight here, you’ll be at the gatehouse in another hundred and fifty yards.”

Tohr went up the flight of stairs, hit the keypad, and threw open the door. Bright light flooded in, like water released from a dam.

John looked up, an odd feeling ringing in his chest. He had the weirdest sense he was dreaming.

“’S all good, son.” Tohr smiled, his harsh face softening a little. “Nothing’s going to hurt you up there. Trust me.”





“Okay, it’s done,” Havers said.

Zsadist opened his eyes, seeing only Wrath’s thick black hair. “Has she been…?”

“She’s just fine. No signs of forcible intercourse or trauma of any kind.” There was a snapping sound, as if the doctor were removing his gloves.