Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3)(66)

Tohr burst up from the sofa and took John into his arms, squeezing so hard the two became one. Gasping for air, feet dangling, John looked over at Wellsie. She had both hands over her mouth, and tears were rolling down her face.

Abruptly Tohr let go and stepped back. He coughed a little, eyes shimmering. “Well…what do you know.”

The man cleared his throat a number of times. Rubbed his face. Looked a little woozy.

Who is Darius? John signed as he sat down again.

Tohr smiled slowly. “He was my best friend, my brother in the fighting, my…I can’t wait to tell you all about him. And this means you have a sister.”

Who?

“Beth, our queen. Wrath’s shellan—”

“Yes, about her,” Havers said, looking at John. “I don’t understand the reaction you had to her. Your CAT scans are all fine, so too your EKG, your CBC. I believe you when you say she was what caused the seizures, though I have no idea why that would be. I’d like you to stay away from her for a while so we can see if it happens in another environment, okay?”

John nodded, though he wanted to see the woman again, especially if he was related to her. A sister. How cool…

“Now, about the other issue,” Havers said pointedly.

Wellsie leaned forward and put her hand on John’s knee. “Havers has something he wants to talk to you about.”

John frowned. What? he signed slowly.

The doctor smiled, trying to be all reassuring. “I’d like you to see that therapist.”

John went cold. In a panic, he searched Wellsie’s face, then Tohr’s, wondering how much the doctor might have told them about what had happened to him a year ago.

Why would I go? he signed. I’m fine.

Wellsie’s reply was level. “It’s just to help you make the transition to your new world.”

“And your first appointment is tomorrow evening,” Havers said, tipping his head down. He stared into John’s face over the top of the horn-rims, and the message in his eyes was: Either you go or I’ll tell them the real reason why you have to.

John was outmaneuvered, and that pissed him off. But he figured it was better to submit to compassionate blackmail than to have Tohr and Wellsie know anything about what had been done to him.

Okay. I’ll do it.

“I’ll take you,” Tohr said quickly. Then he frowned. “I mean…we can find someone to take you—Butch will take you.”

John’s face burned. Yeah, he didn’t want Tohr anywhere near the therapist gig. No way.

The front doorbell rang.

Wellsie grinned. “Oh, good. That’s Sarelle. She’s come over to work on the solstice festival. John, maybe you’d like to help us?”

Sarelle was here again? She hadn’t mentioned that when they’d IM’d last night.

“John? Do you want to work with Sarelle?”

He nodded and tried to keep it cool, although his body had lit up like a neon sign. He was positively tingling. Yeah. I can do that.

He put his hands in his lap and looked down at them, trying to keep his smile to himself.





Chapter Twenty-three


Bella was damn well coming home. Tonight.

Rehvenge was not the kind of male who handled frustration well under the best of circumstances. So he was beyond through waiting to have his sister back where she needed to be. Goddamn it, he was not just her brother, he was her ghardian, and that meant he had rights.

As he yanked on his full-length sable coat, the fur swirled around his big body, then fell to rest at his ankles. The suit he was wearing was black and by Ermenegildo Zegna. The twin nine-millimeter handguns under his arms were by Heckler & Koch.

“Rehvenge, please don’t do this.”

He looked at his mother. Madalina was standing beneath the chandelier in the hall, the picture of aristocracy with her regal bearing and her diamonds and her satin gown. The only thing out of place was the worry on her face, and that wasn’t because the tension clashed with her Harry Winston and haute couture. She never got upset. Ever.

He took a deep breath. He was more likely to calm her down if he didn’t show his infamous temper, but more to the point, in his current frame of mind he was liable to shred her where she stood, and that wasn’t fair.

“She will come home this way,” he said.

His mother’s graceful hand lifted to her throat, a sure sign she was caught between what she wanted and what she thought was right. “But it’s so extreme.”

“You want her sleeping in her own bed? You want her where she should be?” His voice started to punch through the air. “Or do you want her staying with the Brotherhood? Those are warriors, mahmen. Bloodthirsty, blood-hungry warriors. You think they would hesitate to take a female? And you know damn well by law the Blind King can lay with whatever female he chooses. You want her in that kind of environment? I don’t.”

As his mahmen stepped back, he realized he was yelling at her. He sucked in another deep breath.

“But, Rehvenge, I spoke with her. She doesn’t want to come home yet. And they are males of honor. In the Old Country—”

“We don’t even know who’s in the Brotherhood anymore.”

“They saved her.”

“Then they can give her back to her family. For God’s sake, she’s a female of the aristocracy. You think the glymera will accept her after this? She’s already had that one affair.”