Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)(102)

Don’t say that name, he mouthed. Don’t say his name.

From out of nowhere, pain lanced through his temples. Then, in his mind, he heard Wrath’s voice saying the word Tohrment again and again. Clamping his hands over his ears, he tripped over his feet, backing away.

Wrath followed, coming forward, the name getting louder until it was a screaming, relentless, pounding chant. Then John saw the face, Tohr’s face, clear as if it were before him. The navy blue eyes. The short dark military hair. The hard features.

John opened his mouth and started to scream. No sound came out, but he kept at it until the crying took over. Swamped by heartache, missing the only father he’d known, he covered his eyes and hunched his shoulders, falling in on himself as he wept.

The instant he caved it all went away: His mind silenced. The vision disappeared.

Strong arms gathered him up.

John started screaming again, but now in agony, not anger. With nowhere to turn, he clutched at Wrath’s huge shoulders. All he wanted was the hurting to stop…. He wanted the pain in him, the stuff he tried to bury deep, to go away. He was raw with emotion from the losses in his life and the tragedies of circumstance, nothing but bruises on the inside.

“Shit…” Wrath rocked him gently. “It’s all right, son. God…damn.”





Chapter Thirty-two




Marissa got out of the Mercedes then ducked back in. “Will you please wait, Fritz? I want to go to the rental house after this.”

“Of course, mistress.”

She turned and looked at the back entrance of Havers’s clinic, wondering whether he would even let her in.

“Marissa.”

She turned around. “Oh, God…Butch.” She ran over to the Escalade. “I’m so glad you called me. Are you okay? Are they?”

“Yeah. They’re getting checked out.”

“And you?”

“Fine. Just fine. I figured I’d wait outside, though, because…you know.”

Yes, Havers wouldn’t be too happy to see him. Probably wasn’t going to like running into her, either.

Marissa glanced toward the clinic’s back entrance. “The mother and child…they can’t go home after this, can they?”

“No way. The lessers know about the house, so it isn’t safe. And frankly, there wasn’t much there anyway.”

“What about the mother’s hellren?”

“He’s been…taken care of.”

God, she shouldn’t feel relieved that there had been a death, but she was. At least until she thought of Butch in the field.

“I love you,” she blurted. “That’s why I don’t want to have you fighting. If I lost you for any reason, my life would be over.”

His eyes widened, and she realized they hadn’t spoken of love for what seemed like forever. But she was rule number one-ing this. She’d hated spending the daylight hours away from him, hated the distance between them, and she wasn’t letting it go on anymore on her side.

Butch stepped in close, his hands going to her face. “Christ, Marissa…you don’t know what it means to hear you say that. I need to know that. Need to feel that.”

He kissed her softly, whispering loving things against her mouth, and as she trembled, he held her with care. There were things still left awkwardly between them, but none of that mattered at the moment. She just needed to reconnect with him.

When he pulled back a little, she said, “I’m going to go inside, but will you wait? I’d like to show you my new house.”

He ran his fingertip lightly down her cheek. Though his eyes grew sad, he said, “Yeah, I’ll wait. And I would love to see where you’re going to live.”

“I won’t be long.”

She kissed him again and then headed off to the clinic entrance. As she felt like an intruder, it was a surprise to be admitted inside without a fuss, but she knew that didn’t mean things were going to go smoothly. While she rode down in the elevator, she fiddled with her hair. She was nervous about seeing Havers. Would there be a scene?

When she walked into the waiting area, the nursing staff knew exactly what she’d come for and she was taken down to a patient room. She knocked on the door and stiffened.

Havers looked up from talking with the young in the cast and his face froze. As he seemed to lose track of the words he was speaking, he pushed up his glasses, then cleared his throat with a cough.

“You came!” the young called out to Marissa.

“Hi, there,” she said, lifting her hand.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Havers murmured to the mother, “I’ll get your discharge papers in order. But as I said, there’s no hurry for you to leave.”

Marissa stared at her brother as he came up to her, wondering whether he would even acknowledge her presence. And he did in a manner of speaking. His glance flicked over the pants she had on and he winced.

“Marissa.”

“Havers.”

“You look…well.”

Nice enough words. But what he meant was she looked different. And he didn’t approve. “I am well.”

“If you’ll excuse me.”

As he left without waiting for a response, anger boiled up into her throat, but she didn’t let the nasty words on her tongue fly. Instead, she went to the bedside and sat down. While she took the little female’s hand, she tried to figure out what to say, but the young’s singsong voice got there first.