Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)(141)

“You okay?” V said softly.

“I am now.” God, his voice was hoarse as hell from the inhaling. Maybe also from the gratitude.

V gave a yank and Butch shot upright to his feet. As he let himself fall back against the alley’s brick wall, he discovered the fighting was over.

“Nice work for a civilian,” Rhage said.

Butch glanced to the left, thinking the brother was talking to him, but then he saw Rehvenge. The male was slowly bending over and picking up a sheath from the ground. With an elegant move, he took the red-bladed sword in his hand and slid it home to the pummel. Ah…that cane was also a weapon.

“Thanks,” Rehv replied. Then his amethyst eyes shifted over to Butch.

As the two of them stared at each other, Butch realized they hadn’t really met up since the night Marissa had fed.

“Hey, man,” Butch said, putting his palm out.

Rehvenge walked over, leaning heavily on his cane. As the two of them shook, everyone took a deep breath.

“So, cop,” Rehv said, “mind if I ask what you were doing to those slayers?”

A whimpering sound cut off any reply, causing them all to look at the Dumpster across the way.

“You can come out, boys,” Rhage said. “Place is clear.”

The hotshot blond pre-trans and his rented meat shuffled into the light. Both of them looked like they’d been put through a dishwasher: they were damp with sweat in spite of the cold, their hair and clothes all messed up.

Rehvenge’s hard face registered surprise. “Lash, why aren’t you in training now? Your father’s going to have a shit fit that you were down here instead of—”

“He’s taking a hiatus from classes,” Rhage muttered dryly.

“To deal drugs,” Butch added. “Check his pockets.”

Rhage went in for some frisk action, and Lash was too shocked out to protest. The result was a wad of cash as big as the kid’s head and a handful of little cellophane packets.

Rehv’s eyes glowed with angry purple light. “Give that shit to me, Hollywood—the powder, not the green.” When Rhage handed the stuff over, Rehv cracked one of the packets, licked his pinkie, and stuck it inside. After he put his finger on his tongue, he grimaced and spat. Then he jabbed his cane at the kid. “You’re not welcome here anymore.”

That little news flash seemed to shake Lash out of his stupor. “Why not? It’s a free country.”

“First of all, this is my house, that’s why. Second, not that I need any other reason, the shit in those bags is contaminated and I’m willing to bet you’re responsible for the rash of ODs we’ve had lately. So like I said, you’re not welcome here anymore. I won’t have punks like you spoiling my stream of commerce.” Rehv stuffed the baggies in his coat pocket and glanced at Rhage. “What are you going to do with him?”

“Drive him home.”

Rehv smiled coldly. “How convenient for us all.”

Abruptly, Lash fell into whimper mode. “But we’re not going to tell my father—”

“Everything,” Rehvenge snapped. “Trust me, your daddy’s going to know f*cking everything.”

Lash’s knees wobbled. And then the BMOC passed out cold.



Marissa walked into the Princeps Council meeting, not caring that for once everyone looked at her.

Then again, they’d never seen her in pants or with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. So surprise, surprise.

She took a seat, opened up her brand-new briefcase, and started going through applications for residence monitors. Although…she wasn’t really seeing anything. She was exhausted, not just from the work or the stress but because she really had to feed. Soon.

Oh, God. The idea of it made her sick with sadness, and she sank into thoughts of Butch. As she pictured him, that persistent, foggy echo in the back of her head returned. The thing was like a little bell chiming, reminding her of…what?

A hand landed on her shoulder. As she jumped, Rehv sat down next to her.

“Just me.” His amethyst eyes passed over her face and her hair. “It’s good to see you.”

“You, too.” She smiled a little, then glanced away, wondering whether she would have to go back to using his vein. Ah…hell. Of course she would.

“What’s doing, tahlly? You okay?” he asked smoothly. The question was so casual, she got the eerie sense he knew exactly how upset she was and somehow knew the cause. He’d always read her so well for some reason.

As she opened her mouth, the council leahdyre’s gavel pounded down at the other end of the glossy table. “I’d like to bring the meeting to order.”

The voices in the library dried up fast, and Rehv leaned back in his chair, a bored expression suffusing his hard face. With elegant, powerful hands, he folded his sable coat around his legs, overlapping the thing as if the room were thirty below, not a balmy seventy.

Marissa shut her briefcase and settled in, realizing that she’d assumed a similar pose to his, just without all the fur. Good heavens, she thought. How times have changed. Once she’d been terrified of these vampires. Utterly intimidated. Now, as she looked around at the exquisitely gowned females and the formally dressed males, she was just…bored by it all. Tonight, the glymera and the Princeps Council seemed like nothing more than an antiquated social nightmare no longer relevant to her life. Thank God.