Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)(55)

Marissa took a deep breath and gave a condensed version of the story, one that avoided any mention of Butch. The words ran out of her like dirty water, spilling onto the brilliant mosaic floor, staining the beauty beneath her feet. The shame of the recounting stung her throat.

“So you will stay with us,” Beth pronounced when it was over.

“Just the one night.”

“For however long you want.” Beth squeezed Marissa’s hand. “However. Long.”

As Marissa shut her eyes and tried not to break down, she became dimly aware of a pounding sound, of heavy boots descending carpeted stairs.

Then Wrath’s deep voice filled the cavernous three-story foyer. “What the hell’s going on?”

“Marissa is moving in with us.”

While Marissa dropped into another curtsy, she was totally stripped of her pride, as vulnerable as if she were naked. To have nothing and throw yourself on the mercy of others was a strange kind of terror.

“Marissa, look at me.”

Wrath’s hard tone was utterly familiar, the one he’d always used with her, the one that had made her cringe for three centuries. In desperation, she eyed the open door to the vestibule even though she was by now officially out of time.

The wooden panels slammed shut as if the king had willed it so. “Marissa, talk.”

“Back off, Wrath,” the queen snapped. “She’s been through too much tonight already. Havers threw her out.”

“What? Why?”

Beth made quick work of the story, and hearing it from a third party only increased Marissa’s humiliation. As her vision blurred, she struggled not to lose it.

And the battle was lost when Wrath said, “Jesus Christ, that idiot. Of course she stays here.”

With a shaking hand, she brushed under both eyes, capturing her tears and quickly rubbing them away between her fingertips.

“Marissa? Look at me.”

She lifted her head. God, Wrath was just the same, his face too cruel to be truly handsome, those wraparound sunglasses making him look even more intimidating. Absently, she noted that his hair was much longer than when she’d known him, down nearly to the small of his back.

“I’m glad you came to us.”

She cleared her throat. “I would be grateful for a short tenure here.”

“Where are your things?”

“They’re all packed up at my house—er, my brother’s—I mean, Havers’s house. I came back from the Princeps Council and everything I own was in boxes. But it can remain there until I figure out—”

“Fritz!” When the doggen came running in, Wrath said, “Go to Havers’s and pick up her stuff. You better take the van and an extra set of arms.”

Fritz bowed and took off, moving faster than you would think an old doggen could.

Marissa tried to find words. “I—I—”

“I’m going to show you to your room,” Beth said. “You look like you’re about to collapse.”

The queen took Marissa over to the grand staircase, and as they went, Marissa glanced over her shoulder. Wrath had an utterly ruthless expression on his face, his jaw set like concrete.

She had to stop. “Are you sure?” she asked him.

His glower got worse. “That brother of yours has a real knack for pissing me off.”

“I don’t mean to inconvenience you—”

Wrath rolled right over her words. “This was about Butch, wasn’t it. V told me that you went to the cop and pulled him through. Let me guess—Havers didn’t appreciate you getting too tight with our human, right?”

Marissa could only nod.

“Like I said, your brother really pisses me off. Butch is our boy even if he isn’t in the Brotherhood and anyone who cares for him cares for us. So you take up residence here for the rest of your natural goddamned life as far as I’m concerned.” Wrath headed around the base of the stairs. “Fucking Havers. Fucking idiot. I’ll go find V and let him know you’re here. Butch isn’t around, but V’ll know where to find him.”

“Oh—no, you don’t have to—”

Wrath didn’t stop, didn’t even hesitate, reminding her that you didn’t tell the king to do anything. Even if it was not to worry about something.

“Well,” Beth murmured, “at least he’s not armed right now.”

“I’m surprised he cares this much.”

“Are you kidding? It’s appalling. To turn you out right before dawn? Anyway, let’s get you settled.”

Marissa resisted the female’s gentle pull. “You welcome me so graciously. How can you be so—”

“Marissa.” Beth’s navy blue eyes were level. “You saved the man I love. When he was shot and my blood wasn’t strong enough, you kept him alive by giving him your wrist. So let’s be perfectly clear. There is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”



As dawn arrived and light poured into the penthouse, Butch woke up fully aroused and in the process of grinding his hips into a twist of satin sheets. He was covered with sweat, his skin hypersensitized, his erection pulsing.

Groggy, confused as to what was reality and what he just hoped was real, he reached downward. Undid his belt. Burrowed through his slacks and his boxers.