Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)(76)

With a sigh, she thought about Rehv. Then the Princeps Council. Then her sex in general.

God, even if that sehclusion motion was defeated by some miracle, there really was no safe place for females to go if they were threatened at home, was there? With the disintegration of vampire society and all the fighting with the lessers, there were no social services for the race. No safety net. No one to help females and their young if the hellren in their house was violent. Or if the family turned the female away.

Good Lord, what would have happened to her if Beth and Wrath hadn’t taken her in? Or if she didn’t have Rehvenge?

She might well have died.



Down in the compound’s training center, John was the first in the locker room after the in-class session was done. He changed quickly into his jockstrap and his ji, impatient for the fighting practice to begin.

“What’s the hurry, John? Oh, wait, you like to get your ass kicked.”

John looked over his shoulder. Lash was standing in front of an open locker, taking off a fancy silk shirt. His chest was no bigger than John’s and his arms just as thin, but as the guy stared back, his eyes burned like he was the size of a bull.

John met that glare head-on, his body heating up. Man, he was jonesing for Lash to open his mouth and say something else. Just one more thing.

“You gonna pass out on us again, John? Like the pansy you are?”

Bingo.

John launched himself at the kid but didn’t get far. Blaylock, the redhead, caught him and held him back, trying to derail the fight. But Lash didn’t have any such deadweight. The bastard drew his fist back and threw a right hook so hard that John spun out of Blaylock’s hold and hit the bank of lockers with a metal bang.

Stunned, breath knocked out of him, John reached out blindly.

Blaylock caught him again. “Jesus Christ, Lash—”

“What? He was coming at me.”

“Because you were begging for it.”

Lash’s eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”

“You don’t have to be such an *.”

As Lash pointed at Blaylock, his Jacob & Co. watch sparkled under the lights like it was a battery-powered twinkler.

“Careful, Blay. Playing on his team ain’t such a hot idea.” The guy shook out his hand and dropped his pants. “Man, that felt good. How was it on your end, John-boy?”

John let that one go and pushed himself free. As his face throbbed to the beat of his heart, he thought of a car blinker for some absurd reason.

Oh, Lord…how bad was the damage? He stumbled over to the row of sinks, and in the long mirror that ran down the length of the wall, he got a look at his puss. Great. Just great. His chin and lip were already swelling.

Blaylock appeared behind him with a cold bottle of water. “Put this on it.”

John took the icy Aquafina and eased it onto his face. Then he closed his eyes to avoid seeing either himself or the redhead.

“You want me to tell Zsadist you’re not training tonight?”

John shook his head.

“You sure?”

Ignoring the question, John gave the water back and walked out to the gym. The other guys followed in a tense group, stomping over the blue mats and lining up next to him.

Zsadist came out of the Equipment Room, took one look at John’s face and got good and pissed off. “Everyone put their hands out, palms down.” He walked past each trainee until he stopped in front of Lash. “Nice knuckles. Over against the wall.”

Lash sauntered across the gym, looking self-satisfied that he wasn’t going to have to work out.

Zsadist stopped in front of John’s hands. “Turn ’em over.”

John did. There was a heartbeat of silence. Then Zsadist gripped John’s chin and forced his head up. “Seeing double?”

John shook his head.

“Nauseous?”

John shook his head.

“This hurt?” Zsadist prodded the jaw a little.

John winced. Shook his head.

“Liar. But that’s what I want to hear.” Z stepped away and addressed the trainees. “Laps. Twenty. And each time you get to your classmate over there, you drop in front of him and do twenty push-ups. Marine style. Move it.”

The groans were loud.

“Do I look like I care?” Zsadist whistled through his teeth. “Move it.”

John started off with the rest of them, thinking this was going to be a really long night. But at least Lash wasn’t looking quite so pleased with himself…

Four hours later, it turned out John was right.

By the end of the session, they were all exhausted. Z not only ground them into the mats, he kept them longer than usual. Like, centuries longer than usual. The damn training was so grueling that not even John had the energy to keep practicing after they broke for the night. Instead, he went directly to Tohr’s office and collapsed in the chair without even showering.

Curling his legs up tight, he figured he would just rest a minute, then go rinse off—

The door swung open. “You okay?” Zsadist demanded.

John didn’t look over, just nodded.

“I’m recommending that Lash get kicked out of the program.”

John jerked upright and started shaking his head.

“Whatever, John. That’s the second time he’s gone after you. Or do I have to remind you of the nunchakus thing a few months back?”