Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #4)(9)

V put his good hand on Rhage’s shoulder and looked up at the sky. An infinite, unknowable universe loomed above him, above them all, and for the first time, the vastness terrified him. But then, for the first time in his life he was flying without a net.

His visions were gone. Those snapshots of the future, those bullshit, invasive telecasts of what was coming, those pictures without dates that had kept him on edge ever since he could remember, were just gone. And so were the intrusions of other people’s thoughts.

He’d always wanted to be alone in his head. How ironic that he found the silence deafening.

“V? We okay?”

He looked down at Rhage. The brother’s perfect blond beauty was still blinding, even with all the lesser blood on his face. “Ride’s coming soon. We’ll get you home to your Mary.”

Rhage started to mumble and V just let him go. Poor miserable guy. Curses were never a party.

Ten minutes later, Zsadist pulled right up onto the football field in his twin’s BMW, busting through a shrinking, dirty snowbank and mud-tracking it in. As the M5 came through the snow, V knew they were going to trash the leather in the backseat, but then Fritz, butler extraordinaire, could get stains out like you wouldn’t believe.

Zsadist got out of the car and came around the hood. After a century of being half-starved by choice, he was now packing a good two hundred eighty-five pounds on his six-foot-six frame. The scar on his face remained obvious, and so did his tattooed slave bands, but thanks to his shellan, Bella, his eyes were no longer black pits of hatred. For the most part.

Without saying anything, the two of them manhandled Rhage over to the car and stuffed his massive body into the backseat.

“You poofing it home?” Z said as he got behind the wheel.

“Yeah, but I need to clear the scene.” Which meant using his hand to fry-clean the lesser blood that was splattered everywhere.

“You want me to wait?”

“No, get our boy home. Mary’s going to want to see him ASAP.”

Zsadist scanned the vicinity with a quick head twist. “I’ll wait.”

“Z, it’s cool. I won’t stay here alone long.”

That ruined lip lifted into a snarl. “If you’re not at the compound by the time I get there, I’m coming for you.”

The Beemer took off, back tires kicking up mud and snow.

Jesus, Z really was backup.

Ten minutes later V dematerialized to the compound, just as Zsadist was pulling in with Rhage. As Z took Hollywood inside, Vishous looked around at the cars parked in the courtyard. Where the hell was the Escalade? Butch should be back by now.

V took out his phone and hit speed dial. When he got voice mail, he said, “Hey, buddy, I’m home. Where are you, cop?”

As the two of them called each other constantly, he knew Butch would check in soon enough. Hell, maybe the guy was getting busy for the first time in recorded history. It was about time the sorry SOB shelved his obsession with Marissa and got a little sexual relief.

And speaking of relief… V measured the light in the sky. He figured he had about an hour and a half of darkness left, and man, he was twitchy as shit. There was something going on tonight, something bad in the air, but with his visions gone, he didn’t know what it was. And the blank slate was making him mental.

He fired up his cell again and hit a number. When the ringing stopped, he didn’t wait for a hello. “You will get ready for me now. You will wear what I bought for you. Your hair will be bound and off your neck.”

He waited to hear the only three words he cared about and they came right away, the female voice saying, “Yes, my lheage.”

V hung up and dematerialized.





Chapter Three




ZeroSum was doing excellent business lately, Rehvenge thought as he looked at the tallies. Cash flow was strong. There was growth in the sports booking receipts. Attendance was up. God, he’d owned the club for how long now? Five? Six years? And it was finally cranking enough income that he could take a deep breath.

It was a despicable way of making money, of course, what with the sex and the drugs and the booze and the betting. But he needed to support his mahmen and, up until recently, his sister, Bella. Then there was the blackmail overhead he had to cover.

Secrets could be so expensive to keep.

Rehv looked up as the door to his office opened. As his chief security officer came in, he could smell the lingering scent of O’Neal on her and he smiled a little. He liked being right. “Thanks for taking care of Butch.”

Xhex’s gray eyes were direct as always. “I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t wanted him.”

“And I wouldn’t have asked if I hadn’t known that. Now, where are we?”

She sat down opposite his desk, her powerful body as hard as the marble he was resting his elbows on. “Nonconsensual sex in the mezzanine men’s room. I took care of it. The woman is pressing charges.”

“Was the guy walking after you were through with him?”

“Yeah, but he was wearing a new pair of earrings, if you know what I mean. I also found two minors on the premises and kicked them out. And one of the bouncers was taking kickbacks from the line, so I fired him.”

“Anything else?”

“We had another OD.”

“Shit. Not our product, though, right?”