Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)(98)

But instead … he found himself sitting across from what appeared to be a tragically calm, respectful, and reasonable male. And wishing the entire time that he could find fault with something—anything—about Bitty’s uncle.

“Well,” Marissa said gently—there had been a lot of gentle prompts from the likes of her. “I think the next step … is for you, Ruhn, to meet Bitty.”

Rhage bared his fangs and then quickly hid the flash of dental art.

Mary spoke up. “How do you suggest we proceed with that?”

“I think it should be supervised, but not by either of you,” Marissa murmured. “I just believe it’s best for the two of them to have an introduction where Bitty’s allegiances are not divided. She’s going to want to align with you and Rhage out of loyalty.”

“How long has she been with you?” Ruhn asked.

“Two months,” Mary said.

Rhage opened his mouth and spoke up before he could think. “But it feels like a lifetime. We love her like she’s our own, and she feels the same about us and—”

Mary elbowed him in the side.

And helllllo, sound of crickets.

“No one is doubting your love,” Marissa said. Again, gently.

Rhage burst up and marched around. “Well, good. Because it’s there and it’s going nowhere.” He glared at Ruhn. “And even if you take her away from us, we’re still going to love her. She’s still going to be in our hearts and our heads. Just so we’re clear, you leave with her and go back to wherever the fuck you’re from? There is not going to be a night that she”—he pointed to Mary—“and I aren’t going to think about her, wonder how she’s doing, worry about her—”

“Rhage,” Mary said. “Rhage, calm down—”

He stopped in front of the guy. “And I want you to remember this. If you ever hurt her—”

V closed in, grabbing Rhage’s biceps. “Okay, let’s roll back—”

“—I will field-dress you while you’re still alive and eat your heart out of your chest—”

There was a sharp whistle, and all of a sudden, Z and Butch were both in the room, coming in through the French doors. As they got in front of and behind him, he realized he’d been wrong. He’d assumed they were there to prevent an outside attack.

With those doors unlocked as they had been? Clearly, folks had been a little more concerned with an inside killing, with him as the aggressor.

And Rhage had to give Ruhn some credit. Instead of shrinking back in the sofa like a pussy … or going on a preemptive strike …

The male simply rose to his full height and sank into a defensive stance.

Just as he had two nights ago.

“It’s okay,” the goddamn fucking uncle said as Rhage felt himself being moved out of range. “He can hit me if he wants.”

That stopped everyone in the room.

V looked at the guy. “You didn’t mention you had a fucking death wish.”

“I don’t.”

“Then I want it in his file that he has very poor risk assessment,” Vishous muttered dryly.

“Let me go,” Rhage demanded. “I’m not going to light him up. I’m just telling it like it is.”

Clearly, that was not very persuasive, as his brother-bodysuit stuck with him.

“And I’m glad you feel that way,” Ruhn said, “because it means you’ve treated her well while you’ve had her. Which is more than her sire ever did.”

Damn it, why did the SOB always say the right thing?

Mary cleared her throat. “I think I would like Rhage and I to be the ones to tell Bitty. I want to make sure this is framed correctly. I don’t want her to feel as though she is being wrong or bad if she wants to see him, be with him … go with him.” She focused on Ruhn. “You, I mean.”

Ruhn’s eyes didn’t shift from Rhage. “That’s kind of you.”

“It’s really what’s good for her.” Mary pushed her hair back behind her ears. “And that’s all that matters. On that note, we should probably get going. Rhage and I should go tell her in person and then … first thing tomorrow night? And this is neutral but safe territory—if we can put off the King’s appointments for another evening?”

“Consider it done,” V declared.

“Okay,” Ruhn said as he reached into his pocket. “But, um, can you give her this for me? You can read it first, of course. It’s just … I wanted to introduce myself. I can’t read or write, so I dictated it.”

Something must have changed in Rhage’s body, because suddenly he was on his own again, the holds on him released—not that his brothers went very far.

Mary’s hand shook as she took what turned out to be a couple of pages of lined paper that had been ripped out of a spiral notebook, the frayed edges fluffing up one side of the otherwise neat square.

“I’d be happy to give this to her,” his shellan murmured.

“Like I said, you can read it. There’s nothing much to it. It’s not, like, well written or anything. I just wanted her to know who I am.”

“All right.”

“And the last page is, just, you know, nothing special.”