Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood 8)

After a curse and some serious repositioning below the waist, John punched a code in and opened the way to the tunnel.

"So what is the hand position for 'A'?" she said as they stepped through and started walking.

By the time they got to "D," they were out through the hidden door under the mansion's grand staircase. "I" took them into the kitchen to the refrigerator. "M" got them to a pair of sandwiches--because their hands were busy with the roasted turkey and the mayo and the lettuce and bread, there wasn't much forward progress through the alphabet. They didn't do any better during the eating part of things, just "N" and "O" and "P," but he could tell she was practicing in her mind, her eyes focused on the middle distance between them as she obviously mentally reviewed what he was teaching her.

She learned fast and that was not a surprise. Cleanup led to "Q" through "V," and they were coming out of the kitchen as he showed her "X" and "Y" and "Z"--

"Good, I was going to go find you. " Z pulled up short in the archway of the dining room. "Wrath's called a meeting now. Xhex, you're going to want to be there. "

The Brother wheeled around, jogged across the mosaic apple tree on the foyer's floor and headed up the grand staircase.

"Your king usually do this in the middle of the day?" Xhex asked.

John shook his head and both mouthed and signed, Something's up.

The pair of them followed quickly, taking the steps two at a time.

Up on the second floor, the whole Brotherhood was crammed into Wrath's study and the king was seated on his father's throne behind the desk. George was curled into a sit by his master's side and Wrath was stroking the golden retriever's boxy head with one hand while flipping a dagger-shaped letter opener in the air with the other.

John stayed back, and not just because it was SRO, given the number of large male bodies in the room. He wanted to be near the door.

Xhex's mood had completely shifted.

Sure as if she'd changed her emotional clothes, she'd gone from a flannel nightgown to chain mail: She was twitchy as she stood beside him, her weight shifting back and forth from one foot to the other.

He was feeling much the same.

John looked around. Across the way, Rhage unsheathed a grape Toostie Pop and V lit up a hand- rolled while he got Phury on speakerphone. Rehv, Tohr, and Z were pacing and Butch was on his sofa, pulling a Hugh Hefner in his silk pajamas. Qhuinn, meanwhile, was propped up near the pale blue drapes, and clearly fresh from some grind: His lips were red and his hair had had a lot of fingers through it and his shirt was partially tucked in--hanging loose in front.

Which made you wonder if he was sporting a hard-on.

W

here was Blay? John wondered. And who the hell had Qhuinn just balled?

"So V got one fuck of a voice mail in the general mailbox. " As Wrath spoke out, his wraparounds scanned the crowd, even though he was totally blind behind them. "Instead of doing a lot of bullshit explaining, I'm going to have him play it for you. "

Vishous left the hand-rolled between his lips as he pulled trig on the phone and danced across the numbers on the console putting in mailbox numbers and passwords.

And then John heard that voice. That snarky-ass, cocksucking voice.

"Bet you never expected to hear from me again. " Lash's tone was one of grim satisfaction. "Surprise, motherfuckers, and guess what? I'm about to do you a favor. You might want to know that there was a mass induction into the Lessening Society tonight. Farmhouse out RR 149. Happened around four a. m. , so if you get off your asses and head there as soon as night falls, you might find them still throwing up all over the place. FYI, wear your waders--it's a mess. Oh, and tell Xhex I can still taste her--"

V canned the speakerphone.

As John's lips peeled off his fangs, and he let out a soundless snarl, the painting on the wall behind him trembled.

When George whimpered, Wrath soothed the dog and pointed the letter opener across the way. "You'll get your chance at him, John. I swear it on my father's grave. I need your head in this game now, though, dig?"

Easier said than done. Reeling in the urge to kill was like restraining a pit bull with one hand behind his back.

Next to him, Xhex frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"We cool?" Wrath demanded.

When John finally whistled an assent, Vishous exhaled a cloud of Turkish tobacco and cleared his throat. "He didn't leave an exact address for this so-called massacre. And I tried to trace the number he called from and got nothing. "

"The question I'm wondering," Wrath said, "is what the fuck's doing. He's head of the Lessening Society--so if his tone was all I've-got-the- biggest-balls-of-them-all? Hey, cool, I get that shit. But that wasn't my read. "