Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood 10)
"He's here," the Chosen whispered. "He's not far at all. "
John and Qhuinn instantly went for their weapons - which was a good trick on the latter's part, given that he still had Layla up in his arms.
Who the hell was she talking about -
"Xcor," Xhex breathed as she looked in the same direction the Chosen was focusing on. And then connecting the dots, she thought out loud, "Jesus Christ. . . Xcor?"
iAm picked that moment to pull up in a BMW X5, and a split second later, he was out and holding the door open.
Qhuinn lunged for the SUV, and Layla didn't put up any fight as she was shoved in there like an invalid.
"Take the vehicle," iAm told the males. "Use it as your own. "
After an abrupt thank-you from Qhuinn, there was a brief moment of now-what as John looked at Xhex.
Bracing herself for some male chest thumping, she wanted to curse -
We'll take her back, John signed. You stay here and do what you have to.
Just like that they hopped into iAm's SUV and off they went.
"Do you need help?" iAm asked.
"Thanks, but nope," she murmured as she watched the red brakes flare and then disappear around the far corner. "I got this. "
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Xcor had sensed the Chosen female from blocks away. Drawn to her, he had changed direction and headed toward her - until Throe had gotten in the way and argued with him.
Which had been, in a manner of speaking, a good thing. It meant that the male was staying true to his vow to never see her again.
Xcor, on the other hand, had made no such promise - so he had pressed onward, leaving his soldier in the dust. Fates, but he had spent so many days staring up at the cobwebbed beams above his bunk, wondering where she was, what she was doing. How she was doing.
If the Brotherhood ever found out who she had been of aid to in that field, they would be furious - and Wrath, the Blind King, had long been known to live up to his name. Lo, how Xcor still regretted that his second lieutenant had brought her into this mess. She was guileless, an innocent seeking only to help, and they had made a traitor out of her.
She deserved better.
Indeed, it felt insane to pray for his target's mercy in her case. But he did. He prayed that Wrath would spare her if the truth ever came out. . .
Closing in on her, he'd dared not get too close. . . and he found her in the lee of a little cafe, draped in shadows that, no matter how hard his eyes strained, he could not penetrate.
She was not alone; she was guarded by soldiers - two of them male, one of them female.
Would she sense him? he wondered, his heart beating sure as if he were being chased. Would she tell them he was nearby -
A black vehicle came tearing up to the group, and what got out was something he'd only heard whispers about: Was that a Shadow? An actual living, breathing Shadow?
The Brotherhood had worthy allies, that was for sure -
With speed, his Chosen was carried to the car in the arms of the soldier he had fought with that night at Assail's.
Xcor bared his fangs, but kept the growl to himself. That another male was touching her made him violent to his core. That she might be injured in some way? Made him terrified to the point of tremors.
In the last moment, just before she disappeared into the backseat, she looked his way.
The moment of connection slowed time down until everything from the snowflakes that were falling to the blink of the neon sign beside her to the speed with which she was dispatched out of sight went into single frames, the photographs taken by his mind one by one.
She was not in a white robe, but rather human clothes that he did not favor. Her hair was still pulled up high above her neck, however, accentuating the spectacular features of her face. And as he breathed in, his sinuses hummed from both the cold and her delicate scent.