Lover Revealed

Rehv smiled coldly. 'How convenient for us all.'

Abruptly, Lash fell into whimper mode. 'But we're not going to tell my father—'

'Everything,' Rehvenge snapped. 'Trust me, your daddy's going to know fucking everything.'

Lash's knees wobbled. And then the BMOC passed out cold.

Marissa walked into the Princeps Council meeting, not caring that for once everyone looked at her.

Then again, they'd never seen her in pants or with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. So surprise, surprise.

She took a seat, opened up her brand-new briefcase, and started going through applications for residence monitors. Although… she wasn't really seeing anything. She was exhausted, not just from the work or the stress but because she really had to feed. Soon.

Oh, God. The idea of it made her sick with sadness, and she sank into thoughts of Butch. As she pictured him, that persistent, foggy echo in the back of her head returned. The thing was like a little bell chiming, reminding her of… what?

A hand landed on her shoulder. As she jumped, Rehv sat down next to her.

'Just me.' His amethyst eyes passed over her face and her hair. 'It's good to see you.'

'You, too.' She smiled a little, then glanced away, wondering whether she would have to go back to using his vein. Ah… hell. Of course she would.

'What's doing, tahlly? You okay?' he asked smoothly. The question was so casual, she got the eerie sense he knew exactly how upset she was and somehow knew the cause. He'd always read her so well for some reason.

As she opened her mouth, the council leahdyre's gavel pounded down at the other end of the glossy table. 'I'd like to bring the meeting to order.'

The voices in the library dried up fast, and Rehv leaned back in his chair, a bored expression suffusing his hard face. With elegant, powerful hands, he folded his sable coat around his legs, overlapping the thing as if the room were thirty below, not a balmy seventy.

Marissa shut her briefcase and settled in, realizing that she'd assumed a similar pose to his, just without all the fur. Good heavens, she thought. How times have changed. Once she'd been terrified of these vampires. Utterly intimidated. Now, as she looked around at the exquisitely gowned females and the formally dressed males, she was just… bored by it all. Tonight, the glymera and the Princeps Council seemed like nothing more than an antiquated social nightmare no longer relevant to her life. Thank God.

The leahdyre smiled and nodded to a doggen who stepped forward. In the servant's hands was a sheet of parchment stretched over an ebony board. Long streamers of silk ribbon hung from the document, the various colors reflecting each of the six originating families. Marissa's line was pale blue.

The leahdyre looked around the table, his eyes studiously skipping over Marissa. 'Now that we have the full council here, I would like to entertain the first order of business, said business to concern the passage of the recommendation to the king on the matter of mandatory sehclusion for all unmated females. First, as per the rules of procedure, we will give leave for commentary from the nonvoting members herein this room.'

There was quick assent from everyone… except for Rehvenge. Who was very clear about how he felt.

In the pause following his terse rejection of the motion, Marissa could feel Havers's stare on her. She kept her mouth shut.

'Well done, council,' the leahdyre said. 'I shall now call the roll of the six voting princeps.' As each name was read, the corresponding princeps rose, gave the consent of his or her bloodline and affixed the seal of the family's ring upon the parchment. This happened without a glitch five times. And then the last name was spoken. 'Havers, blooded son of Wallen, blooded grandson of…'

As her brother rose from his chair, Marissa rapped her knuckles sharply on the table. All eyes shot to her. 'Wrong name.'

The leahdyre's eyes went so wide she was quite sure he could see behind himself. And he was so aghast at her interruption, he was speechless as she smiled a little and glanced at Havers. 'You may sit down, physician,' she said.

'I beg your pardon,' the leahdyre stammered.

Marissa got to her feet. 'It's been so long since we've done one of these votes… not since Wrath's father died.' She leaned forward on her hands as she pegged the leahdyre's face with a level stare. 'And back then, centuries ago, my father lived and cast our family's vote. So obviously that is why you are confused.'

The leahdyre looked at Havers in a panic. 'Perhaps you will inform your sister she is out of order—'

Marissa cut in. 'I'm not his sister anymore, or so he's told me. Though I believe we can all agree that blood lineage is immutable. As is the order of birth.' She smiled coolly. 'It so happens that I was born eleven years before Havers. Which makes me older than he is. Which means he can sit down because as the eldest surviving member of my family, the vote from our bloodline is mine to cast. Or not. And in this case, it is most definitely… not.'

Chaos broke out. Absolute pandemonium.

In the midst of which, Rehv laughed and clapped his palms together. 'Hot damn, girl. You are so the shit.'

Marissa took little joy in the power play, feeling more relieved than anything else. The vote had to be unanimous or that stupid motion was going nowhere. And thanks to her that was a big fat nowhere.

'Oh… my God,' someone said.

As if a drain opened in the center of the floor, all the noise was sucked out of the room. Marissa turned around.

Rhage was in the doorway of the library holding a pre-transition male by the scruff of the neck. Behind him were Vishous… and Butch.

Chapter Forty-six

Standing in the library's archway, Butch did his best not to flat-out stare at Marissa, but it was tough. Especially because she was sitting next to Rehvenge.

He tried to distract himself by looking around. The meeting she was in was full of highfliers. Christ, looked like a political summit, except for the fact that they were all dressed to the nines, especially the females. Man, Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry box had nothing on these chicks.

And then the drama bomb went off.

The guy at the head of the table looked over, saw Lash, and went corpse-white. Rising slowly, he seemed to have lost his voice. As had everyone else in the room.

'We need to talk, sire,' Rhage said while giving Lash a shake. 'About your boy's extracurricular activities.'

Rehvenge stood up. 'We sure as hell do.'

This broke up the meeting like an axe to an ice block. Lash's dad whipped out of the library and hurry Rhage, Rehvenge, and the kid into a sitting room. Like he was utterly mortified. Meanwhile, the fancy types got up from the table and started to mill around. None of them looked happy, and most of them shot hard looks in Marissa's direction.