Lover Awakened

The slave rocked back and forth in the dirt. When he stopped, he looked once again at the warrior. What of his family? Why had this happened? Who was he? And…

'Do you know if I had a name?' the slave whispered. 'Was I ever given a name?'

The warrior drew a ragged breath, as if every one of his ribs were broken.

'Your name is Zsadist.' The warrior's breathing shortened and shortened until he choked out his words. 'You are the son… of Ahgony, a great warrior. You are the beloved of our… mother, Naseen.'

The warrior let out a wretched sob and dropped his head into his hands.

While he wept, the slave watched.

Zsadist shook his head, remembering those silent hours that had followed. Phury and he had spent most of the time just staring at each other. They'd both been in rough shape, but Phury was the stronger of them even with his missing limb. He'd gathered driftwood and strands of seaweed and cobbled the stuff together into a rickety, unreliable raft. When the sun had gone down they had dragged themselves into the ocean and had floated down the coastline to freedom.

Freedom.

Yeah, right. He wasn't free; never had been. Those lost years had stayed with him, the anger over what he'd been cheated of and what had been done to him more alive than he was.

He heard Bella saying that she loved him. And he wanted to scream at something.

Instead, he started for the Pit. He had nothing worthy of her except his vengeance, so he was damn well going to get back to work. He would see all the lessers crushed before him, stacked in the snow like logs, a testament to the only thing he could offer her.

And as for the one who had taken her, the one who had hurt her, there was a special death waiting for him. Z had no love to give anyone. But the hatred he had he would channel for Bella until the last breath left his lungs.

CHAPTER 29

Phury lit a blunt and eyed the sixteen cans of Aqua Net that were lined up on Butch and V's coffee table. 'What's doing with the hair spray? You boys going drag on us?'

Butch held up the length of PVC pipe he was punching a hole in. 'Potato launcher, my man. Big fun.'

'Excuse me?'

'Didn't you ever go to summer camp?'

'Basket weaving and woodcarving are for humans. No offense, but we have better things to teach our youngs.'

'Ha! You haven't lived until you've gone on a midnight panty raid. Anyway, you put the potato in this end, you fill up the bottom with spray—'

'And then you light it,' V cut in from his bedroom. He came out in a robe, rubbing a towel on his wet hair. 'Makes a great noise.'

'Great noise,' Butch echoed.

Phury looked at his brother. 'V, you've done this before?'

'Yeah, last night. But the launcher jammed up.'

Butch cursed. 'Potato was too big. Damn Idaho bakers. We're leading with red skins tonight. It's going to be great. Of course, trajectory can be a bitch—'

'But it's really just like golf,' V said, dropping the towel across a chair. He pulled a glove over his right hand, covering the sacred tattoos that marked the thing from palm to fingertip and all across the back. 'I mean, you gotta think of your arc in the air—'

Butch nodded up a storm. 'Yeah, it's just like golf. Wind plays a big role—'

'Huge.'

Phury smoked along as they finished each other's sentences for another couple minutes. After a while he felt compelled to mention, 'The two of you are spending way too much time together, you feel me?'

V shook his head at the cop. 'The brother has no appreciation for this kind of thing. Never has.'

'Then we aim for his room.'

'True that. And it faces the garden—'

'So we don't have to work around the cars in the courtyard. Excellent.'

The door from the tunnel swung open, and all three of them turned around.

Zsadist was in the doorway… and Bella's scent was all over him. Along with the sultry spice of sex. As well as the faintest hint of the bonding mark.

Phury stiffened and took a deep drag. Oh, God… They'd been together.

Man, the urge to race up to the house and check that she was still breathing was nearly irresistible. So was the desire to rub his chest until the aching hole in it disappeared.

His twin had had the very thing Phury was yearning for.

'Has that SUV moved?' Z said to Vishous.

V went around to the computers and punched a few keys. 'Nope.'

'Show me.'

As Zsadist walked over and bent down, V pointed at a screen. 'There it is. If it hits the road, I can track the path.'

'Do you know how to break into one of those Explorers without setting off the alarm?'

'Please. It's just a car. If it's still there at nightfall, I'll get you in like Flynn.'

Z straightened. 'I need a new phone.'

Vishous opened a desk drawer, took one out, and double-checked it. 'You're good to go. I'll text-message everyone your new number.'

'Call me if that thing moves.'

As Zsadist turned his back on them, Phury took another drag and held the breath in tight. The door to the tunnel shut solidly.

Without even realizing what he was doing, Phury stabbed out the hand-rolled and went after his twin.

In the tunnel, Z halted when he heard another set of footsteps. As the male pivoted around, the light overhead picked out the hollows under his cheekbones and the blunt cut of his jaw and the line of the scar.

'What?' he asked, his deep voice echoing. Then he frowned. 'Let me guess. This is about Bella.'

Phury stopped. 'Maybe.'

'Definitely.' Z's eyes flicked downward and stayed on the tunnel's floor. 'You can smell her on me, can't you.'

In the long silence between them, Phury wished desperately that he had a blunt between his lips.

'I just need to know… is she all right after you… laid with her?'

Z crossed his arms over his chest. 'Yeah. And don't worry, she's not going to want to do that again.'

OK God. 'Why?'

'I made her…' Z's distorted lip thinned. 'Whatever.'

'What? What did you do?'

'I made her hurt me.' As Phury recoiled, Z laughed with a low, sad sound. 'Yeah, you don't need to get all protective. She's not coming near me again.'

'How… What happened?'

'UAH-Hugh, right. Let me count all the ways you and I aren't going there.'

Suddenly, without any warning, Z focused on Phury's face. The force of the stare was a surprise, because the male rarely looked anyone in the eye. 'Straight up, my brother, I know how you're feeling her and I… ah, I hope that when things cool out a little, maybe you can… be with her or something.'