Lover Awakened

rich scent of a male's hunger. Phury's hunger for her.

Bella closed her eyes and prayed that if he accepted, she could get through it without crying.

As the sun went down later in the day, Rehvenge stared at the funeral drapes hanging off his sister's portrait. When his cell phone rang he looked at the caller ID and flipped it open.

'Hello, Bella,' he said softly.

'How did you know—'

'It was you? Untraceable number. Very untraceable, if this phone can't locate the source.' At least she was still safe at the Brotherhood's compound, he thought. Wherever that was. 'I'm glad you called.'

'I went home last night.'

Rehv's hand crushed the phone. 'Last night? What the hell! I didn't want you going—'

Sobs came through the phone, great, wretched sobs. The misery stole his words, his anger, his breath.

'Bella? What's wrong? Bella? Bella!' Oh, Jesus… 'Did one of those Brothers hurt you?'

'No.' She took a deep breath. 'And don't yell at me. I can't bear it. I'm through with you and the yelling. No more.'

He dragged air into his lungs, clamping down on his temper. 'What happened?'

'When can I come home?'

'Talk to me.'

Silence stretched out between them. Clearly his sister didn't trust him anymore. Shit… Could he blame her?

'Bella, please. I'm sorry… Just talk to me.' When there was no response, he said, 'Have I…' He cleared his throat. 'Have I so damaged things between us?'

'When can I come home?'

'Bella—'

'Answer the question, brother mine.'

'I don't know.'

'Then I want to go to the safe house.'

'You can't. I told you long ago, if there's trouble, I don't want you and mahmen in the same place. Now, why do you want to leave there? Only a day ago you didn't want to be anywhere else.'

There was a long pause. 'I went through my needing.'

Rehv felt the air leak out of his lungs and get trapped in his chest cavity. He closed his eyes. 'Were you with one of them?'

'Yes.'

Sitting down was a damn good idea right about now, but there was no chair close enough. He leaned on his cane and lowered himself to his knees on the Aubusson carpet. Right in front of her portrait. 'Are you… well?'

'Yes.'

'And he's claimed you.'

'No.'

'Excuse me?'

'He doesn't want me.'

Rehv bared his fangs. 'Are you pregnant?'

'No.'

Thank God. 'Who was it?'

'I wouldn't tell you that to save my life, Rehv. Now, I'd like to leave here.'

Christ… Her in her needing in a compound full of males… full of thick-blooded warriors. And the Blind King—shit. 'Bella, tell me it was only one who serviced you. Tell me it was only one and that he didn't hurt you.'

'Why? Because you're afraid of having a slut for a sister? Afraid of the glymera shunning me again?'

'Fuck the glymera. It's because I love you… and I can't bear the thought of you being used by the Brotherhood when you were so vulnerable.'

A pause followed. As he waited, his throat burned so badly, he felt as though he'd swallowed a box of thumbtacks.

'There was only one, and I love him,' she said. 'You might as well know that he gave me a choice between him and being dragged unconscious. I picked him. But I will never tell you his name. Frankly, I don't want to ever speak of him again. Now, when can I come home?'

Okay. This was good. At least he could get her away from there.

'Just let me find a place that's secure. Call me in thirty minutes.'

'Wait, Rehvenge, I want you to rescind the sehclusion request. If you do that, I will voluntarily submit to a security detail whenever I go out, if that makes you feel safer. Is that a fair trade?'

He put his hand over his eyes.

'Rehvenge? You say you love me. Prove it. Rescind that request, and I promise we'll work together… Rehvenge?'

He dropped his arm and looked up at the painting of her. So beautiful, so pure. He would keep her that way always if he could, but she wasn't a child any longer. And she was proving far more resilient and strong than he could have imagined. To have lived through what she did, to have survived…

'All right… I'll take it back.'

'And I will call you in a half hour.'

CHAPTER 40

Night fell and the light bled from the cabin. U hadn't moved from the computer all day. Between e-mails and his cell phone, he'd tracked down the twenty-eight slayers remaining in Caldwell and scheduled a general-assembly meeting for midnight. At that time he was going to reorder them into squadrons and assign a five-man task force on recruiting.

Following tonight's meeting, he was putting only two Beta squadrons downtown. Civilian vampires weren't showing up at the bars the way they used to, because too many of their kind had been pinched from that vicinity for persuasion. It was time to shift focus elsewhere.

After some thought, he'd decided to send the rest of his men out into the residential areas. Vampires were active at night. In their homes. It was really a question of finding them among the humans—

'You are such a little shit.'

U burst up from his chair.

O stood naked in the doorway to the cabin. His chest was covered in claw marks, as if something had held on to him hard, and his face was swollen, his hair a mess. He looked well used and pissed off.

And as he shut the two of them in with a crack, U was unable to move: None of his large muscles fell into the defensive crouch he was screaming for, and this told him all he needed to know about who was Fore- lesser now. Only the top slayer had this kind of physical control over his subordinates.

'You forgot two important things.' O casually withdrew a knife from a holster that hung on the wall. 'One, the Omega is very fickle. And two, he has a personal taste for me. It really didn't take me long to work my way back into the fold.'

As that knife came toward him, U struggled, tried to run, wanted to scream.

'So say good night, U. And give the Omega a big fat 'hello' when you see him. He's expecting you.'

Six o'clock. Almost time to go.

Bella looked around the guest room she was in and figured she'd packed up everything she'd brought with her. She hadn't had much to begin with, and anyway, she'd moved it all from Zsadist's room the night before. Most