Rhage slept late, very late, and what woke him up was bad news. The restlessness, the awful itch, was alive inside of him again. The Scribe Virgin's reprieve was over. The beast was back.
He opened his eyes and saw Mary's hair on his pillow. And the curve of her neck. And her naked back.
He broke out in a sweat, an erection popping up quick as a heartbeat.
He thought of the way they had come together after the feeding. And then again when they'd returned to their room. He'd reached for her twice more during the day, feeling bad about making the demands because he'd been all over her so much. Still, each time she'd smiled up at him and welcomed him inside, even though she must have been exhausted and probably a little sore.
And he wanted her again right now, but with a pounding need that was different than he'd felt before. This hunger was savage, as if he'd never had her at all or hadn't seen her for months. As he fought the urge, his hands curled up on themselves, fingers tingling, skin tightening. He was completely strung out, the very bones in him vibrating.
He got out of bed and headed for the shower. By the time he came back, he'd regained some control, but then he saw that Mary had kicked the covers off of herself. She was gloriously naked as she lay on her stomach, her beautiful ass a temptation that ate at him.
"Can I get you something from the kitchen?" he asked hoarsely.
"Sleep," she murmured, turning over onto her back. Her pink-tipped breasts tightened as the air hit them.
Oh, sweet Jesus
… Wait, something was off here. Her face was flushed like she had windburn, and her legs were sawing on top of the mattress.
He went over and put his hand on her forehead. She was hot and dry.
"Mary, I think you have a fever."
"Low-level. Not unusual."
Fear put a chill on his craving to take her. "You want me to get you some aspirin?"
"Just need to sleep through it."
"Do you want me to stay with you?"
She opened her eyes. He hated the dull look in them. "No, this happens. Honestly, I'm all right. I just need to sleep it off."
Rhage stayed with her awhile longer and then pulled on some black nylon warm-ups and a T-shirt. Before he left, he stared at her. He could barely stand her having a slight fever. What the hell was it going to be like when she got really sick?
Havers. He hadn't heard back from Havers yet, and the doctor should have had access to her files for long enough. Rhage picked up his cell phone and went out in the hall.
The conversation with the doctor didn't last long, because there was nothing the male could do for her. As vampires did not get cancer, he hadn't focused on the disease and neither had any of his colleagues.
Rhage was about to hang up when the other male said,
"Forgive me, sire, as I do not wish to pry. But have you… are you aware of how extensive her treatments were?"
"I know there were a lot of them."
"Do you realize how intense they were, though? If the leukemia has returned, her options may well be limited—"
"Thanks for looking at her records. I appreciate it." Like he needed confirmation of how serious the situation was?
"Wait… Please know that I am here to help in any way I can. Even though I cannot be of aid with regard to the chemotherapy, we have the drug formularies for a lot of the pain medications and various other things she was on before. I can help ease her and watch over her, even though she will receive her treatments in a human hospital. You must call me."
"I will. And… thanks, Havers."
After he hung up, he went to Wrath's study, but the room was empty so he turned to go downstairs. Maybe Wrath and Beth were grabbing something to eat.
From out of thin air, a wall of leather topped with a head of long black hair materialized in front of him. Wrath's sunglasses were silver wraparounds today.
"Looking for me?" the king said.
"Hey. Yeah. Mary's moved in. Permanently."
"So I heard. Fritz said she brought some stuff with her."
"Uh-huh. Listen, do you mind if I have a little shindig here tonight? I want Mary to see her friend Bella, and I was thinking the Brotherhood could play nice. You know, suit up and all. Maybe Wellsie could come, too. Mary has me, but she needs to be around some other folks. I don't want her feeling like she's isolated."
"Damn good idea. Beth wanted us to go to the city tonight, but—"
"Don't change your plans. This is just real casual."
"Well, my
shellan
was looking forward to getting away. She kind of likes having me to herself. And I, ah, I really like it when she has me that way, you feel me?"
Rhage smiled a little as Wrath's body released a blast of heat. "Yeah. I do."
There was a pause. The king said, "My brother, is there something else?"
"Ah, yeah. Mary's going to be very ill soon. I'll go out nightly with the brothers for as long as I can, but when things get hard—"
"Of course. You do what you have to do."
"Thanks, man."
Wrath shook his head. "You know something—you're a male of worth. You really are."
"Yeah, well, just keep it to yourself. I've got a reputation as an egocentric asshole to protect."
"Tohr, I could see doing this. Phury, absolutely. Maybe V."
Rhage frowned. "You make it sound like it's a sacrifice, for chrissakes. I love her."
"That is the sacrifice. You love her even though you know she's leaving unto the Fade." "She's not
going
anywhere." Rhage bit down on his molars. "She'll be fine. It'll be rough, but she
will
be fine."
"Forgive me." Wrath bowed his head. "Of course she will."
Rhage looked down. He didn't know what to do with the apology because he only had experience in offering them. And besides, anytime he thought about Mary dying, he felt like he had a blowtorch in his chest cavity.
"Later, my lord," he said, wanting to leave before he disgraced himself by becoming emotional.
Except as he glanced up, it was into Wrath's eyes for the very first time. The king never took his sunglasses off. Ever.
Rhage stopped breathing, focusing on the iridescent, silver-green irises staring back at him. There were no pupils really, just two little dots of black. And the warmth in those blind, glowing circles was shocking.
"You make me proud to call you brother," Wrath said.
Rhage felt heavy amis come around him as he was puüed against a solid chest. He tensed, but then let himself hang on to Wrath's massive shoulders.
"Wrath?"
"Yeah?"
Rhage opened his mouth to speak, but lost his voice.
Wrath replied into the silence, "We are all going to be there for you. So you're going to ask for help when you need it. And if the time comes, she will be afforded a full Fade ceremony, as the
shellan
of a warrior deserves."
Rhage squeezed his eyes shut. "Thank you… my lord."
Later that night Mary stood in their bathroom, brushing her hair out and blowing it dry. When she was finished, she looked at herself in the mirror and smoothed down the brunette waves. They were soft under her fingers, and in this light the color did have a little gold and red in it.
She refused to think of going bald again. Just put the thought right out of her mind. God knew, there'd be time to dwell on it when it actually happened.
"You're still as beautiful as you were yesterday," Rhage said as he got out of the shower. While he toweled off, he came up behind her and blew her reflection a kiss.
She smiled. "Thank you so much for inviting Bella and John over. She's become such a good friend, and I've been worried about him."
"I don't want you to lose touch with people just because you're here. Besides, the Brotherhood needs to play civilized every once in a while. It's good for us."
"You know, Tohrment and Wellsie are so kind to take John in."
"They're the best, those two."
As Rhage left the bath, the eyes of his tattoo stared out at her. The effect was eerie, she thought, but not exactly unpleasant. It was kind of like being watched by a guard dog who really wanted you to pet him.
She went over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Hey, I'm sorry if I kept you awake this morning. I toss and turn a lot when the fevers come."
Rhage came out of the closet, zipping up a pair of black pants. "You didn't bother me at all. But can we do anything about them?"
"Not really. I'll go into another bedroom if it bothers you." She laughed at the look he gave her. "Okay, I won't be doing that."
"About Havers. I was hoping there'd be something we could do for you."
"Don't worry. And I appreciate your trying."
"When are you going to see your oncologist again?"
"Soon, but no more talking about that, okay? Tonight, it's all about life. I feel good, and I'm not wasting one damned minute of it."
Rhage's mouth lifted at the corners, his eyes glowing with approval, respect.
And she'd thought for even a moment about shutting him out?
Idiot
.
She smiled back at him, looking forward to the end of the evening, when they could be alone together. In the dark. With nothing between them.
When he disappeared into the closet, she went after him, thinking they had a few minutes before the party began so maybe they could get a headstart. While he stared at the dress shirts that were lined up on hangers, she put her hand on his back, right on the beast's shoulder.
Rhage flinched and stepped away.
"Are you hurt?" she asked.
As she circled around him, he kept turning away, the two of them trading places a couple of times.
"Rhage—"
"We need to hurry or we're going to be late." His voice was a little hoarse, his pecs twitching.
"What's wrong with your back?"
He peeled a shirt off a hanger and pulled it on, buttoning the thing quickly. "Back's fine." Rhage gave her a peck on the cheek and quickly squeaked by her. Out in the bedroom he opened the door that led into the hall and then picked up his watch from the dresser and put the thing on his wrist. His fingers trembled as he did up the clasp.
Just as she was going to ask him what was wrong, Phury appeared in the doorway.
"Hey, my brother, Mary," the man said with a smile. "You want to go down together?"
Mary hid her frustration. And decided if there had to be an interruption, she couldn't think of a better-looking one. Phury's glorious, multicolored hair was fanned out around his broad shoulders, and he was dressed to kill. In the proverbial sense. His suit was blue-black and subtly pin-striped, and his pale pink shirt showed off his thick throat and ridiculously good coloring. His loafers were slick as hell, his French cuffs were anchored with heavy gold links, and he was sporting a diamond pinkie ring.
The brother was total
GQ
material. And Bella and he would look really good together, she thought.
'Tell me, Phury, have you met Bella yet?"
The guy fiddled with the handkerchief in his breast pocket, even though the thing wasn't out of place. "Yeah, I met her. The night you and the boy came to the center."
"She's coming this evening."
"I, ah, I know."
"And she's not seeing anyone right now."
Boy, that blush really did it, she thought. Phury was adorable.
"He's not interested," Rhage said while cupping a handgun to the small of his back.
Mary shot her man a dirty look, which he missed as he pulled on his jacket.
"But you're single, too," she said to Phury. "Aren't you?"
"Oh, he's single, all right."
"Rhage, how about you let him answer? So Phury, if both of you are free, why don't you ask her to have dinner sometime?"
Phury smoothed his lapels, blushing even more. "Yeah, I don't know about that."
"She's really fabulous—"
Rhage shook his head and ushered her out into the hall. "Leave it alone, Mary. Come on."
Halfway down the stairs, she pulled Rhage to a stop. As Phury got ahead of them, she whispered, "Give it a break, will you? Bella and he might enjoy each other."
"The only thing Bella would get out of Phury is conversation." "What the—"
"He doesn't do females."
"He's gay?"
"No, but don't push Bella on him, okay? It isn't fair to either one of them."
Mary's eyes shot to Phury, who'd just stepped onto the foyer's mosaic floor. Even with his slight limp, he had the swagger of a man who had all of his parts in working order. But maybe that was just an illusion. Maybe he'd been injured while fighting.
"Is he, you know, impotent?"
"Not as far as I know. He's celibate."
God, what a waste
, she thought, eyeing the way the man moved.