her and the two strangers, even though neither of the males had made an aggressive move toward her. Unsurprisingly, it was a very successful block. Zsadist’s torso and shoulders were so large she could no longer see the pair—and that was clearly his plan.
“Get back in there with him,” Zsadist barked. “Before I put you in that room.”
There was no argument, and abruptly, the foreign scents dissipated as if they had indeed disappeared from the hall.
“They did naught unto me,” she said. “Actually, I think if I’d gone, ‘Boo!’ they might well have run off.”
Z glanced over his shoulder. “I think you should return to your room.”
“But I’m allowed to stretch my legs twice a night?”
The Brother gently, but firmly, took her elbow and escorted her back through her door and over to her bed. “Not right now. I’ll come tell you when it’s okay. We have some unanticipated visitors, and I’m taking no chances with the likes of you.”
“Who are they?”
“No one you need to worry about—and they’re not staying long.” Z settled her back into position. “May I bring you some food?”
Layla exhaled. “No, thank you.”
“Something to drink, then?”
“I’m fine. Thank you, though.”
After bowing deeply, the Brother departed, and she half expected to hear the distant sounds of him pistol-whipping those two soldiers just for looking at her. But that was the way of things. As a pregnant female, she was the most valuable thing on the planet not just to her young’s sire, but to every single member of the Brotherhood.
It was like living with a dozen older, bossy, over-protective brothers.
Or Brothers, as was the case.
And ordinarily, she might have challenged even Zsadist. But she hadn’t recognized those big males, and God knew she’d already gotten into plenty of trouble fraternizing with fighters she didn’t know—and they had to be soldiers. They were built heavy and strong, and they had been wearing holsters.
Albeit empty ones.
So they were not enemies, she decided or they wouldn’t have been allowed in the training center at all. But they weren’t exactly trusted, either.
Unbidden, an image of Xcor’s harsh face came to mind—and the sting of pain that went through her was so strong, the young shifted in her belly as if they felt it, too.
“Stop it,” she whispered to herself.
Reaching for the T.V. remote, she turned on the big screen across the way. Fine. She would stay here until those strangers left. Then she would go and sit with Qhuinn’s brother, Luchas, who was in recovery two doors away and seemed to look forward to her regular visits. Then perhaps a blather with Doc Jane at her desk, or maybe Blay and Qhuinn would be back from their shifts by then and they would walk her all the way down to the classrooms.
Whoever those soldiers were, she doubted the Brothers would let them stay longer than absolutely necessary. At least going by Zsadist’s reaction.
And all the weapons of which they’d so clearly been stripped.
ELEVEN
No time. Abso-fucking-lutely no goddamn time.
As a rash of evil permeated the air, Vishous took off his lead-lined glove and lifted his glowing palm. Closing his eyes and focusing—because his life, and the lives of his two brothers, did in fact depend on it—he sent out a series of buffering impulses of his own—except the mhis he extended was just a pocket in the overall campus landscape, a small section measuring no more than the distance between two inches in front of his face and two inches behind Phury and Tohr’s bodies.
Thank God the Hummer was off the property.
“No one move,” V commanded as a wavy, iridescent border formed around them all, rather like a child’s bubble blown from dishwashing soap.
He had no idea whether this was going to work, but shit knew it had to—the atmosphere was turning a deep shade of malevolence. Hell, even with the mhis in place, his skin prickled with a warning for him to ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!
And that was when the Omega itself appeared about a hundred and fifty yards up ahead.
Talk about your anti-climaxes. On the surface, the inky transparent figure in its Clorox-white robes looked about as intimidating as an animated chess pawn. But that was just going on a visual assessment. Internally, every cell that made up his body, each neuron that fired in his brain, all the emotions he had ever had or would ever have started to scream sure as if he were under a dire mortal attack.
Behind him, a soft muttering started, and V glanced over his shoulder.