and then you bolt up, as if you've had to force yourself to endure my presence.” She'd started to sob then. “I've always tried to be clean when I come to you. I spend hours soaking in the tub, washing myself. But I cannot find the dirt that you see.”
“Marissa, stop. Just stop. It isn't about you.”
“Yes, I know. I saw the female. In your mind.” She'd let out a shudder.
“I'm sorry,” he'd said. “And you have never disgusted me. You're beautiful—”
“Don't say that. Not now.” Marissa's voice had hardened then. “If anything, just be sorry that it took this long for me to see what has always been true.”
“I will still protect you,” he'd vowed.
“No, you won't. I'm no longer your concern. Not that I've ever been.”
And then she'd left, the fresh scent of the ocean lingering a moment before dissipating.
Wrath rubbed his eyes. He was determined to make it up to her somehow. He wasn't sure exactly how he'd pull that off, considering the hell she'd been put through. But he wasn't prepared to have her drift off into the ether thinking that she'd been utterly nothing to him. Or that he'd found her in some way unclean.
He'd never loved her, true. But he hadn't wanted to hurt her, which was why he'd told her to leave him so often. If she pulled out, if she made it clear she didn't want him, she would still be able to hold her head up in the catty aristocratic circle she was from. In her class, a shellan who was rejected by her mate was perceived as damaged goods.
Now that she had left him, she'd be spared any ignominy. And he had a feeling that when word got out, no one would be surprised.
Funny, he'd never really considered how he and Marissa would part, perhaps because after all these centuries, he'd assumed they never would. But he'd certainly never expected it to be because he was forming some kind of attachment to another female.
And that was what was happening. With Beth. After marking her last night as he had, he couldn't pretend he wasn't getting emotionally tied to her.
He cursed out loud, knowing enough about male vampire behavior and psychology to realize he was in trouble. Hell, they were both in trouble now.
A bonded male was a dangerous thing.
Especially when he was going to have to leave his female.
And give her into the keeping of another.
Trying to push the implications out of his mind, Wrath reached for the phone and dialed upstairs, thinking he needed something to eat. When there was no answer, he assumed Fritz must have gone to the store to buy food.
Good thing. Wrath had asked the brothers to come later in the evening, and they liked to eat big. It was time to reconnoiter, catch up with their investigations.
The need to avenge Darius burned.
And the closer Wrath got to Beth, the hotter the fire.
Black Dagger Brotherhood 1 - Dark Lover
Chapter Twenty-three
Butch walked out of the captain's office. His holster felt too light without his gun in it. Wallet was too flat without his badge. It was like being naked.
“What happened?” José asked.
“I'm taking a vacation.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Butch started down the hall. “Did the NYPD have anything on that suspect?”
José grabbed his arm and pulled him into an interrogation room. “What happened?”
“I'm suspended without pay, pending the conclusion of an internal investigation. Which we both know is going to find that I acted with inappropriate force.”
José buried a hand in his hair. “I told you to back off those suspects, man.”
“That Riddle guy deserved worse.”
“Not the point.”
“Funny, that's what the captain said.”
Butch walked over to the two-way mirror and looked at himself. God, he was getting old. Or maybe he was just tired of the only job he'd ever wanted to do.
Police brutality. Screw that. He was a protector of the innocent, not some self-impressed skull-cracker who got off on being a tough guy. The trouble was, there were just too many rules favoring criminals. The victims whose lives were shattered by violence should be half so lucky.
“I don't belong here anyway,” he said softly.
“What?”
There was just no place for men like him in the world anymore, he thought.
Butch turned around. “So. The NYPD. What did we find out?”
José stared at him for a long time. “Suspended from the force, huh?”
“At least until they officially can me.”
José put his hands on his hips and looked down, shaking his head as if he were remonstrating