he is very protective of her. So, yeah, I'm sure."
"She ever guessed about you?"
"No." And though Zsadist knew, he wasn't going to tell his mate. No way he'd put Bella in that position. Laws read that if you knew of a symphath you had to report him or her or face prosecution.
Rehv came around the desk, relying on his cane now that Xhex was the only one around. The dopamine he shot himself up with regularly kept the worst of the symphath urges at bay, enabling him to pass for a Normal.
He wasn't sure how Xhex managed it. Wasn't sure he wanted to know. But the thing was, with his sense of touch gone, he had to use a cane or he was liable to fall. After all, depth perception got you only so far when you couldn't feel your feet or legs.
"You don't worry," he said. "No one knows what either one of us are. And it's going to stay that way."
Gray eyes stared up at him. "Are you feeding her, Rehv." Not a question. A demand. "Are you feeding Marissa?"
"That's my business, not yours."
She shot to her feet. "Goddamn you-we agreed. Twenty-five years ago when I had my little problem, we agreed. No mates. No feeding with Normals. What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm in control and this conversation is over." He checked his watch. "And what do you know, it's closing time and you need a break. The Moors can lock up."
She glared at him for a moment. "I don't leave until the job is done-"
"I'm telling you to go home, not being nice. I'll see you tomorrow night."
"No offense, but fuck you, Rehvenge."
She stalked over to the door, moving like the killer she was. As he watched her go, he was reminded that this security stuff for him was nothing compared to what she was capable of.
"Xhex," he said, "maybe we were wrong about the mating."
She sent an are-you-stupid? frown over her shoulder. "You shoot yourself up twice a day. You think Marissa wouldn't notice that eventually? How about the fact that you have to go to her brother the good doctor for the neuromodulator you rely on? Besides, what would an aristocrat like her say about all... this?" She swept her arm around his office. "We weren't wrong. You're just forgetting the whys of it all."
The door eased shut behind her and Rehv looked down at his numb body. He pictured Marissa, so pure and beautiful, so different from the other females he was around, so different from Xhex... who he fed from.
He wanted Marissa, was half in love with her at this point. And the male in him wanted to claim what was his Page 25
J R Ward: Lover Revealed
even though his drugs made him impotent. Except surely he wouldn't hurt what he loved, even if his dark parts were out? Right?
He thought of her, wearing her lovely haute couture gowns, so properly dressed, so genteel, so... clean. The glymera was wrong about her. She wasn't defective; she was perfect.
He smiled, his body flushing up with a burn that only hardcore orgasms could douse. It was getting to be that time of the month, so she would be calling him soon. Yeah, she would need him again... soon. As his blood was diluted, she had to feed with gratifying frequency, and the last time had been almost three weeks ago.
She would be calling him within days. And he couldn't wait to be of service to her.
V got back to the Brotherhood's compound with minutes to spare, materializing just outside the gatehouse's front door. He'd hoped his kind of sex would have taken the edge off of him, but no, he was still bladed as shit.
He went through the Pit's vestibule and disarmed along the way, all tensed up and so ready for a shower to get the smell of the female off him. He should have been hungry; instead, all he wanted was some Grey Goose.
"Butch, my man!" he called out.
Silence.
V walked down the hall to the cop's bedroom. "You crashed?"
He pushed open the door. The king-sized bed was empty. So maybe the cop was up at the main house?
V jogged through the Pit and put his head out through the vestibule's door. A quick glance around at the cars parked in the courtyard and his heart went snare drum on him. No Escalade. So Butch wasn't at the compound.
With the sky beginning to lighten off to the east, the glow of day stung