human. She needed someone worthy, though it was unlikely that would happen anytime soon, given the glymera's opinion of her.
But maybe... well, he was aware of how Rehvenge watched her. Maybe that would work. Rehv was from very good bloodlines on both sides. He was a little... hard, perhaps, but he was appropriate in the eyes of society.
Perhaps that pairing should be encouraged? After all, she was untouched, as clean as the day she was birthed.
And Rehvenge had money, lots of it, though no one knew how or why. Even more important, he was unswayed by the glymera's opinions.
Yes, Havers thought. That would be a good pairing. The best she could hope for.
He pushed open the closet door, feeling a little better. That human was on the way out of the clinic, and no one had to know the two of them had been locked in together for days. His staff was blessedly discreet.
God, he could only imagine what the glymera would do to her if they knew she'd been in close contact with a human male. Marissa's tattered reputation just couldn't withstand any more controversy, and frankly, Havers couldn't take it either. He was utterly exhausted by her social failures.
He loved her, but he was at the end of his rope.
Marissa had no idea why Butch was dragging her into the bathroom at a dead run.
"Butch! What are you doing?"
He cranked on the sink, forced her hands under the water, and grabbed for a bar of soap. As he washed her off, the panic in his face stretched his eyes and flattened his mouth.
"What the hell is going on here!"
Marissa and Butch both wheeled around to the doorway. Havers was standing in it without benefit of a hazmat suit-more furious than she'd ever seen him.
"Havers-"
Her brother cut her off by lunging forward and yanking her out of the bathroom.
"Stop it-ouch! Havers, that hurts!"
What happened next was too fast for her to track.
Havers was suddenly just... gone. One minute he was pulling at her and she was fighting against him, and the next Butch had him flattened facefirst against the wall.
Butch's voice was a nasty drawl. "I don't care if you're her brother. You don't handle her like that. Ever." He Page 90
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pushed his forearm into the back of Havers's neck to emphasize the point.
"Butch, let him-"
"We clear?" Butch growled over her words. When her brother gasped and nodded, Butch released him, walked over to the bed, and calmly wrapped a sheet around his hips. As if he hadn't just manhandled a vampire.
Meanwhile, Havers stumbled and caught himself on the edge of the bed, his eyes crazed as he rearranged his glasses and glared at her. "I want you to leave this room. Now."
"No."
Havers's jaw went slack. "I beg your pardon?"
"I'm staying with Butch."
"You most certainly are not!"
In the Old Language, she said, "If he would have me, I would stand at his side as his shellan."
Havers looked as if she'd slapped him: shocked and disgusted. "And I would forbid you. Have you no nobility?"
Butch cut off her reply. "You really should go, Marissa."
She and Havers looked over at him. "Butch?" she said.
That harsh face she adored softened for a moment, but then grew grim. "If he'll let you out, you should go."
And not come back, his expression said.
She glanced at her brother, heart starting to pound. "Leave us." When Havers shook his head, she shouted,
"Get out of here!"
There were times when female hysteria got everyone's attention, and this was one of them. Butch went quiet and Havers seemed nonplussed.
Then her brother's eyes shifted to Butch and narrowed into slits. "The Brotherhood are coming to pick you up, human. I called them and told them you are free to go." Havers tossed Butch's medical chart on the bed as if he were giving up on the whole situation. "Don't come back here again. Ever."
As her brother left, Marissa stared at Butch, but before she could get any words past her tight throat, he spoke.
"Baby, please understand. I'm not well. There's something still in me."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"I am."
She linked her arms around her stomach. "What's going to happen if I leave here now? Between you and me?"
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Bad question to ask, she thought in the silence between them.
"Butch-"
"I need to find out what was done to me." He looked down and fingered the puckered black wound next to his belly button. "I need to know what's inside me. I want to