would have been like birth, wouldn't it? A new beginning, where he was something else, something... improved. And purified, too. A kind of baptism by blood.
And man, he hungered to wipe the slate clean, all of it: the stuff with his family, the things he'd done as an adult, that shit with the Omega and the lessers.
He winced, thinking he'd gotten so close. "Yeah... ah, I'm just going to tell Wrath and them this is not - "
"Butch, I - "
He cut her off by going to the door and opening it. As he looked out at the king and V, his chest burned. "Sorry, fellas. Change in plan - "
"What will you do to him?" Marissa's voice was loud and all hard edges as it cut through the air.
Butch glanced over his shoulder. Across the study, she looked as grim as he felt.
"Well?" she demanded. "What will you do to him?"
Wrath nodded to his left. "Vishous, you better field that one."
V's answer was factual, straight to the point. Horrific.
Hell, any plan that ended with "and then we pray" was not a trip to Disneyland.
"Where would you do it?" she asked.
"Down in the training center," V replied. "The Equipment Room has a separate area for first aid and PT treatments."
There was a long silence, during which Butch stared at Marissa. Surely, she couldn't be -
"Okay," she said. "Okay... when do we do it?"
Butch's eyes popped. "Baby... ?"
Her gaze stuck to Vishous. "When?"
"Tomorrow night. His chances will be better if he has a little time to recover from the regression."
"Tomorrow night, then," Marissa said, wrapping her arms around herself.
V nodded, then looked at Butch. "I imagine you two are going to want some privacy today. I'm going to crash here at the main house, so you have the Pit to yourselves."
Butch was so stunned out, he couldn't make sense of anything. "Marissa, are you - "
"Yes, I'm sure. And I'm terrified." She walked past him, heading for the doorway. "Now, I'd like to go to the gatehouse if you don't mind."
He grabbed his shirt and went after her.
As they went along, he took her elbow... but had the sense that she was leading him.
When they got to the Pit, Butch could not read Marissa's mood. She was quiet, but she'd marched across the courtyard like a soldier, nothing but strength and focus.
"I'd like a drink," she said as he shut the door.
"Okay." This at least he could handle. Assuming they had anything but hard liquor in the house.
He went into the kitchen and cracked the fridge. Oh, man... decaying bags of Taco Hell and Arby's. Mustard packets. Two inches of milk that was now a solid. "I'm not sure what we've got. Um... water - "
"No, I want a drink."
He looked up over the icebox door. "All... right. We have Scotch and vodka."
"I'll try the vodka."
As he poured her some Grey Goose over ice, he watched her walk around. She checked out V's computers. The Foosball table. The plasma screen TV.
He went over to her. He wanted her in his arms; he gave her the glass.
She put it to her mouth, tilted her head back, took a long one... and coughed until her eyes watered. While she choked, he maneuvered her onto the couch and sat down next to her.
"Marissa - "
"Shut up."
Okaaay. He clasped his hands together as she struggled with the Goose. After she got down about half an inch, she put the stuff on the coffee table with a grimace.
She tackled him so fast, Butch never saw it coming. One second he was staring at his tightly laced fingers. The next, he was pressed into the sofa and she was straddling him and... oh, God, her tongue was in his mouth.
She felt so damned good, but the vibe was all wrong. The desperation and the anger and the fear just weren't appropriate background music. They were going to end up further apart if they kept going.
He held her back from him, even though his cock screamed in protest. "Marissa - "
"I want to have sex."
He closed his eyes. Christ, so did he. All night long. Except not like this.
He took a deep breath, trying to frame the words right... and when he opened his lids, she'd pulled off her turtleneck and was working the clasp of a black bra that totally knocked him out.
His hands tightened on her waist as those satin cups came off her and her nipples tightened in the chill. He leaned forward, ready to