J.R. Ward the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 1-4 - J. R. Ward [312]
She fell onto his chest when it was over, and they were both still except for the breathing, hers normal, his in that odd rhythm.
She lifted her head and stared into his face. White eyes burned as they focused on her with total adoration.
“My Mary,” the voice said.
And then a low-level electrical shock flowed through her body and charged the air. Every light came on in the room, flooding the space with illumination. She gasped and glanced around, but the surge left as quickly as it came. Just like that, the energy was gone. She looked down.
Rhage’s eyes were normal again, the teal color shining.
“Mary?” he said in a dazed, indistinct voice.
She had to take a few breaths before speaking. “You’re back.”
“And you’re okay.” He lifted his arms, flexed his fingers. “I didn’t change.”
“What do you mean, change?”
“I didn’t…I could see you while it was with me. You were hazy, but I knew you weren’t getting hurt. It’s the first time I’ve ever remembered anything.”
She didn’t know what to make of that, but saw that the chains had rubbed his skin raw. “Can I let you go?”
“Yeah. Please.”
Getting him undone took some time. When he was free, he massaged his wrists and ankles and watched her carefully, as if reassuring himself she was okay.
She looked around for a robe. “I’d better go tell Butch and V it’s safe to leave.”
“I’ll do it.” He went over to the bedroom door and stuck his head out.
As he spoke with the men, she looked at the tattoo on his back. She could have sworn it was smiling at her.
God, she was nuts. She really was.
She hopped up on the bed and pulled the blankets over herself.
Rhage shut the door and leaned back against it. He still looked tense, in spite of the release he’d had. “After all that…are you finally afraid of me?”
“No.”
“Aren’t you afraid of…it?”
She held her arms out. “Come here. I want to hold you. You look like you’ve got a case of the rattles.”
He approached the bed slowly, as if he didn’t want her to feel stalked or something. She motioned with her hands, urging him to hurry up.
Rhage lay down beside her, but didn’t reach for her.
After a heartbeat she went for him, wrapping her body around his, running her hands over him. When she brushed against his side, catching the edge of the dragon’s tail, Rhage flinched and shifted.
He didn’t want her anywhere near the tattoo, she thought.
“Roll over,” she said. “Onto your stomach.”
When he shook his head, she pushed at his shoulders. It was like trying to move a grand piano.
“Roll over, damn it. Come on, Rhage.”
He complied with no grace whatsoever, cursing and flopping onto his belly.
She ran her hand right down his spine, right over the dragon.
Rhage’s muscles contracted in random order. No, not random. They were the parts of his body that corresponded to where she was touching the tattoo.
How extraordinary.
She stroked his back some more, feeling as if the ink were rising up to meet her palm like a cat.
“Are you ever going to want to be with me again?” Rhage said stiffly. He turned his face to the side so he could see her. Except he didn’t look up.
She lingered on the beast’s mouth, tracing the line of its lips with her fingertip. Rhage’s own set parted as if he were feeling her touch.
“Why wouldn’t I want to be with you?”
“That was a little weird, wasn’t it?”
She laughed. “Weird? I’m sleeping in a mansion full of vampires. I’ve fallen in love with a—”
Mary stopped. Oh, God. What had just come out of her mouth?
Rhage pushed his upper body off the bed, twisting his chest around so he could look at her. “What did you just say?”
She hadn’t meant for it to happen, she thought. The falling or the telling.
But she would take neither of them back.
“I’m not sure,” she murmured, taking in the brute strength of his shoulders and arms. “But I think it was something along the