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“You know exactly who I’m asking about.”

“None of your biz, roommate.”

As Marissa waited for Rehvenge’s voice to come back on the line, she wondered where he was. There was a din coming over the connection—music, voices. A party?

The noise cut off sharply, as if he’d closed a door. “Tahlly, where are you? Or did Havers get his phones really encrypted?”

“I’m not at home.”

Silence. Then, “Are you where I think you are? Are you with the Brotherhood?”

“How did you know?”

He muttered something, then said, “Only one number on the planet this phone can’t trace, and it’s where my sister calls me from. Now you’re pulling the same no-show thing for an I.D. What the hell’s going on?”

She glossed over the situation, telling him only that she and Havers had argued and she’d needed somewhere to stay.

Rehv cursed. “You should have called me first. I want to take care of you.”

“It’s complicated. Your mother—”

“You don’t worry about her.” Rehv’s voice smoothed out into a purr. “Come stay with me, tahlly. All you have to do is materialize to the penthouse and I’ll have you picked up.”

“Thank you, but no. I’m only going to be here long enough to get settled somewhere else.”

“Settled somewhere—what the hell? This stuff with your brother is permanent?”

“It’ll be fine. Listen, Rehvenge, I…need you. I need to try again to…” She put her head in her hand. She hated using him, but who else could she go to? And Butch…God, Butch…she felt like she was betraying him. Except what was her alternative?

Rehvenge growled, “When, tahlly? When do you want me?”

“Now.”

“Just go to—ah, hell, I’ve got to meet the Princeps leahdyre. And then I’ve got some work-related issues I have to take care of.”

She gripped the phone. Waiting was bad. “Tomorrow, then?”

“At nightfall. Unless you want to come and stay at my home. Then we could have…all day long.”

“I’ll see you first thing tomorrow evening.”

“I can’t wait, tahlly.”

After she hung up, she stretched out on the bed and sank into utter exhaustion, her body becoming indistinguishable from the sheets and blankets and pillows, just another inanimate object on top of the mattress.

Oh, hell…maybe waiting until tomorrow was better. She could rest up then talk to Butch and let him know what was going on. As long as she wasn’t sexually charged, she should be able to control herself around him and this was one conversation that was better to have in person: If humans who were in love were anything like bonded male vampires, Butch wasn’t going to handle the fact that she needed to be with someone else well.

With a sigh, she thought about Rehv. Then the Princeps Council. Then her sex in general.

God, even if that sehclusion motion was defeated by some miracle, there really was no safe place for females to go if they were threatened at home, was there? With the disintegration of vampire society and all the fighting with the lessers, there were no social services for the race. No safety net. No one to help females and their young if the hellren in their house was violent. Or if the family turned the female away.

Good Lord, what would have happened to her if Beth and Wrath hadn’t taken her in? Or if she didn’t have Rehvenge?

She might well have died.

Down in the compound’s training center, John was the first in the locker room after the in-class session was done. He changed quickly into his jockstrap and his ji, impatient for the fighting practice to begin.

“What’s the hurry, John? Oh, wait, you like to get your ass kicked.”

John looked over his shoulder. Lash was standing in front of an open locker, taking off a fancy silk shirt. His chest was no bigger than John’s and his arms just as thin, but as the guy stared back, his eyes burned like he was the size of a bull.

John met that glare head-on, his body heating up. Man, he was jonesing for Lash to open his mouth and say something else. Just one more thing.

“You gonna pass out on us again, John? Like the pansy you are?”

Bingo.

John launched himself at the kid but didn’t get far. Blaylock, the redhead, caught him and held him back, trying