Lover Enshrined

Then again, the dogs were probably still gnawing on the bones of the last guest they’d turned into pulled pork.

“Sire?” the butler repeated. “Shall we?”

“Yeah… yeah, sure.” Qhui

“As you wish, sire.”

Man, thank God Blay didn’t have to see what was about to go down-

One side of the mammoth double doors opened and a familiar friend lifted a hand.

Oh. Great. Blay would miss the show, but John was having a front-row seat, evidently.

The guy was dressed in the blue jeans and one of the deconstructed button-downs they’d gotten at Abercrombie. His bare feet were pale on the black stone stairs, and he seemed relatively calm, which was kind of irritating. The bastard could at least have had the grace to sport a cold sweat or a case of the sympathy shits.

Hey, John signed.

“Hey.”

John stepped back, clearing the way. How are you doing?

“I wish I were a smoker.” Because then he could put this off for the duration of a cig.

No, you don’t. You hate smoking.

“When I face the firing squad, I may rethink that hard line.”

Shut up.

Qhui

Holy fuck, he thought as he stopped dead.

The foyer in front of him was palatial. Total Russian royalty, with its brilliant colors and its incredible gold-leafed everything and its mosaic floor and its painted ceiling… or, shit, maybe it was more like something out of a Danielle Steel novel, with all its romantic marble columns and arching expanse.

Not that he’d read any of her books.

Well, okay, there had been that one, but he’d been twelve and sick and had focused just on the sex parts.

“Up here,” a deep, echoing voice said.

Qhui

“Come on, let’s do this,” Wrath commanded.

Swallowing hard, Qhui

As they got to the top, Wrath said, “I just want Qhui

John started to sign, I want to be his witness-

Wrath turned away. “Nope. There’s going to be none of that.”

Shit, Qhui

I’ll be waiting, John signed.

“Thanks, man.”

Qhui

Not exactly what you’d expect Wrath to hang out in.

As the king went in and planted it behind a delicate desk, Qhui

“Did you mean to kill Lash?” Wrath asked.

So much for opening statements. “Ah…”

“Did you or didn’t you?”

In quick succession Qhui

Qhui

The king crossed his arms over his chest. “If Lash hadn’t gone for John’s pants, would you have done the same thing?”

Qhui

“Well?” came the demand over the desk. “If Lash hadn’t gone for his pants, would you have throated him?”

Qhui

“But you didn’t have to kill him, did you. You could have peeled him off John. Clocked him a couple of times. Rolled him out.”

“True.”

Wrath stretched his arm to the side as if to loosen it, and his shoulder let out a crack. “You’re going to be totally fucking honest with me now. If you lie, I’ll know it, because I’ll smell it.” Wrath’s eyes burned behind his wraparounds. “I’m well aware you hated your cousin. Are you sure you didn’t use deadly force for your own agenda?”

Qhui

“To be honest… shit, I couldn’t let John get hurt and humiliated like that. See, he froze. When Lash went for his pants, he froze. The two of them were in the shower and John was up against the tile and all of a sudden he went dead still. I don’t know whether Lash would have followed through with… well, you know… because I wasn’t in his head, but he was just the type who would try it.” Qhui

“And your answer is.”

“Yeah, I would do it again.”

“Would you now.”

“Yes.” Qhui

“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

There was a long silence, and Qhui

“John wants you to stay here.”

Qhui

“You heard me.”

“Shit. You can’t approve that. No way can I stay here.” Black eyebrows crashed down. “Excuse me?”

“Er… sorry.” Qhui

King was spelled c-a-r-t-e b-l-a-n-c-h-e in the vampire world.

Plus, why the fuck say no to something that would help him? Duh.

Wrath stood up, and Qhui

Jesus, the male towered, though.

“I spoke to Lash’s father about an hour ago,” Wrath said. “Your family has indicated to him that they’re not going to pay the restitution. As they’ve disowned you, they say that you owe the money. Five million.”

“Five million?”

“Lash was abducted by the lessers last night. No one thinks he’s coming back. You’re up for proximal murder, as the assumption is that the slayers wouldn’t have bothered snatching a dead body.”

“Whoa…” God, Lash… and, shit, that was a lot of green. “Look, I got the clothes on my back and a spare set in my duffel. They’re welcome to the shit if they want it-”