The Beast

Tohr’s voice was a growl. “So let me give them his body.”

“Not yet, my brother.” Wrath glanced over at the guy. “And you know that.”

“But if he’s brain-dead, there’s nothing to interrogate—”

Wrath talked over the male. “I want everyone downtown for the next three nights. Xcor’s disappearance will flush the Bastards out of hiding. We got one of them. I want them all.”

“We also better keep sweeping for slayers,” somebody muttered. “Just because we won last night doesn’t mean the war’s over.”

“The Omega will make more,” Wrath agreed. “That’s for shit sure.”

Butch spoke up. “When it comes to the lessers, though . . . I think we’re focusing on the symptom, not the disease. We need to take the Omega out. I mean, that’s the Dhestroyer prophecy, right? I’m supposed to be the one who does it, but I couldn’t have absorbed all those down-and-outers at the campus. No fucking way.”

V gave his BFFL’s shoulder a squeeze. “You do enough.”

“Obviously not—how long’s it been now? And their numbers are lower, but there was still a shitload coming after us on that campus.”

“My mother is so goddamn useless,” V bitched as he lit up. “We’ve been fighting the Lessening Society for centuries and centuries. Even with the prophecy, I’ve seen no indication that we can eradicate them—”

“I know where we can put Xcor,” Rhage cut in.

As all the eyes in the room focused on him, he shrugged. “Don’t freak out. But the solution is clear.”

* * *

Down in the training center, Layla recognized the feeling that had plagued her since the night before.

As she sat on the edge of her hospital bed, she knew exactly what the ringing sense of destination meant, the burn in the center of her chest, the nagging, unrelenting itch.

It just made no sense.

So she had to be misinterpreting things. Maybe this was yet another pregnancy symptom and it just felt like the other thing?

Well, one way or the other, she was going to find out, she thought as she shifted off the mattress and shuffled over to the door. Her most recent twelve-hour wait had passed so it was time to stretch her legs once again—and with no Brothers babysitting her and Qhuinn and Blay in a meeting, she was going to use her relative freedom to the fullest.

Stepping into the corridor, she looked around. There was nobody outside her room. No sounds from the clinic. And the gym and weight room way down the hall both seemed quiet as well.

Ostensibly, there was no one around at all. And that went for Brothers, servants and medical staff. So really . . . how was it possible that she was sensing Xcor’s presence down here?

That Bastard couldn’t possibly be in the Brotherhood compound. He was the enemy, for godsakes—which meant if he had infiltrated the property, there would be an attack going on, all hell breaking loose, the Brothers at arms.

Instead? A whole lot of nada, as Qhuinn would have said.

This had to be some pregnancy-related strangeness—

No, she thought. He was here. She sensed him in her own blood—which was what happened if you fed someone: an echo of yourself was in them and it was kind of like catching your reflection in a mirror across a distance.

You couldn’t mistake it for something else. Any more than you wouldn’t recognize your own image.

Picking up the front of her Lanz nightgown—out of habit, rather than necessity because of her big belly—she waddled over the bare floor of the corridor in her slippers, going by the newly constructed ladies’ bathroom, the males’ locker room, the weight room.

Nothing particularly registered in any of them. But when she got past the gym to the entrance of the pool, she stopped.

Straight ahead. It felt as though he were straight ahead—

“Hey, girl, what are you doing?”

Layla wheeled around. “Qhuinn, hello.”

The sire of her young strode up to her, his eyes roaming around her face, her belly. “Are you okay? What are you doing all the way back here?”

“I just . . . it’s my stroll time.”

“Well, you don’t need to be over here.” Qhuinn took her by the elbow, steered her around and led her away. “In fact, maybe we should move you back to the mansion for a little while.”

“What—why?”

“It’s homier there.”

In less than a minute, she was back at the door to her room. And she wasn’t stupid. He’d been the biggest supporter of her staying down here in the clinic, because it was better for her and the young, safer. Now he was changing his mind?

Heart pounding, head spinning, she knew damn well her instincts weren’t lying. Xcor was here somewhere in the training center. Had they captured him in the field? Had he been injured and they’d brought him in as they had that soldier of his?

Qhuinn leaned forward to open her door. “Anyway, I’ll just talk to Doc Jane about—”

“Talk to me about what?”

“Speak of the devil,” Qhuinn said smoothly as he turned around.

V’s mate was coming out of the utility room, a stack of surgical scrubs in her arms. “Look, don’t tell Fritz about this, ’kay? But doing laundry clears my head, and sometimes you just need to chill.”

Qhuinn smiled for a split second. “I actually came down to see you. I was thinking that Layla might enjoy a visit back to her regular room.”