Lover Mine (Book 8)

“Some things are destined to be - it just takes us a couple of tries to get there.”

Lover Mine is the eight novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. It follows Lover Avenged and precedes Lover Unleashed. Covet from the Fallen Angels series precedes Lover Avenged chronologically and it is followed by Crave.

Unlike the other spin-offs, Fallen Angels is a stand-alone series and Black Dagger Brotherhood is not required in order to fully understand the lore, characters, and story-lines of Fallen Angels. Each book was published alternately with the main series, but chronologically the series more or less takes place at the same time as Lover Unleashed.

John Matthew is hunting Lash for kidnapping Xhex and brings the war between him and the Black Dagger Brotherhood to a head.

Synopsis[]

John Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown to himself and to those around him. After he was taken in by the Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history was—or his true identity. Indeed, the fallen Brother Darius has returned, but with a different face and a very different destiny. As a vicious personal vendetta takes John into the heart of the war, he will need to call up on both who he is now and who he once was in order to face off against evil incarnate…and rescue his one true love.

Main Characters[]

Other Characters[]

Black Dagger Brotherhood Members[]

Others - Speaking Roles[]

Mentioned or Non-Speaking Roles[]

Bella
Beth
The Bloodletter
George
Lassiter
Luchas
Marklon
Mary
Nalla
Selena
Tehrror
Tohrture
Throe
Wellsie

Plot[]

Readers should be aware this book contains homophobic characters, kidnapping, rape, and deals with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Reminder that this wiki contains spoilers so please proceed with caution.

Prologue[]

In 1644, Darius is writing in his diary about how after his mother's death, his stepfather, Marklon, dumped him at the Bloodletter's cave and didn't look back. Coming from the glymera, his fine clothing made him a target of the other trainees, but his blooded father, Tehrror, had been a Brother so he had the body and the instincts to fight. Darius soon became a lethal warrior and always won the skirmishes, but he refused to participate in the requisite rape of the loser. He'd earned this right when the Bloodletter attempted to make him fall in line and D beat the Bloodletter; others volunteered to inflict the punishment in his stead. The brutality of the camp doesn't sit well with Darius and he doesn't fit in amongst them. Four members of the Brotherhood approach him.

Chapter 1[]

For nearly four weeks, Xhex has been trapped an invisible prison created by Lash. She's been a prisoner for about a month, tortured by looking out windows knowing that no one could see her. Lash has enjoyed having a prisoner, even though she was not the Sympath Princess, but he loves that she fights back fiercely, dislocating a shoulder at least once. He feeds off her anger and can't help admiring the bruises that she's left on him from their fighting.

Chapter 2[]

John Matthew has been in fog since Xhex's disappearance. He's now a bonded male, with his lover lost to world without knowing if she is alive or dead. He wants to honor her no matter her status with a tattoo of her name in the Old Language. Because John's not ready to announce to the entire mansion how he feels, he goes with Qhuinn and Blaylock to a tattoo shop. They give him salt-laced ink they stole from Vishous' supplies.

Chapter 3[]

After a hard night recruiting drug dealers for the Lessening Society and then threatening them when they question his sexuality, Lash returns to his brownstone, looking forward to playing with Xhex until she breaks and then throw her away. She's proving more resilient than he'd thought and the way she resists him makes him think he's in love.

Meanwhile Blaylock is dealing with his unrequited love for Qhuinn, watching him play with other women. Internally he wishes that Qhuinn would stop going through women like they don't mean anything, or finally realize that Blaylock has true feelings for him.

Chapter 4[]

After getting the tattoo, they all go to Sal's, the Italian restaurant run by iAm. Both the restaurant and the Iron Mask were left with him and Trez by Rehvenge before his disappearance. John is seeking out their help to get a lead on Xhex's whereabouts. To cover his true motives, John tells Trez that Wrath sent him to follow up on Rehv's intel. Trez takes that to mean they don't trust Rehv, which doesn't fly too well with the shadow, forcing John to admit the king doesn't know what he's up to.

Chapter 5[]

When Trez grills him on what's doing, John tells him that if word gets out that he's bonded to her then they'll either expect a mating ceremony when she's home, which is the last thing she'll need at that point, or they'll be looking at him with pity. Only thing is neither Rehv nor the shadows can sense her anywhere, which means she's either dead or there's something interfering. With the way Lash has been going through drug dealers, Trez recommends starting in places where dealers are known to frequent in order to find him.

They warn John they'll have to let Rehv know he came by for a meal. The sympath tied their hands when it comes to looking for Xhex so if they and John share information that's a tidy way of getting around some of their restrictions.

Saxton drops by Sal's restaurant on business and catches up with his cousin, Qhuinn, and flirts with Blay, giving him his number. The friendlier they get, the more disgruntled Qhuinn gets.

Chapter 6[]

The mhis Lash put up in his room to keep Xhex contained is so strong that not even his lessers can sense her when they're in the room. She's losing hope that she's going to get out of her situation alive, but is determined to take a piece of him with her when she goes.

Chapter 7[]

Back at the mansion, John goes straight to his room and begins drinking, settling into a good wallow in the crap soup of his life. While holding Darius' diary, he falls asleep while having a semi-flashback of his previous life.

Chapter 8[]

Back in The Old Country in 1671, Darius attends a meeting between the Brotherhood the king, Wrath the Fair. There, he was tasked with finding the whereabouts of the daughter of the leahdyre, Sampsone. Tohrment is there with his father, Hharm, who hadn't with the other fathers when they went to collect their sons from the Bloodletter's camp. Apparently, he was too busy having sex elsewhere with some unnamed female and Ahgony had, had to fetch Harm from the camp.

Knowing that Tohr wasn't likely to survive the night with an uncaring male to watch over him, Darius offers to take the boy with him as they hunt. Hharm reads the subtext correctly and takes it poorly, saying that he can bring the boy back safe and sound. Darius tells him that he'll fight Hharm over it if need be, and Hharm had never been able to best Darius, although he'd certainly been eager to claim the rights of the winner over those who lost to Darius. Just to spite the man and rid himself of the responsibility of parenting entirely, Hharm disavows Tohr on the spot, leaving him to Darius to claim.

Chapter 9[]

A pair of paranormal investigators, Gregg Winn and Holly Fleet, are investigating the Eliahu Rathboone house for their show Paranormal Investigators.

Chapter 10[]

John wakes from an erotic dream featuring Xhex, which quickly fizzles when in the dream she rejects actual romance from him like she did the first time they were together.

Qhuinn tells Blay that the two of them have a problem and wants to talk to him about it and why he doesn't look at him anymore. Blay, on the other hand, doesn't want to talk about his unrequited feelings for Qhuinn that are cutting him up inside.

Chapter 11[]

Before it's dark enough to avoid suicide by sunlight, Zsadist catches John leaving the mansion to search for Lash without Qhuinn. His ahstrux nohstrum's pissed that John would screw him over like that since he's supposed to be at John's side every time he leaves the compound. Z watches him until it's dark enough to leave and threatens to turn him into Wrath if he tries to ditch Qhuinn again.

They confront a lesser in a public park known for drug use and dealing; he fires at them in front of humans.

Lash returns from a session with the Omega, learning how to use his new abilities, and doesn't think he'll go back since he feels he knows all he needs to. Plus, his father's need for emotional validation grates on him and he's uncomfortable being around the Omega who has no problem having sex with oily, black beasts in front of him. He finds that one of the wounds Xhex gave him has not only not healed, it's gotten worse.

Chapter 12[]

The Lesser Blay, John, and Qhuinn have subdued doesn't have any information on Xhex and the cops have them surrounded in a park maintenance shed.

While the Omega's inducting a new member, Lash finds more open wounds and falls on Mr. D when hunger overtakes him.

Chapter 13[]

Ignoring John's protests, Qhuinn offs the lesser, they knock out the cops searching for the shooter, and they take off in Qhuinn's Hummer with Blay driving and John and Qhuinn fighting in the back. Blay gets them to Sal's where iAm and Trez have to pull the males apart. They make up as John realizes that in his frenzy to stop Qhuinn in the hope that the lesser did know something that he'd drawn his gun on his best friend.

Chapter 14[]

Lash realizes he needs to feed off of lessers, which are male, and is disgusted. Afterwards, his arm resembles the Omega's body: a black, shimmering shadow.

The boys go to the address the shadows gave them, find Mr. D there buying drugs from Benloise, and follow him to Lash's brownstone, calling in Rhage and Vishous as backup.

Chapter 15[]

Xhex hears the Brothers enter the brownstone and yells, but no sound makes it through the invisible prison Lash created around her. John's convinced she's there, can smell her, she even reaches out and touches his cheek when he becomes distraught and tells him she loves him, yet he can't perceive her. He only finds a blood-stained bedroom. She's in despair of ever getting free and screams.

They don't hear her.

Chapter 16[]

Downstairs, John loses it and beats Mr. D until he's nothing but a smear all over the kitchen. The Brothers have to carry him out to the SUV.

The newest lesser's looking and feeling rather pathetic after his transition and Lash suffers from a twinge of humanity so he goes for a drive until he gets over it. Despite having fed and slept, Lash's lesions haven't changed; he suspects he needs a female lesser to feed from and intends to turn Xhex.

Chapter 17[]

Hearing and smelling John trip Mr. D apart, Xhex knows that Lash will lose it when he finds Mr. D so much goo and possibly take it out on her. Testing the barrier by punching the window, she discovers the pain it causes has lessened and it's weakening. Getting a running start, she launches herself through the barrier and dematerializes to her basement apartment where she falls unconscious on her bed.

Blay, Rhage, and V return to the brownstone to do a follow-up sweep and loot. They find the front door's open when they'd left it shut and a window that hadn't been broken earlier. They find fresh food, which is puzzling since lessers don't eat and they'd hardly be feeding Xhex gourmet food.

Chapter 18[]

Payne and Wrath talk after a sparring match, which is interrupted by the Scribe Virgin who wants to keep her ignorant of the occurrences in the real world.

Chapter 19[]

Lash tells the Omega he needs a female to feed from and they make plans to meet that night. Returning home, he finds Mr. D in pieces, Xhex gone, and the place looted. After making sure Mr. D didn't leak any information, Lash sends him back to the Omega.

Xhex leaves a voicemail for Rehvenge telling him that she's escaped and just wants to be alone and that she'll be in touch. He takes John to her cabin.

Chapter 20[]

Darius takes Tohrment with him to investigate the home where the female of the glymera went missing.

Chapter 21[]

John and Rehv find no sign of Xhex at her cabin and he tells John that she can handle it because she's been through something similar before. Twenty years ago she went to the sympath colony on family business where they kept her and Murhder when he went to rescue her. Rehv had to make a deal to get them out, but her family sold her to humans first. She'd escaped that time, too, and hid for awhile. To get some time to himself, he asks Rehv to cover for him.

He goes to her apartment for which he still has a key and lets himself in where he finds her naked and dying.

Chapter 22[]

Xhex is torn between giving up and forcing John to watch her die or feed from him and continue living, which doesn't sound all that appealing to her just then. She decides that first she'll take out Lash and then she can give up on life so she takes his vein. As she does, she knows she broke his heart but he hasn't broken, which earns him her respect.

Doc Jane arrives and figures out pretty quickly that Xhex has a terror of all things medical and tries to reassure her that she won't breathe a word of the apartment's location nor will she say a word to anyone other than Wrath. As much as Xhex tries to refuse, Jane won't take no for an answer and makes John wait in the hallway. She finds ligature marks on her ankles from when Lash had tied Xhex up with wire, bruises, and internal bleeding. Lying, she claims she wasn't sexually assaulted even though there's fresh blood on her thighs from the internal bleeding. While Jane's examining her, Xhex has flashbacks to being strapped to a surgical table and scalpels.

Chapter 23[]

Holly Fleet insists to her partner, Gregg Winn, that Eliahu Rathboone, the alleged ghost they're investigating, is still alive because she just had sex with him.

Chapter 24[]

John carries Xhex out to Vishous' Escalade and holds her on the way back to the mansion when he starts to throw off the scent of a bonded male. She apologizes for treating him the way she had and for who she is because he deserves better.

Chapter 25[]

Lash resorts to picking up a prostitute since he doesn't have Xhex to turn into a lesser so he can feed. He gets a call from the newest lesser who tells Lash that he's now the Forelesser. The Omega ordered him to kill Lash because he didn't like it that Lash had asked about turning a female.

Xhex's anxiety's temporarily eased by the knowledge that she's not pregnant, which Doc Jane determined at the apartment, but it returns full force when John carries her into the medical clinic in the training centre. In her panic, she takes one of John's knives and presses it into his palm, asking him to please let her go forever because she doesn't want to be here anymore; she's not strong enough to do it herself.

John clears the room, locks the door, and allows her to scream her pain and fear where no one can but him see her break. She knows that she'd long ago become hard inside to survive and it's no longer sustainable.

Chapter 26[]

Holly tells Gregg that she was asleep when the ghost came to her and he tries to brush it off as a dream until she shows him a hickey and says that she'd found other evidence. She knows it was Eliahu Rathboone because he looked just like his portrait downstairs. He has her stay the rest of the night with him.

Chapter 27[]

Even though his heart hurts for Xhex, John gives her space to cry and scream. The fresh blood under her chills him to the bone. His fear worsens when Doc Jane and Ehlena kick him out to perform an ultrasound, only for Jane to stick her head out some time later to have Vishous scrub in without giving John any answers.

When they're done, the only answer he gets is that she's going to be ok from Vishous as he's cleaning up a lot of Xhex's blood. V warns him that if he wants to kill Lash himself he shouldn't mention how bad off Xhex was to Rehv or the Shadows.

Xhex has no interest in healing and recovery, she just wants to kill Lash. From the way he'd stuck with her as she fell apart, she knows that he's been through some stuff himself and empathizes, but to get him to talk about it he wants her to tell him what the injury was.

Lash turns the prostitute into a lesser.

Chapter 28[]

Xhex explains how the invisible prison worked and how she escaped, which was when she think the uterine tear happened. Judging by her other injuries, John's not buying it and she claims that it might have occurred while fighting off Lash. She's fatalistic and tells him that she's ok with dying because once it's over then there's no more pain. The medical setting and supplies are what set her off, not Lash, but she wants to kill him. The bonded male in John goes feral at the thought of her going near Lash.

Rehvenge interrupts and John leaves to give them some privacy.

Blay and Qhuinn feed from Layla, afterwards, it's plain that something's bothering her and Qhuinn coaxes it out. She asks why they only use her for blood and not for sex, when both are part of her duties as an ehros and feels unfulfilled with only being used for one. Since she has a crush on Qhuinn, they start to discuss the possibility and Blay makes a hasty exit.

Chapter 29[]

Rehv hugs Xhex to him and she promises him they'll talk later, lying so he won't know that she doesn't expect nor want to live for very long. He has an inkling anyway and reminds her that she matters to a lot of people, but she doesn't agree with his confidence that she'll come back from this since the very idea of living beyond Lash's death is wearying.

When she wakes up, so does John who'd been sleeping on the floor, immediately jumping to his feet and protecting her from anything that might come through the door; that makes her melt more than a bouquet of roses would. He helps her shower platonically.

Chapter 30[]

Back in 1671, Darius meets with Sampsone's steward, Fritz, who does his best to both assist Darius in his endeavour and protect the reputation of the missing female.

Chapter 31[]

In the morning, Holly retracts her accounts of the night before and thinks it was just a dream; thinking about it too much gives her a sudden headache. While going over the footage from the cameras he'd hidden, he sees a dark figure in the hallway appear to disappear into thin air.

Chapter 32[]

Xhex is skin and bones after her ordeal so John brings her food and drops off a sandwich for Tohr who's been asleep in the training centre's office. After what he went through with Xhex, he now understands Tohr a bit better. He tells him that he's going to show Xhex where he grew up and Tohr offers a key to the house he'd shared with Wellsie and then John. John's ashamed that he'd been acting like a dick to Tohr only to have him offer something that was undoubtedly painful for him; Tohr's genuinely glad that John found Xhex. Figuring that John was going to the Our Lady orphanage, he hands him the drug money they took from Lash's brownstone to donate.

Layla tells Payne how Qhuinn kissed her, but didn't take it any farther since he wanted her to be certain. Payne suspects that she wants Qhuinn rather than to fulfill her role.

Chapter 33[]

Xhex mows down all the food John brings her, which then makes a reappearance when she feels lust towards John and memories of Lash make her nauseous. She covers it up by blaming it on eating too much too fast after surgery and going for so long without proper food.

Chapter 34[]

Lash wakes up to find his face pulling an Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, his black blood oozing from a tear near his scalp. Yanking up the sleeves of his shirt rips off the skin on his arms. Hi scalp falls to the floor and can see his heart beating through his ribs.

Blay's getting ready for a date with Saxton, which pisses Qhuinn off and he asks if it was to get back at him for kissing Layla the night before. They fight: Qhuinn's narcissistic, Saxton's a slut, and maybe Blay just wants to get laid which is something Qhuinn should understand. When Blay tells him where they're going, Qhuinn gives off a bonding scent. They kiss and Blay starts to undress, but Qhuinn leaves, telling him to have fun and not to fall in love or he'll get his heart broken.

Chapter 35[]

Darius finds Tohr sleeping on the floor of the Brotherhood's ceremonial cave for lack of anywhere else to go and makes sure he gets some food.

Chapter 36[]

John takes Xhex, followed by Qhuinn, to the Greyhound Station where he was born and left in a bathroom stall to be discovered by a janitor. Between her ability to read emotions and pantomime, she's able to piece together his story without laborious scribbling on a notepad or needing Qhuinn to interpret. She sympathizes when they get to the orphanage because they were both raised by people who were very different from them: her with a pure vampire family and him with humans. He leaves the stolen drug money in a backpack hanging from the headmaster's door.

Chapter 37[]

Disturbed by the inexplicable footage, Gregg goes looking for answers, but is worried about leaving Holly alone. She's frustrated because even though they've had sex, he's married to his job and she has feelings for him that she tries to dismiss as a crush. For the first time, she feels like he's actually seeing her in his concern over the night before. He proves her right when he asks her if she colours her hair; she doesn't, it's a gorgeous blonde all on its own.

Chapter 38[]

John takes Xhex to his old studio apartment and they talk about how neither of them really knew what they were until Tohr and Rehv respectively found them.

Lash is determined to take down the new Forelesser, whom he dubs "The Little Shit." After being shut out by the Lessening Society with a death sentence over his head, he has a rare flash of empathy for the crap he'd put John Matthew through while they were both trainees.

Chapter 39[]

John takes Xhex to Mary's old house and she recognizes Bella's old house next door where he fills her on on the next part of his life when Bella introduced him to the Brotherhood. She's not getting the whole picture due to the communication barrier and his unwillingness to share everything, particularly his sexual assault.

From there, they go to Tohr's old house and she encourages him to talk to Tohr and make amends. They go to his room and she wants to be with him, but has a flashback. He knows she wants to bolt, which is part of her instincts and training as an assassin, but she can't and blurts out that Lash wasn't impotent like humans turned lesser. In his rage, his power surges like a scream and breaks the glass window.

Chapter 40[]

After dinner at Sal's, Blay and Sax go to the cigar bar and Blay confesses it's his first date. Sax is a little surprised Blay called him for a date since Qhuinn's territorial about Blay. When a drunken lout bumps into Saxton, he asks the human to tone it down, who then spouts some homophobic tripe. They decide to leave and Sax pulls him into the shadows for a goodbye kiss.

Qhuinn dematerializes across the street, overhears their conversation, and watches them kiss. Unable to watch Blay leave with Sax, which he assumes will happen, he goes back to the mansion to drink. Blay shows up not much later and Qhuinn hits him with a snide crack about Sax's endurance. Although their interaction is ugly, Qhuinn still thinks he'll hurt Saxton if he breaks Blaylock's heart.

Chapter 41[]

The Little Shit performs a mass induction on a bunch of humans he had over for a party and turned them when they passed out.

At the mansion, Blay heads to the training centre to work off some of his angst and finds John running at top speed on a treadmill. He's been running for so long his clothes are drenched like he'd been standing out in the rain and blood stains his socks. Xhex tells Blay he'd already broken one treadmill and figures that he's the reason why Qhuinn was so pissy that night.

Blay gets him to talk and John tells him that Lash had hurt Xhex in the worst way possible. Knowing the memories that must bring up for John, Blay promises to do anything John needs when it comes to Lash.

Chapter 42[]

Gregg is actually getting to know Holly for the first time because before coming to the Eliahu Rathboone House, he'd made it clear that they had a no-strings attached arrangement. Realizing he'd been a bit of self-centred ass, he holds her until she falls asleep.

He leaves her asleep, locked in his room, with a camera running. Going up to the third floor, which is off-limits to guests, he finds the mysterious male and accuses him of taking advantage of Holly. The "ghost" tells him that it was consensual and that she said Gregg's name when she came. Even though the male is large and intimidating, Gregg still holds his ground while trying to protect Holly. The male tells him to take better care of Holly because she cares for him even though Gregg clearly doesn't deserve her so he should get his head out of his ass and appreciate the woman in his life. He promises to leave Holly alone as long as Gregg stops ignoring her then gives him a mental command to go back to his room.

Chapter 43[]

Acting on Fritz's information, Darius and Tohrment infiltrate the estate next to Sampsone's and discover that the neighbours are not human as they'd suspected, but is a sympath.

Chapter 44[]

After he spends two hours sitting in the locker room shower, Xhex finds John reliving the memories of the night Qhuinn slashed Lash's throat for using knowledge of his sexual assault to hurt him. She promises to keep that knowledge to herself and that he's not less for what happened to him, but rather he's more for having survived it. They have sex.

Chapter 45[]

Blay gives Sax a call and can hear that he's definitely sounding the worse for wear, but before he can get any other information, Sax hangs up on him. Even though dawn is only 25 minutes away, Blay runs to V to get Sax's address and dematerializes there to find Sax beaten bloody. The homophobic human at the cigar bar had hurt him after he parted ways with Blay.

Chapter 46[]

The sympath tells Darius and Tohrment where to find his son because he's as disgusted as they are at interspecies breeding. Darius and Tohr agree to lie and say that the female was taken by humans in order to preserve her reputation and thus her family's standing.

Chapter 47[]

In the middle of the day, Wrath calls a meeting of the Brotherhood, Xhex, and Rehvenge to play a voicemail that Lash left on the Brotherhood's hotline. Lash tells them about the Lessers' mass induction and where to find them while they're still incapacitated by the transition. V cuts it off as he starts to say something crude about Xhex. Wrath promises Lash's life to John, which goes over like a turd in a punchbowl with Xhex. They speculate on the truth of Lash's words and his motives.

As they start to make plans for nightfall, Xhex wants to go now because she's the only one who can stand the daylight. Wrath automatically starts to shut her down to protect her as a female and as John's mate. She reminds him that he can't stop her nor is she one if his subjects. At that point, Wrath tags in Rehv who speaks to her mind to mind, warning her that she's going to get herself killed if she keeps on going half-cocked and lone-gun. She throws in his face the fact that he went to the sympath colony alone and prevented her from going after him. Aloud, he says you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved.

Xhex reminds Wrath that she's expendable compared to the Brotherhood. Realizing he can't stop her, he tells her he won't be responsible for getting herself killed and has V kit her out. When John tries to hold her back, she tells him he'd better let go of her before she makes him.

Chapter 48[]

John tries to take out his feelings on Rehv, who warns him to watch how he's thinking of Xhex as "his female" since she's not thinking of anyone else when it comes to her future and points out that he's known her for longer than John's been alive. For some reason, John thinks to himself that he's wrong. Wrath has to intervene before they throw down. They cool down and Rehv says to John he knows how hard Xhex makes it for others to love her.

Even though sparks fly every time V & Xhex are in the same room, he gears her up with the best from the armoury: matching pair of 40's with six clips, two knives, and a cell phone. V assures John of that and reminds him that she knows what she's doing. John knows that as a bonded male, he can't walk away from Xhex, but she can sure as hell walk away from him.

Chapter 49[]

Arriving at the farmhouse, Xhex finds it swarming with cops who can't see the bodies of the lessers because they're covered by something similar to the invisible prison she'd been kept in.

Blay takes care of Saxton and they fall asleep as he holds Sax.

Chapter 50[]

Rehv has iAm and Trez meet up with Xhex; even though she says she's not a hugger, she hugs them because it's the first time she's seen them since before her abduction. The Forelesser, the Little Shit, does a drive-by in his conspicuous Honda Civic, and she tries to get one of the Shadows to shadow him, but they're under orders to stick to her like glue.

Lash nearly killed the prostitute he turned, leaving her lying half-dead on the floor where he steps over her. In a rare moment of pity, he puts her out of her misery when she pleads.

Chapter 51[]

Once the cops leave, iAm, Trez, and Xhex have no more luck breaking the illusion to get to the bodies of the lessers so she returns to the mansion, leaving them to keep an eye on the place. Once there, John accuses her of playing hero while he was left behind to wonder if she was alive or dead. Did she come back just to feed her sympath side by checking to see how hurt he was? When her emotions are too much for her to deal with, she tries to run but he stops her, saying that he didn't get to run out while she was being an island.

He tells her that he, too, has a right to Lash's life so they'll hunt him down together and whomever brings him to ground gets to off him. After that, they'll part ways; even though that matches her plans, the idea doesn't sit well with her.

Chapter 52[]

Qhuinn's all spun up because he's convinced himself that mating a female of worth is what he wants so he should want Layla, but he doesn't. Besides, he knows that she has a crush on the fantasy she has of him, not on who he actually is. Blay brings Sax into the mansion with Wrath's knowledge and permission so he can feed from a Chosen and get checked out by Doc Jane; he's returning the favour for when Sax had convinced his boss to turn over Rempoon's affidavit.

Qhuinn demands to know who beat Sax black and blue and deduces that it was the jackholes from the cigar bar. Even though he suspects that Sax did some favour for Wrath, he lays into Blay for bringing Sax to the mansion.

Chapter 53[]

Butch, John Matthew, Qhuinn, V, and Xhex go to the farmhouse and fight the new Forelesser and the lessers he brought with him.

Chapter 54[]

Darius and Tohr go to the location the sympath's father gave them and he takes the female hostage with a knife to her throat. Tohr shoots him in a feat that impresses Darius. She tells him that he should have shot her instead.

Chapter 55[]

During the fight, one of the lessers shoots John's left leg out from under him.

Chapter 56[]

Seeing the lesser aim at John's back, she throws a knife into the lesser's shoulder, throwing off his aim. Then she burrows into the lesser's brain and digs out all of his dirty secrets, apparently he was a pedophile, until he starts beating his head against the wall. At that point, she gives him the mental command to off himself.

V takes care of Butch, who ate more than a couple lessers, and Qhuinn goes to get the Hummer. John doesn't want to head back to the mansion even though he can't really walk, but Rhage insists on it.

Chapter 57[]

Going over the inexplicable footage, Gregg thinks that there's something hidden in the attic, but a sudden headache derails his train of thought. He admits to Holly that he's tired of the image he has to maintain for Hollywood and how none of it really means anything. While he's not sure of what he wants to do next, he knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.

Chapter 58[]

At the clinic, John needs surgery and tells Xhex she doesn't need to stay even though she wants to be there for him. Doc Jane suggests otherwise: she should take the mystery out of medical procedures by staying to watch while she has control over her body and can leave. She puts Xhex in scrubs and talks her through washing her hands, then describes every step, including disinfecting the site before going in. Xhex is impressed by Jane's competency and empathy.

Chapter 59[]

The female begs Darius & Tohr not to take her back to her father. When they arrive, they find the sympath's father has already told him all that transpired in order to ensure that both she and her family suffers; he wanted to destroy her life in return for being the catalyst behind his son's downfall. Sampsone tries to pay Darius to take her away in order to preserve his family's standing within the glymera. Darius tells him that he and the sympath have a lot in common and refuses to take a penny. When he returns to the carriage where she and Tohr await, she already knows what her father said and can't understand why Darius would want to provide and care for her. He tells her it's the right thing to do because in time she will find the will to live again.

Chapter 60[]

Qhuinn returns to the mansion covered in human blood from teaching a lesson to the guy who'd hurt Sax because a) that was his cousin and b) he doesn't like to see Blay upset.

Chapter 61[]

Payne demands that the Scribe Virgin allow her to leave the Other Side, but she tells Payne that "destiny demands" she remain there. Unfortunately for Wrath, he arrives just in time for Payne to take her mood out on him. Wildly attacking, she slips and falls on her back against the edge of the fountain with an audible crack.

Chapter 62[]

Lash is sloughing off more flesh and is going off the rails, doing coke and becoming more unpredictable, less circumspect in his doings.

Despite what Qhuinn's consistently insisted is his life's goal, he finds he doesn't want Layla even though she's a female of worth who would be willing to mate him. Going to Blay's room, he finds it empty and there are certain unmistakable sounds coming from Saxton's room.

Chapter 63[]

Xhex wakes from a nightmare of the time she was experimented on in a human clinic. Most of the doctors were nice enough, but there was a sadist amongst the lot. Since she couldn't feed, she grew weaker and weaker over the course of a couple of months until one of them set her free. She returned to burn the place down while it was empty and kill the one who'd tortured her.

After she and John have sex, she catches feels when she sees her name tattooed on his back and thinks he'll be a wonderful hellren when he finally does mate, although she wonders what he will do with two names permanently on his back.

Zsadist pulls John aside and tells him that Wrath'd had him go for nightly walks with Z because they had something in common; John remembers when Z promised no one would ever learn of his sexual assault from him and puts two and two together. Having heard Xhex screaming herself awake, he tells John that sometimes when a survivor feels safe again, the PTSD can be worse. Talking to Mary was what helped him and he confirmed with her that she's able to counsel someone else; Z promises John that Xhex would be in good hands.

Tohr's been keeping an eye on John while he searched for Xhex and then Lash. John apologizes for being a dick to him while Tohr was hurting, Tohr says he wasn't any better and they both agree to move on because they both believe in looking forward, not back.

Chapter 64[]

Qhuinn has an awkward encounter with Blay as he's leaving Sax's room.

Blay, John, Qhuinn, Tohr, Xhex, and Z go to the address to which the new Forelesser's car's registered and she can sense her blood in Lash since he fed from her.

Chapter 65[]

Payne can't feel anything from her waist down and everything from the waist up is in pain, but she refuses to allow her mother to heal her even though Wrath suspects her back is broken. The news of her parentage come as a shock to him and when he asks the Scribe Virgin for confirmation she doesn't answer nor does she smite him for posing a question to her then demanding she heal Payne. The Scribe Virgin's ability's blocked by Payne's own power and she says, "I can no more reach her body... than I can her heart." Crying, the Scribe Virgin allows him to take Payne to the Far Side because she'd rather be estranged from her living daughter than to be with her as she dies.

Wrath fetches Doc Jane, who upon recognizing the resemblance Payne bears to her hellren, says Vishous' name. Payne's astounded to learn that he's alive because her mother had long ago told her that her twin had died and she threatens to kill her mother the same way she did her father.

Chapter 66[]

Xhex and the Brothers find Lash, who starts to lob his energy bombs at them and they take cover, except for John. In a suicidal move, John approaches him and takes a blast straight to the chest. Xhex tackles Lash and he manages to get her into a meat shield position with a knife to her neck.

Chapter 67[]

John has a flashback to Darius standing in front of an evil being holding a female with a knife to her neck. In an impressive feat, Tohr shoots Lash. He'd had another knife at Xhex's belly and she goes down with a gut wound. John wraps her hand around his knife and holds Lash down so she can stab him through the heart.

Chapter 68[]

Doc Jane saves Xhex's life in surgery.

No'One follows Payne to serve her, inspired by her determination to live her life on her own terms. No'One had been too afraid of the chaos and uncertainty of the real world that had hurt her to leave the Sanctuary.

Wrath's given permission for Jane to bring Manny Manello in to operate on Payne since she doesn't have the expertise for the spinal surgery that she needs. With Vishous at her side, Payne's determined to live.

Chapter 69[]

Xhex asks John why he allowed her to be the one to deal the final blow to Lash. He tells her that she needed the closure more and besides, she's not the kind of girl who'd appreciate flowers. He'd always put her first and tries to take care of her while she's recovering from surgery. She starts crying and apologizes to him for being stubborn, self-centred, and emotionally repressed. He tells her she has nothing to apologize for since he's used to it courtesy of the people he lives with. She admits she loves him, but she couldn't do anything about it and she'd like to change her end game. Instead of going into the long goodbye, she wants to share her future with him.

She tells John about her relationship with Murhder and how it'd destroyed her when she lost him. Her feelings for John blow what she'd felt about Murhder out of the water and that scares her. John tells her that they're going to look forward and not back. He suggests she talk with Mary and Xhex admits that she's hard-headed, not an idiot, so she'll do that. She asks him to mate her, which shocks the hell out of him because he never thought she'd want to be his shellan; he was ok with that because he knew that their connection was solid enough to not require the ceremony.

Chapter 70[]

Just as the young was born, the female of the glymera kills herself with Tohrment's dagger and they bury her underneath an apple tree.

Chapter 71[]

Tohr goes to his old house to bring a bunch of his things to the mansion. and remembers Wellsie.

Chapter 72[]

The baby shows no outward sympath characteristics and Darius and Tohrment place her with a family that had lost a child at birth and only cares that she's healthy. Darius asks to name the young Xhexania, which means blessed one. Although it pains Darius to leave her, he must never see her again or else risk someone associating the baby with his task of finding her mahmen when she was kidnapped. He left a piece of his heart with her.

Chapter 73[]

The next night having recovered from her surgery, Wrath's invited her to fight along with the Brotherhood. Before the mating ceremony, Xhex sees a portrait of Murhder on a TV show called Paranormal Investigators doing a special on the Eliahu Rathboone House. She's tempted to see if he's tormenting humans because that sounds like something he'd do, but he has her address and could have looked her up at any point if he'd changed his mind about never wanting to see her again.

Tohrment brings a large, antique trunk to Xhex and tells her that traditionally her family dresses a female for her mating ceremony so he brought something for her to wear. She tells him she doesn't have a family and yet she can sense grief, pride, sadness, and joy from him even though they barely know each other. He tells her that his reasons are irrelevant and presents her with the red and black gown that Wellsie wore when she mated him and that she later lent to Beth when she mated Wrath.

Xhex asks Tohr why it's important to him that she be mated in a dress that the mere sight of brings him so much pain. No'One comes to the open doorway and tells her that it's because Tohr was there at the beginning and saved her. Since mothers and daughters have identical emotional grids, Xhex recognizes No'One as her mother. No'One tells Tohr and Xhex that she had taken her own life the night Xhex was born, but the Scribe Virgin took pity on her and allowed her to stay on the Other Side and serve the Chosen. She's come to serve Payne, but mostly so she can finally see her daughter that she's long watched over from the Sanctuary. No'One understand if Xhex is too angry, but she would like a relationship with her daughter.

John welcomes No'One and tells her that she's always welcome in their home, which overwhelms No'One.

At Xhex's request, she and Beth help her get dressed.

Chapter 74[]

Bringing black ceremonial silks, Tohrment tells John that Darius would have approved of the mating. John tells Tohr that Darius was there when Xhex was born and made sure she was with a good family, he loved and watched her from afar. The flashback gives him another seizure. Afterwards, Tohr confirms that he and Darius were both at Xhex's birth.

Tohr says that he wishes John's father was there and John tells him that his father is there with him.

After the mating and in their room, John gives Xhex a diamond necklace in lieu of a wedding ring and she asks what he'd think if she got his name tattooed on her back.

Needless to say, he likes the idea.