Lugh turned and planted a soft kiss on the top of my head, then pulled away with every semblance of reluctance.
“I should let you sleep,” he murmured. “You’re always tired in the morning when you’ve dreamed with me.”
I shook my head. “I can’t afford to sleep until morning. Brian needs me.”
“He’ll still need you in the morning. And you need your strength.”
“But-”
He put a finger to my lips. “Adam will be working on the problem while you sleep. Rushing in headlong serves no purpose.”
Tears prickled my eyes. “But they’re going to hurt him again.”
“I know,” he said softly. “But they need him alive. If you mount an ill-planned rescue attempt, that won’t be the case anymore. So sleep. Gather your strength. Be ready.”
I took a deep, steadying breath. “Do I have any choice in the matter?”
He shrugged and his gaze slid away from mine. That was answer enough.
Accepting that I wouldn’t budge him, I did my best to swallow my impatience. “I guess I’d better hurry up and sleep then.”
The last thing I saw before sleep took me was a fond little smile on Lugh’s lips.
The next time I awakened, I found myself in the guest room in Adam’s house. Not the black room, thank you, Jesus!
I sat up tentatively, half-expecting the movement to hurt like hell, but Lugh had done a thorough job. I was even able to do a full-body stretch without a twinge. I sighed with relief.
My arms were still stuck through the sleeves of Adam’s shirt, though it had slid down so low I might as well have been topless. I pulled it off, then shuddered when I saw the dried blood that spotted the edges.
I threw the shirt across the room and slid out of bed. I didn’t want to see what my pants looked like, but my skin felt the crusty texture of the waistband and I couldn’t stand to wear them another moment. With shaking hands, I shoved them down my legs and stepped out, closing my eyes tightly as I tossed them, and my panties, in the same general direction I’d tossed the shirt.
I forced myself not to look as I hurried to the bathroom and turned the shower on as hot as I could stand. The water sluiced over my back and trickled down the drain, tinged with red. I fought another shudder and grabbed the soap, scrubbing frantically.
In reality, there wasn’t that much blood. Adam must have cleaned me up when he brought me back to my room. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him leaving me in the bloody clothes. On the one hand, it showed an admirable respect for my modesty, and I knew I’d have been pissed at him if he’d undressed me. On the other hand, it seemed a cruel reminder.
I didn’t turn off the shower until the hot water started running out. Even then, I felt…unclean.
There had been nothing sexual about what Adam had done to me. Oh, he’d been aroused, but he’d made it crystal clear that had nothing to do with me.
So why did I feel violated?
I stood dripping in the shower, my forehead resting against the cool tile, trying to pull the scattered remnants of my sanity back together.
A knock on the bathroom door startled a shriek out of me.
“Morgan?” Adam asked. “Are you all right in there? The shower stopped running twenty minutes ago.”
God, had I been standing here in a daze that long?
“I’m fine,” I lied. “I’ll be right out.”
“Come down to the kitchen when you’re ready.”
I made a sound he took for agreement, and I heard his footsteps retreat. I finally stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. I checked my back in the mirror, but there was no sign that I’d been whipped bloody the night before.
When I reentered the bedroom, I was grateful to see that Adam had taken the bloody clothes away. He’d laid the bra and shirt I’d worn yesterday out on the bed, along with a pair of police-issue sweatpants. I was grateful for them, since I’d left my shopping bags at Brian’s yesterday.
The sweatpants were huge on me, but they didn’t seem in danger of falling down, so that was okay. I didn’t have any panties, but that wasn’t an article of clothing I expected Adam to provide.
I realized I was stalling, so I forced myself out of the room and down the stairs. I’d gone through hell last night to secure Adam’s help in rescuing Brian. Now it was time to see what my blood had bought me.
I stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to see Dominic. I guess after the way he’d reacted to me yesterday, I’d expected him to avoid me like the plague. I stood in the doorway, my feet rooted to the floor. I couldn’t look at Adam. And I didn’t want to look at Dominic.
Wordlessly, Dominic poured a mug of coffee and brought it to me, surprising me into looking up at him. His eyes showed nothing but sympathy, yesterday’s hatred apparently forgotten. Or at least, pushed aside.
“You all right?” he asked as I took the mug and wrapped both hands around it.
“Yeah.”
“Liar.”
I shrugged. “The bad guys have my boyfriend. When he’s safe, I’ll have a nice little nervous breakdown. But I can’t afford one now.”
He smiled at that. “Come sit down. Adam has news for you.”
By sheer force of will, I dragged myself across the room and sat at the kitchen table beside Adam. I still couldn’t look at him.
“I watched the videotape,” he said. He sounded completely normal, as if nothing had happened between us.
I couldn’t manage that. I finally looked at him, and I know my expression was something ugly. “Did you enjoy it?”
Dominic started to say something outraged-sounding, but Adam cut him off.
“Give her a break, Dom.”
Dominic shut up. I considered apologizing but decided against it.
Adam might be willing to let the smart-ass comment slide, but he wasn’t about to respond to it. “I recognize the room he’s in.”
“What?”
“I know where they’re holding him.”
“How can that be?”
“Because I’ve been there,” he answered in his best talk-slowly-so-the-moron-can-understand-you voice.
I’d never in a million years expected Adam to be able to tell me where Brian was off the top of his head. I’d assumed we’d have to mount some kind of massive search.
“So where is he?” I asked.
“He’s in the basement of a private club on South Street, known as The Seven Deadlies.”
My sluggish brain finally started to make sense of what I was hearing. “You mean it’s an S&M club.” My face must have shown my disgust.
Adam grinned, enjoying my squeamishness. “Not exactly. It caters to quite a variety of sins of the flesh. S&M is just one of them.”
“And you’ve been there. Been in that room.” I remembered the whips, the manacles, the freakin’ rack.
He nodded. His glance slid over to Dominic, then back to me. “When Dom had his demon, we went there every once in a while. They have a wider array of toys than-”
I held up both hands. “Please, spare me the details.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay. The important point is I know that room.”
“And the important question,” Dominic added, sitting down at the table with us, “is why would they hold him in a room that someone might recognize?”
I shook my head. “Certainly they wouldn’t expect me to recognize it.”
“No,” Adam conceded, “but they most likely know you’ve been at my house. And the demons among them at least know I’m one of Lugh’s lieutenants.”
I remembered Raphael’s phone call yesterday. He’d not only known I’d been with Adam, he’d also known I’d called the police on him. I didn’t really want to remind Adam or Dominic about my less-than-noble behavior, but I did anyway.
“Raphael knew I was the one who phoned in the complaint,” I said, then told them about my little conversation with my dear brother. “He’d have good reason to think you’d never see this tape. And I’ve got to admit, keeping him at an S&M club is an effective way to hide him in plain sight. No one there would worry if they heard screams coming from that room.” The thought sickened me.