Black Dagger Brotherhood 11 - Lover at Last

bed and hit the door. The second he was out into the hall of statues, it was clear there was a big-time fight going on in the main part of the house: there were a lot of male voices carrying on, all of which were at a volume that had “emergency” written all over it.
    Breaking into a jog, he beelined for the second-story balcony—
    When he got a gander at the foyer, he didn’t immediately understand what he was seeing down below: There was a whole knot of people at the base of the staircase, all with their arms reaching forward like they were trying to break apart a fight.
    Except it wasn’t between two Brothers.
    What the fuck? Were they really trying to peel Qhuinn off Saxton…?
    Jesus, the vicious bastard had his hands around his cousin’s throat and was, going by the gray pallor of the other male’s face, about to kill him.
    “What the hell are you doing!” Blay screamed, as he took the stairs at a dead run.
    When he got to the fray, there were too many Brothers in the way—and those were not the kind of males you just elbowed aside. Unfortunately, if anyone was going to get through to Qhuinn, it would be him. But how the hell was he going to get the dumb-ass’s attention—
    There you go, he thought.
    Shooting across the foyer, he broke the glass of the old-fashioned manual fire alarm with his fist and then reached in and pulled the lever down.
    Instantly, noise exploded through the space, the acoustics of the cathedral ceiling acting like a magnifier as the jet-engine-loud alarm went haywire.
    It was like hitting a bunch of fighting dogs with a bucket of water. All the action stopped and heads popped out of the tangle, looking around.
    The only one who didn’t pay any mind was Qhuinn. He was still locked on and squeezing hard.
    Blay took advantage of all the hey-what-is-that and was able to push his way through.
    Focusing on Qhuinn, he shoved his face right into the guy’s grille. “Let him go,
now
.”
    The moment his voice registered, an expression of shock replaced the cold violence that had marked Qhuinn’s puss—like he’d never expected to have Blay check in. And that was all it took. One simple command from him and those hands released so quick, Saxton dropped to the floor like deadweight.
    “Doc Jane! Manny!” someone called out. “Get a medic!”
    Blay wanted to scream at Qhuinn right then and there, but he was too terrified about Saxton’s condition to waste time on any what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-yous: The lawyer wasn’t moving at all. Grabbing the guy’s beautiful suit, Blay rolled him out flat and went for the carotid with his fingertips, praying he found a heartbeat. When he didn’t, he tilted Saxton’s head back and bent down to begin administering CPR.
    Except then Saxton let out a cough and dragged in a trunkload of air.
    “Manny’s coming,” Blay said roughly, even though he didn’t know that to be true. But come on,
someone
had to be on the way. “Stay with me….”
    More coughing. More breathing. And the color started to come back into that handsome, refined face.
    With a shaking hand, Blay pushed back the soft, thick blond hair from the forehead he had touched so many times before. As he looked into the fuzzy eyes staring up at him, he wanted to feel something soul defining and life altering and…
    He prayed for that kind of reaction.
    Hell, in that moment, he would have traded both his past and present for it.
    But it was simply not there. Regret, anger on the male’s behalf, sadness, relief…he logged all of those. That was it, however.
    “Here, let me check him out,” Doc Jane said as she put her black doctor’s bag down and knelt to the mosaic floor.
    Blay shuffled back to give V’s
shellan
some room, but he stayedclose, even though it wasn’t like he could do anything. Hell, he’d always wanted to go to medical school—but not so he could resuscitate ex-lovers because some cocksucking psycho had tried to strangle them in the front goddamn hall.
    He glared up at Qhuinn. The fighter was still being held back by Rhage, like the Brother wasn’t entirely sure the episode was over.
    “Let’s get you to your feet,” Doc Jane said.
    Blay was right on that, helping Saxton up, holding him steady, heading him over to the stairs. The pair of them were silent as they ascended, and when they got to the second floor, Blay took them down into his room out of habit.
    Shoot.
    “No, it’s fine,” Saxton murmured. “Just let me sit down in here for a