Lover Awakened

The third installment in J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood paranormal romance series is set in Caldwell, New York, where a secret society of elite vampire warriors protects their species from the Lessening Society, an order of de-souled human slayers called lessers who serve a malevolent entity known as the Omega. The novel centers on Zsadist, the Brotherhood's most feared and volatile member, a former blood slave whose century of captivity left him scarred inside and out, and Bella, an aristocratic vampire female who has been held captive by a lesser for six weeks.

Zsadist spends every night hunting lessers and interrogating them about Bella's whereabouts, though he believes she is dead. His identical twin, Phury, watches Z's escalating brutality with despair, unable to understand why a civilian Z met only twice consumes him so completely. Phury himself harbors feelings for Bella but is bound by a vow of celibacy. Meanwhile, the lesser Mr. O, who calls Bella "wife," keeps her imprisoned in a corrugated-metal pipe sunk into the ground at a remote torture facility. O is obsessively fixated on Bella, and she has learned to manipulate his emotions as her only means of exercising power, a dynamic she recognizes is destroying her psychologically. When a newly captured civilian tells Bella he attended her funeral, confirming her family has given up the search, she loses all hope of rescue.

Z visits Bella's empty farmhouse nightly, tending her fish, walking her rooms, and wearing her diamond necklace, treating the house as a shrine. Through extended flashback, the novel reveals the origins of his trauma: taken as an infant, sold into slavery, and after his transition into sexual maturity, claimed by a cruel aristocratic female known as the Mistress, who sexually abused him for 100 years, displayed him to other males, and killed a maid who showed him kindness. These experiences forged his self-loathing, his aversion to touch, and his belief that he is irreparably contaminated.

The break comes when O brings a civilian male to the facility to feed Bella. She helps the male escape, and he e-mails the Brotherhood a map of the location. At nightfall the Brothers mobilize. Z arrives first, discovers a booby-trapped pipe rigged with a laser-triggered gun, and takes a bullet in his calf as he removes the cover. He pulls Bella from the earth. Her eyelids have been stitched shut, and the name "David" has been carved into her stomach. Z carries her to a car and drives her to the Brotherhood's mansion, refusing to let anyone else touch her.

Z insists Bella remain in his room and summons Dr. Havers, the race's physician, who confirms she was not sexually assaulted but is malnourished and battered. Havers privately reveals that Bella's needing period, a vampire female's time of fertility marked by intense pain that only a male's body can relieve, is approaching. Z bathes Bella, covers the bathroom mirror to shield her from her own reflection, and sings hymns in the Old Language, the vampires' ancient tongue, to soothe her. His tenderness shocks his brothers, who have never seen anything but rage from him.

In a parallel storyline, John Matthew, a mute, physically small young vampire who has not yet undergone the dangerous transition into adulthood, lives with the Brotherhood member Tohrment and Tohrment's mate, Wellsie. A blood test reveals John is a full-bred warrior descended from Darius, Tohrment's deceased best friend, making John half-brother to Beth, the vampire queen. John begins training alongside other young males while carrying the unprocessed trauma of a sexual assault he endured a year earlier.

Bella recovers and refuses to leave Z's room. She insists on feeding from his vein rather than Phury's, and Z reluctantly allows it despite believing his blood is tainted by what was done to him. Her brother Rehvenge, head of her household, petitions King Wrath to place Bella under sebclusion, a legal arrangement that would strip her autonomy and force the Brotherhood to surrender her. Rehvenge is secretly half-symphath, a member of a vampire subspecies capable of manipulating emotions. Bella confronts him, and he agrees to rescind the petition if she accepts a security detail.

Bella and Z share their first kiss, his first ever, and their cautious physical exploration is interrupted when Bella climbs on top of him and he panics, throwing her off. He reveals that the Mistress was always on top during the abuse he endured. Bella realizes the full scope of what he suffered and resolves to let him set the pace.

O discovers the torture facility destroyed and his captive gone. He petitions the Omega for promotion to Fore-lesser, the Lessening Society's top position, and receives it. His sole motivation is recovering Bella. When Bella's needing period arrives, it sends waves of sexual energy through the mansion that affect every male in the house. Z serves her throughout the 30-hour period, feeding her from his vein and releasing inside her repeatedly. For the first time in his life, he experiences consensual pleasure. Afterward, he recognizes that he has bonded with her: His eyes have changed from black to yellow, and a territorial instinct surges through him whenever another male approaches. Yet he believes she deserves better and urges Phury to pursue her instead.

O locates Bella's family mansion on Thorne Avenue. When Wellsie and her cousin Sarelle drive to the estate to consult on the solstice festival, O shoots Wellsie and captures Sarelle, using the hostage to bait a trap for Zsadist. Tohrment learns his mate and unborn child are dead. His grief erupts in a catastrophic burst of energy, and he vanishes without a trace.

Z prepares to meet O alone, intending a suicidal mission to avenge Bella, Wellsie, and Tohrment. Wrath reluctantly sanctions the plan. But Phury shaves his head, cuts a scar down his own face, drugs Z with morphine, and goes in his twin's place. O handcuffs Phury and beats him savagely at his cabin. Z wakes, alerts the Brotherhood, and turns to Bella: Because her blood runs in Phury's veins, she can locate him through the chain of blood ties. She pinpoints the cabin, and Z enters, shooting O in the knee but taking a bullet in his shoulder. Bella defies Z's order to leave. She calls O's name, and the lesser, stunned to see his "wife" alive, goes to her. She presses Z's gun to the lesser's temple and pulls the trigger, then finishes the kill with a black dagger through the chest. She loads both wounded Brothers into O's truck and drives them to the clinic.

In the aftermath, Z and Phury recover side by side. Z burns the Mistress's skull in the mansion's furnace, begins learning to read with the help of Mary, a member of the Brotherhood's household, and volunteers to teach at the training center. Phury, devastated by grief and unrequited love, buys heroin at ZeroSum, the Brotherhood's regular nightclub, but is stopped from using it when John knocks on his door asking for help with training. Phury flushes the drugs and takes John to the gym.

Bella departs for Charleston, South Carolina, to start over. Z, now eating full meals, gaining 80 pounds, and feeding from one of the Chosen, female vampires dedicated to serving the Brotherhood, plans to seek her out once he has made himself worthy. Two months later, Bella returns. She is pregnant with his young. Z faints at the news, then insists they go to Rehvenge for permission to mate. In an epilogue set 20 months later, Bella arrives at the mansion carrying their newborn daughter, Nalla. Z cradles the baby against his scarred chest. On his back, two names are tattooed in the Old Language: Bella and Nalla.