Carpathian 09 - Dark Guardian

too. I'm truly impressed." She turned back to the three men. "What did he offer you for lying to me? Freedom from prosecution? I'm a cop. Did he mention that?"
    Hal Barton shook his head. "You don't seem to understand the idea. If we can get Mr. Daratrazanoff to back us, we can make an incredible amount of money. We could all be millionaires. We have a great product."
    Jaxon tried to touch Barton's mind the way Lucian was able to. His "scanning," as he called it, not the intimate way she merged with Lucian. Such intimacy required taking blood. Her heart jumped, and she hastily banned the thought from her mind. She didn't dare think too closely about what had transpired between Lucian and her the night before. As long as she didn't actually think too much, everything would be all right. As she tried to scan the man, Barton seemed as if he were being totally honest with her.
    Jaxon sighed. It was so improbable. Grown men couldn't really be that stupid.
    Money often makes people do things they would not ordinarily do.
    You can read their minds much better than I ever could. Do you really think they're telling us the truth ? Jaxon ran both of her hands through her hair. This all felt wrong. These men should never have broken into her home. And she had felt the vibrations of violence when she first awakened. She had known. She always knew when someone was violent in nature. Their signals had been strong enough to awaken her. Now she felt none of that. Could someone else have been in the vicinity ?
    No one , Lucian said with soft authority.
    Jaxon shook her head. Her life had become totally bizarre. The people in her life were totally bizarre.
    What did that say about her?
    Lucian's palm cupped the nape of her neck. That you are a very tolerant woman . His voice caressed her, ran over her like the touch of his fingers, in the same way his thumb slid over her soft skin along the edge of her shirt.
    "You have to admit, we were able to penetrate your security system," Hal continued eagerly with his pitch. A frown crossed his face. "It was more difficult than I imagined. I've never run across anything like it before."
    "I designed it myself," Lucian replied. "I tinker a bit."
    Jaxon sighed and stood up. "I'll leave you to it. Otherwise, I'd feel bound to arrest everybody." You included .
    None of it made any sense to her. When the three men jumped to their feet respectfully, she was more Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    suspicious than ever. With a wave of her hand she dismissed them and sauntered out of the room. Lucian never made mistakes. Never. He had said they were a danger to her, not to him. That meant she was in danger. They had come to her home with the intention of harming her, not introducing some alarm system to Lucian. What had he done to bring this act together so quickly? And what was he planning to do?
    Surely he wouldn't kill them?
    In the kitchen she fixed coffee, determined to get fingerprints. She should have arrested them first thing, and then she would have known immediately who they were and what they were up to.
    In the sitting room, Lucian found himself smiling. That was Jaxon's mind, quick, intelligent. No one was going to fool her for very long. Fingerprints . She thought like the detective she was. He leaned toward the three men. "You were sent here to kill Jaxon. You know how wrong that is. She must live. She is the only thing standing between you and certain death." For one brief moment he allowed them to see him—his power, his fangs, shape-shifting before their horrified gaze into a beast with flaming eyes and the need to devour, to kill.
    Paralyzed with terror, they sat ramrod stiff. He had implanted their story, controlling their beliefs for the short period Jaxon was in the room. She was becoming far too adept, and he was taking no chances that she would read their intentions. "Hear me now, all three of you. At all costs, you must protect her life.
    You will return to the two men who sent you here, and you will do whatever it takes to ensure they never send another to harm her. If you should fail, there will be nowhere on this earth that I cannot find you. I will destroy you. Go from here, get on a plane, and rid Jaxon of these two threats to her life."
    His voice was impossible to disobey. He had taken their blood. He could monitor them easily from any distance. He would know the moment their bosses were dead or if they sent others after her.