Carpathian 09 - Dark Guardian

feelings.
    Did her reaction to him show? She actually looked around guiltily, afraid someone else might observe her looking at Lucian.
    "You have to take me home," she said. Her voice was husky. She could feel tears clogging her throat.
    This was all a fantasy. Reality was stark and ugly. Her presence here would get this beautiful man killed.
    He would pay the ultimate price because she had looked upon him with longing. Because he had been kind enough to help her.

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    Lucian glided across the room so swiftly, she actually didn't see him move. He was a tall, muscular man, elegant in every way, silent when he walked, but she still should have seen him. All she had done was blink, and he was standing over her, reaching for her chin with two fingers. He tilted her head up, forcing her to look into his black eyes. At once she felt herself falling forward, into him, a part of him, warm and safe.
    "There is no need for your distress, honey. I cannot have it. You actually make my heart ache." His thumb was feathering back and forth across her skin, sending waves of heat racing through her bloodstream. "No one can harm you."
    "I'm not worried about me, you idiot." Jaxon was provoked. He didn't seem to understand the danger he was in. He really was arrogant.
    Suddenly his demeanor changed completely. His smile faded, and his eyes became as cold as ice. He turned his head toward the window. She clearly saw the predator in him then. The hunter. There was no gentleness, no softness; he was a warrior without any conscience to hinder him.
    "Stay here, Jaxon," he murmured almost absently, clearly expecting obedience. "I will be back soon."
    And just like that, he was gone. Another blink, and he was no longer in the room. She sat there, unerringly finding her gun beneath the covers. Her hand wrapped around it—an extension of her arm, it was so familiar. She felt now what Lucian had felt, the darkness stealing into their world. It crept in slowly, seeping into her mind so insidiously that, at first, she hadn't recognized it. Danger had found them in this place of safety.
    The feeling was overwhelming, so much so that Jaxon almost couldn't breathe. Whoever was stalking them was wholly evil. She was certain Tyler Drake had found her once again. He was relentless in his pursuit. Invincible. No one had so much as come near enough to him to even wound him. He killed at will.
    Once, since he had murdered her family and then her foster family, it had been a neighbor of hers, one Jaxon enjoyed having coffee with—a young woman in a wheelchair with a zest for life and a ready smile.
    Jaxon had never allowed herself to have a real friend since. Even on the job she made certain it appeared as if she changed partners often. In public she never smiled at them or socialized with them, not wanting to trigger Tyler's killing rage. This situation—Jaxon alone in a man's house—was the perfect scenario to provoke Tyler once more, a vengeful maniac determined to murder Lucian.
    Lucian clearly didn't appreciate the extent of Tyler's Navy SEALs training. He was a chameleon, blending into any landscape. He was a superb sniper, capable of taking out a target from an extraordinary distance. Jaxon recognized Lucian as a dangerous man. It was in his eyes, in the set of shoulders, the confidence in his walk, the way he moved. But that didn't mean Tyler Drake couldn't get to him just as he had gotten to her equally well-trained father and foster father, Russell Andrews.
    Jaxon tossed back the covers. She was wearing only a man's silk shirt. As she was short, the shirt fell well past her knees, and, in any case, modesty was the last thing she was worried about. The feeling of danger was now stronger than ever. Lucian was in trouble, and she needed to go to him. He didn't know her that well, didn't realize the extent of her training and what an asset she could be.
    Standing was more difficult than she'd thought it would be. She hadn't been in an upright position for days. Her legs felt rubbery, and she was terribly weak. Ignoring the way her body protested, she moved Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    toward the door, careful not to make a sound She didn't know the layout of the house, and, judging by the size of her room, the building was huge, but she was confident she could find Lucian. She felt connected to him. She wouldn't allow