Carpathian 09 - Dark Guardian

every detail of her life with this man. The terrible responsibility of her childhood, shielding her mother and brother, only to fail in the end. The guilt over the Andrews family losing their lives simply for giving her a home. And over Carol Taylor, whose only sin was that she liked to share a cup of coffee in the morning with Jaxon. Drake had called Jaxon one long-ago morning, telling her Carol was weak and useless, like Rebecca, playing on Jaxon's sense of compassion, the woman was nothing but a leech, a burden. Jaxon had known she would find Carol dead that morning, but she had dropped the phone and run to her apartment anyway.
    Now she remained silent, her stomach churning, her hand automatically finding her gun while her eyes began to move restlessly, searching the windows. Could Drake see into the room? Did he have an angle?
    Drake was an expert marksman. Without thought she slid out of bed and placed herself between the window and Lucian. Lucian, without a word, simply swept her behind him, pinning her there with one strong arm.
    "This man is trying to destroy our family, Jaxx," Drake's voice barked into the phone. "You can't allow him to do it. Tell him to go away. You don't know what men are like or what they want. You can't trust him." The voice was steely with authority.

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    Lucian took the phone out of her hand—an easy enough task, although she tried to hang on to it. "Come and get me, Drake." As always, his tone was soft, almost gentle. "I have no intention of giving her up.
    You have no hold over her anymore. Jaxon is under my protection, and your reign of terror is over. Turn yourself in. It is what you wish to do. You've wanted to do it for a long while."
    Lucian heard Drake replace the phone in its cradle, cutting off their conversation.
    Lucian turned to regard Jaxon with his black, steady gaze. There was no remorse, no fear, nothing at all but the burning blackness of his eyes and the hard, slightly cruel edge to his mouth. Jaxon felt pale and fragile. He looked solid, calm, an anchor, invincible. Very gently he reached out and touched her face.
    "Jaxon?"
    "Why did you do that? Why did you challenge him that way?" Her voice was barely a whisper "You don't understand. I can't protect you from him. He will wait. A month, a year—it means nothing to him.
    Even if I never see you again, he'll come after you now. You don't know what you've done."
    Jaxon was trembling visibly. She looked so lost, so forlorn, so young and vulnerable, Lucian felt his own heart twist with pain. He reached down, gathered her unresisting body into his arms, and sheltered her close to his heart. Lucian simply held her until the warmth of his body seeped into hers. Until her frantic heartbeat matched the calm, steady rhythm of his. Until the terrible churning in her stomach subsided.
    How did he do it? Jaxon lay against his large, heavily muscled frame and allowed herself to rely on him for just a few more minutes. He made her feel as if everything would be all right as long as she was close to him. Lucian seemed to have the ability to project his complete confidence in himself to her.
    Finally Jaxon pushed away from him, and he set her on her feet. "You've been setting yourself up as a target from the very first, haven't you? You claim you're my fiance and you've got all this money, so it makes you newsworthy. It's plastered all over the newspapers, isn't it? The handsome billionaire with the cop. I bet it's been quite a story. You knew Drake would read it and come after you."
    He shrugged, completely unconcerned, those black eyes steady on her face. The movement of his broad shoulders was fluid and masculine, a ripple of casual strength that admitted she spoke the truth. "I have not had a way to track him until I knew more about him. With your memories, I had a place to start.
    Now he will make it much easier. If he does not turn himself in, he will be mad enough to make mistakes.
    He will show himself. He will not have his usual patience. He has lost control of you. Always, from the time you were a mere baby, Tyler Drake believed himself in control of your life. This has never happened to him before."
    "He won't turn himself in," Jaxon said with complete conviction.
    "Probably not," he agreed complacently. "Drake is unbalanced, and I was not able to connect with him."
    "Why me? What was there about me that he fixated on?" Her enormous dark eyes