Carpathian 09 - Dark Guardian

behind her. "You said I could leave."
    "I did not say run away. There will be truth between us, little one, whether it is difficult or not. You are a strong woman. I will not hide things from you."
    "Am I supposed to thank you for that?" She raked a trembling hand through her hair, creating a windblown effect. "I don't want this."
    "Yes, you do," Lucian replied as gently as ever.
    Where his eyes had been black and impossible to fathom, she now glimpsed hunger, a stark possessiveness. Her hand moved to find the comforting butt of her gun. How could she ever resist those hungry eyes? "Why are you doing this? I have enough trouble in my life without your expecting me to accept vampires and God knows what else. I can't do it, Lucian."
    "Yes, you can." He said it quietly. "Take a deep breath and relax. Sit down before you fall down."
    Her dark eyes flashed at him. "Do you really think I'm so needy that I'd sell what little self-respect I have left just to be with someone? I feel the difference in my body. The way I can hear, the way I'm able to control the volume. I can see in the dark better than if it was daylight. I feel you all the time. With me.
    Needing me. Calling to me." She rubbed her temples again. "How can you talk to me without speaking?
    More importantly, how can I talk to you that way?"
    "My blood flows in your veins, as yours flows in mine. We share the same heart and soul. Our minds seek to merge, just as our bodies cry out for each other."
    "My body does not cry out for yours," she denied, more frightened than angry.
    "Little liar."
    "Go back to the blood in the veins thing. Exactly how did your blood get into my veins and mine into yours? Did you give me a transfusion or something like…?" She trailed off, images of a dark, erotic dream intruding. Her hand went protectively to her throat. "You didn't drink my blood. God, tell me you didn't drink my blood. No, first tell me I didn't drink your blood." Now her legs were threatening to fail her. She actually looked at the floor, prepared to fall. Only the thought of being more vulnerable than she Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    already was stopped her from collapsing.
    He moved swiftly toward her to help, but Jaxon was so alarmed that she brought the gun up. She used a two-armed stance to try to steady her badly shaking hands. This was a nightmare, insanity. She didn't have enough imagination to make all this up. The gun pointed directly at his heart.
    "Please move away from the door, Lucian. I don't want to hurt you. I really don't. I just want to get out of here so I can breathe again." She was pleading with him, not taking her usual command of a situation.
    She wanted so much to be with him. So much. He was tall and sexy and terribly alone, just as she was.
    She understood that in him. She wanted to make everything all right for him, to rid him of that terrible hunger. But to have a man like Lucian look at her for all time with heat and hunger, with need and possessiveness, was a dream she could never accept. Lucian was not really a man. He was something else. Something she didn't ever want to identify.
    "Jaxon, put down the gun before you accidentally shoot someone." There was no inflection whatsoever in his voice.
    "It wouldn't be an accident, Lucian. Please, I'm going to ask you one more time. Just step aside, and let me go."
    "My people regard the human eating of flesh with the same repugnance as you regard our taking of blood for nourishment."
    She took a tentative step, trying to shut out his words and the importance of what he was revealing. She circled to his right, hoping he would abandon his position. Lucian remained as still as the mountains. "Just imagining what you're trying to tell me makes me feel sick. I don't think we're compatible." She was in earnest now. If he didn't step aside, she was going to have to find a way around him. She wasn't going to shoot him. The thought of him hurt in any way was too much to bear.
    Lucian moved so fast that he was a blur. Not even a blur. One moment he was standing in the doorway; the next moment he had the gun in his possession and his arms around her. "You only think it is repulsive, angel, because you do not yet know anything other than evil."
    Being so close to him was dangerous. His body was hard and hot and needy. She felt an answering response right down to her toes. Her breathing betrayed her, her racing heart, her own body. She felt tears burning