Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

few women and fewer children. We are on the verge of extinction. There is little hope, and more and more of our males are turning."
    There was compassion in her eyes. "How terribly sad for al of you. So you and the other hunters are forced to police the vampires. Even if they were once boyhood friends… or family."
    He nodded, astonished at the wealth of understanding he read in her expression. She clearly saw what others did not: deep below the surface, every destruction of a childhood friend or cousin had cut pieces out of his soul until he feared there was little left. Yet her understanding, the compassion washing over him, changed something. He felt it, felt the first healing touch and the power a lifemate wielded. She stood there in her filthy clothes with mud smeared al over her face, and she was beautiful to him. A lump the size of his fist rose in his throat, and he turned away from her, afraid of alowing her to see the emotion threatening to choke him. How could she possibly understand what she meant to him? "I'm sorry, Traian. I know I can't begin to understand what it must have been like, but I feel the weight of it in your mind." More than that, she felt how alone he had been. The intensity of his pain shook her. His life had been stark. Ugly. Bleak. She caught frightening glimpses of scenes in his past. Terrible battles that lasted for hours.
    Severe injuries. Death al around him. No one to comfort him. No one to care.
    Joie closed her eyes briefly, overwhelmed by longing, by the need to wrap her arms around him and just hold him. "I have to contact Jubal and Gabriele. I can feel that they're close, so I'm certain they made it." When she picked up the phone to dial their rooms, her hand was trembling.
    Traian waited while she talked to her siblings, assuring them she was fine and that she would meet them downstairs after she showered. She was instantly relaxed, laughing, her voice soft with love, firm with reassurance. He had forgotten so much. Just the tone of her voice brought back memories of his life before he left his homeland to answer the cal of his prince.
    Joie was uncomfortably aware of her appearance now that Traian was staring at her. "I need to take a shower."
    "Is that an invitation?"
    She stared at him, at the hard angles and planes of his face. At his dark, fathomless eyes. If the attraction between them was merely physical, Joie would have thrown him on the bed and ripped his clothes off right there. But he stirred unfamiliar feelings in her. Deep and frightening feelings for a woman in charge of her own destiny.
    With indecision written so clearly on her face, Traian felt as if his world was balanced on the point of a needle. He was afraid to move. Afraid to speak. He knew their joining was inevitable. He would have her. She was his. She belonged to him. But he stil wanted it to be her decision. He wanted her to want him in the same way he wanted her.
    "It's a smal shower stal," she said.
    She put both hands behind her back and knew that she was afraid of the next step. But she took it because she was nothing if not courageous. She lifted her chin and smiled at him in invitation.
    He didn't wait for her to come to him; he took the few steps separating them and swept her up into his arms. Joie smiled at him.
    “This is becoming a habit."

Chapter Eight
    Steam fogged the clear glass of the shower door, rose up to curl around the two bodies standing beneath the spray of hot water. Joie alowed the water to pour over her, drenching her hair and skin, washing the grime from her body. The shower stal was smal, forcing her into close contact with Traian. She thought she was completely prepared for the sight of his very masculine body, but found she could barely breathe. He was al defined muscle, his chest wide, his hips narrow. She dared not look below his waist.
    The man had no modesty when it came to his desires. And he desired her.
    "Are you going to keep scooting back every time I get close to you?"
    There was a hint of amusement in his voice. His tone was like velvet, sliding over her exposed skin, setting every nerve ending on alert. Her mouth went dry. "It's the only safe thing to do. Before I actualy met you, I thought about having you al to myself, alone and naked and…" She trailed off a little desperately. The erotic fantasies were wonderful when he wasn't standing in front of her, larger than life and stil nearly a stranger. "Now I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do