Carpathian 15 - Dark Secret

shocked us all, but gave us a small hope to continue."
    "How do you know for certain? I'm not certain. I feel drawn to Rafael—in fact, obsessed with him.
    That's frightening for me. I just don't respond to men that way."
    "It is not obsession, although I have heard it feels that way. When I touch your mind, I feel your confusion and fear of him. We are all the things you think we are—powerful and dangerous and capable of great destruction—but we are not capable of harming our lifemates."
    "Only ruling them?"
    "You are not used to being submissive to a male."
    "I'm not submissive, it isn't in my character. How can we possibly be compatible? Is it possible there's a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    mistake?"
    "There cannot be a mistake. You restored colors to him, and, through him, to me. I have not seen colors in hundreds of years. You gave him his emotions and, through him, you gave them to me. I could feel what he felt for you, the tremendous love in his heart and his need to protect and watch over you. I want to feel those emotions for myself."
    "How can I possibly be his"—she hesitated and then testedt he word—"lifemate, when I was born human?"
    "I only know that women who are psychic can be successfully converted to Carpathian and these women can also be lifemates to the males. I have not yet met Riordan's lifemate, but he tells me she is a descendant of the jaguar race."
    Colby smiled. "My brother says I can be catty, but I doubt if I have any jaguar in me. I couldn't jump very high when I was playing sports in high school."
    "We had school of sorts." Nicolas folded his arms across his chest. "We had to learn to shape-shift first.
    It was not nearly as easy as we thought it would be."
    "That might be kind of cool," Colby admitted. "I like the idea of flying. I used to wish I could fly. Believe me, when you've been on a horse for eight hours, it gets old."
    "I remember the first time Rafael attempted to turn into a wolf. It was the very first thing he tried and he was not successful. Part of him was covered in fur and part of him had legs where there should not be legs. We were all there, of course. We all ran together, the De La Cruz brothers and the Malinov brothers. We were all howling and falling on the ground, rolling around like idiots, but then when Ruslan, the eldest of the Malinovs, began laughing and pointing, my oldest brother, Zacarias, went after Ruslan for making fun of Rafael. We ended up in a huge brawl. Mind you, the entire time, Rafael was still caught between man and beast."
    Colby couldn't help but laugh as Nicolas related the story to her. He provided very vivid pictures of the incident for her. Rafael looked so young and uncertain, not at all like the dominant man she was tied to.
    "What about you? What was the first thing you tried to shape-shift into?"
    There was a small silence. The mask slipped back over Nicolas's face. He shrugged his shoulders carelessly, but she didn't think it was a careless gesture. "I do not remember."
    "You recalled Rafael's first time so vividly." Even to the colors of the trees, the individual leaves, the smells and sounds. She'd heard the hum of insects in his mind.
    He stood up. "It was Rafael's memory, not mine. You gave him back those things and he shares with me."
    Colby studied his mouth. There was a cruel edge to it, a remoteness in his eyes. "You're very close to turning into one of those monsters, aren't you?" she asked. Her heart ached for him. Ached for Rafael.
    "Yes. Without the memories my brother shares with me, I would lose this battle."
    "And yet you came to his aid even though you knew if you battled the vampire you would go a step closer. And you took the vampire blood from Paul, when it could have pushed you over the edge. Why Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    did you do that, Nicolas? I wasn't even nice to you."
    "You are familia. You are a Carpathian lifemate and must be protected by all Carpathians. And I love my brother. I may not feel it anymore, but I know it is there, buried deep, and I will not allow anything to happen to you."
    "I will never forget the risk you took on our behalf, Nicolas, and if it becomes too difficult and you need to see colors and feel emotions, I don't mind so much the sharing of our minds."
    There was a small silence. "It is no small thing you offer, sister kin," he said softly. "Carpathian men do not share with