Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

true. My aunts told me exactly what had to be done to kill them if I ran across them, and they told me the vampires despise everyone, including each other. That is why the Carpathian hunters will always have the edge when fighting.\"
    \"That has always been true, down through the centuries,\" Nicolas agreed. \"But it is no longer so. Someone has found a way to band them together and we are in for a long, bitter war for survival.\"
    She didn\'t question why his dark gaze stayed on the gentle lapping of the water in the pool against the smooth boulders. \"Xavier? Do you think he\'s still alive? He was so old even twenty years ago, but he was good at getting the necessary Carpathian blood to continue his life.\"
    \"We believe he may still be alive and has formed an alliance with five brothers, powerful Carpathians who we think have turned vampire.\"
    \"If Xavier is still alive, then my aunts could be, too. I have to get into that cave.\"
    His head jerked up, black eyes burning over her face. \"That cave is dangerous. Going there is foolish. If your aunts were alive, we would know it. They would have the ability to call to our people for aid.\"
    \"If that were true,\" Lara snapped, sarcasm dripping from her voice, \"then they would have done so when I was a child. They were kept weak and sick.\"
    \"Those who entered the cave saw the bodies of two dragons encased in ice-dead.\"
    Lara\'s stomach churned and she pressed a hand to her abdomen.
    \"Xavier kept them encased in ice. He froze his blood supply, very clever wouldn\'t you say? Do you know what kind of pain a person goes through when their body is recovering from being frozen?\"
    Nicolas gentled his voice. \"Lara, I will go to the ice cave myself and check for you, but it is best if you stay far from that place. Xavier left protections-dangerous ones, including shadow warriors. It would be suicide for you to go there.\"
    Lara pressed her lips together tightly. What was the use of arguing with him when she planned to escape anyway? Of course she would go. How could she not? Her aunts would have never given up searching for her, Page 67

    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    nor would they let danger prevent them from going to the one place that would yield the bodies as well as clues.
    She cast around for something-anything at all to say. She could see the corner of the bed in the next chamber, a massive old-fashioned bed with a carved head- and footboard. She didn\'t want to go into the other chamber or even acknowledge it was there. Already, she could feel the tension rising in the cavern.
    Glancing at him from beneath a screen of long lashes, she moved a little farther out of reach. He seemed to fill the space of the chamber, although it was quite large with high ceilings. It was impossible not to feel the sexual pull. He was too handsome, too sensual, the combination of the way he moved-going from utter stillness to a streak of action-was sexy. Power was in the flow of his body and etched into every line on his face. His brooding eyes could melt Lara and when he turned the intensity of his black gaze on her, focused on her completely, her body ceased belonging to her and reached for him.
    She had tried to put off thinking of the consequences of Nicolas\'s claiming her as his life mate. Maybe in a secret part of her she hadn\'t really believed that by uttering a few words he could change her life forever, but she felt the connection-and sexually it was just plain frightening. To go from not being even mildly interested in men who she was friends with and knew, to having her body flare out of control for a man she didn\'t even like was horrifying.
    She had been helpless as a child and vowed never to be so again. She\'d spent years of her life controlling everything around her so she would never have the vulnerable, helpless feeling again. She looked around her at the cavern walls. Here she was nearly twenty years later and she was right back where she\'d started, only this time, her own body betrayed her.
    \"Stop being so afraid of me, päläfertiil . I will not take anything you do not want to give me.\"
    In the flickering candlelight he looked a little wolfish. She crossed her arms over her breasts wishing her gaze wouldn\'t drift down his hard, masculine body and that he didn\'t have that knowing look on his face. He was Carpathian with heightened senses and he would know her body was aroused-worse, he could probably smell her fear.
    Her chin lifted. If he could