Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

remembered those same tender caresses from her dream man and her heart fluttered in her chest. He was so much like the image she’d conjured up, and yet a little frightening. Mostly because she wanted to bring him the same peace and joy he brought her.

    He nuzzled the top of her head, and at the same time merged his mind with hers, catching the next, not-so-altruistic thoughts, the need to give him the same release he had given her.

    Dominic sighed inwardly. I will not take the chance with you.

    He could feel the need clawing at her, saw the erotic images in his mind, but he would never have been able to find the control to keep from claiming her both with his body and his soul. He craved her. A dark need that grew the longer he spent time with her.

    His first duty was to protect her, even from himself. He had the blood of a vampire running in his veins, and with that acidic poison were thousands of greedy parasites working to consume him from the inside out—although . . . the vile creatures had gone still. None of them moved in him. There were no whispered commands, and there was no stabbing, relentless pain, not since he had been near his lifemate. Why was that? How could it be? Could lifemates provide such solace even for one already lost?

    He took a deep breath. The night was gone. The sun rose steadily in the sky. He was deep beneath the earth, but he could still feel the effects on his body. Soon he would be a leaden weight and his heart would cease to beat. He felt Solange’s sharp intake of breath and knew she was experiencing the prickly sensation on his skin, the scorched feeling that lived right under his skin in all the nerves.

    He relaxed into the richness of the soil bed. The earth welcomed him, whispered to him, the abundance of minerals immediately seeping into his pores, enriching his body, speeding the healing of every wound, the long slices caused by the sword that had bit deep into his flesh. Zacarias had helped to speed the healing, but it was here in the earth where he would find the natural medicine for his kind.

    Solange’s wonder delighted him. She put her hand in the soil between them and allowed it to slip through her fingers. “I had no idea. All this time I’ve walked on it and yet didn’t feel it alive, living and breathing with cures. Even if they aren’t for my kind, it’s a miracle what the earth does for yours.”

    “She welcomes us as her children.” He tried to put it in words she might understand, although he could feel her acceptance.

    He would cover them with dirt, but not their faces. Unlike him, Solange would need the air to breathe. He moved, and the aching demands of his body moved with him.

    “I could . . .” She stopped when he put his hand on her head and held her to his chest.

    “You cannot tempt me, Solange. I battle with my honor. Honor is important to me. And you—you are my most precious gift. I could never live with myself if my selfishness placed you in danger. Go to sleep and it will be enough to hold you in my arms.”

    He had sung to her in their shared dream, and he did so now, his song to her, the haunting melody, all the things he’d always wanted to say to his lifemate.

    I was half-alive for a thousand years.
    I’d given up hope that we’d meet in this time.
    Too many the centuries. All disappears
    As time and the darkness steal color and rhyme.

    8

    Can you find beauty in this rough-hewn woman?
    Can you come to love a shapeshifter like me?

    SOLANGE TO DOMINIC

    T he female jaguar smelled blood. The scent was in her nostrils and she quickened her pace, working her way along the branches, careful not to slip. She ignored the animals scrambling to get out of her way. She had no time to hunt them, all she cared about was getting to her mother. She had finally picked up the trail after four long years. Aunt Audrey was with her, and Juliette followed, keeping her eye on Jasmine, still so young.

    Solange had argued with her aunt for hours, but after all, she was only twelve, and Audrey the adult. She knew they shouldn’t have brought Jasmine on the rescue mission, but they had nowhere safe to leave her.
    Audrey was right about that, but the cub’s presence doubled the danger to them all.

    Already, Solange’s jaguar was a fierce fighter and she had learned to handle weapons, particularly guns.
    She practiced night and day. She went through hundreds of rounds of ammunition, which was difficult to get. She threw knives when she