Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

between
     a man and his lifemate. He holds the darkness, and she is his light. There is only
     one and she must be found.”
    Dax brought her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. “I found you.”
    “Because you bound me to you, our becoming lifemates would prevent you from turning,”
     she reiterated.
    “So I thought it would. Now”—he shook his head—“I don’t know. Mitro knew Arabejila
     was his lifemate and still, he turned.”
    That was one fact she couldn’t dispute. “But,” she felt compelled to point out, “Mitro
     bound Arabejila to his lost soul after he became vampire. They were lifemates, but he never truly claimed her until he’d
     deliberately chosen to give up his soul. He was already the undead. He couldn’t bring
     himself to kill her, that bond at least transcended his need to kill, but he wanted
     her to suffer. Perhaps she could have saved him if he’d claimed her before he turned.”
    Dax leaned forward for a moment, and still holding her hand, he covered his face briefly.
     “I don’t think there was any hope of that. He was so black, Riley. So dark.”
    “Did you see darkness in Riordan?” she asked. Very gently she put her hand in his
     hair, all those soft, thick spiked strands she loved to stroke caresses in. “He seems
     so devoted to his päläfertiilam .” His word for lifemate rolled off her tongue. She was beginning to like the sound
     and fuller meaning of the Carpathian description even better than the translation
     of “wife.” Somehow it seemed so much more.
    Dax shook his head. “Still, we’re in his home. He shares these places with all of
     his brothers. I’m hunting Mitro, an extremely powerful vampire. He’s evolved into
     something I don’t understand, and that makes him even more dangerous. If I have to
     divide my attention between Mitro and one of these hunters we could be in trouble.”
    The way he was touching her was making it difficult to think straight. His voice was
     hypnotic, a blend of smoke and velvet. She leaned her head against his shoulder. “You
     have a way of making me forget about danger, Dax. Do you really think Riordan is an
     enemy to us?”
    “That’s good. I don’t want you to worry.”
    You worry enough for all of us ,the Old One contributed. If you’d like I can burn down the house and kill them all.
    “Don’t you dare,” Riley said.
    “He wouldn’t,” Dax assured her. “He’s teasing you. Riordan appears to be a good man,
     and very devoted to his lifemate, but that sliver of a shadow is in him. Nowhere like
     his eldest brother, but it’s there. He’s capable of great . . .”
    “Violence?” Riley smiled at him. “Like you? Do you have a shadow in you?”
    “Once, before all this started, Mitro said I did. He told the elders the reason I
     could ‘see’ into other hunters was because I carried the curse of darkness myself.”
    The Old One snorted, the sound reverberating through both of their skulls.
    “I don’t think he’s taking anything Mitro said very seriously,” Riley confided in
     a whisper, as if that would keep the dragon from hearing.
    “We have company,” Dax said, his face totally expressionless, as if it had been carved
     in stone. Emotions could be shared with her, but no one else.
    Movement caught her eye. Dax shifted subtly, putting his body slightly in front of
     hers, his arm sweeping across her to pin her in the deeper shadows. Jubal held the
     door of the terrace open for a small, very pregnant woman to precede him.
    Jasmine Sangria sent them a tentative smile. “Are we intruding?”
    “No, of course not,” Riley said hastily. “This is your home, and you’re very kind
     to share it with us.”
    Jasmine, Riley had learned upon their arrival, was Riordan De La Cruz’s sister-in-law.
     Her sister, Juliette, was fully Carpathian, brought into the Carpathian world by her
     lifemate. Jasmine was not. She was jaguar, as Juliette had been before her conversion,
     and she’d been kidnapped and raped before her cousin and Juliette with Riordan had
     been able to rescue her. Juliette admitted to being overprotective of her.
    Jubal pulled a chair from the patio dining set and gestured for her to sit. Jasmine
     made a face at him, but slipped into the chair. Jubal covered her with a quilt. It
     was quite beautiful, woven of special material. Jasmine bunched the material in her
     hands, obviously finding the quilt soothing.
    She took a deep breath and sent them another