Dark Guardian (Dark 9)

Jaxon tilted her head to assess exactly what it would take to climb the wall. Not much. She sighed. What would she be able to see of the house from the top of the wall? She was studying the best way up, seeking finger and footholds, when a cold wind whirled leaves and twigs around her legs. In the midst of the wild blast Lucian loomed up directly behind her, his large frame so close, Jaxon was trapped between his body and the high wall.

She swung around with a low cry of alarm, trying to bring up her hand with the knife in it. Lucian's fingers curled around her fragile wrist, easily holding her still. He leaned into her, pressing her small frame right into the wall. His mouth touched her ear. "You are not waiting at home for me."

Her heart was pounding. She wasn't certain if it was from the proximity of his body or the suddenness of his appearance. "Technically, I think I could get away with saying I'm on the property. Sort of. Just checking things out a bit." She made an attempt to face up to him, feeling very vulnerable locked between the wall and his muscular frame. He had removed the knife from her hand, but she was still shackled to him, his fingers tight around her wrist.

"You are definitely not on the property where I left you, honey," Lucian whispered into her ear, his warm breath stirring tendrils of hair at her neck, stirring unwanted excitement in her body. He pulled the hood from her head to reveal the silky blond hair spilling wildly in all directions.

She wasn't cold anymore. He had managed to heat her up with a few simple words. "Things didn't go well on your little to-do list?" she asked sweetly.

His hand slipped around her throat so that her pulse was beating into his palm. His thumb stroked a caress along the delicate line of her jaw. "He has been here before you, angel. You have needlessly placed yourself in danger." Lucian spoke in his most gentle voice, yet she recognized a note of reprimand. More than that. A warning, perhaps.

"It isn't needless. You just aren't getting it. He's probably watching us right now." Realizing it might be so, she made every attempt to swing them around, to somehow cover his big body with her own.

Lucian could easily pick her intentions out of her mind. She was frantic to protect him from Drake. "Be still, Jaxon," he breathed, his voice a soothing balm, filling her mind with warmth. He held her close to his body with his enormous strength. Sheltering her. Savoring her. "He is not close at this time. I have scanned the area. Had he been near, I would not be so gentle with you. There is no need for you to protect me. Tyler Drake cannot harm me."

His hand on her throat was warm and possessive, his thumb inducing molten heat in her veins where once there had been only blood. "I don't know what you mean by 'scanned the area,' but I scouted it. I found evidence of him at two sites. We can protect ourselves from one of them easily enough, but this is impossible."

Lucian bent his head to hers. "You do not listen well." He appeared not to be paying much attention to the conversation, distracted by other things. "Hold still, Jaxon," he murmured.

She went perfectly still. Jaxon didn't know how, but she felt heat inside her where her wounds were throbbing. His fingers splayed wide across her abdomen. He did nothing else, simply laid his palm over her, but she felt him inside her. At once the pain disappeared. Lucian turned her into his arms. "Do not do this again. You are needlessly tired and cold." He was framing her face between his palms.

Jaxon watched his eyes go from black ice to burning possessiveness as he lowered his head to hers. Mesmerized, she stood waiting for the touch of his mouth. She felt his breath, the heat, the beckoning. She felt him touch her mind, gentle and warm. His mouth moved over hers, coaxing, tasting. The world fell away from her. There was only silken heat, molten fire. She closed her eyes, willing to give herself up to pure feeling. Sensation. Dark fires.

He gathered her close, lifted her slight body into the hard strength of his arms, and whispered to her. She didn't hear, couldn't hear. His mouth was perfect. He drove out every sane thought, every responsibility, and replaced it with a burning magic. The earth dropped away, and the wind rushed past. She felt it in her hair, on her face. The dizzy sensation of a roller coaster. But his mouth was all that really mattered.

When Lucian lifted his head, Jaxon felt dazzled and had to blink several times to focus on her surroundings. At once she gasped and pushed him away. He set her down on legs that were rubbery, but sheer shock held her up. They were at the house, right at the kitchen door. Her teeth bit deep into her lower lip, drawing a tiny dot of blood. She could taste the bead welling up.

"How did we get here?" She was holding one hand up to ward him off.

Lucian ignored her hand to step close so that he could lean down and once more find her mouth, his tongue lingering along her lips, caressing, healing, savoring the taste of her. Jaxon pushed at the wall of his chest, not wanting to get caught up in his black magic.

"Answer me. How did we get here?"

He looked amused. "It is not that hard to move through - "

"Stop!" Jaxon put both hands over her ears. "Don't say anything until I think about this. Every time you say anything, you make me more nuts."

His black eyes were shamelessly laughing at her. He reached out a lazy hand to remove the rifle from her shoulder. She was wildly beautiful and incredibly appealing to him, standing there with her huge chocolate eyes and untamed hair. But her mind was struggling to find answers, and she had a penchant for violence, so the rifle had to go.

A wolf cry sounded, the note joyful in the night. "There." She waved toward the forest. "Your little friends are calling you. Go run and play with them for a while. You overwhelm me at the moment. I could use a break."

He put an arm out toward her. "Running with the wolves is truly a great joy, angel." His arm rippled with fur. Black glossy fur. His hand contorted, shifted shape.

Jaxon heard herself scream. She couldn't believe the strangled sound came from her own throat. She whirled around, jerked open the door to the kitchen, slipped inside, and slammed it shut. She locked every single dead bolt on the door before sliding to the floor. She drew her knees up and rocked herself for comfort.

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening.

What are you? She cried it in her mind. What was he? What should she do? If she called the police, no one would believe her. And the alternative would be that they did believe her, and the government would put Lucian in a laboratory and dissect him. Jaxon buried her face in her hands. What was she going to do? Maybe it was another trick. Another illusion. Just because he had named that hideous creature vampire didn't mean it was true. It was an illusion. It had to be. He was a master magician. That was how he made all his money, right? Weren't all magicians billionaires? Please let them all be billionaires.

Something made her lift her head. She was very careful to keep her hands over her face and only peek out between her fingers. Through the open door leading into the hall, she saw what looked like a low bank of fog. It just seemed to hang there for a moment silently. She bit at her knuckles with her teeth. Fog. In the house. Of course there was fog in Lucian's house. Wasn't fog in everyone's house?

Then Lucian's tall elegance filled the doorway, blocking her view of the hall. His black gaze moved slowly over her face. She saw stark possessiveness in his eyes. She recognized it, when all she wanted to do was run. But she could no more have gotten to her feet than fly. "Go away, Lucian."

"I have frightened you, honey. I am sorry. I was only teasing you."

Her long eyelashes fluttered for a moment before she actually found the courage to look up at him again. Why did he have to have such presence? He exuded power. "Everyone I know can turn into a wolf. That's what you were doing, wasn't it? Turning into a wolf?" Her teeth bit down hard on her knuckles.

He crossed the room with his silent, easy stride. Her heart slammed painfully. She tried to make herself smaller. Lucian simply sank to the floor beside her, his back to the door, his body close to hers. He drew his knees up, every movement slow and deliberate so as not to frighten her any further. "I was showing off." His hand touched her hair. "Nothing else, nothing sinister, just showing off."

Jaxon winced. "Well, don't do it again. People just can't do those things, Lucian. They can't, okay? You really aren't able to do them, so stop thinking you can. It isn't possible."

His hand found her silky hair again, his fingers gently rubbing the strands together before his palm curved around the nape of her neck. He began a slow, soothing massage to ease some of the tension out of her. "Angel, we talked about this when you spoke with Barry about the wolf. You knew it was me."

She shook her head adamantly. "I didn't think you meant it literally. I thought perhaps that you had a wolf or a dog with you. You can make people think things with optical illusions. I thought you might have made Barry see an illusion, not that you were actually a wolf. That never occurred to me. You can't turn into a wolf. No one can do that."

"I am Carpathian, not human, though you persist in thinking me so. I have many abilities, and I have told you that." His voice was deliberately soft and soothing.

"Well, you're just crazy, that's all. People like you don't exist in the world, Lucian, so get over it already." She rubbed her forehead. "You just can't do things like that anymore."

"You are not breathing, honey. Take a minute and listen to your body," he advised. He kept his voice soft and persuasive.

At once she was aware of her heart beating too rapidly, her lungs gasping for air. Immediately she became aware of his heartbeat, slow and steady, the air pushing easily through his lungs. Immediately her body began to tune itself to the rhythm of his. Jaxon flung up her arms to knock his hand from her neck. "See? Right there! You can't do things like this. No one can synchronize heartbeats exactly the way we do. Stop whatever you're doing right this minute. You're making me crazy."

His hand had not moved from the nape of her neck, a curiously intimate position she found rather soothing in spite of everything. Jaxon sighed and rested her head against his arm. "You're making me crazy," she murmured again tiredly.

"You think you cannot accept the things I tell you, but eventually your mind will overcome its human limitations." He said it so gently that her heart turned over.

The moment she gave in to the inevitable and relaxed against him, her heart and lungs immediately took on the slower, calming rhythm of his. Lucian pulled her into his arms and cradled her like a child so that she felt protected and safe. Jaxon stared up at his face, so still it could have been carved from stone, so beautiful he could have posed for the statues of the Greek gods.

"I don't want to feel anything for you." She traced his perfect mouth with one fingertip. "It would hurt too much to do that."

He became shadow in her mind, carefully, so she wouldn't recognize his touch, stilling the chaos of her thinking. He easily read her terrible fear for him.

For him. Not really so much of him. "Listen to me, Jaxon, and this time hear what it is I am saying to you. Tyler Drake is human. He is not a vampire. He does not have supernatural powers. Drake has no chance against one such as myself. I have been in your mind, was with you as you examined the sites he chose to spy on this house. Did you think I really left you alone and unprotected? Did you really believe I would not know the moment you chose to leave this house? I will recognize his presence the moment he comes close to our property again. Tyler Drake cannot harm me in any way."

"If you knew I was out of the house and looking for Drake, didn't it worry you that I might run into him?" she challenged. A man like Lucian would have secured her protection, had he really known.

A faint smile took the edge of cruelty from his mouth. "I would have destroyed him from a distance. I am in your mind, honey. I can 'see' through your eyes. Anything I can see, I can destroy. If I connect with a person, and he hears my voice, I can destroy him. As I've said, I have certain abilities."

She lay in his arms quietly, trying to take in what he was telling her. "Lucian, how can any of this be? How can someone like you exist all this time and not one single person know about you?"

"There are some who have found us out. We originated in the Carpathian Mountains, and we refer to ourselves as Carpathian. There are humans who hunt us, who seek to murder us, There are scientists who would take us apart in a laboratory. They fear we are vampire, and, although we are few, they fear our powers."

"You scare me to death."

"No, I do not. The differences are difficult for your mind to accept. Do not confuse that with fear of me. You know I would never harm you. I am incapable of harming you. You are my heart and soul. The air I breathe. You bring light to the terrible darkness in my soul." He captured her hand and brought it to the warmth of his mouth. "There are moments when I feel you can collect all the missing pieces of my soul and put them back into place and make me whole once again."

"Is that how you really see me, Lucian?" Jaxon's large eyes looked into the dark, empty depths of his.

"It is who you are, Jaxon," he said softly. "I need you. The rest of the world does not need you the way I do. To live. To breathe. You are my laughter and, I suspect, my tears. You are my very life."

"You can't feel that way about me when you've just met me. You don't know me at all."

"I have been in your mind many times, Jaxon. How could I not know you? You have already captured my heart. I am the one who must find a way to make you love me in spite of all my sins."

"Do you have so very many?" she asked softly. He was turning her inside out with what he was admitting. He seemed so self-sufficient, how could he ever need anyone, least of all someone with all her problems?

"My soul is stained so black, my love, there is no real way to ever redeem it. I am a dark angel of death. I have carried out my duties for centuries and know no other way of life."

"There's that word again. Centuries." A faint smile chased the shadows from her face. "If you're such a dark, terrible person, why don't I sense evil when I'm around you? I know I don't have your" - she floundered for a moment, unable to think of the right word - "gifts, but I have a built-in radar system for anything evil. I feel the presence of it immediately. You can't possibly have a black soul, Lucian."

He moved then, a mere casual ripple of muscles, but he was standing without any effort, Jaxon in his arms. "You must eat, little one. You are wasting away right in front of me."

"You pick me up so much, I thought you'd appreciate the fact that I'm not carrying extra pounds."

Lucian plopped her down on the counter. "You are not going to try to tell me you do not eat because you worry I will not be able to pick you up."

She crossed her legs and arched one eyebrow. "I was more worried you'd strain your back." She tried not to watch the way the muscles rippled suggestively beneath the thin white silk of his shirt.

He laughed softly at her outrageous suggestion as he began to put together a base for a soup. "You will not disobey me again, Jaxon, not when it comes to matters of safety."

"'Disobey'? Interesting word. I don't think I really fully understand the meaning of the word, being a grown woman and all."

"Grown woman. Is that what you call it? You think you are as grown as you are going to get? A frightening thought."

"I hope you don't really think I'm going to obey you," Jaxon said softly, meaning it. She leaned over to get his attention. "You don't, do you?"

He shrugged with that casual grace, the movement that always took her breath away. "I have never had to ask more than once."

She sat back with a quick frown. "What does that mean? You wouldn't dare to use that threatening voice of yours on me."

He looked up from his task, his black gaze holding hers. "You would never know if I were, would you?" His voice was very, very soft.

Jaxon jumped to the floor, barely restraining herself from kicking him in the shins. "I've had enough of this. You know, it isn't as if you're asking me to accept some weird aunt in your family or something. You're not exactly the everyday, average fianc§ٮ I'm not changing who I am for you. I worked my way up in the department because I'm good at what I do. I'm very good. Have a little respect."

He stirred the soup without changing expression. "You think I have no respect for you and the things you have had to cope with in your life? You cannot possibly think that. You are angry for no reason, Jaxon. I cannot change who I am either. It is my sworn duty to care for you. It was imprinted on me before my birth. Do you think that changes because you are mortal?"

"Oh, God, the mortal thing again. At least someone actually gave birth to you. That's a relief." She pushed a hand through her hair. "Look at me, Lucian."

At her command, he turned obediently. She examined his face intently, a slow sweep of his sensual features before her gaze rested thoughtfully on his black eyes. "I would know. You would never even attempt to hide such a thing from me. You'd feel guilty."

"I would never feel guilty for forcing you to care for your health, angel. Do not make the mistake of giving me too much credit. I would feel guilty for concealing things from you, true. It is not right between lifemates. In any case, you have only to examine my mind."

Jaxon found herself laughing at the thought. "I can barely comprehend the things you tell me. I'm certainly not going to go trotting around in a brain that's several centuries old. That's just asking for trouble. How is it you can sound modern - sort of - if you're really so darned ancient?"

Lucian turned back to his soup. "It is not hard. I study and adapt quickly to new environments. It is necessary when one wishes to fit in. Sit at the table."

She tapped her foot. "The smell is not making me sick. That's you, isn't it? You're doing something so I can smell food without feeling sick."

"Yes." He saw no reason to deny it. "It is necessary that you eat. I do not want to make the decision to bring you over because you are unable to take sustenance. That would not be right."

Bring you over.

Jaxon found a chair and sat down in it rather abruptly. Why did that sound like something straight out of a vampire novel? She waved a hand dismayingly in the air at him. "No more of that. Don't think it, and don't ever say it again. I'm getting used to the 'centuries' thing, but the 'bring you over' thing is too much."

Lucian placed a bowl of soup in front of her. His mind, connected as it was with hers, assumed the lead. He built the feeling of hunger in her. The idea that the broth smelled delicious and she wanted to eat it. He commanded her body not to reject it and reinforced the order with a "push" so there would be no mistakes. Very gently he rested a hand on her shoulder, needing the physical contact with her.

Never once had he allowed himself to express what he had felt when he realized she was leaving the house. He examined it now, there in the kitchen, turning the unfamiliar emotion over and over in his mind.

Fear. He had been afraid for her. Not that Drake would find her, but of having to use her to destroy Drake. He would not want her to have to face such a thing.

Fear. Fear that a vampire would discover her away from the protection he had woven for her within the grounds and the house.

Fear. He had never experienced such an emotion. It had been gut-wrenching.

Lucian tangled his fingers in the wealth of her blond hair. She tipped her head back to look up at him, surprised by the way his fist was clenched in her hair. "What is it? What are you thinking about?" There was no expression on his face, nothing in his eyes to give him away, but Jaxon was beginning to know him. That small telltale sign of tension revealed that his thoughts had not been pleasant. "Tell me."

"I feared for you. Earlier, when you were away from the safety of the house." Lucian did not think to avoid the truth.

Jaxon responded immediately, wrapping her fingers around the thickness of his wrist. "You said yourself that I was perfectly safe."

"From Drake, you were safe," he admitted, staring down at her hand in wonder. Her fingers didn't even curl halfway around his wrist, yet she wielded so much power over him. "Drake cannot harm you."

"He has power, Lucian. He could get to Barry. I know you think you're invincible, but a sniper's bullet can kill from a great distance, and Drake is an excellent marksman. He doesn't have to face you." She ducked her head. "That's how Drake can harm me. That's how he's always done it - through someone else, someone who matters to me. That's why I don't want to be with you."

Above her head he found himself smiling. "You are beginning to have feelings for me."

"Keep telling yourself that," she told him. "This soup is good. I'm surprised you know how to cook." She didn't want to examine too closely or allude in any real way to what he did or didn't eat. Now wasn't the time to scare herself to death. She stood up carefully, moving away from him in a feminine little retreat he found secretly amusing.

Everything she did was like that. It lit him up inside. Filled him with warmth. Made him want to smile. More than that, he had to smile. He watched as she very carefully, very domestically, washed out the bowl and spoon.

Jaxon caught him watching her. "What?" She sounded defensive.

"I like watching you," he admitted easily. "I like having you in my house."

She tried not to let him see how much his words pleased her. Maybe she was just lonely. Maybe she was entirely too susceptible to his beautiful eyes. His voice. Or maybe his mouth. Or maybe it was because he was drop-dead gorgeous. She sighed aloud. "I'm going upstairs to rest for a while. Life with you is way too much excitement for me."

Lucian followed her up the stairs, carrying her sniper's rifle. "This thing weighs almost as much as you do, Jaxon."

"You said you knew I was out of the house," she suddenly mused aloud, completely ignoring his teasing. "Why didn't I know what you were doing?"

"You didn't look."

She glanced at him over her shoulder, her large eyes eloquent with censure. "Look? Look at what?"

"My mind." He spoke in an even voice without any inflection at all. "I stay a shadow in your mind. Aside from the fact that it is much safer for me to know what you are doing at every moment, it is necessary for us to touch each other to be comfortable."

"You know, Lucian, if I had any brains at all, I wouldn't let you suck me in this way. You throw out these casual statements, and my curiosity always gets the better of me." She flung her knives and guns onto the dresser, pulled her cap from her pocket, and added that to the growing pile.

Lucian was watching her through half-closed eyes, a small smile curving his mouth. "Look at you, a walking arsenal."

"Well, at least I know how to protect myself. You think you're so powerful, not even a sniper's bullet can get you."

"We are back to that. Honey, I can command the heavens, move the earth, move my body through time and space. I am much more armed at all times than you will ever be. Do not look at me with your big brown eyes and that little frown on your face. You are in grave danger, for I have a desire to kiss that look right off your face." Jaxon backed away from him so quickly, she fell backward onto the bed, alarm on her face. "Stay across the room, you fiend." She held up one hand to ward him off. "No talking, and no looking at me either. You use unfair tactics to get your way."

He stalked her right across the room, looming over her small figure like a conqueror of old. "You deserve some kind of punishment for leaving this house after you so sincerely promised me you would stay put."

"I assured you I had no intention of going out dancing," she pointed out virtuously. "I can't think where you ever got the idea that I intended to sit around waiting for you. I have things to do. Modern-day women do not sit at home while their men go out and play."

He touched her face with one fingertip, tracing her soft skin, the delicate line of her high cheekbone. "I told you to stay here."

"I was merely out walking. Fresh air is good for a person - didn't you know that? And walking is the greatest exercise of all. It can be done anywhere, anytime." She looked absolutely convinced of it. "Walking doesn't count as going out."

Lucian sat on the bed, crowding her. "Walking." He murmured the word absently, his fingers tangling in her hair. The feel of it against his skin distracted him. "Do not place yourself at risk again, angel. I will take action next time."

She shoved at the wall of his chest, more to get some breathing room than for any other reason. He seemed capable of robbing her of her very air. "I hope you don't think you're threatening me with something. I'm a police officer, Lucian. Threats are not a great way to win favors."

"I do not need favors, and I do not much care for your rather strange choice of occupations. This may not be a good time to bring it up, but you do not seem to understand. I have never had anyone question my decisions. You will not place yourself at risk again." He never raised his voice; if anything, it was softer, gentler than ever before. He sounded mild, almost absently giving his order to her.

Jaxon frowned at him. "You don't improve much as one gets more acquainted with you. I don't like bossy men."

His hand slipped to the nape of her neck, his fingers caressing her soft, scented skin. He didn't seem to notice, and she sat very still, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that he was scattering her senses in every direction.

"I do not consider myself bossy. There is a vast difference between being bossy and being in command."

"Go command something else then, Lucian, because I am in charge of my own life. Total charge. If I decide to leave the house, I'll do so anytime I please. Don't think you can get away with being a supreme dictator just because you're..." Words totally failed her. What was he?

I already answered that.

Deliberately he used the intimate form of communication that his race used with their lifemates. He bent his head to the vulnerable nape of her neck, unable to resist the temptation.

I am Carpathian, your lifemate.

At once hungry flames danced over his body. His gut clenched hotly, and he closed his eyes to savor the taste and feel of her skin. To savor the feeling of intense hunger. His larger, stronger body bent over hers, slowly forcing her to lie across the bed beneath him. She was very delicate, very fragile beneath his exploring hands as he imprinted her for all time deep within his soul.

"Lucian." His name came out a soft, whispered plea, almost as if she were asking him for help.

Lucian lifted his head and stared down into her enormous eyes. She looked confused, drowsy, and very, very sexy. "I am not hurting you, angel, only giving in to a tremendous need I have to feel you."

She reached up to brush at his hair, a small smile tugging at her full lower lip. "Yes, well, I noticed. I just think this is a little dangerous. I'm still trying to get used to the idea that you're not human. You tell me all this interesting science-fiction stuff, and I hear what you're saying, but my mind doesn't want to put together all the facts. You're positively scary, Lucian."

"Not to you," he denied, his voice lazy as he bent to find her throat with his mouth. She tasted so good. Felt so good, her skin like satin. "I have been unfailingly gentle with you." His mouth followed the perfection of her skin down her throat and across her collarbone. She was so very delicate. He didn't see how anything so small could hold together such a perfect package.

"You're always in such perfect control. I can't imagine you not in complete control. But then you look at me, and..." She closed her eyes as his mouth wandered lower, pushing aside the thin material of her top so he could touch more skin.

"You were saying?" he murmured against the inviting swell of her breast. "I look at you?" His teeth scraped gently, erotically over her sensitive skin, and she heard herself gasp even as her arms cradled his head to her.

What had she been saying? He was still in control. Even now, while she lay in his arms and could feel his body burning for hers, hungry for hers, he was in complete control. She turned more fully into his arms, her body pressing closer to the enormous strength of his. What would it feel like to belong? Really belong to someone? Not to be afraid all the time? When she was with Lucian, she was never afraid.

Lucian felt her body, soft and pliant, molding itself to his. He pushed the offending cloth farther from her skin, exposing her small, perfectly molded breasts to the cool air. To his dark, possessive gaze. To the heat of his mouth. She really was a miracle, everything about her. Her body moved restlessly, and he shifted his weight to pin her more fully beneath him, needing to feel every inch of her imprinted against his skin. He lowered his mouth and tasted her breast, his tongue swirling lazily, teasing her nipple into a hard peak.

He could hear the ebb and flow of her blood rushing through her veins, calling to him, beckoning with a sweet invitation. He murmured her name softly, stroked her skin, tracing each separate rib, finding the indentation of her small waist. In his ears was a dull roar, and the beast within him lifted its head and roared for release. Roared to claim what belonged to it.

Jaxon sensed the change in him. It was in the hard possession of his hands, the sudden aggression of his body. For the first time she was afraid. She caught his thick black hair in her fists and made a small sound somewhere between submission and protest. "Lucian." She whispered his name like a talisman, knowing he would always protect her.

At once he raised his head. Her breath caught in her throat. Behind the depths of his eyes crouched a primitive animal; she could see it, the red flames in its eyes, the heat and hunger gathering into a fierce conflagration. Her heart thudded wildly. "Lucian." She tightened her grip in his hair, two large handfuls, holding on for her life.

"It is all right, angel," he said tenderly. He kissed her throat gently, lingering over her wildly beating pulse. "I could never hurt you. You are my life, the air I breathe. I may sometimes act more animal than man, but I am truly a man after all."

"But not human." Jaxon's voice was a mere thread of sound.

"Not human," he agreed. "A Carpathian male, very much needing his lifemate at this moment."

Jaxon was suddenly acutely conscious of her disheveled clothes. "I think it would be best if you removed yourself from my bedroom."

"Best for whom?" Amusement tinged his voice. "Not me." Very gently he arranged her black top to cover her creamy skin. "Do you have any idea how much you mean to me?" He shook his head. "It is not possible that you could know."

She was afraid to breathe. Her entire body was crying out for his, completely betraying her saner self. "Lucian, I really need to be alone for a while."

"So you can deny that you want me?"

"Absolutely," she agreed readily. There was no reason to deny it. He was lucky she wasn't experienced.

She might just be ripping his clothes off. The idea took her breath away.

He arched an expressive eyebrow at her. "It takes my breath away, too," he murmured against her throat, proving he was a shadow firmly entrenched in her mind.

She wanted to be annoyed with him. He had no right to listen to her every thought. But she found herself laughing. It just seemed so intimate, lying on the bed with his arm curved around her waist, his black eyes moving over her with such stark hunger in them. "You're so bad, Lucian."

Jaxon closed her eyes tiredly. It felt good to simply lie there and be still. Not think. Not do anything but feel his warmth and strength. "I'm so tired. It must be close to dawn. Why are we always talking until dawn?"

"So you grow tired and sleep all day while I am at my weakest. It is a good way to keep you chained to my side." Lucian stretched lazily "I intend to sleep here with you, so settle down and do not try to argue with me."

Jaxon thumped his shoulder, then shifted to lay her head on it "I wasn't going to argue with you. Why ever would you think that? I never argue."

Lucian smiled at her. She was so small, it amazed him she was such a strong person. "Of course you do not argue. What was I thinking? Go to sleep, honey, and allow my poor body to rest."

"I'm already asleep. You're the one gabbing."

Lucian concentrated on safeguarding the estate. He found he was more than a little distracted with Jaxon snuggled so close to him, her body fitting perfectly into the curve of his. She thought him so controlled, and perhaps it was true in every other matter - every matter other than Jaxon. He was not so sure of his ability to protect her from his own needs and hungers.

"Lucian?" The drowsy note in her voice sent his gut clenching into a ball of fire that was spreading like molten lava.

"Go to sleep." He draped his arm over her, completely engulfing her. Of their own accord his fingers tangled in the thick mop of untamed hair. His own voice was husky with need.

"Don't you sleep underground or something? I know you don't use a coffin, but this seems too normal for you." Her voice held suspicion.

Lucian hesitated. There could be no untruths between lifemates, and he had always been careful to tell her those details of his life she asked about. But this. What was he to answer? "Go to sleep."

At once Jaxon tried to lift her head. Lucian didn't appear to notice. His arm lay firmly in place. "Tell me, Lucian, or I'm going to bug you all day."

He sighed. "I thought you didn't like hearing all the gory details of my existence." His fingers were moving in her hair gently, a tender caress that warmed her heart as nothing else could.

It was the way he touched her, the way he looked at her, Jaxon decided, as if she were the only woman in the world for him. And he was beguiling. A dark sorcerer impossible to resist. Like right now, his mouth skimming the top of her head, the way he inhaled her scent as if he were taking the essence of her into his own body "I'm beginning to be rather fond of your fantasyland, Lucian." The smile left her voice, and she became very serious. "I want to know everything about you. Not all at once, maybe, but eventually, everything."

He lay there, his body tight and hot and uncomfortable. He should have been in a burning hell, but instead he was filled with joy. Her words moved him, melted his insides, so that the demon within him was safely leashed. He knew he would have her, he knew he would never allow her to escape him, yet he never believed she would grow to love him for who he was, what he was. Maybe it wouldn't happen, but Jaxon did want to know him, his reality.

Lucian's hand moved to the nape of her neck, his fingers curling around it. "To rejuvenate our bodies, such as when we have suffered mortal wounds or used much energy to heal another, the soil of the earth welcomes us. But it is not strictly necessary to sleep within the arms of the earth. It is safer, for little harm can find its way to us there." Again he hesitated, unsure how she would take the next piece of information.

Jaxon thumped his chest lightly with her fist. She didn't bother to open her eyes and frown at him, considering her gesture enough of a reprimand. "Tell me."

"Normally we sleep differently than humans in that we shut down our hearts and lungs and lie as if dead. But that is a dangerous thing to do in a setting such as this one. Beneath this house I have a sleeping chamber. If something should happen and my safeguards failed, then it would be much easier for an adversary to destroy me here than in my sleeping chamber, where they cannot find me."

Jaxon shoved his arm aside and sat up, her hair spilling wildly around her face, her eyes enormous. "Why aren't you doing what you're supposed to be doing? I'm not going to be thrilled waking up next to someone who looks dead."

"I will not sleep in the manner of our kind, Jaxon. We are bound together. We must touch minds frequently, or it is uncomfortable, even dangerous. Your mind is used to the touch of my mind. Without it you would feel intense grief, much more intense than a human could withstand. Carpathian emotions are extremely strong, Jaxon, due, no doubt, to our longevity. I cannot exactly describe what you would feel, but I cannot take such a chance with you. There is no need for it. I will sleep in the way of your people."

"Why don't you sleep like we do all the time?"

He sighed and deliberately pulled her once more into his arms. "You talk too much, when you should be sleeping."

"You've been doing that, haven't you? Sleeping beside me like a human instead of doing what is good for you," Jaxon guessed shrewdly. "That's why you look tired sometimes. Your body doesn't rest this way, does it?"

"No, it does not rest." He sounded somewhere between exasperation and laughter. "Go to your sleeping chamber or whatever it is you call it," she demanded.

"I cannot be apart from you."

"If your heart and lungs are shut down, then you can't possibly feel anything," she said logically.

"You are trying to take care of me again," he pointed out, wishing his heart didn't react quite so strongly to her concern. In all the endless centuries he had endured, he could not remember a single individual, other than his twin brother, Gabriel, who had worried about him. And that hadn't been the same.

"Someone has to take care of you. You don't," she replied. "I mean it, Lucian. I can see how tired you are. Please go where you can sleep properly."

"Not without you."

There was a small silence. "I can go there?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "I told you, it isn't in the earth. It is below the basement but not in the soil."

"If I woke up, I could just walk out of there? I don't think I'm claustrophobic, but I'd hate to trapped somewhere."

"I can show you the way. But, Jaxon, you must not think I'm dead. If you wake without me, before the sun goes down, your mind will play tricks on you. I will look dead and feel dead to your touch. You cannot allow your mind to trick you into doing anything foolish. Lifemates often end their lives rather than exist alone after they are bound together. You must promise me, should you wake, you will not leave the house, and if it becomes unbearable, you will call out to me persistently in the way of our people."

"You can hear me while your heart and lungs are shut down?"

"Most cannot. But I am not most. If you are suffering and you call to me, I will hear you."

"Then let's go." She said it determinedly.

"You are certain you wish to do this? It is not necessary."

"Yes, it is. You need to sleep and stay strong and powerful for all that weird stuff that you do. I'm getting used to it, and I'd miss it if you couldn't do it anymore."

Lucian lifted her easily as he rose straight off the bed into the air, cradling her in his arms. "Close your eyes, angel. You know how you hate my manner of travel."

"The speed thing."

"Exactly." His voice was infinitely tender.

She closed her eyes and snuggled more deeply into his body, her heart pounding nervously. There was a rush of wind and sense of traveling through time and space as they maneuvered the intricate passages to his sleeping chamber far below the house.

As he laid her on the bed, Jaxon looked around her in awe. It was beautiful, nothing like the cave she had imagined it to be It was a room with furniture and candles and crystal rocks that reflected the dancing flames, projecting intriguing shadows. Its fragrance was soothing, and Jaxon found she could lie beside him without fear.

Lucian leaned over her, his hand tracing the beloved lines of her face. "Sleep well, angel. If you dream, let it be only of me." He bent his head and found the silken heat of her mouth one last time, staking his claim, his intentions, moving the earth for both of them. Even as he lifted his head, he commanded she sleep, a deep sleep undisturbed until the sun sank from the sky.

Only when he was certain the safeguards were in place and he had sent word to the wolves to guard the property did he allow the breath to leave his body and his heart to cease beating.