He lifted a hand, needing to touch the silk of her hair.
Much.
It was a blatant lie, and she scowled at him.
“Is that so? I’m beginning to think you need a monitor like we have for newborns. I want you to lie quietly. I can tell you’ve been squirming around again.”
I have nightmares.
Hisblack eyes never left her face, burning his brand into her heart. No one had the right to have eyes like his. Hungry eyes. Eyes that held fire and the promise of passion.
“We’ll have to do something about them,” Shea said with a slight smile. She hoped her own eyes weren’t revealing her confused, unfamiliar feelings for him. She would get over them soon; it was just that he was the sexiest thing she had ever encountered.
No one had ever needed her as he did. Not even her own mother. Jacques had a way of looking at her as if his life, the very air he breathed, depended solely on her. Intellectually she knew that any living person would really do for him, but she wrapped herself up in his hunger and fire anyway. For this time in her life, when she was alone and hunted, near the end of her endurance, and coping with many bizarre happenings, she would enjoy this unique experience.
His black eyes smoldered, a velvet seduction.
I need a dream to rid myself of nightmares.
She backed away from him holding a palm outward to ward him off. “Just you keep your ideas to yourself,” she warned. “You have that devil’s look, the one that says no woman is safe.”
That is not true, Shea,
hedenied, the hard edge of his mouth softening into temptation.
Only one woman. You.
She laughed at him. “I think I’m very grateful you’re in no condition to move around. The sun is coming up, and I have to secure the cottage for daylight. Go back to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.” Shea patted the one comfortable chair she had.
You will lie beside me where you should be,
heinformed her.
Shea carefully closed the shutters on the windows and fastened them. She was always cautious in locking her home. During the day she was very vulnerable. Already she could feel her body slowing, becoming heavier, more tired.
I want you to lie beside me.
His voice was a sinful caress, enticing, insistent.
“I think you can manage all by yourself,” she answered, refusing to look into his dark, hypnotic eyes. Instead, she shut off her computer and the generator and locked the door.
I have nightmares, little red hair. The only way to keep them at bay is to have you close beside me.
Hesounded very earnest, innocent, hopeful.
Shea found herself smiling as she poured him another unit of blood. She was beginning to think the devil himself had shown up at her doorstep. Jacques was temptation incarnate. “I removed a stake from your heart just a couple of nights ago, and you have a major wound there. If I move around while I sleep, I could easily bump into you and start it bleeding again. You wouldn’t want that, would you’?”
He took the container from her hand, his fingers curling around the glass precisely over the spot where her fingers had been. He did things like that, intimate things that sent butterfly wings brushing deep within her.
Not my heart, Shea. They did not get me in the heart, as they should have. It is here within my body
—
can you not hear it? Your heart beats with the same rhythm so that it matches mine.
“Were you a playboy before they buried you’?” she asked him, tossing a mischievous grin over her shoulder. Shea checked her gun to make certain it was clean and loaded. “You need to drink that, Jacques, not just hold it. And then go back to sleep. The more rest you get, the faster you’ll heal.”
You persist in being my doctor when I so need my lifemate to come and lie beside me.
Again his voice was temptation itself.
“Drink, Jacques.” She tried to sound stern, but it was impossible when he was looking so desperate for her company.
I am desperate.
She couldn’t help but shake her head. “You’re outrageous.”
He made an attempt to raise the glass to his mouth, but his arm wobbled.
Icannot lift this without your aid, Shea. I am too weak.
“Am I supposed to believe you’?” She laughed aloud but crossed to his side. “You were strong enough to lift me off my feet with one hand when I found you. Don’t give me that poor-little-boy look, Jacques, because it won’t work.”
But it was working. He needed to feel her touch, the brush of her fingers in his hair, and she stroked his thick mane without conscious thought. Her fingers lingered as if she enjoyed the sensation as much as he did. Jacques took the gun from her hand and pulled her down beside him, as hungry for the feel of her warmth beside him as he was for the sustenance she provided. Her scent drifted to him—the forest, the flowers, and the night air itself. He wrapped an arm around her and held her to him. She relaxed, allowing her eyelashes to drift down.
Shea slept fitfully, her body cumbersome in the light of the day. Jacques lay beside her, motionless, his arm a heavy weight curved possessively around her waist. Several times she struggled to surface during the afternoon hours, but it was an impossibility. Once she heard a noise outside the cabin, and her heart pounded in alarm, but she was unable to summon up enough energy to do more than clutch the gun beneath the pillow tightly. She knew she was responsible for their safety, yet she couldn’t pry her eyes open or force herself to rise and check around the cabin to ensure no one was near.
The sun had long since sunk beneath the mountains before Shea managed to rouse herself. Hunger was a gnawing, relentless ache, but the thought of food made her stomach heave. She struggled to sit up, far weaker than she had ever been. She pushed a hand through her heavy fall of wine-red hair.
Jacques’ fingers circled her arm, slid the length from shoulder to wrist. She was small and delicate, yet she had such inner strength. It amazed him how brave and courageous she was, how compassionate. He found her intriguing, mysterious even. The world as he knew it had begun seven years earlier: pain, isolation, and darkness. The monster in him had grown, eclipsed his soul. At first he had had no emotion at all, simply a will that would never die, an icy determination, a promise of retribution made in exchange for his lost soul. He would find them—the betrayer, the human assassins—and he would destroy them. But once he had found his lifemate, despite the distance that separated them, he had begun to feel. To smolder with a black fury that would never cease until he had found a way to retaliate for the loss of his soul. Every emotion he possessed was dark and ugly. Until Shea had changed him. Since the moment he had merged his mind with hers, he had stayed there in that haven, a part of her, a shadow so quiet she didn’t always know he was there. He could not bear to be away from her.
Jacques’ fist tangled in her thick, luxurious hair. She stirred things in him he had no name for. He would never endure closed-in places again, never endure being alone again. And he would never allow Shea to place herself at risk. Silently cursing his weakened body, he brought the silken strands of her hair to his face, inhaling her fragrance.
“I’m so tired, Jacques,” she confessed, swaying slightly as she sat on the side of the bed. She found it strange to have someone to talk to, to wake up and not be alone. Shea should have been uncomfortable in the situation—she had never shared her life with anyone—yet with Jacques there was a weird familiarity, as if she had known him forever.
Her life had always been one of isolation, a certain distance always present between herself and others. Jacques had no respect for that barrier, slipping in and out of her head as if he belonged there. His touch was possessive, even intimate. Shea was bewildered by her own feelings, by her acceptance of their strange affinity. She was excited at her rare scientific find, perhaps holding an answer to the terrible disease that branded those so afflicted as
nosferatu,
unclean. The undead. Her
kind was condemned to a life of hiding and loathing, always living in fear of being discovered. It was important to find out whether they were a separate species or whether some rare genetic code had given them a need for blood to sustain their lives.
Shea studied Jacques’ worn but handsome face. He looked young, yet ageless. He looked tormented, as if he had suffered greatly, yet he looked like stone. She could see the power in him now; it clung like a second skin. Biting her lip, she drew away from him, her emerald eyes thoughtful. The strength and power in him was growing. His body might be mending slowly, but his unusual capabilities seemed to be recovering at a much faster rate. It occurred to her that she should be afraid of the creature now lying motionless in her bed. It was apparent that he could be extraordinarily dangerous, was capable of extreme violence. Especially with his mind so fractured, his rage so deep.
Jacques sighed.
I do not like that you fear me, Shea.
“If you wouldn’t persist in reading my thoughts, Jacques,” she said gently, afraid she had hurt him, “then you wouldn’t have to see these things I worry about. You are capable of violence. You cannot deny it. I see it in you.”
She stood up with a return of her quick, restless energy, and he allowed her silken hair to slide through his fingers. With half-closed eyes, Jacques watched the transparent thoughts slipping across her expressive face. Shea was incapable of subterfuge. What she was, who she was, was an open book.
“I didn’t think things through, you know. I just rushed out and rescued you. I caused you great suffering.” Her large green eyes fastened on his face. Storm clouds gathered instantly when she felt his faint, mocking amusement echoing through her mind. “What? What’s so funny? Some idiot tried to put a stake through your heart, and he didn’t even hit the darn thing!”
For which I am grateful. And I am even more grateful that you rescued me. I did not like being imprisoned and in such pain.
“I guess I’m glad I rescued you, too, but the truth is, Jacques, I have watched you healing faster than is possible. You’re even more dangerous now. You are, aren’t you?” ‘
Never to you,
he denied.
She raised an eyebrow. “Is that strictly the truth? I’ve been in your head, too, remember.” She had touched his mind and had recoiled at the seething cauldron of raw violence and black fury often swirling within him. “Sometimes I can even read you as well as you read me. You have no idea what you’re doing half the time. You have no idea who you are.”
Perhaps not, Shea, but I know you are my lifemate. I could not harm you now.
Hisface remained granite, his eyes dark and ice cold. She was right. He was dangerous. He knew it in his soul. His mind was not to be trusted. Her presence kept him tranquil, calm, but his mind was a maze of dark, deadly trails. He had no idea if he would be able to distinguish reality from nightmare if their delicately balanced world tilted in any way. His black eyes went a glittering obsidian, and he looked away from her, ashamed. He should allow her to leave, give her her freedom, but he could not. She was his only sanity, his only path to the surface from the hellish nightmare he lived in.
Ihave sworn to protect you, Shea. I can only promise it is in my heart to do so.
Shea stepped away from the bed, suddenly close to tears. He was in a treacherous labyrinth; he walked a fine line between sanity and a world she did not want to try to comprehend. “I will protect you, Jacques. You have my solemn word, I won’t let you down. I’ll see you through this until you’re right again.”
And then?
Hisblack gaze slid lazily over her.
Do you intend to leave me, Shea? You save me, and then you think to desert me?
There was a kind of dark humor in his voice, a secret amusement that stirred something in her she hadn’t known existed. Something that went beyond fear. Terror.
Her chin tilted a little belligerently. “What does that mean? Of course I won’t desert you. I’ll stay with you and see you through this. We’ll find your family.”
It was too late. Even if she attempted to put distance between them, she could not break their bond. His blood ran in her veins; his mind was familiar with the path to hers. Their souls called to one another. Hearts were following, and it was only matter of time before he possessed her body. Running would not save either of them. Jacques knew it with a certainty with which he knew few other things. But imparting the knowledge to her would frighten her more. His heart twisted, a funny somersault. His Shea feared death far less than she feared personal commitment. She really had no idea they were already bound together. She would need him, need him close, need him touching her in her mind, in her body.
I feel your need to perform the human functions you seem to enjoy. Go bathe. I am in no hurry to have you examine my wounds.
Shea blinked once, her green eyes thoughtful before she turned away to disappear into the other room. He was making an attempt to put her at ease, but it sent a chill through her. His voice held some note, one she realized was beginning to emerge more and more, one she found disturbing. It was possessive, holding complete authority. She had the feeling Jacques was slowly taking over her life. He was in her thoughts, in her head. He was everywhere, and she was allowing it to happen.
Jacques lay quietly, staring up at the ceiling. Shea was worried about the way she responded to him. Her brain intrigued him, the way she addressed every problem from a scientific or intellectual angle rather than an emotional one. He felt the smile that wanted to tug at the corners of his mouth. He knew her thoroughly; he spent more time in her mind than out of it. He was taking no chances on losing her.
She had been trying to reassure him with talk of his family. He had no family other than Shea. He wanted no other, needed no other. She hadn’t accepted her role as yet. Half of her persisted in looking at him as a patient. She was a healer first, a researcher second. He was in her mind. He knew very well she never entertained the idea of a long-term arrangement. She didn’t expect to live long, let alone share her life with anyone. The idea was so foreign to her nature, she couldn’t yet conceive of it.
He listened to the water running in the other room, knew it sprayed over her bare skin. His body stirred uncomfortably, the beginnings of an unrelenting ache. It amazed him that his body was coming back to life, that he could feel signs of sexual awareness. He had a vague feeling he had not known such a thing in many centuries, let alone with his body so battered and his mind so fragmented. Shea had given him back life. More than life. More than existing. He couldn’t wait to see the smile on her face, the way her hair was always such a flyaway mess begging for his attention. He loved to watch every gesture she made, every movement and turn of her head. He liked the way her brain worked, focused and absolute, the way her mind was filled with humor and compassion.
Jacques cursed the weakness of his body. He needed fresh blood desperately. He stilled his mind and body, calling on all of his reserve strength. He lifted a hand, concentrated, and focused on the cabin door. Pain beat in his head. Fire raced along his wounds. Cursing, he slumped back against the pillows. He could use physical powers, yet when he called on his mind for the simplest task, he could not perform it.
He smelled her first, her clean fragrance, the scent of flowers drifting from her hair. She had rushed in to the room so silently he had not actually heard the sound of her bare feet on the floor, but his mind never completely separated itself from hers, and he knew the exact moment she had caught up a towel and run to him.
“What is it, Jacques, did you try to move, tear something open?” There was anxiety in her voice, but her touch was coolly professional as she examined his wounds.
The towel was large, a pale peach sheath of cotton encasing her slender body. As she bent over him, a bead of water ran from her shoulder across the swell of her breast to disappear beneath the towel. Jacques watched the little bead of moisture and suddenly was incredibly thirsty. Her eyelashes were ridiculously long, her lush mouth set in a slight
frown as she searched her small, precise stitches for signs of damage. She was so incredibly beautiful, she took his breath away.
“Jacques? What is it?” Her voice whispered over him like a caress.
No memories, no abilities. The simplest task is impossible.
Histhumb feathered gently back and forth along the inside of her wrist.
“You’ll heal, Jacques. Don’t be impatient. If you need something, I can get it for you.” His thumb was sending butterflies winging through her stomach. It amazed her that she was so susceptible to his charm. She just wasn’t like that.
Although his harshly sensual features remained a mask, something inside him melted, and he felt a leap of joy. He wanted to smile in spite of everything. The pain ceased to matter, his shattered memories and impotent body were merely inconveniences he would eventually get over. Shea mattered.
Open the door for me that I might breathe the night,
he said and tried not to devour her with his eyes. He was well aware she was beginning to see that no one—certainly not Shea with her gentle, compassionate nature—could oppose his will, a will honed in the fires of hell.
She did as he asked. “You didn’t try to get up, did you? You can’t, Jacques. You’ll do too much damage. And if you keep adding scar tissue, you’ll end up looking like Frankenstein.”
He had closed his eyes to inhale the fresh, clean night air.
Carpathians never scar.
It came out of nowhere. He was elated he remembered something. He was even elated he remembered Frankenstein.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really? Then what’s that thin line around your throat? I barely caught it, but it’s there.”
His black eyes snapped open, a merciless fury burning there. Shea stepped away from him quickly, her heart pounding. She could actually see red flames burning in the depths of his eyes.
He looked like a demon, an invincible predator. The impression was so strong that she brought a protective hand to her throat to cover the evidence of the ragged wounds there.
Jacques was unaware of Shea, the room, even his own weak body. The sensation of battle was strong in him. He touched the uneven, faint white scar curving around his jugular. The impression of danger was so strong, he felt the beast in him rage for release. Fangs exploded in his mouth, and his nails began to lengthen. His muscles rippled and contracted, and his power and enormous strength bonded briefly with his will. A slow, venomous hiss escaped him. Then the pain in his body from muscles waiting for release made him aware of lying helpless in a bed. He dimly remembered a woman’s anxious face, tears swimming in her large blue eyes. He should know her. He should know. Fists clenched, and he welcomed the exploding pain that drove the fragment of memory from his mind.
Dark Desire (Dark Series - book 2) Page 9