His relief was tremendous, the curious somersaulting in the region of his heart unexpected. “I will do my best to come to some kind of compromise over your family unit and your need to sing. It is a great gift, Desari, your voice and what you are able to do with it. I feel pride in your accomplishments, but I cannot lie. I fear for your safety. Your schedules are announced far in advance. I believe you will be safe from the human assassins for now, but we must explore the very real possibility that vampires are congregating in this region with the express hope of finding you and the other female.”
Now more than ever it was imperative he succeed in his centuries-old quest to destroy his vampire mentor, or she would never be truly safe again. The ancient could so easily track her now through Julian.
Desari winced at his last remark. “The ‘other female’ is Syndil. I love her as my sister. You have access to my memories. You can see that. You can also see why we are especially protective of her and why she chooses to take the leopard’s form at this time.”
“While she is in the leopard’s form she does not have to cope with her trauma,” Julian mused, “but you must see, Desari, that it is not right. It only prolongs her recovery. All of you think you are helping her, but she needs to be strong on her own. She can cope. Pretending the assault did not happen will not allow her to recover. She needs to be encouraged to start taking back command of her life.”
Desari tilted her head to look up at him, astonished at his perception. “How could you know this when you have not even met her? Why did we not realize we were only lengthening her recovery?” Desari’s anguish throbbed in her musical voice. “It was my negligence that this has not been attended to.”
Julian smiled down at her. “You take far too much on your shoulders, Desari. All of you tried to shield her. I am certain in the beginning it was exactly what she needed. Now that has changed. Sharing your mind yet seeing things from a fresh perspective allows me to show you the conclusion you yourself would have come to in time.”
Desari moved restlessly, wanting the warmth and comfort of his larger frame. Julian responded immediately by pulling her close to him. His strong arms en folded her and held her tightly against him. “It will be all right, Desari. I promise you.”
“Darius has told Dayan you are to be treated with respect,” she whispered into his chest.
Julian shrugged carelessly before he could stop himself. He did not seek approval or protection from anyone.
Chapter Eight
Desari glanced up at Julian’s face. It looked as if it had been carved from stone, an implacable mask, unreadable and stony. She sighed softly. Integrating Julian into their family was not going to be easy. He was not one to follow another man’s lead. He walked his own path. Darius and he were bound to clash at every turn. The other men in her family were certain to treat Julian with distrust, and that very well could be like lighting a match to dry timber. Julian carried himself with arrogance and had a wry sense of humor often bordering on contempt. His hand slid possessively up her arm, lingering for a moment on her soft skin before his seeking fingers twined themselves in the rich luxury of her hair. He bent down so that his mouth was close to her ear, his warm breath teasing her. “I can read your thoughts,
cara mia,
and you should have more faith in your lifemate. I can do no other than see to your happiness. If you wish us to live for a time, in peace, among your family,”
rather overrun with territorial males,
“then I can do no other than offer my friendship to them.”
Desari burst out laughing. He had tried to sound sincere but had ended up sounding pained. In any case, she could read his thoughts as easily as he could hers. “‘Territorial males? What does that mean? We do not have our own territory, unless you count the coast of Africa, where we lived for so long.”
“I spent some time in Africa, among the leopards,” he said to get off the dangerous subject of her family.
Her eyes, so enormous and beautiful, sparkled at him. “You did? How incredible. We spent nearly two hundred years there, and we still sometimes return to visit. It would be funny if we were on the same continent at the same time and never met. Especially if you were running among our leopards.”
He shook his head. “I doubt that happened. I sensed your brother’s power as he sensed mine the moment we were in proximity. It would not have escaped our notice if we had come close in Africa. More important, you and I, born lifemates, would have sensed each other’s presence in some way.” But he did find it interesting that he had been inexplicably drawn to Africa, and the leopards there, in his search for other Carpathians. Perhaps some trace of Desari had called to him even then.
“Tell me more about your people,” she said now.
“They are also your people. You have blood kin, Desari, still in existence. Your eldest brother is a great man among our people, very respected and equally feared. He is called Gregori, and Darius is much like him.” He grinned suddenly, transforming his harshly beautiful features to those of a mischievous boy. “They are
very
much alike. Gregori, the Dark One, is often used as a bogey man to keep the young children in line. The only other immortal as great as your blood kin is Mikhail.
Mikhail is the acknowledged Prince of our people, the one who has kept our race alive and hopeful these many centuries. Mikhail and Gregori are as close as brothers in their own strange way. Each is so powerful that no one would dare to challenge either of them for fear the other would retaliate.”
Desari nodded her head. “Like our family.”
Julian thought about that. “In a way, though few of the Carpathians left alive have family units such as this.”
“What of your family?” Desari asked innocently.
She saw him wince, and his golden gaze skittered away from hers. “I told you, I have a twin brother. Aidan. He resides in San Francisco. I have not spoken with him for many years, nor have I met his lifemate.”
Her eyebrows rose. There was something dark swirling close to the surface again. She sensed a deep pain in Julian and did not attempt to probe his thoughts in so sensitive an area. She chose her words carefully. “Were there harsh words between you?”
“There is blood between us, Desari. As your brother can track you, so it is that we can track one another.” Julian sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. “The majority of our males refuse to share blood with one another for the simple reason that each male knows it is inevitable, without a lifemate, that he must choose to end his life or lose his soul for all eternity and become the vampire. It is much easier to track those you have shared blood with, particularly for a hunter.”
Desari took a deep breath. Julian had some terrible secret he wouldn’t share with her. “Have you shared your blood with others, Julian?” She asked.
Julian grinned at her, his white teeth gleaming. “You have only to search my mind for the answer,
cara mia.
”
He was tempting her, a blatant seduction to enter his mind and know him in the most intimate way. It bound them closer every time they merged. She could feel it, his mind becoming more familiar with each touch. Her mind craved the touch of his, the need growing inside her in the same way the need for sharing his body was growing. It was an ember smoldering, the flame spreading, a dark heat she knew she would be unable to resist. Yet somewhere in his mind, buried deep, was a shadow, too painful, that he refused to share.
Desari glanced away from him toward the thick forest. Freedom was so close. Julian wasn’t touching her, not even in her mind; he was simply standing there beside her. Tall. Muscular. Sinfully beautiful. With a pain in him buried so deep, he could only wonder if she could ever find it and eradicate it. His golden eyes blazed at her with hunger and need, drawing her to him. Her heart turned over, and she knew she was lost.
“I have shared blood on more than one occasion, little one, although, because I am a well-known hunter, my help has be
en often refused. Should the one receiving it turn, I could track him with ease to destroy him.” As he said the words aloud, he remembered anew, too, why few males with lifemates hunted the undead. To protect one’s lifemate, the hunter could very well hesitate to go into a vicious battle that might destroy him and lead his lifemate, in inconsolable pain, to destroy herself.
An ideal hunter was one with longevity, knowledge, skill, ruthlessness, and power. Such a one had little hope of finding his mate, so the loss of his own life was not something to be feared. With a lifemate, if the male hunter were to be killed, his lifemate would likely choose to greet the dawn. And their race could not survive the loss of even one of their women. Julian had heard of only one case where a lifemate survived without the other. The female died, and the male became vampire, wreaking havoc in the Carpathian mountains, striking at everyone he held responsible, going so far as to murder his own son and attempt to murder his daughter’s lifemate, knowing it would end her life as well, Desari put a gentle hand on his arm, finally touching his mind to find what thoughts had made him grow so still and distant. She saw the memory of Julian slowly approaching a handsome man. The man had haunted black eyes, eyes that had seen far too much. The eyes of a man who had been tortured beyond endurance. Brutally wounded, dripping precious blood, he had watched Julian’s approach with wary, dangerous eyes. She watched as Julian spoke softly, easily extending his arm to the man that he might live with the blood of an ancient flowing in his veins.
Jacques. Mikhail’s brother. Lifemate to one whose father had murdered her brother, betrayed their people to human assassins, tortured her husband, tried to kill her.
She caught that much before Julian wiped the memory from his mind and caught her chin with his strong fingers.
Her dark eyes immediately were held captive by his golden ones. “We will work this out to both our satisfactions, Desari,” he promised softly. “Come with me. You need to feed this night before we leave this place with the others. And I need to feel your body, touch you, know you are really mine and not someone I dreamed up in desperation.”
There was such an intensity to his need, everything else was swept from Desari’s mind. Heat sizzled and danced along her skin, arcing between them like white-hot lightning. Julian’s hand slid around the nape of her neck, nestling her to him as he began to walk her away from the campsite. With every step they took together, their bodies brushed against one another.
Desari felt the burning need, too. But she also felt an inner peace, a completeness. She loved the way his body moved, rippling with power like a sleek jungle cat. The feel of his arm, so sure and strong, made her feel delicate and feminine despite the fact that she knew she was equally powerful in her own right. At the nape of her neck his fingers moved every now and then as they walked into the forest, away from the sounds of the others. She could feel him rubbing strands of her hair between his thumb and fingers as if he could never quite get enough of the feel of it. Then his fingers dropped casually to her neck, her collarbone, to move over her skin, stroking gently, almost absently, yet each caress sent liquid fire pulsing through her body.
How had she ever been happy without him? Before him her body had never been restless and hungry as it was now. She had loved her life, her singing, yet now she thought always of him, his strange, solitary life, his loneliness, and his terrible aching need only she could fill. And he seemed to fill her life as nothing had before. She was changed for all time, just as she had feared, yet now, as he walked so quietly beside her, she had no fear whatsoever.
Even as they walked together in perfect harmony, breathing in the fresh mountain air, listening to the forest creatures, the creak of the swaying branches, and a rushing stream nearby, Julian could think of only one thing. Before he went out of his mind, he had to bend down and find Desari’s mouth with his. He wanted the taste of her lingering in his body for all time. He meant to be gentle with her—a caress, no more—but the moment he felt the softness of her perfect mouth, red-hot lava, molten and hungry, flared and consumed him. His muscles tightened to the point of pain. His arms, of their own accord, swept around her to pull her close. He imprinted his hard frame on her softer one, letting her feel his painful need, his body full and demanding, his mouth fastening on hers as if she were his very breath.
“You are my breath,” he whispered into the softness of her mouth. “You are the only reason I am still living, Desari. I intended to greet the dawn after I had completed my errand and warned you of the impending danger to you.” His tongue explored the heated velvet of her mouth, then moved to the slim column of her neck. As he continued to feed the fire between them, he was moving them deeper into the shadows of the forest. His hands slipped beneath her blouse to rest on her narrow rib cage, taking in as much of her soft skin as he was able to. Julian closed his eyes for a moment, just savoring the feel of her, the rose-petal texture of her skin.
Desari circled his neck with one arm, brushing at the wild strands of golden hair falling around his face before she slowly unbuttoned the tiny pearl buttons down the front of her blouse. As each slipped from its resting place, the blouse parted, and she drew his head down to her bare skin. Only a fine film of lace covered her full, aching breasts. Her nipples were hard and pushing through the lace, her need every bit as great as his own.
He whispered something soft and sexy in Italian, but the sound of it was muffled as he blazed a trail of fire from her throat to the valley between her breasts. She heard her own gasp, a soft cry of need as she arched to meet his wandering mouth. His tongue lapped at her nipples right through the lace, a hot, moist caress that created a hot, moist response between her legs.
“I need you, Desari. I was empty without you. And that kind of emptiness eats away at you, consumes you until your soul is dark and ugly and all that matters is sating your hunger. But nothing fills the void. Nothing. Year after year you endure the emptiness until life itself is a curse hardly to be borne. And all the while the darkness, the beast in you whispers, an insidious whisper promising power from the kill, promises that wear away your belief in God, in all the things that are right and true and good. The monster inside you, so black and hungry for life, grows and grows until it has consumed everything you ever were. That is the curse borne by Carpathian males, Desari.”
Julian’s arms tightened around her until their strength threatened to crack her bones, but Desari only held him closer, listening to the anguish in his voice. She cradled his head to her, protective, feminine, his refuge and salvation.
“We have lost so many. I have hunted boyhood friends, dared not become too close to anyone in case I was called upon to end his existence.” His hands moved over her skin, tracing each rib. The palms of his hands were hot as they moved to find her waist. Julian lifted his head to allow his eyes to drift slowly, possessively over her. His molten gaze ignited a firestorm of need in Desari. She loved the weight of his eyes on her, the hunger burning so intensely there.
She watched as he slowly lifted one hand, and stared at his perfect nails for a moment before one lengthened into a sharp talon. Very slowly he inserted it between her breasts, just touching the wisp of lace that hugged her body. One downward sweep sliced the material easily, spilling her breasts free.
Desari held her breath, afraid to move or speak, not wanting to shatter the moment, not wanting that look of hunger for her alone to ever leave his face. His hands moved upward, sliding over her skin to cup her breasts. His heated gaze went to her face, studying every detail, every expression, every emotion in her dark eyes.
“I will never deserve you, Desari, no matter how long we live, no matter how hard I try. I do not deserve a woman such as you.” He whispered the words, meaning every one of them.
She smiled, tilting her head to one side. “Perhaps not, Julian,” she agreed. “But I am not the angel you think me. You have only to ask my brother the trouble you are letting yourself in for. But I promise you, I do plan on showing you.”
Her voice
, soft and pure, straight from heaven, slipped over his body like the brush of her fingertips, touching him everywhere, teasing, stroking, promising the very things fantasies were made of. She wanted to end his suffering, take away the centuries of emptiness without hope, the terrible burden of the deaths he carried, forced to hunt his friends and end their lives in order to save mortals and immortals alike. She wanted to play and tease, be as mischievous as possible, teach him the meaning of her kind of “trouble.”
A sound intruded. The others were still far too close to them. The campsite was some distance away, but Carpathians had exceptionally acute hearing. Julian could hear them breaking camp, starting up vehicles. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm the raging storm within. He would not subject the other men, all so close to turning, to the sounds of their lovemaking.
Very tenderly he cupped the creamy fullness of Desari’s breasts in the palms of his hands. His thumbs caressed her nipples into hard, beckoning peaks. “You are so beautiful, Desari, your skin so warm and soft.” He bent his head to trace the valley between her breasts with his tongue, lingering over the steady beat of her heart. “I want you so badly I feel I might go insane if I do not have you at this moment.”
She lay her head over his, rubbing his thick mane of golden hair with her chin. “But?”
Julian sighed softly. “I will have to be content with looking at you in adoration.” He reluctantly released her and stepped away. “I think I can manage to wait a short time.” His golden eyes glittered at her dangerously. “If you do something to distract me.”
Desari tilted her head, her long hair sliding like so much silk over her shoulder, partially covering her bare skin from his view. A small, feminine smile curved her soft mouth. Just the sight of it made him groan. “Distract you?” Her voice hummed with promise. “I can think of several interesting things we can try to distract you from thinking of my family.” Her smile was sexy, enticing, a promise.
Dark Challenge (Dark Series - book 5) Page 15