'I will take her blood and insist on obedience.' Barack was annoyed with the woman. She was ridiculously stubborn.
'She is the one Cullen has chosen. Out of respect for him and for Dayan's lifemate, we cannot do such a thing.'
Barack snorted his opinion of that. "It was your refusal to accept reality that initiated this crisis. We could have lost both Cullen and Corinne. Did you want him shot? If so, you managed to accomplish it."
'Barack!' Syndil hissed a reprimand. 'What are you doing?'
'I think we should take Cullen to safety and wipe his mind clean of this childish woman. She looks good, but what is that without substance?'
Cullen's hand moved, his fingers creeping toward Lisa's. "As I recall, Barack," he whispered, "not so long ago you wanted to shoot me yourself. I seem to inspire that reaction in people. What happened to me?"
Syndil leaned close to him, her hand gentle as she stroked back the hair from Cullen's forehead. Lisa was weeping quietly again. "You were shot protecting Corinne and Lisa. As always, you played the hero," Syndil answered him.
"Still trying to show me up in front of beautiful women," Barack said, grinning affectionately down at Cullen.
Cullen's gaze sought Lisa's, but she avoided his eyes by hanging her head even as she clung to his hand. "You never seem to appreciate a woman until I point out her good qualities, Barack."
"Do not seek to get me in trouble with this reminder of my former behavior, Cullen," Barack said, keeping his tone light despite his worry. Cullen was almost gray. Barack looked anxiously at Syndil.
His lifemate smiled reassuringly at Barack. "It is true, Cullen," Syndil said. "I have a long memory, and you are the one who made me feel I could live again. You must rest and do as we say."
"I want Lisa taken care of." Cullen was looking at Lisa with love in his eyes.
Barack cleared his throat but subsided quickly when Syndil glared at him.
"Lisa, don't cry," Cullen said softly. "You're breaking my heart."
"He's right, though – it was my fault. I went to the photo shoot because I didn't want to believe there was a problem. And now you're hurt and so is Corinne."
"Corinne?" Cullen turned his head to look at Barack. "Where is Corinne?"
"She is with Dayan," Barack said soothingly, bending down to look into Cullen's pain-filled eyes. "You are to rest and heal, Cullen. Dayan will care for Corinne, and we will see to it that Lisa is safe. You have my word on that."
"Lisa is under your protection," Cullen insisted.
Barack sighed softly. "Of course, Cullen, she is under our protection. I give you my word. Now go back to sleep and stop ordering me around in front of Syndil. She likes it too much."
Cullen closed his eyes obediently in response to the hypnotic suggestion in Barack's voice, immediately Syndil leaned close to Lisa, looking directly into her eyes. 'You must have the security guard escort you to the cafeteria while the nurse keeps an eye on the room. It is urgent that you get something to drink immediately.' Syndil was feeling weak from the exhausting work of repairing the terrible injuries to Cullen. She needed sustenance, and Cullen needed Barack's ancient blood to complete the healing process. They could not give it to him and then allow the hospital to take a blood sample. Cullen needed to be moved where they could watch over his health properly and protect him.
Lisa leaned over Cullen to brush his forehead with a kiss before she turned in obedience to the hypnotic compulsion Syndil had used on her.
* * *
Chapter 11
Corinne heard the music first. Soft. Sweet. Perfect. It was so wonderful, it brought tears to her eyes. The voice singing the lyrics conveyed a husky blend of male sensuality and outpouring love. She knew who it was and found herself smiling. "Dayan." She whispered his name softly.
The music continued, but she felt the slight shifting of the bed where she was lying. "Corinne. I thought you might sleep forever. I want you to know you took several hundred years off my life. I cannot afford another scare like that. The next time I send you to sleep, I expect to find you where I left you."
Her soft mouth curved into a smile, but she didn't open her eyes. "Listen to you. You sound almost as if you're attempting to order me around." She sounded amused, drowsy, incredibly sexy.
Instantly his blood turned to molten lava, a slow burn that consumed his body and wrapped his heart in flames. She was so beautiful to him, lying quietly beneath the blankets, her hair spread out around her face, a dark silky mass he couldn't stop himself from touching. Dayan placed his guitar carefully beside the bed and leaned over to kiss her irresistibly lush mouth. "I command and you obey. That is the way it is supposed to be." His voice was a tool of seduction.
"Really?" Her smile widened to reveal her intriguing dimple. "I hadn't heard that. I've always thought it was the other way around."
"You have been talking to the wrong people."
Corinne's long lashes fluttered, and with a small effort she managed to open them. She lifted her hand to his mouth and touched the lines of strain with a gentle fingertip. "You really were afraid for me. I didn't mean to worry you."
His hand captured hers and he brought it to his mouth, kissing the center of her palm before he placed it over his heart. "You did more than worry me, honey. Do you remember what happened?"
"It's vague, like a dream. I'm not certain what I remember, what you told me, or what I dreamed. Are Lisa and Cullen all right?"
"I believe they're safe." He hoped it was true. Syndil and Barack had not touched his mind with news, good or bad.
She stared into his eyes, trying to read his thoughts. "I need to know Lisa is alive and well and that Cullen wasn't hurt too badly."
"As soon as I know the details of his condition, I will pass the report on to you. Lisa is being guarded, and nothing will happen to her. I can promise you that."
Corinne nodded her acceptance of his word. "My baby's alive." She said it softly, lovingly, her tone turning his heart over. "I can feel her moving."
Dayan smiled at her, but the expression in his eyes was grave. "She is going to stay right where she belongs until she is strong enough to survive on her own."
"Has anyone ever told you how good-looking you are?" she asked. "Because you are, you know. Incredibly good-looking. But more than that, you're very sweet."
Dayan groaned loudly. "Do not say that, Corinne. That is the worst thing you can say to a man. Sexy. Masculine. Brooding. Manly. I can think of a million adjectives I would like, but 'sweet' is not one of them."
"There's nothing wrong with being sweet, Dayan," Corinne told him. Her voice sounded far away to her, yet other sounds seemed too loud. Crickets. Night insects. The wind outside rattling the tree branches. "Tell me what happened."
"You deliberately ignored my order to sleep and went with my idiot friend Cullen to find Lisa." He bit out each word between his white teeth, reminding her of a wolf.
"You don't mean to call Cullen an idiot," she chastised gently, not in the least intimidated by his ferocious expression.
"Cullen knew he was at the top of the society's hit list and he went out unprotected, and took you with him. I do not consider that good judgment on his part. Hence the term 'idiot' might apply." His tone was severe.
Corinne went back to rubbing the lines of strain on his handsome face. "Of course it was good judgment. What else could he do? Lisa had taken off, and if he hadn't followed her, they would have killed her," she pointed out reasonably.
"He took you with him." It was a mistake that Dayan considered unforgivable. Under the circumstances, Dayan thought he was being extraordinarily understanding about it.
She opened her mouth to reply, but there was a nameless expression in his eyes, something wild and untamed, something primitive. "I'll bet someone has told you that you're very intimidating," she teased him, trying to ease the tension. "Not that I'm intimidated by you, but I can see how other people might be."
"It would be best for you if you found me intimidating." He could
not be severe with her no matter how hard he tried. She looked up at him, small and fragile, so incredibly beautiful, her sweet, compassionate nature shining out of her eyes, and he was instantly lost. It was enough to drive him to the edge of madness.
"Do you think?" She didn't look intimidated, she looked amused. There were dark circles under her eyes and bruises on her forehead, yet her eyes were dancing with laughter. "I'm not at all sure that would be good for you. Don't think I haven't noticed the undue adulation all those fans give you."
One black eyebrow shot up. "Undue adulation? I totally deserved adulation. Get used to it, woman. Night after night while I am up on the stage playing, you will have to sit there sharing me with my fans. There is no need to be jealous, Corinne. I will see only you while I am performing."
"Such a comedian." Corinne gave a passing thought to sitting up and dismissed the idea as too difficult. "I have no intention of sitting through your performances. Private ones will be enough for me. And I don't have a jealous bone in my body. We don't have to worry about childish things like that."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Childish? That is a strong term. Harsh. Very harsh." She was smiling again, that smile that could light up the world. Dayan had no choice but to fasten his mouth to hers.
The earth moved and time stopped and he couldn't find the discipline to make it a gentle, tender moment. She had scared him, stopped his heart, and he needed her. Needed to feed on her mouth, drown in her sweetness for just a few moments. Dayan forced his body under rigid control and slowly, reluctantly lifted his head. "Please do not ever do that to me again." His voice was a velvet weapon, and he used it shamelessly. Briefly he rested his forehead against hers. "I found you. In the darkness, where there was no hope for me, where I struggled and battled the monster every second of every night, you came to me. You saved me, Corinne. You cannot abandon me now. I cannot go back to a life alone. No one can ask that of me, not even you. How can I make you understand? I cannot go back. You must make up your mind to live, if not for yourself and the baby, for me. Love me that much. Do it for me."
At once tears swam in her large green eyes. "Dayan." She whispered his name softly, hopelessly, lovingly. "Don't you think I would promise you if I could? I want that more than anything – I do, but I'm only human, I can't do the impossible." Her fingers tangled in his thick, dark hair. "I had a strange dream that your healers came to me and tried to help me. I know the doctors said I was dying – I heard them talking to Lisa. I heard her crying. Yet I'm still alive, and so is my daughter. Tell me."
"Gregori did his best to repair your heart, Corinne, but the improvement is temporary, to give the baby a chance to grow. Darius said the child is strong and wants to live. We have that in our favor. It is a delicate balance, waiting until she is big enough to survive without you. Gregori wants a few more weeks for her. He is working with your heart to give us that time."
"Then it wasn't all a dream." Corinne caught his head and lifted it so that he was forced to look at her. "What are you, Dayan? Was part of it a dream, or were you there too, helping them in some way?"
For the first time ever, his black gaze slid away from hers. He sat up straight, fussing with her covers. "I love you, Corinne," he said softly. "I love you more than anything or anyone on this earth. You need to know that."
"Look at me." Corinne took his hand and brought it to her mouth, her breath warm against his skin. "Dayan, look at me, please."
He sighed, and she could hear his heart pounding strongly. His reaction was unusual, and she knew it was significant in some way. "What is it that you think I can't love in you? Because that's what I feel. You're giving me a part of you, but you don't want me to know all of you. I feel connected to you. Strongly connected. We're two halves of the same whole. I've been married, Dayan. I knew what I was supposed to feel. I loved John, but not in the same way. With you I feel everything and more. I could listen to you talk forever. Or simply sit beside you quietly without words. It would be enough for me. I want to be with you, but I don't know who you are. You say you can love me because you know me through my mind. I don't have that advantage. In order for me to know you, really know you, you have to talk to me. There's a part of you closed off to me. Don't you trust me to care for you no matter what it is?"
"You do not trust yourself. I can see into your mind, Corinne. I see you wrestling with doubts. You think it all happened too fast. That it is simply chemistry. Purely sexual. Or that it is just because you are pregnant and you need someone. You give yourself many reasons, many excuses for your feelings toward me. You do not say to yourself that you love me."
Her eyes searched his black gaze. There was pain there, in the dark depths. He was hurt, and it upset her. "Dayan, you have probably always had the ability to read minds, so it is second nature to you, but to someone who isn't telepathic it is uncomfortable. I am used to censoring my thoughts, choosing how I want to present myself to the world. You can see into my mind, but for some strange reason, it doesn't bother me. If it were anyone else, including John or Lisa, I would be horrified that someone could read my thoughts. That should tell you something right there."
"You think it tells you something, Corinne. I already know why you feel that way. You are my lifemate, the one who holds the light and compassion, guards these treasures for me. You are my anchor in a world of darkness and violence, of bleak emptiness. You are the other half of my soul. The best half. I know I need you far more than you will ever need me. I know these things. You have not come to terms with what you feel because you do not trust it. You do not entirely trust me."
"How can you say that, Dayan? I'm here with you instead of in a hospital. I just met you, and some fairly bizarre things have happened, but I'm still with you."
He laughed softly. "As I recall, you had no real choice in the matter. I picked you up and carried you out of the hospital. You were not in any condition to argue with me."
"That's not the point." She was trying hard to find the energy to sit up. "I'm not the type of person to just go off with someone – that's the point. Obviously, I feel strongly for you." She plucked at the quilt with idle fingers. "The healer believes my heart will give out eventually, doesn't he?"
"You knew it would. I have looked closely at your memories. You have been to many doctors. There is little hope," he answered cautiously.
"Then you know I cannot possibly survive, Dayan," she said quietly. "I don't want you to think I'm choosing to leave you. I don't have a choice."
"You have a choice," he replied softly. But he knew he wasn't telling her the truth and he looked away from her, unable to tell the lie and look into her eyes. She didn't have a choice because he wouldn't allow her to die.
"You aren't looking at me, Dayan," she said softly. "You can't have it both ways. If you're not going to tell me the truth, don't expect me to trust you implicitly. You don't have to hide anything from me. If the healers told you my heart was failing, that isn't exactly news to me."
Dayan touched her mind with warmth and reassurance. "Your heart is failing. But I intend for you to live at any cost." He said it starkly, without embellishment.
Her palm framed his face, studying his expression carefully. "I see what's in your mind. I don't know how, but I can read your thought right now. You think that somehow, miraculously, you'll save me, even if the baby isn't ready to be born when my heart fails. I don't know how you think you can perform such a miracle, but, Dayan, if there is a chance for the baby, that's what I have to concentrate on. She has to be saved."
"The healer is doing his best for her, Corinne, but do not ask me to choose the child's life over yours, because I will not." This time he did look her directly in the eye, wanting her to know he was serious.
"Dayan," she reprimanded softly, "the baby comes first. If there is a choice to be made between my daughter's life or mine, you will instruct the healers to save her. If you can't make that promise to me then you'll have to take me back to the hospital and Lisa, where
they'll follow my instructions."
Dayan shook his head. "They cannot do anything for you at the hospital. Gregori believes there is a good chance to save both of you. We are awaiting Shea, as she is our expert with infants. I will not take you back to the hospital. It would be a death sentence."
"Then you will promise to put the baby's life before mine." She spoke sternly, her eyes wide and steady on his.
His fingers tightened around hers. "You are my life, Corinne, my world. I intend for both of you to live. You and the baby."
"So tell me what the healers did." She was struggling slightly, having every intention of sitting up.
"What are you doing?" Dayan touched her mind gently, learning that she wanted to see if she could sit up on her own before attempting to walk to the bathroom.
"I'm sitting up," she said, trying to sound casual when she was really breaking out in a sweat with the effort and feeling shaky with fear for the baby. "Don't change the subject. What did the healers do? It's important to me, Dayan, for a lot of reasons. I have to feel in control. I want to know what's happening in my life so I can plan things out. I'm a planner. Very organized."
His eyebrow shot up. "A planner? Organized? I did not realize that about you. That changes everything, of course." He reached out and casually lifted her into a sitting position, holding her close to him while she clung to his broad shoulders. He grinned down at her, his wild scent enveloping her. "I take your breath away, admit it."
Corinne tried to calm her beating heart. Strangely, when she consciously thought about it, it seemed as if her heart actually followed her directions. She became aware of everything then, the sound of their combined heartbeats, the ebb and flow of their blood in their bodies. The baby's heartbeat. She was hearing the baby's heartbeat! Wide-eyed, she stared up at him, accusation in her gaze. "You can't count this time as legitimate breath robbing. Something strange is going on. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"
Dayan looked completely innocent. He bent his head to brush a kiss on the top of her silky head because he couldn't resist. "What are you accusing me of now, honey?"
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