She held him tighter, reluctant to allow him to take his weight from her, even though it was becoming impossible to catch her breath.
He smiled against her neck, kissed her there, his mouth and teeth moving sensuously, and then he rolled them again so that she sprawled on top of him.
“Did you just bite my neck?” she accused at the feel of a little sting there.
“Yes,” he admitted, with a laugh in his voice. “I intend to leave my mark on you everywhere. I like taking little bites out of you.”
Playing. He was playing with her. Teasing. She loved that she had been the one to give him that. She buried her face in his neck and held him all the tighter. She couldn’t look at him when she said it, but it had to be said. “Thank you, Andre. For bringing me into your world. I might be afraid, but I’m so happy I’m with you and I want this. I want us to be together in every way and I couldn’t be unless I was Carpathian.”
His hand stroked caresses in her hair. “You were frightened when you woke and found yourself deep in the ground. You fight my commands, Teagan, and even in your subconscious you unravel them. I did not protect you as I should have from your awakening. I should have been up before you.”
“You were wounded and the soil was healing you.” She made the statement softly, suddenly remembering that moment when she was caught in his dream. Other things had registered, but she hadn’t noticed them because the nightmare was too vivid and so had been the terror at being buried alive.
“Yes,” he said softly, allowing her to figure it out for herself.
He gave her that. Acknowledged that she had a brain. All the fear she had living in her skin didn’t matter because she refused to let it rule her life. She was a geologist for heaven’s sake. She loved rocks. She loved soil.
She had automatically registered the various layers of soil so rich with minerals. If she hadn’t been so shocked at being under the ground, buried under those layers, she would have been caught up in her need to identify and count them. She would have known how they were healing Andre and rejuvenating both of them.
“I won’t be so afraid next time, Andre. You do not have to shield me from what I am. I think I can handle it.”
“I never doubted your ability to handle it,” he murmured softly.
She could tell he was pleased with her by the tone of his voice, all velvet and rasp. His hand continued to move over her body, tracing the line of her spine down to the curve of her buttocks.
“We have a vampire to catch, csitri. This one is unlike the others. He will be difficult to bring down. He is cunning and ruthless and has plenty of tricks. There are few surprises to a hunter who has been bringing the undead to justice for so many years, but sometimes it can happen.”
“Do you recognize most of them?” she asked tentatively. It stood to reason that he would run across childhood friends.
“The older ones. I have been gone many years. This one, I knew. His name is Costin Popescu. He is alone now, his pawns defeated. He will try to sneak away, not face me, but I cannot allow that. He is extremely dangerous, and he cannot, under any circumstances, find you. He will go after you in order to destroy me.”
Her eyebrows shot up and shock slid through her. He will go after you in order to destroy me. Andre wasn’t just meaning he would be grief-stricken if something happened to her. He had alluded to more several times, but she wasn’t getting it.
“How would that destroy you, Andre?” she asked quietly, holding her breath, knowing his revelation would be huge. And it would be the truth.
“You are my lifemate. I cannot exist without you, now that I have found you. If he manages to destroy you, he is destroying all light in my soul, leaving nothing but the darkness. I lived with that for centuries, but it came on gradually, over time. To have that happen, the connection severed, it would throw me into madness, into the thrall. I would have to follow you immediately, or become the very thing I have hunted throughout these long centuries. I would be the undead.”
Teagan bit her lip. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would. That is the curse and the blessing of our species. We cannot continue without our lifemate. We are too dark inside.”
She chewed on her lip for a moment. “So basically, you’re saying I’m saving you again.”
His smile was slow in coming but she was rewarded. His smile was beautiful and this one lit his eyes. “Yes, Teagan, you have saved me.”
She kissed him. He took over her kiss, just like he did most intimate contact between them, but only after she was able to kiss him for a long time.
“Do you see why it is important that you stay away from vampires?” he asked gently.
“It was important to you before you explained this to me, so yes,” Teagan said. “Tell me the plan and I’ll follow it to the letter.”
His eyes searched hers for a long time and then he nodded, the glacier blue melting into a deep, sea blue, warming her with his love.
20
Two owls flew through the evening sky. The male flew slightly above the smaller female, his wing just over her, just enough to protect her from any attack coming from above them. They executed lazy circles in the air, in perfect synchronization, as if they were two dancers performing a stunning ballet against a backdrop of clouds.
Teagan scanned the ground below them carefully. Not because she thought she would spot the master vampire they hunted, but because the scenery was breathtaking. Breaks in the forest presented boulders covered in green moss, lining a series of small, tumbling waterfalls, cascading through the boulders and falling into a clear, shallow pool. Small rocks made up the pool floor. The pool spilled into a larger stream that seemed to meander through the tall trees. Ferns sprang up along the banks, crowding other plant life, vying for coveted space.