I told you the truth. I did not say I had not spoken with him. His mind was rotten and he enjoyed what he had done to those women, thinking of it often. He kept mementos in his home, the third drawer down in his private, locked desk. He takes them out at night and jerks off with the women’s underwear surrounding him.
She stumbled. Armend had touched her. Sat with her for three years while she tutored him. They’d laughed together. She’d counted him as a friend. Bile rose and she pushed the back of her hand against her mouth. Her vision actually narrowed, threatened to turn black. She felt dizzy and weak. She stumbled again.
Andre swept her up into his arms. I apologize, sivamet. I should not have shared that with you. Breathe. Take a deep breath.
He didn’t increase his speed. In fact, he went from walking in silence, to making noise, allowing the soles of his boots to hit the surface much harder than normal. Teagan took in great gulps of air, her hands clutching at his shoulders. He was luring them to him. Giles and the others. Andre deliberately was baiting them. Tempting them to come after him.
Don’t, Andre. There’s four of them. You might kill vampires, but you can’t take on four killers. And you know they kill. Not all four at once.
They pry on helpless women. They beat up drunks. I am Carpathian. You are Carpathian. You have more strength in your little finger than all of them put together.
She blinked rapidly, trying to process that. I do? Wow. Now that was definitely on the pro side of the list for becoming Carpathian. She could be a real badass and kick butt if she had to. She liked that idea a lot.
Of course.
Still. Why are you getting them to follow you? Why don’t we just leave?
I do not leave behind men who rape and murder women. They will follow us into the lower hills. I can dispatch them there.
Dispatch? She licked her lips. I’m just guessing here, but I don’t think you’re using that word to mean a message, or post or something of that nature.
As in mete out justice to them.
Um. Andre. You can’t do that. It’s against the law.
I am not human. Human laws do not apply to me. I am Carpathian and I am the wielder of justice in my world.
Yikes all over again. He wasn’t kidding. He was planning on killing all four men. Maybe. “Can’t . . .”
Sound carries. Stay quiet. Let them follow my footsteps.
They’re human. Can’t you leave them to the human law?
Humans haven’t dealt with them. I will not allow them to torture and kill another woman. They have a taste for it, and Giles has declared himself the leader now. He gets off on hurting others. You should have known they were approaching and you should have read their intent.
Okay. Now they were getting to the anger part. He wasn’t angry because she’d been idiot enough to think he might be Armend’s friend. No, he was angry with her because she hadn’t used her new very acute senses as a warning system.
And you did not reach out to me, Teagan. Immediately, when you knew you were in trouble, you did not call to me.
She hadn’t. She didn’t know why. But she hadn’t, and he had every right to be angry over that.
I didn’t, did I? That confused her. She felt safe with Andre. She hadn’t panicked. She was afraid, but fear lived and breathed in her all the time. She felt the coiling in his gut relax.
No, csitri, you did not alert me. Had I not been monitoring you at all times I would not have known you were in trouble.
He was monitoring her at all times? She liked that. She shouldn’t. She was an independent modern woman who could handle herself in tough situations and had, many times. She didn’t rely on others to fix her problems, especially when she was traveling. She relied on herself, which was probably why she hadn’t thought to reach out to him.
From now on, you rely on me just as I will be relying on you. Always, always stay alert and scan your surrounding area, he counseled. Read the minds of those around you.
That is totally invading people’s privacy.
The world you live in now, sivamet, is dangerous. Humans wish to kill us. Even your own grandmother would put a stake through our hearts if she knew what we are. You know that is true. You have to learn to be vigilant and you have to learn to rely on me. The moment you sense trouble, real or not, you reach out to me.
She bit her lip. He was right about her grandmother, with her Internet vampire-hunting kit. There was a special device that shot wooden stakes out of it, which was very cool by the way. She’d seen Grandma Trixie practicing on targets in her backyard. Teagan hadn’t told her sisters, fearing they would lock her grandmother up before she could cure her mental illness.
She sighed. Now she had another problem. Her grandmother wasn’t as crazy as they all thought, but she might have to convince her that she was.
Tell me you understand.
Teagan hesitated. She was beginning to realize the idea that she had of Andre being a sweet, gentle man was maybe just a tad off. He preferred to eliminate threats by dispatching them. As in killing them.
Teagan.
That was silk and velvet and rough, but it was a warning. He wasn’t fooling around and being all sensual and sweet.
Um. Tell me whenever I am threatened you will not dispatch people. Promise me. She needed to at least bring him into the present century. You are not a wild man, living in the caveman era.
I cannot give such a promise. I am a Carpathian male. A hunter. And you are my lifemate. As your lifemate it is my duty and privilege to keep you from harm at all times.
She huffed out her breath. Taming you is not going to be quite as easy as I envisioned. You are stubborn and maybe just a little too old. You know the old adage about teaching old dogs new tricks.