There was a silence. He felt the press of her face against his chest. She rubbed a little caress there with her cheek as if trying to comfort him. Her fingers linked behind the nape of his neck. He wanted to continue with her across the fading night sky, but knew he needed to take her to the cave he’d found. It was small, but it would definitely protect both of them during daylight hours.
It is of consequence to me.
He liked that—too much. Being in her company was the equivalent of walking through a minefield. One false step and everything would blow up in his face, but the adrenaline was there. Excitement. He felt alive. Truly alive, when he had been a robot going through life on automatic. She made him feel everything.
I do not wish you to think you are in any way at fault because we are not compatible. I am centuries old. I have been locked away behind impenetrable gates for centuries. I cannot change what I am to make myself into someone else for you. I hope you can find a way to forgive me.
The path between them allowed him to feel the rising sorrow in her. She pressed closer to him and he tightened his arms as he took them to the small cave he’d found hidden in the rock. The entrance was a slim crack, which he widened as he dropped down from the sky. Inside the opening blossomed into a large room that enabled him to stand. He set Julija on her feet and waved his hand to close the crack.
“I’ve got to prevent anything from entering, from innocent man to vampire puppet,” he said, turning away from her. She still had tears on her face and he detested the sight. It made him feel weak. The need to hold and comfort her was so strong it was all he could do to turn his back, giving her a semblance of privacy.
“The shadow cat,” Julija reminded. “They seem to be able to slip in anywhere. The book had to have been safeguarded yet they still managed to get to it. Once you lay the foundations of a safeguard, I’ll add to it.”
That brought him up short. He had never trusted anyone with his resting place, other than his brethren in the monastery. Even then, he’d used his own safeguards and changed his exact resting place nightly. Each had their own small place where they kept the façade of a house. That was considered a private place for each and they slept somewhere in the parameters of that area.
He glanced over his shoulder at her, but she was looking around the cave as if she was going to decorate it. “In a minute I will provide seating for you and a bed with a comfortable mattress.”
She turned to look at him and then at the slender crack. “If something happens to you, I’m not positive I can get out of here.”
“You’re mage. You can get out if you need to.” His voice carried absolute conviction. He didn’t have a doubt in his mind that she could widen the opening enough to allow her body through. Apparently, he said the right thing because she smiled at him, and this time that smile lit her dark eyes.
She waved her hand and sconces with candlelight flickered along the walls of the cave, high up, illuminating the interior. Another wave took the dirt and debris from the floor, replacing it with a thick carpet. She flashed a conspirator’s grin at him, inviting him to share her happiness. “Not bad for an illusion.”
It was near perfection. “Nice job.” He let admiration creep into his tone. He didn’t want to like anything about her, not even her sense of fun. Many women would be complaining after what she’d gone through. The tears weren’t even dry on her face, but she didn’t grumble at all. In fact, she clearly was trying to make things nice for them.
“Where will you sleep, Isai?” She began to pace the chamber.
The cave was small, but no one had noticed it. There was no evidence of man, mage or Carpathian using it prior to the two of them. Again, he hesitated before answering her. Carpathians didn’t allow others to know where their resting places were. But even if he wasn’t going to claim her, she was his lifemate.
“Beneath you. Directly beneath you. Should you have need you can reach out to me on the pathway we have established.”
Isai turned back to the crack and began weaving layers of safeguards. When he was certain the layers would stop even Xavier himself, he turned to her. “If you can stop the shadow cat from entering, add your safeguards now and I’ll finish after you.” He stepped back and waited to see what she would do. He was going to layer more weaves on top of hers in order to ensure nothing could get to them.
The shadow cat worried him just for the reason she’d stated. Not only were the caverns protected with the strongest safeguards the prince of the Carpathian people could weave, but the book itself had been protected. Mikhail had contacted Tariq Asenguard, his voice in the United States, and asked that the ancients spread out and look for Iulian Florea and the book, and the mage as well. The moment Isai had heard his brother’s name, he had volunteered to go. His blood would call to that of his brother and he would be able to better find the trail.
Julija came to stand right beside him, under his arm, and playfully bumped his thigh with her hip as if she could move him out of her way. Laughing softly, she pushed a second time until he stepped to the side, although her shove hadn’t even rocked him.
“Bossy little mage.”
“Someone has to get it right.”
She lifted her hands into the air and began to weave another complicated pattern. He watched closely, imprinting every graceful movement on his brain. Her voice was musical as she began to chant.
Spiders scurry, spin your web.
Winds that flurry, catch their threads.
Sink them deep within the earth’s wall,
Let none who seek hear my call.
Twist and turn, weave and bind,
Set these wards so none may find.
Isai added the closing safeguard to her webbing and then turned to the room. He created two comfortable chairs and a bed with plenty of covers for her. He didn’t like that she sometimes shivered for no apparent reason. He was careful to keep her body temperature up yet he’d noted several shivers as if a sudden chill would take her.
“Julija, are you afraid of me?”
Her dark eyes revealed shadows until her lashes feathered down. She twisted her fingers together and he reached out and stilled her hands.
“You are mage and very powerful in your own right,” he said softly. “Claimed or no, I am your lifemate. It would be impossible for me to harm you.”
She stood very still, almost frozen to the spot, but he felt the tremor that ran through her body and her lips trembled slightly before she bit down as if conscious that he could see that revealing sign.
“Why didn’t you use the ritual binding words and tie us together?”
He didn’t understand her at all. There was a note of hurt in her voice, as if he had arbitrarily rejected her. “Clearly that was not your desire, and it is my duty as your lifemate to give you what you wish.”
“Maybe I just wished you wouldn’t spank me.” She rubbed her bottom as if she could still feel his hand smacking her.
“I was careful not to hurt you.”
“It hurt.”
“It didn’t hurt more than your dignity,” he countered, uncertain why they were even discussing the subject. He thought that was already closed.
“Perhaps you’re right. My dignity was very offended. You didn’t really hurt me.”
The way she said it alerted him. He felt like he was feeling around in the dark for her and only getting the lightest of responses in return. “Has someone hurt you, Julija?” The thought tore at him. He gestured toward the two chairs.
She sank into one of them and he produced a fleece blanket, so she could wrap herself in it. Her smile made him warm inside.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I think we’ve all been hurt. I see scars all over you, and yet I was told Carpathians didn’t scar.”
“Not usually. A mortal wound can cause scarring if we are spared. As the centuries go by and we are wounded over and over in the same places, scarring can occur.”
He turned his chair around to face her rather than sit beside her where he would be tempted to touch her soft skin. Light was beginning to seep in through the slight crack in the granite. Soon, he would have to go to ground and leave her. In spite of the fact that he hadn’t bound them together, he hated leaving her. They’d only done one blood exchange, but he was totally addicted to her taste—to all of her. He wanted her with every breath he drew.
Julija looked down at her hands. “I am afraid,” she admitted. “I can feel your power. You hold so much.” She twisted her fingers together. “I’m used to my father and brothers. Even my stepmother. They all have power, but yours . . .” She trailed off.
“Would you hesitate to kill them if you had to?” He kept his tone mild, but he needed to know.
She thought it over rather than answering him very quickly. “It’s possible. I would hope not. I’ve never killed anyone, but I believe I would to save myself or someone else.”
“You hold the light in your soul for both of us, kislány hän ku meke sarnaakmet minan. It is no wonder that you would feel some hesitation. I do not like that you will be unprotected once I leave.”
She swallowed hard and looked down at her fingers twisting together in the nervous habit she couldn’t quite stop. Her head shook, her glossy hair swinging a little. The candlelight put little gleaming lights in her dark hair. He had to resist reaching out to feel the silk of those strands.
“Tell me about yourself, Isai. What you like and don’t like, that sort of thing.”
He had been leaning toward her, but he sank back in the seat, steepling his fingers and regarding her over them. It was the first real interest in him as a person she had displayed, and he had no idea what to tell her.
“I like ancient weapons. The feel of a sword in my hand. The way the vibration runs up my arm when the blades crash together. I find battle, hand-to-hand combat, fascinating. For me it is like a dance, the combatants each moving with grace as they watch their opponent for an opening.”
“I never thought of it that way. You’ve hunted countless vampires. Do you get the same feeling when you fight them?”