Isai’s eyebrows shot up. “Bluebell? Like the flower.”
She narrowed her eyes and gave him a look to remind him she was in charge. It didn’t seem to work. He gave her a faint grin in answer, and just that expression warmed the sapphire in his eyes to a hot glow. She felt her stomach do that slow roll and she had to hastily turn her attention back to the shadow cats.
Both cats looked from Julija to Isai. She needed to keep their attention centered on her. She wanted to step more in front of Isai to shield him just in case either or both cats decided to attack, but she knew he wouldn’t allow it. Twice she tried to be subtle and just take one small step forward, but he moved with her as if he knew what she was thinking. She sent him an exasperated look over her shoulder.
“Seriously? You can see they’re friendly.”
When she turned back both cats were giving him a perfect view of their teeth. “Oh, stop it. He’s a friend. Behave yourselves. Come meet him instead of slinking around acting like you’re going to eat him.”
She crouched low, but as she did, her hand slid down Isai’s arm to his hand. She tried to be casual about it, as if she touched him every single day. Being so close to him was exhilarating. Her blood pulsed through her veins in a rush of heat. She felt so alive, a little scared, but very alive.
His fingers closed around her hand and she actually felt that connection deeper, somewhere in the region of her heart. He had a way of making her feel safe as well as cared for. She was used to doing things on her own, definitely used to facing danger alone. Isai made her feel as if he had her back and would fight for her if anything went wrong.
The female stepped closer, her neck stretched long so she could sniff at Isai’s hand, the one wrapped around hers. Her heartbeat accelerated. The male crouched in an attack position, ready to spring on Isai if he made one wrong move toward the female.
The two cats had to accept him. If they didn’t, if they attacked him, Julija knew she would have to kill them. There was no other choice. They couldn’t be left without direction when her brothers had made certain to make them killing machines needing blood to survive.
Belle, the female, touched her nose to Isai’s hand and then tentatively licked at him, tasting his skin. Julija’s heart was in her throat. There was no way that Belle wouldn’t scent Isai’s rich, pure Carpathian blood. He was an ancient and his blood was very powerful. That would call to both cats. This was the telling moment.
The cat pulled back abruptly and regarded him steadily with her ruby eyes. Julija kept watch on the male, but noted Belle’s eyes continued to change color rapidly, until, thankfully, they were more amber than red. The cat once again stretched her neck toward them, and this time she laid her head on Julija’s shoulder. Julija immediately scratched under her chin.
“Hey, baby. I missed you, too. You were the one who called the other cat back, weren’t you? I thought maybe I recognized your voice. You know they’re going to be very, very angry at you for running off and finding me.”
Belle pushed against her with her full weight, going from insubstantial to all sleek black fur and roped muscle. Julija ended up on her butt with the cat in her lap. She couldn’t help but laugh, ruffling the fur. It was rare for a shadow cat to feel safe enough to become wholly substantial. She’d always felt so sad for them in that horrid room where her brothers experimented on them. The tongue was rough as it lapped at her face repeatedly.
“Okay, okay.” She was laughing so hard she couldn’t push the cat away from her. “I’m happy to see you, too. You have to stop.”
She sensed movement and caught Belle around the neck to try to push her head down, so she could see around her. Blue was giving Isai a wide berth, keeping a wary eye on him, but he wanted to get in as close to her as possible. Over the weeks she’d treated his injuries, he’d finally allowed her to get close without using a holding spell. Once he’d accepted her, he had given her his absolute loyalty. Her brothers never once suspected she was visiting the shed where they kept the animals that lived through their experiments.
“Come sit beside me,” Julija invited Isai and patted the spot next to her.
“When I was very young, I came across a mother leopard with three kits. She was dying of injuries inflicted by another leopard. It was too late to save her, but I kept the little ones alive. They followed me everywhere and when I slept, they slept above my resting place. As you can well imagine, for a hunter of vampires, it wasn’t an ideal situation.”
She reached up her hand to clasp his again. “I’ll bet they were a handful.”
“They played all the time. I found I spent a good deal of my time rounding them up. I didn’t make the best mother to them.”
She had to look up at his face and catch his expression. There was warmth there, and a hint of amusement at the memory. It was a good memory. She was happy he had it. She tugged on his hand, reminding him to sit beside her. She knew that would put him in a vulnerable position, and he’d already experienced an attack by another shadow cat. He knew the kind of terrible venom they carried in their claws.
“I’ll bet that isn’t true. You probably were an awesome mother. These came to me full-grown.”
“I think they’re coming to you again, Julija. They don’t want to go back. Is there a way your brothers call them back?”
“Yes, they use a high-frequency whistle and the cats are taught to respond to that sound. If the cats don’t, they use pain to make them return.”
“The same kind of pain your father used against you?”
She retreated the way she always did, trying to pull her hand away, but he closed his fingers firmly around hers and sank down beside her, every bit as graceful as she was although he was a big man.
Isai ignored the warning Blue gave him. The male cat snarled and showed his teeth, drawing back from them once again. Instead, he brought Julija’s hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss into the center of her palm. “I felt the pain, little mage. It is impossible to go back. We can only go forward. Your family is not just your problem.”
“I know.” She did know. She’d been conditioned to keep all things mage private, not to mention, it was embarrassing to have a family like hers. They conducted brutal experiments on animals. They casually murdered when someone got in their way. They plotted to kill off entire species for their own gain. Hers wasn’t exactly the kind of family you invited your friends to come and meet.
“You cannot possibly survive if you attempt to fight them alone. They will eventually find you, although I do not believe they will kill you. I think they need you alive for your blood.”
“That reminds me, you need to feed.”
His blue eyes met hers and she felt a jolt of awareness go through her body. His intense gaze drifted over her and she felt as if he left blue flames licking at her skin everywhere his attention touched.
He reached out and gently caught the nape of her neck, pulling her close to him. She turned her head to give him better access, lowering her lashes to savor his touch. She all but forgot the two shadow cats until both pressed closer, watching intently with their wide, amber eyes.
Isai stroked her neck right over her pounding pulse with his tongue. The lightest of touches, but it felt like the burn of a brand. The flash of pain, although expected, did the unexpected. The sensation felt like an erotic arrow straight to her sex. Her feminine sheath clenched, and her nipples peaked. His arms drew her closer to him as he drank. The sensation was intimate, sensual and possessive. She wanted to drown in the feeling, just stay there forever with him.
The cats moved closer, Blue pressing into her so that his nose could nearly touch Isai. Julija knew the ancient Carpathian was aware of the cats, especially the big male. She felt his heightened alert, but he finished feeding before running his tongue over the twin piercings in her neck to stop the bleeding.
“I think your pets are looking for a meal.”
She stroked a caress over the male’s head. The cat didn’t take his eyes off Isai.
He leaned toward the animal. “Are you hungry, friend? Didn’t they feed you?”
His tone was smooth, soft, even gentle. Very friendly. A shiver of awareness crept down her spine. She found, in spite of their very rocky beginning, there were quite a few things she liked about Isai. He treated animals with respect and compassion.
“My brothers liked to keep the cats hungry. They sometimes fed them human flesh.”
Isai frowned. “The cats are natural predators and they clearly tried to make them even more vicious, yet they aren’t nearly as ferocious as one would think. Why aren’t they attacking me? If they are hungry, by rights, they should be looking at me as if I am their next meal.”
“I think, because I gave them my blood on a regular basis—”
“Wait,” he interrupted. “Did you take their blood at any time?”
“I had to. I wanted to be able to control them if needed or know if they were hurt. I didn’t want my brothers to kill them.”
He regarded her for a long moment and then casually bit into his wrist and offered the blood to the male cat. Blue nearly leapt forward and hungrily lapped at the drops of blood.
“What are you doing?” Julija’s breath caught in her throat. “You could make it worse. Your blood is far more powerful than mine. My brothers still control the cats with pain. If they command them to kill us, if they find out the cats are with us, they’ll hurt them until the animals comply with their commands.”
Fear for Isai nearly swamped her. Normally she would have been afraid for the shadow cats, but now, all she could think about was Blue tearing into Isai.
Isai calmly swept his free arm around her. “We are going to prevent that from happening. You are from a lineage known as Dragonseeker. That particular line is legendary.”
“Elisabeta was telling me something about it.”
“Although you have the mark of the high mage, straight from Xavier’s line, you have more Carpathian blood in you than mage. You have converted these shadow cats to Carpathian and they need blood to survive, but they also have taken on the traits of a Carpathian. Your brothers bred them for intelligence, and they have that. It is very evident, even the way they work in pairs. He sent her forward to check me out, but he was waiting to kill me if need be.”