Traian frowned and leaned toward his sister. “I want only to know that you are safe and happy, Elisabeta. That is all that matters to me. I want to be in your life, of course, but your safety and happiness come before all else. After centuries of not knowing what happened to you and fearing the worst and then knowing it was even worse than I ever imagined your fate could be, I want only to protect you. Wrapping you up in a cocoon is not what you need, and that is what I would want to do. I see your lifemate appears to know what you need, as lifemates are prone to do.” He said the last reluctantly.
He pressed his fingers to his forehead as if his head hurt. “I wish you could talk to me. I need to hear your voice. I need to be reassured that it is your will that you stay here and not someone forcing you. I don’t mean to sound insulting, I just have for so long been searching for you, and giving you up without knowing . . .” He trailed off.
Merged as he was with Elisabeta, Ferro felt her shivering but gathering her courage, determined that she would speak to this man she couldn’t find in her memories because each time she reached for him, pain flashed through her, causing some kind of near seizure in her brain. Sergey’s work, which Ferro tried to repair, was a scar on her brain that was centuries old and difficult to remove. He flicked a quick glance at the healer. Gary nodded once, indicating he had felt Elisabeta flinching away from her past memories.
“It is difficult for me to speak,” Elisabeta said, her voice so low it was a mere thread of sound, although soothing and soft, spreading through the room in that peaceful way she had.
Still, Ferro caught the underlying notes of distress. He was certain anyone paying close attention would hear them as well.
“Ferro is my choice. He stands for me when I cannot do so myself, no matter what I ask of him, even if it is abhorrent to him, even if it makes him look bad to others. He does it for me. I do not want to be with any other. I would like to get to know you, but in truth, when I try to remember . . .”
Ferro slid his hand gently over her face, feeling the tears in her mind, feeling the dampness on her lashes. “The vampire has made it impossible for her to recall her past without pain. The healer and I have not been able to address this adequately but will attempt again on the next rising. That particular scar is deep and may not be removed entirely. We have been taking things as slow as possible, giving Elisabeta as much time as she needs to learn the steps of survival. Simple things we take for granted, such as regarding the space around us without looking through the bars of a cage. She has to learn the things Carpathian children learn as toddlers. She is very determined, and if you are patient with her, she will be very happy to establish a relationship with her family.”
Traian reached for Joie’s hand. “I would welcome that opportunity no matter how long it takes.” He glanced at Tariq. “Is there a place for us here?”
“Of course. We have several guest homes.” Tariq stood. “Ferro, thank you both for allowing us to visit with you.”
Ferro inclined his head and waited for them all to leave so he could once more be alone with his lifemate. “I am very proud of you, Elisabeta. You handled the entire night far better than anyone could expect from you.”
“I am tired.” She laid her head back against his chest and closed her eyes, exhausted, both mentally and physically.
Ferro didn’t need to be told twice. He took her to the sleeping chamber far beneath their home and opened it, floating them both into the rich healing soil.
8
A life of hope sings to you, melodies of devotion;
A world of love awaits, vaster than the ocean.
The sound of the rain woke Elisabeta, but this rising, there was a new note in the beat of the earth’s music. Entwined with that dark, persistent drumming was a sensual call that tugged at every one of her senses, bringing her entire body alive whether she wanted to feel those sensations or not. The moment she was aware, he poured into her mind. Ferro. Her lifemate. There wasn’t room for anyone else. He was larger than life, an invincible warrior of old. An ancient Carpathian hunter calling her from the soil, where she would have stayed to avoid having to learn what was expected of her in her new existence.
Trepidation filled her, yet at the same time a thrill of anticipation such as she’d never felt before. She actually looked forward to this rising, and she could honestly say she couldn’t remember feeling that way in all the centuries of her past. She wanted to go to him the way a lifemate would go to her spouse, but she knew little of the concept or what was expected.
They hadn’t gone over any other clothing, as they had discussed they were going to do, mostly because so many unexpected things had happened the rising before. She was uncertain what to wear and still couldn’t make the decision to clothe herself, especially after seeing how Julija, Lorraine and then Joie dressed. She’d paid particular attention, trying to figure out if she would feel comfortable in their modern attire, but she didn’t think so.
The soil opened above her and then she was in Ferro’s arms, her body clean, her heart beating too fast, her lungs dragging in air and his wild scent. He was as naked as she was, and she’d never been so aware of herself as a woman. Her breasts rose and fell in time to her ragged breathing. She couldn’t seem to control the way she reacted to his closeness, as much as she tried. He felt so strong and in control. He smelled good, filling every one of her senses as they floated together somewhere he wanted to take her. She didn’t care, as long as she was with him. Once they settled, she was on his lap, his arms around her, cradling her close.
“Look at me, sívamet.”
His commanding voice sent a shiver of need down her spine, arrowing from her breasts to her feminine channel. The reaction was shocking. She lifted her lashes immediately and found herself looking into his strangely colored eyes. One moment they seemed bluish-gray and the next a gray-rust. Right at that moment they were a deep blue-silver and so intense, so focused on her with a dark hunger, she could barely breathe.
“Always remember, te avio päläfertiilam. You are the keeper of my heart and soul.” He drew his palm very gently, very slowly and very possessively down her body, from her neck, over the curves of her breasts, to her mound and then the junction between her legs. His touch was barely there, but it was definitely a claiming.
Her sex clenched, a liquid heat, an awakening of a hunger she hadn’t known existed, as if by touching her, claiming her, he’d suddenly awoken the woman in her. Need spread through her, a strange tension coiling deep. Her hips would have squirmed restlessly had she allowed it, but she was far too disciplined for that. She lay passive, looking up at his face, wanting to touch him, to trace the lines carved deep, the strong jawline. He could become an obsession if she wasn’t careful.
“Every rising, when you wake, know that you are in my keeping. As my lifemate, you are first in my thoughts on rising and last when I close the soil over our heads. There are no lies between lifemates. You can hear them, Elisabeta. Believe in your ability to hear lies. You are Carpathian and you are powerful in your own right. You can hear anyone lying to you, especially your lifemate. I want you to have confidence in your ability to hear lies always. Once you know that, once you believe that, you will recognize all lies told to you in the past.”
He was beautiful. His face was so rough no one else would ever call him that, but she knew he was. She knew Julija didn’t altogether approve of him and would never have accepted him as her lifemate, nor would Lorraine. She also knew that she was seeing only one side of Ferro. He was showing her unfailing kindness and it was all very real. Eventually, she would reach further into his mind and see more of him. She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t strong enough yet; she would have to build up to that. For now, he didn’t seem to mind caring for her, and while he did, she would learn. She learned fast.
“Piŋe sarnanak.” His voice was soft. Amused. The sound played over her like the touch of fingers. His hand slid back up her body to cup her breast. “I love the way you look at me, as if I mean something to you rather than being a man to be afraid of.” He bent his head toward her, his eyes on her face, and then she lost sight of him as his lips touched her chin and then her throat.
Her heart jumped wildly. The sensation was truly without precedent. His lips were firm yet soft. His jaw had the smallest bristles that scraped along her skin, setting nerve endings alive. His teeth teased her senses into heightened awareness. He trailed more kisses down her throat to the curve of her right breast. His hand cupped her left breast, his thumb setting a mesmerizing strumming back and forth over her nipple. Each light brush sent a dark fire streaking to her clit, inflaming it until blood pounded and she could count her heartbeats there.
His teeth sank deep and she cried out at the sheer ecstasy of the erotic bite. In spite of her discipline, her hips shifted restlessly in his lap, the cheeks of her bottom sliding over his groin, rubbing, feeling the shape and size of his heavy erection. That added to the hunger coiling so deep and tight in her body. His thumb and finger tugged at her nipple while he drank, the combined sensations spreading flames through her body unlike anything she’d ever known.
Images poured into her mind. His body moving in hers. Sharing the same skin. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Her body bent over a bed while he took her from behind. On her hands and knees, his arm around her waist while he took her hard and fast. Spread out on the floor with his mouth pressed between her legs, devouring her. Her on her knees, her lips stretched wide around his cock. She felt his need. His hunger mixed with her own until she couldn’t tell who felt it more. She only knew her body was slick, hot and aching. He filled her mind and every one of her senses.
Ferro’s tongue swept across the twin holes his teeth had made in the curve of her breast, and he shifted her in his arms. “You need to feed, sívamet.”
She was already addicted to his taste. She wondered if the moisture she felt on her bottom, where his cock leaked his essence, tasted as wonderful as his blood did. The moment those images had entered her mind, she wanted to explore them one by one. Her teeth slid into place and her mouth watered at that mere thought of feeding, yet already it was so much more.