Dark Destiny (33 page)

Nicolae removed his clothing, removed hers and carried her down into the deepest and hottest of the pools. With his lips against her skin, he whispered to her softly to awaken. "I love you, my lady," he murmured. Needing to say the words to her. She could reach inside him and find the emotion, deep and real inside his heart and soul, but he wanted to declare it.

She stirred. Her heart beat into his hand. Air rushed through her lungs. Her lashes fluttered. Lifted. Unbelievably, she smiled at him. "I was dreaming of you."

He kissed her. He couldn't help himself. His mouth lingered over hers, robbing her of breath, of air. "That would be impossible, little one. The sleep of our people is a mortal death. There is no brain activity."

"Nevertheless." She said it complacently. Her gaze drifted over his face with a touch of possession. "I was worried about you." Her fingers found the blackened slash in his shoulder. "I felt this hit you. Does it hurt?"

He shook his head. "I am going to sit down in the water. It is hot, but it will do you good. I need to replace your blood."

"You did not feed." It was a chastisement.

"Vikirnoff wanted me to use Martin, but I thought you might give me a lecture. Having never experienced such a thing, I thought it better not to start off our life together that way. Do not worry, my brother will provide. He is feeding now."

He sank into the water, taking her with him, holding her close as the heat pushed the ice cold from her veins. She gasped, stiffened, holding herself slightly away from him, trying not to struggle. The hot water on her chilled skin wasn't comfortable, but within a matter of minutes she relaxed, subsiding against him, her body snuggling close, fitting into the cradle of his hips.

The water lapped at her breasts, fizzing over the tips, bubbling and cleansing, removing all traces of blood, all remnants of the poison. She closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall back, enjoying the sheer luxury of the hot pool and Nicolae's strong arms. "Vikirnoff needs a swift kick where it will do him the most good," she murmured, not bothering to lift her lashes. "But I'll forgive his egotistical arrogance because he looks after you. You should have fed."

"He will feed me. He went out hunting."

"As soon as possible, I want to give him the picture of the woman MaryAnn told us about. We should also ask Father Mulligan and Velda and Inez if they have seen her. They seem to be the eyes and ears of the neighborhood."

She nuzzled his throat. Hunger was rising, sharp and demanding. Her insides were burning, a terrible scalding from the inside out. The bubbling water and Nicolae's nearness helped considerably. She inhaled his clean, masculine scent. Took his scent deep into her body. Held it there. She had been in a storm, a whirling, turbulent storm, but she had made it safely home. Nicolae was home. She settled in his mind. Her one refuge. She could admit it to herself now and not feel ashamed and humiliated.

"I did my best to push you away. I should have been stronger, but right now I'm glad that I wasn't." Her lips skimmed his throat. Her tongue swirled over his pulse. Her bare buttocks were nestled in his lap and she could feel there the strong reaction of his body to that small, erotic movement of her tongue. He hardened. Thickened. Pulsed with need. She savored the feeling, wanted to remember it forever.

His hand skimmed over her hair, tugged her long braid. "I would not allow you to push me away. I am tenacious when something matters to me."

She smiled against his skin. She kissed the small, steady pulse in his neck. "Is that the word? I thought stubborn suited you better."

"You are not in the best condition to try to do battle," he reminded her.

She won the battle without a single word.

His head fell back as she took what he offered. The air rushed from his lungs, a soft sound of ecstasy escaping as the white-hot pleasure-pain rushed through his body. The intensity of his love for her shook him. His arms tightened possessively. She swamped him with warmth, with her need of him, the way she wanted him.

Beneath it all, he felt her sorrow, the weight of Pater's words implanted in her mind and heart. She would never believe the Carpathian race would accept her with her tainted blood. If Nicolae called the healer, Destiny would never allow him near her. She would run. There was no way to erase what the vampire had wrought. Nicolae could remove all traces of the virus. He could restore her strength. He could give her unconditional love, but he could never remove those words.

Because his words are true
. Her hands found his hair, tunneled her fingers deep into the mass of silken strands. She wanted to lose herself in sensation. She couldn't make the words false, but she could put them somewhere in a little corner of her mind, replace them with something that consumed her: the bubbles popping against her bare skin; the silken strands of dark hair sliding through her fingers.
I love your hair
.

You are supposed to love me. And it is not true. Vampires twist the truth until you can no longer see what is. You know that, Destiny. More than most, you know what they do.

In this instance even a grain of truth is far too much
. She swept her tongue across the pinpricks, closing the tiny wounds with her healing saliva, lifted her head and met the dark intensity of his gaze without flinching. "You can love me with your heart and your mind and your soul. You can be my salvation when the memories come to haunt me, Nicolae. You can be my everything, but you cannot change what I am. A vampire put something hideous deep inside me. It is evil and dark and dangerous. I've lived with it most of my life, and I know. You can love me, even with that terrible flaw inside me, but you can't change it. I can't change it. It isn't going to go away because we want it to. I recognize darkness in others. Others will recognize it in me. Like calls to like."

Her voice was a thread of sound. Exhaustion lined her face. Nicolae couldn't bear the way she was looking at him with such a mixture of love and regret. His hands moved over her body with exquisite tenderness, washing the remnants of blood and poison from her skin. "Destiny, I've found you to be stubborn and independent but never dense. Are you deliberately not understanding that we are two halves of the same whole? We are alike. Like did call to like, and I am it. I am what you got."

She was warm and safe huddled in the shelter of his arms, cradled by his body. The water lapped pleasantly against her skin, bubbling and fizzing against every sore spot. The flames flickered and danced and released a fragrance conducive to healing and comfort. Destiny lifted her gaze to Nicolae's face, studied the hard angles and planes. A slow smile found its way to her mouth. "Lucky me."

Her words twisted his heart. "How do you do that, little one? It bodes ill for our future. One moment I am determined to chastise you severely as you so obviously deserve, and the next all I want to do is kiss you senseless."

Destiny framed his face with her palms. "It's a gift. I much prefer the kissing." The pad of her thumb moved over his jaw, traced his chin. "You have such shadows in your mind. You think I was wrong not to call you to me, but I wasn't. Why would you think yourself less important to me, less to me in some way than I am to you? Do you think you're the only one with rights? I do not want your protection at the expense of your life.
You're
the target here, not me. I'm merely the bait used to draw you out. Fortunately, one of us is able to think in tight situations."

His breath escaped in a hiss of impatience and frustration. When her soft mouth began to curve in amusement, he gave her a little shake. "Now is not the time for you to laugh, Destiny. I am still shaking from your near miss on the street and in the cave."

"Did you know that when you are exceptionally upset with me, your eyes darken to the most beautiful black? It reminds of the midnight hour. So perfect when the air is still and the stars are out and you can see the night sky. Your eyes are like that."

Deliberately he sighed. His hands continued to wash her body, lingering on her curves. "My eyes should be making you tremble. I am giving you a most disapproving look. It is meant to intimidate, not make you think of the sky at midnight."

A laugh slipped out. That small carefree sound that was so rare for her. "I can't help how you look. It's tempting to upset you just to see that particular color."

"I am not amused." He tried to sound as grim as he felt. She might turn him inside out, even melt his heart, but he was staring down at her ravaged face, looking at her body where dark bruises marred the pale coloration of her skin. He knew how close he'd come to losing her and…
it could have been prevented
.

She wanted to apologize. She touched lightly on the memory in his mind, the moment he realized she was in danger but would not call him. She felt the terror welling up in him, shaking him. Turning his stomach and seizing his lungs, robbing him of breath. Then there was a dark, brooding rage, ugly and menacing, a dangerous demon lifting and stretching, unsheathing claws as it opened its mouth to roar a protest.

Deliberately Destiny lay back in his arms to allow the water to close over her face, hiding the tears burning in her eyes. His anger ran deep. It simmered just below the surface. He held her tenderly, washed her, murmured beautiful things, but the rage was there all the same. She had succeeded in scaring him. And hurting him. His emotional pain was deep and sharp, and that was far more painful to bear than his anger.

"A little pain isn't going to hurt me, Destiny, and certainly is not worth your tears." He lifted her up higher, bringing her head out of the water. "Your tears tear me apart. Stop." He made it an order, leaning over her to kiss both eyelids.

Her arms tightened around his neck. "You just aren't as tough as you like to think." She forced a brief smile, wanting to please him. Wanting to show him that he mattered to her.

He carried her out of the pool, waving his hand to open the earth, a quick, impatient gesture. Nicolae knelt to lay her gently in the dark, rich earth. The soil was cool and welcoming on her hot skin. At once she felt a semblance of peace washing over her. Her lashes drifted down. "Tell me how it is you can speak to me when you have never taken my blood."

"It is necessary to heal you." His voice was gentle, a soft, melodic persuasion.

"I know. But how is it we are so strongly connected?"

"You are a much more powerful talent than you realize. Telepathy runs strong in you. As a child you reached for me and connected. I am an ancient with talents of my own. My need to help you was the strongest compulsion I had ever experienced. Once we had connected, you were an obsession. I could do no other than find you." His fingertips stroked back her hair.

She reached up, caught his hand. "You're not giving me an answer."

"You know the answer."

There was silence in the cave. The bubbles in the pool sent waves against the boulders, lapping gently at the rock, providing a strange music.

"How can someone be so powerful? How can you reach through time and space without a blood bond?"

"I have always had certain gifts. Once you connected with me, you were imprinted on my mind."
And in my heart and soul
. He bent his head to kiss the corner of her mouth. "Each time you connected with me, the imprint became stronger. I believe I have some sort of telepathic ability beyond the blood bond of our people."

A small shiver went down Destiny's spine. "How do I know you aren't enhancing my feelings for you? I have to know this is real."

The ache in her voice tugged at his heart, but his face remained expressionless. "That is something I cannot help you with, Destiny. You have to find out some things for yourself. Do you think I am so powerful I can make you feel desire for me?"

Her blue-green gaze drifted over his face. He found his muscles were tight, clenched, waiting. She looked ethereal, her skin translucent and her body somehow smaller. He wanted to gather her into his arms and shelter her from every further hurt. It made him crazy to see her this way, hurt and spent, all energy drained from her body. His brother was right, he should have taken charge, thrown her over his shoulder like a caveman of old and taken her to his homeland without her consent.

A small smile curved her mouth, drew his instant attention. At once the pad of his thumb brushed the velvet-soft lower lip.

"I'm reading your thoughts, Nicolae. There is a blood bond between us. The first thing, above all else, is
never
listen to that idiot brother of yours. The man never climbed out of the cave. You do all right on your own." She wanted to kiss him. He thought he was so stoic, yet she could see the hungry intensity in his eyes. A terrible anxiety that could only be real. He might be tremendously powerful and capable of all sorts of things, including controlling her, but she could see the genuine need in him, the genuine love.

"I think your pouty lower lip is extremely sexy." He bent his head to hers, brushed her mouth gently, almost reverently.

He could send butterfly wings through her stomach without trying. "You have rocks in your head," she told him lovingly, tangling her fingers in his hair. "There's nothing sexy about me." Laughter danced in her eyes. "I'm lying here in the dirt, covered in it, and you're looking at me like you might eat me. I think you need a few counseling sessions with Mary Ann. You're a bit on the kinky side." But he took her breath away and started a warm glow that wouldn't go away. He had a way of making her feel beautiful in the midst of her nightmares, even when she knew it wasn't so. He had a way of taking her out of death and violence and bringing her to a paradise she hadn't known existed. Most of all, she was never alone.

"You are obviously hallucinating and quite ill." He kissed her again, lingering over the pleasure. He showed every restraint. He didn't kiss her possessively. He didn't devour her, or pick her up and shake her. His insides were roiling like the clouds had been, a turbulent storm that wouldn't die down. He could control it, keep it from spilling out and shaking the earth around him, but he couldn't make it go away.