Dark Curse (17 page)

The narrow corridor expanded outward several feet past a veil of stalactites—thin, dark daggers of brown and gold sharpened to lethal points. The hanging spears glittered with earthy tones, so long and thick she had thought the corridor closed, impenetrable on that side, but she could see more corridors, a maze of trails leading in different directions beneath the mountain. He could have gotten her lost, but he had been true to his word, giving her the directions to get out, even though he had no intention of allowing her to leave.

"In the story of lifemates that my aunts told me, the couple seemed to be very much in love. I don't really see that happening between us," Lara said, her back and shoulders stiff. "Do you?"

"Of course." There was complete confidence in his tone.

Nicolas paced easily one step behind her, his body so close she could feel his warmth. She sent him a small frown. His breath was on her ear, one hand brushed the small of her back. She tried not to feel the pull between them, that physical chemistry that persisted no matter what. Maybe she was drawn to the very danger in him she so strenuously objected to, but whatever it was, when he was so close to her, it was difficult to think straight. "It was only a story my aunts told me. Maybe it isn't even true."

"It is true. I could not have bound us together had the words not been imprinted before my birth. We 'marry' our woman immediately to protect the species from extinction."

"How lovely for the woman." Sarcasm dripped from her voice. Watching over her shoulder, she caught the faintest of smiles. It didn't quite reach his eyes, but it infuriated her. "Don't you think it's wrong that you can utter a few words and change a woman's life whether she wants it or not?"

"No. Why would a woman want to be with a man like me? It is the only way to protect our species from certain extinction. If you were not tied to me you would not so easily have come with me."

"I said I wouldn't be a prisoner." She walked faster.

Nicolas kept pace with her easily. "And you are not a prisoner."

She shook her head. "We don't even talk the same language."

It was impossible not to breathe him into her lungs. He was too close. He walked so silently she kept turning her head to see if he was there and she'd catch him. Real. Solid. Frightening. Fascinating. So male. Utterly handsome. He was almost too good-looking to be real. But his eyes gave him away. Hungry. Cunning. Intelligent. A hunter of prey. He made her pulse race and every alarm bell shriek. He made her aware of him as male and of herself as female. And he made her lose focus. She didn't have a clue how to handle him—but she knew absolutely she wouldn't allow him to turn her into the puppet her father had wanted.

His hand brushed the small of her back, his fingers trailing along her spine. "I think we will manage just fine, Lara. Give it time."

Chapter 7

The chamber was even more beautiful than Lara remembered, a dazzling display of gems and crystals of various colors. The water sparkled as it poured from the wall into the pool, the droplets like thousands of diamonds falling from the sky, but the warmth and beauty of the cave no longer made her feel safe and comforted. A cage was still a cage no matter what it looked like. She preferred the glacier-blue ice caves, cold and desolate, because she knew exactly what to expect there.

She moistened her lips and steadied herself. Yes, she had strong Carpathian blood running in her veins, and she burned like hell in the sun—she figured that was just the luck of the DNA draw—but she wasn't fully Carpathian like Nicolas. She wasn't a hunter who had killed over the centuries. She wasn't close to turning vampire as he was. And that meant, she simply had to bide her time and wait. She wasn't concerned with the safeguards at the entrance. She was a talented mage and had watched carefully as he had woven the strands for the safeguards.

She searched for a safe topic of conversation. Anything that would keep him from touching her mind and discovering her plan. "Did you see the prince? Did he tell you how Terry was doing?"

"I spoke with Gregori, our healer, and he said your friend has a good chance of surviving. He would not say that if it was untrue."

"Gregori looks less like a healer than anyone else I could imagine."

"I suppose he does. You obviously had seen the parasites before."

She had shared that memory with him, she had no choice but to admit it. Lara nodded. "Xavier experimented often trying to find ways to strengthen his ability to command others to his bidding." She couldn't stop the shudder that ran through her body. "His creatures were ravenous and often escaped his commands. They ate human flesh."

"Your mother?" He asked it softly, his voice gentle.

She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She hadn't thought of her mother in years. She'd never been able to conjure up a picture of her in her mind, not even a scrap of memory. Not the color of her hair or even her scent. She hadn't known she had a mother until the parasites combined with the silver of Gregori's eyes had triggered a long-forgotten memory. "Yes, but I didn't remember her until now."

"She was mage." He made it a statement.

Lara frowned. Now that he said it aloud, she recalled her aunts referring to her mother as mage. Why hadn't she remembered that before? Why hadn't she remembered that her mother had curly hair? She touched her own hair. She had been born with white hair although a red tint had developed very early on. Little corkscrew curls had been all over her head, thick and springy, impossible to control. Her mother's hair had been like that as well. "Yes, she was. I vaguely recall pulling on her curls."

The memory of her mother lying on the floor of ice, parasites attacking her dead body made her sick. She pressed a hand to her mouth, found she was trembling and paced closer to the warm pool. The sound of the waterfall soothed her, allowing her to draw a few deep breaths so that she could change the subject. She didn't want to remember anymore.

"You were gone a long time. What did you do tonight?"
When you weren't controlling other people's minds and stealing their blood without their consent
. The thought came unbidden and she kept her back turned so he couldn't read her expression. She didn't trust herself at all. He was used to reading opponents, and right now, whether he knew it or not, they were locked in a battle for life.

"We held a warrior's council this night. The vampires have banded together and are trying to destroy our species. Humans would stand little chance against them. Just making them believe vampires exist would be nearly impossible."

Her heart jumped with shock and she turned to face him in spite of her resolve. "Vampires are too vain and selfish to band together. They only hunt in pairs when one has become the puppet of another. I know that to be true. My aunts told me exactly what had to be done to kill them if I ran across them, and they told me the vampires despise everyone, including each other. That is why the Carpathian hunters will always have the edge when fighting."

"That has always been true, down through the centuries," Nicolas agreed. "But it is no longer so. Someone has found a way to band them together and we are in for a long, bitter war for survival."

She didn't question why his dark gaze stayed on the gentle lapping of the water in the pool against the smooth boulders. "Xavier? Do you think he's still alive? He was so old even twenty years ago, but he was good at getting the necessary Carpathian blood to continue his life."

"We believe he may still be alive and has formed an alliance with five brothers, powerful Carpathians who we think have turned vampire."

"If Xavier is still alive, then my aunts could be, too. I have to get into that cave."

His head jerked up, black eyes burning over her face. "That cave is dangerous. Going there is foolish. If your aunts were alive, we would know it. They would have the ability to call to our people for aid."

"If that were true," Lara snapped, sarcasm dripping from her voice, "then they would have done so when I was a child. They were kept weak and sick."

"Those who entered the cave saw the bodies of two dragons encased in ice—dead."

Lara's stomach churned and she pressed a hand to her abdomen.

"Xavier kept them encased in ice. He froze his blood supply, very clever wouldn't you say? Do you know what kind of pain a person goes through when their body is recovering from being frozen?"

Nicolas gentled his voice. "Lara, I will go to the ice cave myself and check for you, but it is best if you stay far from that place. Xavier left protections—dangerous ones, including shadow warriors. It would be suicide for you to go there."

Lara pressed her lips together tightly. What was the use of arguing with him when she planned to escape anyway? Of course she would go. How could she not? Her aunts would have never given up searching for her, nor would they let danger prevent them from going to the one place that would yield the bodies as well as clues.

She cast around for something—anything at all to say. She could see the corner of the bed in the next chamber, a massive old-fashioned bed with a carved head- and footboard. She didn't want to go into the other chamber or even acknowledge it was there. Already, she could feel the tension rising in the cavern.

Glancing at him from beneath a screen of long lashes, she moved a little farther out of reach. He seemed to fill the space of the chamber, although it was quite large with high ceilings. It was impossible not to feel the sexual pull. He was too handsome, too sensual, the combination of the way he moved—going from utter stillness to a streak of action—was sexy. Power was in the flow of his body and etched into every line on his face. His brooding eyes could melt Lara and when he turned the intensity of his black gaze on her, focused on her completely, her body ceased belonging to her and reached for him.

She had tried to put off thinking of the consequences of Nicolas's claiming her as his lifemate. Maybe in a secret part of her she hadn't really believed that by uttering a few words he could change her life forever, but she felt the connection—and sexually it was just plain frightening. To go from not being even mildly interested in men who she was friends with and knew, to having her body flare out of control for a man she didn't even like was horrifying.

She had been helpless as a child and vowed never to be so again. She'd spent years of her life controlling everything around her so she would never have the vulnerable, helpless feeling again. She looked around her at the cavern walls. Here she was nearly twenty years later and she was right back where she'd started, only this time, her own body betrayed her.

"Stop being so afraid of me,
päläfertiil
. I will not take anything you do not want to give me."

In the flickering candlelight he looked a little wolfish. She crossed her arms over her breasts wishing her gaze wouldn't drift down his hard, masculine body and that he didn't have that knowing look on his face. He was Carpathian with heightened senses and he would know her body was aroused—worse, he could probably smell her fear.

Her chin lifted. If he could smell her fear, then what was the use of denying it? "You bound our lives together without consent. That tells me you take what you want and really could care less about what I want or how I feel."

"Is that what it tells you?"

She couldn't help the small glance she shot at the passage leading to freedom. It was only a few precious feet away, but it might as well have been miles. "You don't have to sound so patronizing. Do you really think things are the same way back when you were born? What is it now, five hundred years?"

He bared his white teeth in what could have passed for a smile, but was more of a warning. "You are a few centuries off, but I get the point. We have the right to claim our lifemates. If you do not fight the inevitable the transition will be a lot easier and smoother."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Really? For who? I must have some rights in this situation. Surely I can talk to someone who can advise me. The prince, maybe."

The tension in the cavern went up a notch. He didn't change expression, but tiny red lights flickered in the depths of his eyes. "If you want to know something, you have only to ask me. Lifemates do not deceive one another."

"You said you wouldn't make me a prisoner, yet you have. You gave me the way out, but then you refused to allow me to take it."

He stirred, going from stillness to muscles rippling beneath his thin shirt, as if a great cat stretched and unsheathed his claws. The air left her lungs in a little rush and she actually stepped back, although he had remained stationary.

"The sun will burn your skin. You cannot expect me to allow you to hurt yourself simply because of an unfounded fear. That goes against my entire nature."

"I don't think you understand something as fundamental as freedom, Nicolas," Lara said. "You're big and strong and have enormous power. When have you ever had anyone telling you what to do? I can't imagine many people in your lifetime have dictated to you."

"It is not the same thing." He gave a small sigh. "I have never had to do this before, and it is something I do not enjoy."

"The 'it' being someone disagreeing with you?"

"Arguing for no good reason. I cannot permit you to burn for the sake of defiance. What kind of a lifemate would that make me? Would you truly prefer someone who cared nothing for your health and safety?"