Dark Peril (30 page)

She pushed out of the chair, forgetting the gossamer robe as she paced restlessly across the floor of the cavern, her cat prowling close to the surface. “You either accept me as I am, or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways. I would
never
be able to stay safe waiting while you’re in danger.”

Only the sound of water falling into the basin filled the room. She became aware of her harsh, agitated breathing, her accelerated heartbeat, the rush of adrenaline in her body. His silence stretched out until the tension was nearly unbearable. He simply looked at her with that dark, unfathomable, very direct stare that spoke volumes.

She raised her chin and stared right back. Protecting those she loved was her fundamental core. If he thought he could shape her into something or someone else with a few sexy outfits, he was very wrong. She wasn’t good at this kind of crap anyway. She’d just go back to being a jaguar and find her place in the forest. She felt the familiar itch run under her skin and the call of the wild raged inside of her. Escape . . . it was the only way.

“You are a fierce fighter, Solange. When you cannot win a battle, what do you do?”

She fought back her cat to try to make her vocal cords work. “Retreat and plan a different way.”

“You cannot win a battle with me. Not you. Not your cat. We both would lose if you insisted on such an action.”

“What
exactly
are you saying to me? Because you are
not
going to dictate to me.”

“You are looking for a fight and I refuse to join you. You have a very bad habit of jumping to conclusions and putting me in the worst light possible.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, forcing herself to breathe away panic. And she was panicking. She
wanted
, even
needed
to run before he took this any further. Until she wanted him with every cell in her body and she would do anything to keep him. She had more self-respect than that.

He stepped close to her, ignoring the warning look in her eyes, one hand spanning her throat, letting her feel his immense strength. More than physical strength, she could see the power and confidence the centuries had given him. The look in his eyes shook her. Censure. Pure, unadulterated censure. And it hurt. Maybe she deserved it, but it really hurt.

“You cannot lie to me or yourself, Solange. I will not allow that. You want to run from me, not out of self-respect but out of cowardice. You do not want to trust me with your body or your heart, and I am getting too close to both.”

“I would shatter into a million pieces,” she defended. “Don’t you see? I’m not this woman you want.”

“How do you know what I want when you refuse to look—or listen? You were waiting for your opportunity and you thought you found it. Did I not tell you that I respected you as a warrior? That I believed you to be my equal and a partner? Do you think that I would lie to you? I am Dominic Dragonseeker, and the Dragonseeker honor has never been called into question, not once in thousands of years.” There was an edge now to that normally calm voice.

Solange felt the tears gathering behind her eyes. Of course she’d screwed things up. It was all too good to be true. Or maybe she just couldn’t handle being happy after so many years of rage and sorrow.

His hand moved to the nape of her neck, and suddenly his fingers were doing a soothing massage. “Breathe, Solange. Just take a breath.”

Her lungs
were
burning for air and she hadn’t even realized it. Real shame, an emotion she hadn’t known until then, was more bitter than rage. Dominic had put himself on the line. She hadn’t really given him a chance, not in her heart. Her mind had tried, and her body certainly wanted him, but there was so much fear of having her heart torn out that she hadn’t really committed to him. She was ready to run at the first sign of danger with him.

“Don’t you see? I can’t do this,” she said. “I’m going to keep hurting you. I’ve never even lived in a house with people. We lived in camps and learned to defend ourselves. I haven’t had a home since I was eight years old.” She didn’t know if she was pleading for understanding or pleading with him to let her go.

His fingers continued that slow, seductive massage. “Then perhaps it is time you had a home, Solange.
I
want to be your home. Give me your trust. I know we can do this.”

“We’d need a miracle,” Solange said, shaking her head. “I want to do this, Dominic, I really do, but I just don’t think I’m capable. I look into your eyes and a part of me knows I’ll be safe if I give myself to you, but I’m holding on to safety so tightly that I don’t think I can let go and fall. You’re like this amazing, larger-than-life hero who has swept into my personal nightmare, and I’ve just never believed in heroes.”

He brushed at the tears in her eyes with his fingers, caught them in his hand and applied pressure. She drew in her breath when he opened his hands. Sparkling gems of red and green strung together with links of gold lay in the palm of his hand. “Green for your eyes and red for your temper, both of which I am very partial to.”

Solange would have backed away from him if he hadn’t held her in place. “You have too much power for anyone, Dominic.” She couldn’t keep the tremors out of her voice.

“You said we needed a miracle.” He nudged her hand until she opened it. He dropped the bracelet into her palm. “We have a miracle, Solange. You and I together can be a miracle. What are the odds after so many centuries of being alone that I would find you here in this place where I came for my final battle?”

Her fingers closed around the gems and she held them to her. “I want to be the woman you need, Dominic, but I’m too afraid of losing myself.”

“How would you do that?”

“You asked me what I do when I can’t win a battle. How could I ever win with you? You’re too strong. Not just physical strength; I might be able to fight that. It’s not even your gifts. It’s the power in you. The absolute power I feel radiating from you.”

He smiled at her and brushed back the fall of soft waves around her face. “That power belongs to you, Solange. It is there for your protection. For your happiness. For your use. It belongs to you. You have not figured it out yet, but you are both intelligent and a fighter. Do not fight me. Fight
for
us. Fight for me. Without you, I cannot survive. Can you do that?” He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “You are a strong woman, Solange. Will you save me? You are the only one who can.”

Her heart contracted. “You don’t need me, Dominic. You’re so—so absolute. You could have any woman you wanted. This has to be some bizarre mistake.”

He shook his head. “In many ways Carpathians look to be a superior species, and it is true we have many gifts, but in truth, like every species, we have weaknesses. Jaguars and humans can mate with anyone, and they often mistake physical attraction for a lasting relationship. For Carpathians there is only one. You are the other half of me. There is no getting it wrong, Solange. You were meant for me. If you choose not to commit to me, I will be lost.”

Solange blinked back tears and opened her hand to look down at the bracelet, at the fiery red gems nestled in her palm. “I have a really, really bad temper,” she warned. “And a very mean mouth.”

Very gently he took the bracelet from her hand and fastened it around her wrist. He leaned down and brushed another kiss across her upturned lips before very gently slipping the robe from her body. “Then we will have to teach you other uses for your mouth. I dream of it often.”

Her body reacted, flooding with heat. He leaned his head toward her, a slow, steady movement that only seemed to heighten her anticipation. Her legs trembled and turned to jelly. She gasped when he lifted her into his arms and when they turned, there was a thick, handwoven rug carpeting the bench. She had time for one brief thought—
How does he do that?

“I think you need to relax. You are shaking again.”

He placed her faceup on the padded table. She stared up at the ceiling of the cave. It was as if he’d thrown her midnight blue robe up above her and scattered amazing silvery stars across the night sky. She recognized the dragon constellation. This dragon was blazing, as if the stars hadn’t faded with time and still had the wings.

“I am going to give you a scalp massage. You do not have to worry about anything, Solange. I am not expecting or asking anything of you at this time. Only to relax.”

His fingers were strong, yet so very gentle. The mesmerizing soft voice stroked like velvet over her skin while his fingers worked their magic.

“I want you to feel warm,
kessake
. And safe. Because you are always safe in my care. Do you know what the binding ritual is? Has your cousin talked to you about it?”

His voice had dropped an octave lower. Solange listened for the sound of it, concentrating on every cadence and rhythm of his tone as she looked up at the burning eyes and sharp teeth of the dragon overhead.

“Not really. I didn’t understand what she did say.” Her mind was a little hazy from the absolute pleasure his hands were inducing. There was no way she could fail to relax, not with his large hands drawing the tension out of her.

“The male of our species is imprinted with the binding words before birth. Once we say them to our lifemate, she is bound, soul to soul, to us. We believe the soul was split. The male is the darkness and she is the light.”

In spite of the sheer magic of his fingers, she winced. “Surely mistakes are made. I’ve told you before, there is little light left in me. I kill, Dominic. I plan an attack and I carry it out with precision and no hesitation.”

He waited in silence, and Solange bit her lip and then lifted her left hand into the air so she could look at the bracelet. The light from the candles caught the rubies and emeralds, and they blazed to life. “Maybe that’s not exactly the truth. Lately, I’ve been hesitating.” The confession came out in a soft little rush. She didn’t want to lie to him. “The last few times I’ve known I’m going to kill someone, I feel sick inside. But if I don’t do it, I know they’ll harm another woman sometime, someplace, and there is no one else to stop them.”

“I know that was difficult to admit to yourself, let alone to me.”

The approval in his voice warmed her. She was startled to see him looming above her, but his hands began to work on her shoulders, those strong fingers digging into every tense muscle, and she subsided under his magic.

“There can be no mistake. When I heard your voice, my emotions returned. After centuries of living on memories, it was a little difficult not to be overwhelmed. My first thought was to find you and carry you off, as I believe my ancestors would have done. I see color. Your hair, all that soft, silky hair with so many colors blended together.” He rubbed the strands between his fingers. “So beautiful.”

She tried to stifle the little moan of pleasure his compliments elicited. She tried concentrating on the mouth of the dragon as those magic hands continued her massage right along her collarbone. The feeling was bone-melting. Her body began a delicious tingle, as if her nerve endings had begun to awaken all over again. That should have been alarming, but she was too relaxed under his ministrations to protest. He made her feel beautiful and cared for. He made her feel as if she really were his protected and safe lifemate.

“Why haven’t you carried me off?” she asked. Her voice sounded faraway, drowsy. Maybe even a little sexy. Certainly not really her.

His hands cupped her breasts. Her stomach muscles bunched as he began a slow, gentle massage, and this time there was oil on his hands. Her heart pounded, drawing his attention to her accelerated pulse. “Carrying you off would not be right for you. For some women, yes, but you, my
kessake
, my little cat—you require seduction. Finesse.
Loving.
I have to earn your trust, and I would not want it any other way.”

Her gaze jumped to his face when he tugged and rolled her nipples between his finger and thumb. He left behind a minty oil that began generating heat at the very tips of her breasts.

“Does that feel good, Solange? Your body is sexy, a temptation that is getting more difficult to resist. You are very responsive, and that is so seductive to me.”

He bent his head and the long fall of silky midnight black hair spilled over her chest, teasing her senses as he sucked her nipple deep into his mouth and stroked with his tongue. She heard herself whimper, a soft, breathy sound that came close to a plea. He cupped both breasts, turned his head and found her other, woefully neglected nipple and drew it into his mouth, giving her left breast the same, unhurried loving attention. Pleasure was so intense she shook, her hips moving restlessly.

His hands stroked down her rib cage and over her belly. He found the tight little muscles and began his slow, leisurely massage. “Do you see, Solange, that you are the only woman in my world? The one woman who can choose life or death for me. You are the center of my world and you always will be. When I tell you that your pleasure is mine, I mean that literally. I can feel your body’s response. I can feel your mind relax just as your muscles do, and it pleases me that I am the one, the only one, who can do that for you. I am the man your body responds to and your mind accepts.”

His fingers slipped lower to her mound, massaged ever so gently, stroked lightly over her damp sex and moved to her inner thighs. Her breath exploded in a ragged rush as his hands continued that bone-melting kneading of her tight muscles. All the way down her calves to her feet, he kept kneading and stroking until she simply melted there on the table.

His hand on her shoulder urged her to turn over. She could barely summon the strength, already drifting in a state of arousal and relaxation. She turned her head to one side as he stretched out her arms by her sides and began work on her shoulders with his clever fingers.

“Why did you say I can’t accompany you when you go to the gathering of the vampires, when you know I won’t be able to stay away?” She murmured the words, her lashes falling as his hands went to her back.