Each note sank into Julian’s pores, seeped into his soul. Desari was incredible. She captivated the entire audience. The arena was so silent, not even the shuffling of feet interrupted her song. The crowd could feel each separate note, see it shimmering like a flame dancing in the air. They smelled the sea she sang of, felt the rise and fall of the waves. She brought tears to their eyes, peace to their hearts. Julian couldn’t take his eyes off her. He was mesmerized by her, enthralled completely. He found himself painfully aroused and surprisingly proud.
Darius’s black gaze strayed often to the man leaning with deceptive laziness against the far wall. He was tall and handsome. Power oozed from him, radiated around him. At the moment his strange, molten-gold eyes were fixed on Desari, his attention seemingly consumed by her performance. But Darius was not deceived. This was a predator. Not necessarily evil, but he had come here hunting. And his prey was Desari. There was a hard edge to his mouth, a stark possessiveness reflected in the depths of those burning eyes. Darius knew this man was a dangerous adversary.
Julian’s eyes never once wavered from Desari’s face. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. On stage, in the midst of the rising theatrical fog and floodlights, she looked ethereal, mystical. A woman of erotic dreams, of fantasies. His body was completely still, nearly a part of the wall behind him, as if she had somehow absorbed every bit of his energy.
Darius moved closer, cloaking his presence as he did so. He stalked with the silent advance of the leopard, counting on the stranger’s being caught up in the spell Desari wove around her audience. He was within four rows of his destination when a soft warning growl stopped him in his tracks. He knew no one else had heard that low rumble. It was directed solely at him. The stranger hadn’t changed position, hadn’t taken his eyes off the stage, away from Desari, but Darius suddenly knew the stranger’s complete attention was centered on him.
On stage, Desari faltered, missing two lines of her song. Her heart was beating in her throat.
Oh, God, please do not do this.
Terror was in her voice, concern for him, for both of them.
Julian deliberately turned his head toward Darius and smiled, a show of gleaming white teeth. He straightened, his body fluid and supple. Two fingers touched his forehead in a mock salute directed at Darius. Muscles rippled suggestively beneath the thin T-shirt. He sauntered unhurriedly to the exit, arrogance in every step. His amber eyes glinted with menace until he swung his gaze back to Desari. Then his eyes burned possessively, intently, a molten gold that turned her to liquid heat.
For you,
cara mia. His voice moved through her body with the same inflammatory heat of his gaze.
Desari wanted to run after him. She stood on the stage and sang to a crowd of several thousand, but her mind and her heart and soul were somewhere else. Dayan and Barack were watching her closely, puzzled, worried by her strange behavior. Desari had never faltered, never missed a beat in all their long centuries of singing on stage.
Darius followed the stranger out of the dome. The man was gone, dissolved into mist in the night air. Darius sensed him, felt the power in the air, but dared not leave his sister to pursue her pursuer. Something about the man gave him pause. He looked at Desari with more than lust in his gaze. More than possession. He looked at her protectively. Darius was nearly certain the stranger was not out to harm her. He was also certain the man had not left out of fear. Nothing would scare him. He walked with the confidence born of many battles, much hardship, and enormous knowledge.
Darius looked up into the night. Whoever the stranger was, he had left out of deference to Desari’s wishes, not because he feared a battle with Darius. Darius sighed and turned back to the dome. He did not need this worry at this time. The assassins stalking Desari required his full attention. It bothered him that his intruder had arrived on the very day someone had tried to kill her. And to make matters worse, Darius had been convinced for some time that the most evil of all enemies stalked his beloved sister—the undead.
Desari saw her brother return. Anxiously she studied his face. It was the same mask of harsh sensual beauty he always wore. He had no visible wounds. She was certain she would have felt the disturbance if the two men had fought. Her singing had always flowed from her, a beautiful creation as mysterious and wonderful to her as it was to everyone else. Now it was difficult to create, with her mind in chaos, her throat closing off, being so near to tears.
Where was he? Was he alive? Was he all right? She wanted to scream, to run off the stage, away from the thousands of prying eyes, away from her family who watched her so closely. She was uncertain for a moment if she could continue the concert.
Sing for me,
cara mia.
I love the sound o f your voice. It is a miracle. You bring me peace and joy when you sing. You make my body burn as it never has be fore. Sing for me.
The voice was low and husky, brushing away her inner chaos as if it had never been. Just like that her voice soared free, rising to fill the dome, to burst out into the night to find him. The feelings in her body, the pent-up passion, the wild hunger, the need of centuries poured into her voice. She was a living flame, moving across the stage like flowing water. Nothing could touch her; she was not of the earth.
Somewhere her lover waited. His eyes were on her. Watching. He was burning, too. She could feel the heat of his skin, the hungry eyes never leaving her face. He had left the dome, but he had returned because he needed to see her. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Not the danger to him, not her family, only that he see her perform. She sang for him, to him, the strength and intensity of her need in each note. The burning flame heating her blood took her music to new heights. Wildly erotic heights, whispering of silken sheets and candlelight.
Julian could not take his eyes from her. She was so beautiful, he could barely find it in him to breathe. This was the one? His lifemate? No one, least of all him, deserved such a woman. She reached into his dark soul and touched something good in him, something he hadn’t known existed.
In all the world, no one sang like she did. Her voice was mesmerizing, enthralling; it wrapped one up in a silken web of passion and held him there. Julian’s body reacted in a savage, primitive manner. He wanted her as he had never wanted anything else in his existence. He wanted the concert over, yet he wanted it to go on for all time.
The walls of the dome seemed to have fallen away as she created the illusion of a dark, mystical forest, of cascading waterfalls, deep pools, and hungry fire with her voice alone. The images would never leave his mind, the erotic picture of her swimming to him, her arms eagerly outstretched to greet him.
The audience rose to their feet, their applause thunderous. Julian knew the reviews would be raving. He was proud of her, but at the same time he objected to her performance. Such publicity went against his every instinct. It would only serve to draw more unwanted attention to her. He knew what reporters would write. That she was an enchantress, weaving a spell over the audience.
Desari returned for one encore, tired but exhilarated. This time it wasn’t simply because she knew she had performed well, had shared her extraordinary gift with others. It was because, somewhere in the darkness, a man waited for her. A stranger already familiar to her. It was terrifying yet exciting. She took her bows, her body humming with life. She wanted to run off the stage, to join him.
She wanted to see those eyes. Those beautiful, unusual, oh, so hungry eyes watching her. Staring at her. Those eyes that saw only her. Desari waved to the crowd and hurried off stage, moving down the hall to her dressing room. Barack and Dayan paced at her side, uneasy because of her strange behavior. Both had felt the presence of power in the dome. Who could not? But they had complete confidence in Darius. They would follow his lead, and so far, he was not hunting down the creature.