“It could take years, Nicolae. I cannot leave you now, while you are surrounded by vampires and hampered by a lifemate who could very well endanger you without realizing it. Her blood is tainted. We do not know if it can be fixed. I do not want to lose you, Nicolae. You know how close I am to the end. Should something go wrong here with you and your lifemate, it will also go wrong with me. Here, I can aid you. Searching for this mythical woman, I can do nothing for you.”
Nicolae waved the protest aside. “I’m a hunter, a protector of our people, as are you. We can do no other than what is expected of us. Our honor demands it.”
“I will begin the search in a rising or two. It is best to show her picture to some of the local people. If she was in the area, or is expected, perhaps someone knows of her. It will give me a starting point.”
“It is possible the vampire managed to get to Mary Ann before this woman made her way to Seattle,” Nicolae mused aloud. “Velda would be the one to ask. Nothing gets by Velda and Inez.”
Vikirnoff visibly shuddered. “Perhaps you should speak with them. It is best if I stay in the background.” Nicolae’s eyebrows shot up. He remained silent, watching his brother with evident amusement.
“I see no reason for your new, strange humor, Nicolae. It is a matter of logic. The women know you and will tell you things they would not reveal to me.”
Nicolae snorted. “You are a coward. You are afraid of a couple of sweet elderly ladies. I had no idea.”
“Speaking with little old ladies is enough to shake the very foundations of a man,” Vikirnoff pointed out reasonably. “They flap their arms and screech like chickens. In truth there is no fear involved, only the painful reality that they will draw undue attention to my existence.”
Nicolae sat abruptly on the edge of a boulder. “There is some truth to what you say. I must confess I feel some small affection for Velda and Inez, although I do not know how it happened. They are frightening to me also. Velda has talent. She knows things I would like to better explore. Do you have any idea what is causing these humans to behave at odds with their true nature?”
Vikirnoff shrugged his shoulders. “I cannot detect the touch of a vampire. It is unsettling. The poison used on your lifemate was much more sophisticated than I have ever seen. I do not like the fact that there is some semblance of order among the vampires and someone is orchestrating a great war plan we have never before seen.”
“It is possible Gregori knows of this. He is second to the Prince and shares all his information. If they can use such a trap to attack me, it can also be used against our Prince, and he should be alerted to the possibility.”
Vikirnoff studied Nicolae’s pale face. “You are not taking proper care of yourself. It is necessary for you to be at full strength to fight the call of her blood. If you succumb, we do not know what will happen. I have never heard of such a case before, and we have no way of knowing what to expect.” It was a reprimand, delivered in Vikirnoff’s usual forthright manner.
Nicolae sighed. “You just have to act the older brother with me.”
“If finding one’s lifemate means throwing away all reason, I am uncertain whether it is such a good thing.” Even as he uttered the words, his thumb slid once more in an unknowing caress over the face of the woman in the photograph.
Nicolae held out his hand. “I will take the picture to Mary Ann’s office and make copies for you and show it to Velda and Inez.”
Vikirnoff hesitated uncharacteristically. He shoved the photograph inside his shirt. “I will make the copies myself and give you one to show the human women.” Vikirnoff stepped forward. “You must feed.” He tore his wrist open with his teeth, extended his arm to his brother.
Nicolae bent his head to the life-giving fluid.
This is becoming a regular habit.
“I have noticed. I am fast gaining the reputation of being a glutton, feeding for both of us,” Vikirnoff said dryly.
The ancient blood, strong and healing, rushed through Nicolae’s body, filling shriveled cells, bringing strength and power to muscle and tissue. He took what he needed, knowing he would be replenishing Destiny on the next rising. Carefully, respectfully, he closed the wound.
“Thank you for always being my brother,” he said formally.
Vikirnoff nodded without replying, his form already shimmering.
I will find my own resting place, close enough to be called should there be need, but far enough to afford privacy.
The flames from the urn sputtered and went out as if a small breeze had moved through the chamber. A wealth of healing aromas filled the cavern and drifted deep into Nicolae’s lungs. He stretched, feeling the tension in his body slowly begin to fade. There were still remnants of anger and fear at the thought of what had been, what could have happened, but Vikirnoff had managed to calm the turbulent storm.
Nicolae began the complicated weaving of difficult safeguards at all entrances to the mountain and the network of caves. He didn’t want to find himself sharing their resting place with a vampire this night. Deepening the resting place so that Destiny had even richer soil to welcome her, he floated down into the arms of the earth.
At the next rising he intended to find a way to lock Destiny closer to him, find a way to force her acceptance of a healing by the Prince’s second-in-command. He could be as ruthless as the next hunter if the situation called for it, and he believed this one would. Destiny was not likely to welcome Gregori, nor would she thank Nicolae for summoning the healer.
Nicolae gathered Destiny into his arms and waved his hand to command the earth to close over them. The soil was warm, welcoming and soothing. He held her close, brushed the top of her head with his lips and allowed his heart to cease beating.
Chapter Fifteen
She woke to the scent of flowers. She was no longer in the earth but lying on a bed with silken sheets. She could feel the silk on her bare skin, already arousing her body as the silk rubbed against her with every movement. Her hair was unbound and fell in a mass around her on the pillows. Destiny inhaled deeply, drawing the fragrance of flowers and her lifemate’s masculine scent into her lungs. A small smile curved her mouth.
“Nicolae. You’re here with me.” She opened her eyes, turned her head to look at him. Drank in the hard angles and planes of his face. The sensuality of his mouth. The beauty of his eyes.
“Where else would I be but with my lifemate?” He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his gaze drifting lovingly over her face like the touch of fingers. His voice was a caress, a velvet stroke that reached deep within her and sent every nerve ending into overdrive.
With an effort, Destiny tore her eyes from his, her amazed stare moving around the chamber to take in what he had done for her. There was no chance for the stench of evil to enter their hidden world. Roses were everywhere. Climbing up the walls of the cavern. Forming an overhead canopy of flowers. Some floated on the surface of the coolest pool. Others sprang up among the rocks. Roses of all colors with soft, inviting petals and beautiful fragrance to please her.
Destiny’s smile widened and she turned back to Nicolae. “You took Velda and Inez seriously, didn’t you? Should I expect chocolate and the interesting things that can be done with it?”
His fingertip traced her soft skin from her throat, down the valley between her breasts, to her flat stomach. The small caress sent a curling heat spiraling through her body. “I was very afraid to ask Inez for the details of what exactly to do with the chocolate, so I skipped that part. I liked their idea of flowers, though.”
There was a note in his voice that turned her heart over. “I like it too.” She was very much aware of lying naked on the bed, her body soft and open to his inspection. A part of her wanted to cover up, feeling suddenly shy, but there was another, much stronger side that whispered of seduction. That reveled in the way his eyes were dark and hungry as his gaze moved possessively over her. She loved to see his body, so hard and aggressive, reacting to the sight of her. And she loved knowing that he liked what he saw.