“You worry too much about my safety, honey.” His fingers tangled in her hair on the pretext of taming it into some semblance of order. “I would know if a human approached my property. It is well protected, not by a security system such as humans use but by ancient safeguards, powerful and dangerous. Tyler Drake cannot get through them. As long as you are on this property, you are perfectly safe from him.”
“What about from a sniper’s bullet? He doesn’t have to be on the property to shoot you, Lucian. All he has to do is perch on a hilltop somewhere and get you in his sights.”
“I am not so easy to kill, angel. You only pretend not to know what I am because you do not want to think too closely about it.” He was in her mind. She was avoiding the idea of their sharing blood, mainly because it brought up dark, erotic memories she didn’t want to touch. And she was definitely having trouble with the idea that she had taken his blood. It bothered her far more than she wanted to admit, yet she was turning it over and over in her mind.
Lucian looked down at her. Jaxon had tipped her head back to look up at him, her large eyes dark with such mixed emotions it turned his insides to molten heat. More than anything he wanted to taste her soft lips. The need was fierce and urgent and this time he gave in to the demand without a fight. He simply wrapped his arms around her small waist and pulled her to him, his head descending to take possession of her mouth.
Time stopped. Beneath their feet the earth itself shifted and rolled. Burning heat erupted everywhere, electricity arcing between them. Still, his mouth was slow and gentle, coaxing her response rather than commanding it. His hands moved to cup the back of her head, holding her so that he could explore, lose himself in the silken heat of her mouth. She was everything to him. A secret world of light and heat and color and emotion and magic. He never wanted to be anywhere else. He wanted this perfect moment to go on for all time.
Lucian lifted his head slowly, almost afraid to stop, afraid the moment couldn’t be real, it was such perfection, afraid she would vanish and leave him alone once more. His hands tangled in her hair. “I thought there were few secrets left in this world for me to discover, angel, but the mystery of how I came to deserve one such as you, I will spend eternity unraveling.”
Her fingertips touched his perfect mouth. The truth was, Jaxon was in awe of him. She had known if he touched her that way, if his mouth found hers, she could never be truly free of him. She would crave him for all time. His taste, his power, his scent. Everything. “I shouldn’t have let you do that, Lucian,” she whispered. “Now what are we going to do?” He had said she could leave anytime, she wasn’t a prisoner, but she knew it wasn’t the truth. She was locked to him in some way, bound by something far more powerful than she had ever imagined. Her eyelashes lifted, and she looked up at him with tremendous sorrow. “What are we going to do?”
Lucian caught the nape of her neck in the palm of his hand and drew her against him so he could hold her. “When you look at me with such sadness, Jaxon, you break my heart.” The wind provided a soft music, and he moved in perfect rhythm to it, moving her with him so that they were one. She rested her head against his chest and seemed to melt into him, pliant and soft when she should have been protesting.
“Our fate is sealed, honey,” he said as gently as he could. “There is no Lucian without Jaxon, and there is no Jaxon without Lucian. We must find a way to merge our two worlds together. We have no choice. It was written long before either of us was sent to this earth. We are fortunate that we were able to find each other, when there are so many who have been unable to remain hopeful.”
“You think that, Lucian? You really think that we’re lucky? I’ve brought you into a sick world where someone is stalking me and killing anyone who matters to me. You’re bringing me into a nightmare world where creatures out of horror stories exist.” Jaxon sounded very sad, her voice muffled by his white silk shirt. “I don’t even know if I want to be with you. I don’t know if you’ve got me under some black-magic spell or not.” Their bodies were swaying together, as close as they could get, with only thin layers of clothes between them.
He found himself smiling again. He was more than likely the most powerful creature on the face of the earth. He could command the heavens. She was not much more than five-foot-one, probably didn’t weigh in at a hundred pounds, yet she didn’t think anything of standing up to him.
The truth was, Lucian was used to complete awe and respect. Even among the more powerful males of his race, he had always been treated with deference. No one had defied him in centuries. He mused over that. No one other than enemies he had to destroy had
ever
defied him. Not once in all those centuries did anyone ever disobey his will. Lucian was used to having his way in all things. In his arms Jaxon felt so small and fragile. He was suddenly aware of his strength, of his power, something he had always taken for granted. He inhaled her scent; she was already the very air he breathed. The bond between them was growing stronger with every moment that passed.
A sound intruded, a soft cry, music on the wind. The wolves knew he was out on the grounds and had come close to visit him. Seeing he was not alone, they were in the woods, dark shadows watching him, waiting for a signal. Attack or stay back? He touched their minds, sending images to them. Jaxon was a part of their clan, their pack, his female, a leader right alongside him. She was under his protection.
Under their protection. They must at all times look out for her first.
Jaxon raised her head. “They’re out there now, watching us, aren’t they? Where did you get them? You have to secure all sorts of special licenses to have a wild animal. I would have thought, even for you, it would be difficult to attain the permits when you live so close to the city. How did you manage it?”
He shrugged his wide shoulders carelessly. “I simply told the gentleman he was going to give me the permits, and he did so.”
Jaxon sighed and stopped dancing with him. “I need to get away from you. I really do. I can’t believe someone so perfectly logical and down-to-earth as I am is falling for this fantasy world you’ve created. Lucian, you can’t just go around getting your way by crawling into people’s minds and hypnotizing them into doing whatever you want.”
His black eyes glittered with what could have been amusement. “Jaxon, I have been doing just that since the beginning of existence.”
“What does that mean?”
“Centuries. I have been doing it for centuries.”
Jaxon held up her hand. “Just stop saying
centuries
. Don’t use that word anymore. Something about it makes me crazy.” She pressed a hand to her stomach. “Give me back my gun before you call those animals to you.” She could see the wolves, their eyes reflecting in the dark. Without realizing it, she moved back beneath the shelter of Lucian’s wide shoulder for protection. “I’d just feel better, you know?”
“The wolves are my brothers. They would never seek to harm me or mine,” he said quietly. “They are noble creatures, Jaxon, with a strict code. They would give their lives for us. Do not fear them.”
Her heart was beginning to pound. Right away she noticed his heartbeat match hers, and then both hearts slowed to normal. She glanced up at him. “What
are
you?”
“Not vampire, little love. Never that.” His every instinct was to scoop her up and run off with her, claim her body and tie her to him irrevocably. Lucian’s mind was a shadow in hers; he knew she would be unable to resist him, but it was not what she wanted. She was still struggling to accept his existence and their strange bond. With a sigh he circled her slight body with his arms and dropped to one knee.