She reached out to touch his strong jaw, her fingers gently caressing. “Thank you, Dayan.” She took another look around the house. “I think we have everything.”
He took possession of the suitcases and made certain the house was securely locked before following her down the brick pathway and across the large expanse of immaculate lawn. Corinne stopped suddenly, looking up at the abundance of stars overhead. Stars that couldn’t be seen earlier. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
Dayan nodded and continued to walk to the car. Corinne was very pale, and he could hear her struggling to breathe. She acted as if she were normal, as if she were strong, but he was beginning to be alarmed again. He wanted to swoop her up and fly across the night sky with her, taking her to the nearest healer to demand she be put right. “You need to get in the car, honey,” he advised softly.
She nodded, hating the weakness that prevented her from enjoying so simple a pleasure. Headlights caught her in a bright spotlight as a car whipped around the corner and raced straight toward her.
Corinne stood frozen, her heart stammering, her baby kicking as a rush of adrenaline flooded her mother’s body.
Dayan dropped the suitcases and moved with preternatural speed. He caught her up into the safety of his arms and leapt over the speeding car, taking to the air as he did so. Below him, the driver was spinning around, fishtailing, the occupants yelling with excitement. He could see them clearly, and for the first time, rage was beginning to smolder deep within his soul. He wanted no more humans threatening Corinne. A low growl rumbled deep in his throat, and he leaned over her silky hair, intending to whisper a command to her.
Corinne clutched Dayan’s arm as they raced across the sky. He wasn’t running anymore. She was certain his feet weren’t touching the ground. No one could move that fast. No one. She felt the warmth of his breath against her ear, felt him merging with her mind, the waves of reassurance, of love and commitment. “Don’t tell me to forget this,” she countered sharply.
Don’t order me to forget, Dayan. Not yet. Let me see you.
She was seeing him for the first time. Before, she’d had glimpses, tantalizing clues, but she couldn’t fit the pieces together. Now he was sharing her mind, and she saw things, memories, images; she saw Dayan in different time periods. His memories didn’t make sense to her, but she knew they were real and not from history books. They were too detailed, too vivid. And he had saved her from the speeding car, leaping into the air and virtually flying with her.
Your heart must match the beat of mine. Listen, Corinne, for I will not lose you. Breathe with me and do not be frightened.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she whispered aloud.
I’m not afraid of you.
She didn’t want him to use his telepathic ability to rob her of this memory. Was she seeing the reason Dayan was so lonely, so utterly alone in a world where everyone seemed to be drawn to him? He was completely different. He could do magical things.
Dayan took her to the safety of the rooftops, settling her gently in the shelter of a dormer. He glanced at the sky, and immediately clouds began swirling overhead, building fast and furious. The thick fog bank was returning with the unstable weather.
Corinne watched his every move carefully, noting that his expression was exactly the same, but deep within his eyes burned a red flame of retribution. “You’re going to confront them, aren’t you?”
“I want you to concentrate on your heart, Corinne.” He made it an order, delivered in his black-velvet voice. “It needs to be a nice steady beat. Hear it, feel mine.” He brought her palm to his chest, right over his heart. “Feel that rhythm? You can control it to some extent.”
“How could you move so fast?” she asked, her eyes wide with wonder. Corinne had been handicapped physically all of her life, so Dayan’s abilities were wondrous to her.
“We will talk later, honey. I have a few minor details to attend to right now.”
She reached out and caught his arm. “Be careful, Dayan. There’s such a thing as being
too
confident.”
He bent his head to brush her forehead with a kiss. And then he was gone. Corinne blinked and Dayan had disappeared. She drew up her knees, breathing slowly and deeply, concentrating on her heart as he had commanded. For the moment, she allowed herself the luxury of belonging to him, of knowing he wanted her. Only her.
What was he? Who was he?
Dayan felt enormous power sweeping through his mind as he dissolved into droplets of mist. Streaking though the layers of fog, he moved swiftly toward the car that was roaring through the streets. A jagged lightning bolt slammed to earth directly into the path of the car. The vehicle lurched and fishtailed before it raced on. Hail poured out of the sky; ice the size of golf balls rained down on the roof of the car so hard it dented it. Visibility was destroyed by thick fog and sheets of ice. The driver slammed on his brakes, and the car slid to a halt. At once the deadly fog invaded the vehicle, pouring in through the windows and filling the empty spaces until it pushed out all the air.
Within the fog was a peculiar mist, a vapor trail of a shadowy color that left an impression of great menace. The driver reached for the door handle, but it was already too late. The fog was winding around his throat like the coils of a snake. The strangely colored mist wound tighter and tighter until the driver was choking, gasping, turning gray, then blue, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Both men in the back seat reached simultaneously for the doors. The fog seemed alive, fibrous, with tentacles that reached out to envelop them, slipping coil after coil around them like ever-tightening nooses. They struggled frantically, but their struggles caused the loops of fog to squeeze them more tightly until they were gasping and choking, reaching up to tear at the coils around their throats. Their hands simply went through the fog as if it were mist and nothing else. They died silently, without a chance to cry out for help.
Dayan guided the vehicle through the thick fog, using his peculiar radar so that he could keep the cloud cover around him as he removed the car from Corinne’s neighborhood. These men would be found, but their deaths would baffle any coroner. Dayan had left no marks on any of them. All three appeared to have choked to death or strangled on something, but there were no drugs in their systems, no marks or evidence of foul play. Dayan was tired of being chased, and the members of the society had gone too far this time. They were determined to capture or kill Corinne and Lisa. Dayan could not allow the society to threaten his lifemate. By leaving the men dead in their car a few blocks from Corinne’s home, he was sending his message loud and clear to the society members. They would continue the pursuit at their own peril. Corinne and Lisa were under his protection, and he would destroy anyone who threatened them.
The swirling black clouds overhead were dissipating along with the trails of fog. Corinne lay back on the roof, watching the patterns of the clouds, the lightning arcing from one black cauldron to another. It was a beautiful display, but it was frightening too, because it seemed so intense, so personal.
Like Dayan.
Everything about him was intense. He was always outwardly calm, tranquil even, yet she sensed so much more beneath the surface. Swirling like the dark clouds above her head.
Just as fast as he had gone, Dayan returned, standing over her, tall and powerful. She blinked up at him in total amazement. She closed her eyes when he reached for her. Tall. Elegant. Powerful. That same wildness was on him, clinging to him along with a lethal menace. It was something she couldn’t quite define, but that was nonetheless real.