"If a vampire is hunting, he will hunt there, or just outside. He can mask his appearance and force a compulsion on someone to accompany him outside."
"Do you have your identification on you?" she asked. "I carry my passport and ID in my jacket."
He lifted an eyebrow. "I have sent word to Josef, one of our boys well versed in modern technology, and he has built a full identity for when I travel with you to the United States, but I do not need anything here."
She didn't tell him he was mistaken. He slid his hand down her arm and threaded his fingers through hers, taking her with him down the street to a building where music, laughter and voices spilled out into the night. The rain had let up again so only a fine mist touched her face.
She noticed Andre was reaching out with senses, searching for something--or a lack of it. She stayed in his mind, trying to study what he did.
Vampires are so foul, nature shrinks from their presence. They try to disguise themselves by creating a space of nothing. No scent. No tracks. Nothing at all. That can give them away.
She liked that he shared. She liked that a lot. She especially liked walking beneath his shoulder, close to his body.
Did you spot anything?
"No. That does not necessarily mean we can relax our vigilance, but it is less likely one is close."
He reached around her to open the door. At once the noise assaulted her ears, forcing her to figure out how to turn the volume down. Immediately Teagan realized just why Andre didn't need an ID. She felt the exact moment he reached out and took control of the mind of the man at the door. They were waved through. He kept her close as they made their way to a table all the way at the back of the room.
The smell of alcohol nearly made her gag. She'd never had that reaction before, and she knew immediately she couldn't possibly have a drink. Still, the moment the waitress came over, Andre ordered two drinks. He leaned close to her, creating an intimate space. Listen, sivamet. After a few minutes you will be able to process several conversations at the same time. Listen for Jashari's name.
She nodded. She wanted to learn as much as she could from him and sitting at the small table listening to his quiet instruction made her feel as if he'd accepted her as a partner, instead of someone who had to be shielded at all times.
Water came first while they waited for their drinks. She sipped at the water, her eyes moving around the bar. It was packed. She was certain there wasn't much else to do in the evenings. Music blared and couples danced. Laughter broke out at a table a couple of feet from theirs. It was normal. Human. She took comfort in that. She was apart from them all, just as she'd always been, but now, she had Andre. She was with him. She fit with him. She belonged with him. And that was just plain awesome.
17
Andre's hand, still holding Teagan's, dropped beneath the table to rest on her thigh. He rubbed the back of his hand there. Up high. She was instantly aware of him. Acutely so. Every single cell in her body was aware of him, especially her sex. Damp. Hot. Inviting. How could he do that?
He was looking at her, but she was in his mind and he was searching the room for information. Still, he was all too aware of her, just as she was of him. He didn't miss anything about her, not from the nervous hand that came up to push her hair behind her ear to the fidgeting in her chair because--well--if she didn't fidget, she might just spontaneously combust. Or have an orgasm. Could a woman actually get an orgasm just from a man rubbing the back of his hand along her thigh while his fingers were tight around hers? If so, that was definitely going to happen. So who could concentrate on trying to hear information in the packed room?
"Teagan."
She did a full body shiver. There it was. Silk and velvet. But low and rough at the same time. Somewhere between a purr and a growl. She loved the way he said her name. Loved it.
She risked looking up at him, and it was a risk because he was gorgeous and he had those eyes she couldn't resist. She didn't try to answer him because nothing coherent was going to come out of her mouth. "Um . . ." That was it. That was the best she could manage. Um. What was that? She cleared her throat and tried again. "Let's just go. I mean, what do we really need to find out that we don't already know? If we left now, we could get back to the cave and . . ." She trailed off, blushing. The color swept right up her body, probably starting in the vicinity of her toes and ending at her face. A full body blush.
"Sivamet, we will get back to our base soon, I promise."
She swallowed hard and looked at the waitress as she plopped drinks on the table. Automatically Teagan reached for the money clip she kept inside her jacket pocket. Instantly, Andre's hand covered hers. Gently. Firmly. When she looked up at him, his eyes had gone totally glacier. He slid money across the table.
"Keep the rest."
The waitress stared at him with her mouth parted like she might gobble him up at any moment. Yeah, Andre was hot. He said not to draw attention, but every female eye in the place had noticed the moment he entered. She was certain the men recognized danger when they saw it. The crowd had parted for them as he'd led the way to the table he wanted. She had also noted that the table hadn't been empty until Andre looked at it and directed her there. The occupants got up and left abruptly when they were halfway to it.
The waitress smiled and slipped back into the crowd, expertly keeping her round tray from hitting anyone in the head as she made her way back to the bar.
"I pay, Teagan. Not you."
Of course. Macho man from another century. She rolled her eyes, but she wasn't going to argue with him over drinks they weren't going to drink. "I didn't even know if you had money, Andre. There are a lot of things I don't know about you."
"When you live centuries, Teagan, it is easy enough to acquire wealth. We will not be hurting for money."
"I've got money put away as well. Not that much, but it will help."
"The triplets and I own oil reserves. And a couple of gold mines. We have the rights to other minerals as well. Our companies make millions." He paused. "Actually billions. I do not pay much attention. A couple of the others handle that kind of thing for us now. If we decided to move on, we would leave our shares to other Carpathians."
Her eyelashes fluttered. He sat there so casually telling her he was a billionaire. Who did that? She could see he didn't care in the least about the money.
"I do not need it. Or I have not needed it until now. I have never touched a penny beyond money I use when I go to a human village, which is exceedingly rare."
He was talking to her, giving her details of his life, yet all the while, he was listening to the conversations swirling around them. There it is, csitri. The table in the corner. They are talking about Jashari and his father. The body was found by his friends and brought down the mountain. His father wants to organize a hunting party and wipe out the wolf pack.
She gasped at the matter-of-fact way he announced the potential slaughter of wild, beautiful animals. It's not that I want to get eaten by wolves . . . She couldn't help the little shudder that ran through her body. That would be a really bad way to go. I don't want anyone else eaten by them either, but really, Armend was a serial killer. Maybe if we locate the bodies of the women he killed, they'll leave the wolves alone.
Andre smiled at her. Do you have any idea how amazing you are?
Because I don't want the father of a killer to destroy wolves? Anyone would feel the same way.
That is not so. People hunt for sport. It makes them feel powerful to take lives.
She bit her lip. She knew he'd spent centuries taking lives. "It must be hard for you, Andre," she whispered aloud.
He shook his head. "We do not feel, Teagan. Nothing at all. There is no compassion, mercy or remorse. I hunt evil. That is all. It is simple and it must be done."
"You said sometimes they were people you knew. Like your uncle. I know you didn't hunt him, the other Carpathian killed him, but you might have had to." She couldn't help herself, she cupped the side of his
face in her palm and daringly stroked his jaw with her thumb.
He nodded slowly. "Yes, but without our lifemates, we do not feel anything at all. I could recognize that I should feel sadness, but the actual emotion escaped me."
"Until me."
He nodded again and sent her one of his heart-stopping smiles. "Overwhelming floodgates opened. Mostly though, I feel for you--everything there is possible to feel just for you."
She swallowed hard. He looked at her with such a hungry, possessive look, such a look of utter love that it hurt to see it. He didn't care about appearing vulnerable to her or to anyone else. It was there, stark on his face for the world to see--love. Adoration even. And she so didn't deserve it.
"Andre." She murmured his name. It came out husky. All wrong. She wasn't coming on to him, she was trying to tell him she had his back. She would find a way to embrace her new life with him and live in his world. She just needed time. She tried to pour all that into his name and failed miserably. She was the one who always chattered about anything and everything, but this one moment, when she needed the right words, when she wanted to give him something back, she couldn't think just how to put it. Embarrassed, she looked down at the table.
He covered her hand with his, holding her palm tight against the rough shadow on his jaw, his blue eyes burning intensely into hers.
"Dance with me, sivamet. I have the sudden desire to hold you in my arms."
She wanted that more than anything . . . but . . . She bit her lip. "I want to dance with you, but that could be risking everything we have."
His eyebrow shot up. "I cannot wait to hear this."
"Seriously. You have to take this very seriously, Andre." He was not of the modern world and he didn't understand everything. "There have been copious amounts of articles written on this subject and none of it bodes well for us. If we dance together, you're going to really see the problem."
He pulled her hand from his jaw, turned it over and pressed a kiss into the center of her palm. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Teagan."
She'd been afraid of that. "The difference in our heights. I'm short, and you're nearly a foot taller."
"I am a foot taller."
She glared at him and tugged at his hand. "There's no need to be arrogant. Nearly is a good enough description."
"But not accurate."
She blew out her breath in a sign of pure exasperation. "Sometimes, Andre, strict honesty is not always the best policy, especially when our future together is hanging in the balance."
His face darkened, his eyes going intense. Bluer than she'd ever seen. Ice-cold. Scary. "Tell me of these articles."
"Well, apparently people with real height differences don't have a chance of staying together for the long haul. The man has to hurt his back in order to kiss her or hold her, and the disparity really comes up when they dance together."
He leaned toward her, nibbling at the pads of her fingers. His teeth scraped gently back and forth over her skin and his gaze never left her face. "I am trying to follow the strange illogical and irrational path of your mind. You believe if we dance together I will have to break up with my lifemate, the only woman that can complete me, the one woman I looked for throughout the centuries of utter loneliness?"
She frowned. "Put like that it doesn't sound too logical, but really, Andre, there are several articles written on the subject and all of them say men don't like the height difference, especially while dancing, and I just thought, seeing as how when I morphed, I didn't get the breasts I wanted or a few inches more in the height department, that there might be a problem." There was the tiniest bit of accusation in her tone.
His lips twitched. He blinked. That did not amuse her in the least.
"I am not going to hide the fact that had I woken up with bigger breasts and was maybe at least five foot four or five that would have made up for a lot. Seriously, Andre, don't you dare laugh at me. Had I morphed into beauty queen or model status, that might have gone a long way to keeping me happy in my present weird state. Instead, I'm still me and now you're asking me to dance and you'll hurt your back and that will be a disaster." There. She warned him.
Andre smiled. Slow. Burning hot. Gorgeous. Holy cow. She was going to have an orgasm just sitting in the chair next to him. She really should be annoyed that he didn't take her warning seriously, but how could she be when just looking at him turned her into a melting puddle of absolute goo? He was forever going to get around her just by giving her his slow, sexy smile.
"I need to hold you in my arms, Teagan. Right now. Right here. I want to feel your body move against mine. Dancing is the only safe way to do this, so we shall try out your theory. If I suddenly get a backache, I will be certain to tell you."
She opened her mouth to protest because, really, he was totally mocking her when this was serious business, but he successfully stopped anything she had to say by leaning down and taking possession of her mouth. There was a fleeting thought--just one--and it really did fly away, but hadn't he said not to bring attention to them? And wasn't kissing in public bound to draw attention? Then it was gone and there was only Andre in her world.
Andre. His glorious, perfect mouth that poured golden fire down her throat and into her body so that it spread through her like a firestorm. A single sound escaped her throat that sounded mysteriously like a purr, but she didn't care. She slipped her arms around his neck and gave herself up to his kisses. Breathtaking. Earth-shattering.
Sivamet. Dance with me.
He didn't stop kissing her, but it was a clear command. That voice inside her mind, so intimate. Stroking her. Caressing her. Every bit as sensual as his mouth. She found herself moving up out of her chair, still kissing him, her arms sliding from his neck down his chest to circle his waist.
He lifted his head, his eyes moving possessively over her face. "I love the way you look at me with that expression you have right now."
She managed a laugh. "You mean dazed and confused."
His arm slipped around her. "Beautiful. Looking at me with that look is worth all the gold in the world. You are a gift, Teagan."
She didn't know about that, but she thought he was. She let him guide her through the crowd to the part of the bar where there was dancing. He was a force to be reckoned with. Tall. Muscular. His face as dangerously male as a face could get. The crowd parted without hesitation. She kept her hand in his back pocket, staying close to his body with every step.
He turned and drew her into his arms. Her arms slid around his waist and she rested her head in the niche between his rib cage. Perfect. She fit. His body pressed tight against hers. After two steps she felt the heat of his cock pressed tight against her. Growing. Hardening. Delicious. She loved that she was short enough to have his body rubbing against hers as they floated with the music, or it felt like floating. Like being in the clouds.
Her lashes drifted as she savored the heat of his body. The hardness. The hunger rising between them. She'd never had this in her life. A man holding her like she was his world. It really didn't matter that she was short and he was tall. He didn't bend down to her. He held her tight against his front, enjoying her body brushing against his. She suddenly didn't mind in the least that she was short or that her breasts were small. He fit. Perfectly. The feeling of him snuggled tight against her, so close to her mouth was exquisite.
Is this human enough for you, sivamet? I have never danced with a woman in my life.
The caress in his voice curled her toes. She loved that he'd never danced with another woman.
Or held her in my arms. I have never kissed another woman. You have to get over feeling as if you do not belong. There is one place you will always belong, csitri, and that is in my arms.
Oh God. Did he just say that? He made her weak, so much so that she was afraid her legs were going to give out. They needed to leave. Right now. This minute.
Andre. Let's go. She knew even in her mind, her voice was breathless with need.
His arms tightened. I will take you back to the table. I have to speak to a couple of men. Then we will leave.
She was a little disappointed. She was so aroused she could have stripped his clothes off right there if she could hide them from prying eyes.
It is possible. I could take you into the corner and make it so no one would see us, but I prefer to have you stretched out under me for a long time, showing you how I feel.
It was possible? Yikes. Um. I think that was a "be careful for what you wish for" moment. I like the idea of being stretched out under you and lots of time. Just the thought sent a very pleasant pulse through her sex.
The music stopped and then started again into a fast number. Andre immediately moved her through the crowd back toward the table. This time, he kept her in front of him, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, locking her to him. Once again, something in his eyes and the set of his jaw had the crowd parting. He did it smoothly, yet he didn't use his ability to "push" anyone to move--they just did.
He held her chair for her, but his gaze swept the room while he did it. Teagan sank into the seat and picked up her water glass. Both of the glasses holding alcohol were empty, as if they had already drank them. She knew Andre had done that, a slow lowering of the liquid, but she wasn't certain how.
"I will be back shortly," he murmured.
She blinked and he was already gone. Instantly she was uneasy. He moved with fluid grace through the crush of people and tables. She sat back and observed him. He was beautiful, and she wasn't the only woman in the room to think so. He walked right up to an older man who was sporting a full beard and wore rough clothes. He looked like he lived on the mountain and had for most of his life.
Andre clapped him on the back as if they were old friends. The bearded man turned to him and smiled, and they began an animated conversation. After a few minutes, Andre left the mountain man with a new drink and wandered over to a well-dressed man sitting at a table with a dark-haired woman--a woman whose eyes devoured Andre.
Teagan studied the woman. Curvy. Of course. As in lots of curves. She bit her lip. The woman looked confident and she was definitely trying to draw Andre's attention as he talked with her man. She leaned close, fiddled with her hair and showed cleavage. There weren't that many women in the room showing cleavage. It wasn't that kind of a bar. She had gone from looking seriously bored to animated the moment Andre approached their table.