"Tell me your solution," she said again. "We keep getting off the subject and I think it's important."
"You are unique in a lot of ways, at least I think your gifts are. I have not heard of other lifemates, when they were human, being able to take down safeguards in the way that you could. You can also tune your body to a vampire's. That gives us an advantage when hunting. You can find them and bring down their safeguards."
She drew in her breath. Andre was actually talking about using her as a partner. She loved that he thought she would be such a help.
"I would not want you to participate at all in the battle, no matter how bad things look," he warned. "That would be forbidden. You would have to give me your word you will follow instructions."
She bit her lip hard. She wanted desperately to be his partner, but she knew, if he were in trouble, she would go back on her word.
"I can open my mind to you the entire battle. I cannot be distracted in any way, but you can see clearly what I am aware of and what I plan to do. That way, you will know if I am really going to be surprised or not. If you cannot see awareness in my mind, you will be able to warn me."
She liked that. She liked that a lot. "That sounds reasonable." She wouldn't be paralyzed in the body of an owl feeling helpless.
"And then, there is the fact that you are a superior healer."
"I am?" She liked that a lot, too. More than anything, she wanted to be good healer. She wanted to be able to help others.
"For most wounds such as those I encountered--other than the gunshot, which was no more than a couple of flesh wounds--I would have had to stay in the ground more than one rising. I could actually feel the tissue regenerating when you were healing me. You definitely are good. That will be a huge bonus to me as well, knowing you are close by and can see to any wound."
She didn't like the fact that he so readily accepted that he would be wounded in his battles with the undead, but he'd been hunting and destroying them for centuries, so he knew what he was doing.
"I like your idea very much, Andre," she whispered. She brushed her lips back and forth against his and began a slow undulation of her hips, moving lazily.
His hands slipped to her waist and he urged her into a sitting position. The moment she sat up, she could feel him pressing deep inside her. So deep. So thick. Filling and stretching her. She loved that more than a lot. His hands moved up her body, lingering a moment where the vampire had slashed her midriff and then higher still until he was cupping her breasts.
"Do you see why your breasts are so perfect for me?" he whispered. "So beautiful." His palms covered her breasts completely. She fit perfectly into his hand. He had a large hand and the warmth engulfed her. He massaged and kneaded the small curves gently. "So soft. So sensitive."
Her nipples went hard, pushing into the center of his palms. Two stiff peaks begging for attention. She threw back her head, her hair cascading around her shoulders and down her back to slide over his belly and hips. She began to move faster, riding him the way she had his fingers.
"See, sivamet. Look how beautiful you are." He watched his palms drift down over her slight curves to once again cup them in his hands.
Teagan looked down at herself. With each movement of her body, her small breasts swayed against his hands. She loved the way they looked together--him so big, her so small. She'd never loved her body before that moment. She was flushed and aching.
"Keep watching, csitri." His voice was a rough, velvet rasp. Sexy. His eyes were hooded and dark with growing hunger. Pure sensuality.
There was something very decadent and forbidden about watching his fingers grasp her nipples, watching them roll and tug, while streaks of fire shot from her breasts straight to her sex. Her muscles clamped down tight around him and her body bathed his shaft in liquid heat. She moaned and licked at her lips, forcing herself to keep her gaze on the erotic sight of his fingers at her nipples. Her hips, of their own volition, began a more urgent pace.
Andre half curled his body so he could pull one breast into his mouth, suckling hard. She cried out, the fire raging hotter. Her blood went thick and molten. Her eyes closed because she could barely stand the pleasure. The fire had begun slow and lazy, but now the temperature was hotter than ever, the burn storming through her like a fireball out of control.
"Watch," he commanded.
His hand slid down her belly. She watched the path it took. Those fingers, long and strong, thick and clever, sliding in a caress over her skin. She swallowed hard as she watched Andre's body coming together with hers, as she lifted up and then rode down over his steely spike. The beauty of it nearly brought her to tears. The pleasure of it made her entire body glow with heat, with excitement.
She gasped as his finger homed in immediately to her most sensitive spot. It was shockingly sexy. His other hand moved up her body until his finger was sliding back and forth over her lips.
"Open for me."
She did immediately, sucking his finger deep into her mouth while she rode him harder and harder, faster and faster, gasping for breath while his other finger stroked her bud right straight into paradise. Her orgasm snuck up on her much faster than she anticipated, roaring through her, leaving her breathless and a little shocked at the intensity when she'd been moving into it so slowly.
She didn't have time to catch her breath because he rolled her under him and took over, his hips not in the least slow and leisurely, building the tension in her all over again. Suddenly everything was even more amazing. She looked up at his face. His beautiful face. His blue eyes blazed down at her, so intense, so filled with . . . love.
She really couldn't catch her breath. There it was, all of it, everything she could ever want, right there in the intensity of his blue eyes. Love. For her. Stark. Raw. Fierce.
Teagan reached up and stroked a caress through his hair. "You're so gorgeous, Andre, and I love you so much." Sometimes, like that very moment, the way she felt for him crept over her, then grew and grew until she couldn't contain it. She could barely stand looking into his eyes, his emotions were so close to the surface, so strong they nearly overwhelmed her. How could anyone feel like that about her?
"Keep looking at me, sivamet," he whispered in his silken tone. "I need to look at you when you give yourself to me."
She realized he had done that before, rolling her at the last moment to stare down into her eyes. She trailed her fingers down his face and then, as the tension coiled tighter, dropped her hand and let pure feeling take her. Her head tossed on the pillow, but she didn't look away from him. Her body writhed under his, hips bucking, her fingers digging into his back while her legs wrapped him as tight as she could.
Every inch of her that she could possibly press to him, she did, all the while staring into his eyes. The breath left her lungs, leaving them raw and burning. Still the tension grew, coiling tight deep inside. She needed it now, that wonderful, soaring release, but he didn't give it to her.
"Andre," she whispered. "Andre, I can't take any more."
Her body clamped down on his, the friction a terrible, perfect thing, but still, she couldn't quite reach her goal, and those blue eyes didn't help. Sensual. Hooded. Watching her intently. Pushing her higher than she'd ever been.
"You can," he said softly, and proceeded to show her he was right.
She wrapped him up tighter. Her legs hooked around his hips and she tipped her body at another angle, to draw him deeper, to get what she wanted. His hands adjusted her more, tilting her hips and then holding her there so the long, thick length of him, ground down over that delicious bundle of nerves, that perfect sweet spot, over and over.
She cried out as she felt her body slip out of control. She felt that moment when her muscles gripped him in a velvet vise and strangled, determined to get what it needed from him. She couldn't look away from the blue of his eyes.
Possession. Satisfaction. Love. Lust. And then his own release overtook him, and her eyes widened at the sheer beauty of it. She
'd given that to him. Just what he gave her, she gave to him.
Teagan closed her eyes to savor the expression in his eyes, to burn it into her memory. "I don't know how I got so lucky," she murmured against his shoulder as he collapsed over her, burying his face in her neck. "My miracle."
He let her take his crushing weight just for a few moments, his face against her neck, her arms around him, his cock deep inside of her. It didn't matter that she could barely breathe, he gave her that moment and it was important to her.
"Teagan."
A shiver went down her spine and she blinked back tears.
"You are my miracle, Teagan. I am more than pleased that I am yours."
She held him tighter, reluctant to allow him to take his weight from her, even though it was becoming impossible to catch her breath.
He smiled against her neck, kissed her there, his mouth and teeth moving sensuously, and then he rolled them again so that she sprawled on top of him.
"Did you just bite my neck?" she accused at the feel of a little sting there.
"Yes," he admitted, with a laugh in his voice. "I intend to leave my mark on you everywhere. I like taking little bites out of you."
Playing. He was playing with her. Teasing. She loved that she had been the one to give him that. She buried her face in his neck and held him all the tighter. She couldn't look at him when she said it, but it had to be said. "Thank you, Andre. For bringing me into your world. I might be afraid, but I'm so happy I'm with you and I want this. I want us to be together in every way and I couldn't be unless I was Carpathian."
His hand stroked caresses in her hair. "You were frightened when you woke and found yourself deep in the ground. You fight my commands, Teagan, and even in your subconscious you unravel them. I did not protect you as I should have from your awakening. I should have been up before you."
"You were wounded and the soil was healing you." She made the statement softly, suddenly remembering that moment when she was caught in his dream. Other things had registered, but she hadn't noticed them because the nightmare was too vivid and so had been the terror at being buried alive.
"Yes," he said softly, allowing her to figure it out for herself.
He gave her that. Acknowledged that she had a brain. All the fear she had living in her skin didn't matter because she refused to let it rule her life. She was a geologist for heaven's sake. She loved rocks. She loved soil.
She had automatically registered the various layers of soil so rich with minerals. If she hadn't been so shocked at being under the ground, buried under those layers, she would have been caught up in her need to identify and count them. She would have known how they were healing Andre and rejuvenating both of them.
"I won't be so afraid next time, Andre. You do not have to shield me from what I am. I think I can handle it."
"I never doubted your ability to handle it," he murmured softly.
She could tell he was pleased with her by the tone of his voice, all velvet and rasp. His hand continued to move over her body, tracing the line of her spine down to the curve of her buttocks.
"We have a vampire to catch, csitri. This one is unlike the others. He will be difficult to bring down. He is cunning and ruthless and has plenty of tricks. There are few surprises to a hunter who has been bringing the undead to justice for so many years, but sometimes it can happen."
"Do you recognize most of them?" she asked tentatively. It stood to reason that he would run across childhood friends.
"The older ones. I have been gone many years. This one, I knew. His name is Costin Popescu. He is alone now, his pawns defeated. He will try to sneak away, not face me, but I cannot allow that. He is extremely dangerous, and he cannot, under any circumstances, find you. He will go after you in order to destroy me."
Her eyebrows shot up and shock slid through her. He will go after you in order to destroy me. Andre wasn't just meaning he would be grief-stricken if something happened to her. He had alluded to more several times, but she wasn't getting it.
"How would that destroy you, Andre?" she asked quietly, holding her breath, knowing his revelation would be huge. And it would be the truth.
"You are my lifemate. I cannot exist without you, now that I have found you. If he manages to destroy you, he is destroying all light in my soul, leaving nothing but the darkness. I lived with that for centuries, but it came on gradually, over time. To have that happen, the connection severed, it would throw me into madness, into the thrall. I would have to follow you immediately, or become the very thing I have hunted throughout these long centuries. I would be the undead."
Teagan bit her lip. "You wouldn't."
"I would. That is the curse and the blessing of our species. We cannot continue without our lifemate. We are too dark inside."
She chewed on her lip for a moment. "So basically, you're saying I'm saving you again."
His smile was slow in coming but she was rewarded. His smile was beautiful and this one lit his eyes. "Yes, Teagan, you have saved me."
She kissed him. He took over her kiss, just like he did most intimate contact between them, but only after she was able to kiss him for a long time.
"Do you see why it is important that you stay away from vampires?" he asked gently.
"It was important to you before you explained this to me, so yes," Teagan said. "Tell me the plan and I'll follow it to the letter."
His eyes searched hers for a long time and then he nodded, the glacier blue melting into a deep, sea blue, warming her with his love.
20
Two owls flew through the evening sky. The male flew slightly above the smaller female, his wing just over her, just enough to protect her from any attack coming from above them. They executed lazy circles in the air, in perfect synchronization, as if they were two dancers performing a stunning ballet against a backdrop of clouds.
Teagan scanned the ground below them carefully. Not because she thought she would spot the master vampire they hunted, but because the scenery was breathtaking. Breaks in the forest presented boulders covered in green moss, lining a series of small, tumbling waterfalls, cascading through the boulders and falling into a clear, shallow pool. Small rocks made up the pool floor. The pool spilled into a larger stream that seemed to meander through the tall trees. Ferns sprang up along the banks, crowding other plant life, vying for coveted space.
Her body picked up the rhythm of the stream and waterfalls. She heard the music and her own body sang that song with nature. Trees added the drumbeat of branches in the wind as well as the softer, flowing music of the sap running in the veins through the variety of trees.
She felt free. Complete. Part of nature. Part of the wild, wonderful mountains and the dense forest below. Above her rose the higher, enshrouded peaks where she knew the monastery was located. Inside that sacred place were the ancients who had not yet left the world, but had no hope of finding lifemates. They could no longer afford to hunt and destroy the undead. Each kill brought them closer to becoming vampire. They weren't safe around humans or any other temptation, and yet they could not walk into the sun and destroy themselves because it felt so wrong to them.
She felt them as well, although they were in the distance, felt the emotions they couldn't feel. Despair. Loss of all hope. Sorrow. Pain not physical, but mental. The air groaned with those heavier emotions, but the ancient Carpathians couldn't feel any of it themselves. She knew she had to find a way to ease those burdens, and her heart hurt for them. She had felt them before, but she hadn't recognized when she'd first found the cave that she'd been feeling the emotions of the lost ancients in the monastery.
Teagan.
Andre's voice wrapped her up in velvet. The raspy tone licked over her skin and the silk pushed deep inside. She would always love the way he said her name.
You cannot take on the burdens of the ancients. It is too much.
Actually, I think I can help. In the cave. She'd been sitting right on it. She had followed her tuning fork through the
various chambers of the cave, looking for a stone to cure her grandmother of insanity, but her grandmother clearly wasn't insane and didn't need a stone. All along she'd felt that heavy burden, the weight of the ancient Carpathians, yet she hadn't acknowledged it. Hadn't known what it was.
When she'd sunk to the floor of the cave to meditate and open her mind, she had inadvertently connected with the stone she needed. It wasn't her grandmother's stone, but it was the one that would help ease the suffering of the ancients in the monastery. Elated, she nearly fell from the sky.
Do you really think you can ease the burden of an ancient? There was hope in Andre's voice. My adopted brothers, Tomas, Matias and Lojos are skating very close to the edge of the insanity. If you could ease them, give them more time . . . Even if it is a few more years . . .
She had no idea what her stone would actually do, but she knew it would help--and she had to help those ancients in the monastery. That need had now become a compulsion. The stone was somewhere beneath the spot where she had chosen to meditate. She would have to dig carefully to find it, making certain not to destroy it in the hunt for it. Now, when she heard the cautious hope in Andre's voice, she wanted to be able to help the ancients even more.
I think I can . . . She trailed off.
Her stomach lurched, a discordant note jarring the beautiful symphony of the mountains and forest. She took a careful look around, using the owl's superior vision.
Andre. He is somewhere close by. Beneath us.
The moment she sent Andre the information, he acknowledged her. I do not feel him at all, Teagan. He is a master and is able to hide himself well. Your gift is incredible and will be an enormous aid to us.
She couldn't help but feel a little glow at his words. This was far better than sitting on a tree branch, paralyzed and feeling useless. Andre made her feel important to him--always--in every capacity.
What does it feel like?
He was already slipping deeper into her mind, but she liked that he asked. It was a form of asking permission, even though she knew he needed to feel the discordant note for himself.
We're moving away from him, she reported, as the jarring note became fainter.
Circle back around. I need to hear it. You tune yourself to that note and when it is strongest, we can follow the trail, Andre said.