Chapter 5 #2
She had always tried to have an open mind.
Carpathians were clearly a unique species with a completely different set of rules.
Every species had its policies it had to follow to survive.
As a conservationist, she understood that.
She thought in terms of rights for all living creatures, female or male.
Young or old. The truth was, in many worlds, the rules were very different and had to be.
But being able to bind another being to you without their consent was difficult to take.
“Yes, binding them ensures the hunter does not turn vampire. Guarding the soul of a Carpathian hunter is an enormous task, even if one isn’t aware she is doing so.
Should our enemies find out, they would do anything to acquire her in order to take the soul of the warrior.
More than one of our women are legendary for the lengths they had to go to in order to keep their lifemate’s soul safe. ”
She ran her hand over the smooth surface of the table made of vines. She felt Luiz in the wood. He had been the one to construct the table. How did he manage to get the wood so smooth? She looked around her. “You did all of this?”
He nodded. “It was my home before I became Carpathian. I come here often.”
“Why?”
“It is close to my lifemate. I am better able to appear more human to Maureen.”
“You said Riley was human at one time. Doesn’t that mean she’s Carpathian?
Wouldn’t she understand your need of a lifemate?
Surely, her husband, or lifemate, whatever you want to call him, claimed her.
” She didn’t know why she felt a little indignant for Luiz.
She didn’t believe a man should be able to claim a woman without her consent.
“Dax. We call him Dax. Riley thinks like a human. How could she not? I’m grateful she’s protective over little Maureen.”
She caught a brief smile in his mind, but his expressionless mask didn’t change.
“She was born in a rainstorm. Dax wanted to call her Stormy, but Riley objected strenuously. They settled on Maureen.”
“You were there when she was born?”
“Riley had no one close when she went into labor, and there were complications. I have a reputation as a healer, so Dax called for me.”
“Is that when you found out the baby was your lifemate?”
“I knew before she was born. I had been given the information, and several times during Riley’s pregnancy there was a problem. I spoke to the baby often, convincing her to fight to live. She’s strong-willed.”
“Something she’ll need to be if she’s with you,” Sarika said.
That earned her another small smile in his mind. “No doubt.”
“Are the Carpathian women raised to believe they only have one lifemate? Do they accept them easily?”
“From all the knowledge I acquired when I was reborn, the answer is yes. I also have observed Carpathian women accepting a lifemate. Although I don’t believe it is always as easy as it appears on the outside, because the hunters have survived hundreds of years and can be set in their ways.
Often the women have also survived hundreds of years, and they, too, can be set in their ways.
I would imagine that would make it extremely difficult in the beginning of the relationship for either of them. ”
She liked that he considered it wouldn’t be easy. She suspected many of the Carpathian males might believe they had the right to impose their will on the woman.
“If a woman says no, what can she do if he still says the words to bind them?”
“Learn to live with her partner.”
There was absolute in his voice. Luiz wasn’t about to give his lifemate a way out.
That was obvious. She told herself not to judge.
She had no idea what kind of bleak existence these men endured.
A short discussion that included a tiny portion of the culture of Carpathian life didn’t make her an expert.
Fortunately, she wasn’t a Carpathian woman.
“I cannot stay much longer and will be gone during daylight hours. When close to you, I can use telepathy, but I will be beneath the ground in the paralyzing state of our kind. The only way I will be able to hear you is if you allow me to take your blood.”
Sarika’s fingers curled into two tight fists as her breath caught in her lungs until they felt raw and burning. It took a minute to compose herself. “Take my blood?” she echoed. “As in, bite me? Like a vampire?”
“More like a Carpathian. We need blood to survive, but we never kill when feeding.”
“That’s quite nice of you.”
Again, she felt that small flash of amusement in his mind. It didn’t show on his face. “I believe that is known as sarcasm.”
She wasn’t going to allow her cousin to lull her into a false sense of security. “How do Carpathians become vampires exactly?” It took great restraint not to cover her neck with both hands. Just the thought of having someone tear into her neck or throat made her stomach turn.
“You’ve seen too many movies,” he said.
She glared at him. “Stop reading my mind. Especially now. I’m becoming nervous around you, and I don’t particularly like letting on. I have a reputation for being calm, cool and collected.”
“You just made that up.”
She shrugged. “Maybe, but in my head, I’m those things when faced with adversity.”
“I’m the one taking the blood, not you, cousin,” he pointed out.
“I’d rather be the taker than the takee,” she argued.
“There’s no such word.”
“It’s becoming a sensation,” she said.
“You’re stalling.”
She was. Absolutely, she was. “Your friends, the ones you’d like me to meet…” She trailed off, unsure how to be delicate about her concerns.
“Some of them are Carpathian, and some are not. No, you aren’t going to be used as food by any of them.
If they tried, they know they would answer to me.
I’m your cousin and only family. Not only are you protected by me, but my brothers and their women would protect you as well.
The name De La Cruz carries a certain reputation. You will be perfectly safe.”
He kept saying that. She had always felt relatively safe in every jungle she’d gone to, worldwide, but for some unexplained reason, this place, although it felt like home, also seemed very dangerous to her.
“I think I’ll just say no to you taking my blood this time,” Sarika said in her politest voice.
She was fairly certain she would say no for the rest of her existence. The idea of him biting into her neck and then being able to read her from a distance was extremely disconcerting.
“It is rather imperative for your safety. Percy knows you’re here. He’ll do whatever he can to acquire you.”
“I thought you said this house was safe,” she pointed out, doing her best not to stick her chin in the air.
She was definitely drawing the line at allowing him to take her blood.
In reality, with no apparent walls and a door made of dangling vines, she couldn’t imagine how the house, as cool as it was, could possibly be safe.
“I will place protections—safeguards, Carpathians call them—around the house. There are some always in place so no one can enter when I am not here, but with you in residence, I’ll add to them. If you invite someone in or cross the line to go out, there will be little to protect you.”
“I have no reason to leave, although I’ll be hungry.”
He shrugged. “I will provide food. There is a small icebox filled and another lockbox with staples in it. Everything in the kitchen works.”
“How? How do you get electricity here?”
He lifted his eyebrow again. “Are you paying attention to anything I tell you about Carpathians? I can generate the electricity you need for the house. The same with providing fresh, pure water.”
She swore he moved, a blur only. She blinked rapidly, and he was sitting without moving across from her.
His expression was exactly the same, but she knew he had done something horrible.
She lifted her hand to her neck, searching for telling signs.
She didn’t feel anything, but she was a little dizzy and very suspicious.
“Did you just take my blood?” she demanded.
“Don’t ask questions you don’t really want answers to. I told you I wouldn’t lie to you.”
She didn’t hear a single note of remorse. Not one. There was nothing on his face, in his eyes or in his mind.
“Why would you do that when I expressly said no?”
“It was necessary.”
“I said no.”
“You were being unreasonable out of fear. I knew it wouldn’t harm you. What tipped you off?”
“I saw you move from your chair and then you were back in it.”
He nodded. “That’s good, Sarika. Few would have caught that, even shifters. You have excellent instincts. Those instincts will develop even more here in the forest. You also have tremendous gifts. I can feel power in you.”
He was so matter-of-fact, as if she should just ignore what he’d done because it somehow was for her own good. “Praising me isn’t going to negate what you did, Luiz.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t praise you to get out of trouble. I don’t mind your being upset with me when I know I’m right. Taking your blood is a necessity to keep you safe. And just so you know, I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
He was the most frustrating man. “Are all Carpathian males like you?”
“In what way?”
“Just make decisions regardless of what someone says?”
“Would any of them have taken your blood? Yes.”
“Lovely. Just lovely. I have jaguar males prowling around, believing they have the right to kidnap me and force me to have children, and Carpathian males who’ll take my blood without my consent anytime they feel justified. This place is looking better and better.”
He stood up, once again looking dangerous with that fluid motion. “There are groceries in the kitchen. The water will be hot when you wish to shower or bathe. In the bedroom, there are books to keep you occupied. My suggestion is to sleep as much as possible.”
Something in his voice, in his mind, alarmed her. “I suppose you can help with that as well?”
“Of course.”