Chapter 16 #3
“I love this, Tomas, thank you.” She murmured it with her head back, eyes closed, and a feeling of peace stole into the room.
“I try not to be afraid of us, but that fear creeps in. I tell myself I’ve made up my mind to be your lifemate, and then something happens, and I want to run.
I don’t like that trait in myself, but I can’t seem to stop the behavior. ”
His fingers were strong, massaging her scalp, producing the sensations his lifemate needed.
“You have to be kinder to yourself, Sarika.” He liked that she felt comfortable enough to tell him how she was feeling.
“You’re putting too high a demand on yourself.
You expect to learn our ways and accept the way we exchange blood without having the time to process.
I think you’re amazing.” He poured his genuine admiration into her mind.
“Do you intend to do another blood exchange with me?”
“I do.” He was truthful with her. She was his lifemate, and one never deceived one’s lifemate. “It takes three blood exchanges to bring you fully into our world. If you have two and we are attacked and you’re hurt, I would be able to save you by giving you the third exchange.”
She was silent while she contemplated what he said. “I think we are going to be attacked, Tomas. I know none of you feel the threat the way I do, and I don’t blame you for not believing me, but I know in my gut I’m right.”
“I’ve never said I don’t believe you. I am in your mind, sivamet. I can see this worry and feel the growing dread in you. I have searched your mind to find the source of your fears and cannot find it. Have you discovered who or what is going to attack us?”
She kept her eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the warm water as he rinsed her hair. “They will attack the women, not any of you. Or at least, that’s my first guess.”
Tomas’ gut tightened. He felt that the threat to his lifemate was very real. He not only believed her that they would be attacked, but after being in her mind, his warning radar had gone off with equal strength.
“How would that be possible if we are always with you?” Tomas wanted to hear her theory.
He knew she had one. She had an intelligent mind.
He’d read every letter she wrote to him, and even as a child she had grasped a problem and come up with not only one solution but several.
She would have considered how the enemy might try to get to the women and children.
“I’ve given it quite a bit of thought,” she admitted. “If they are going to strike, they must realize they would have to kill all of us in one fast blow. If they missed, the Carpathian males would be on them, and they wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Tomas couldn’t conceive how the enemy would be able to get to the women and children.
It just didn’t seem possible. “Dominic and Solange’s home is safeguarded,” he pointed out.
“With the threat and all the women gathered in one place, all Carpathian ancients will add to the safeguards. There would be no possibility of getting through those protections.”
“I disagree, Tomas. You’re very used to being so powerful that no one ever really challenges you. It doesn’t always have to be a big thing that is the downfall of the strong. It can be so small one can’t see it.”
She was making sense when he didn’t want her to. He wanted to believe that with so many ancients close by, nothing could ever harm their women—in particular, his lifemate. A part of him wanted to catch her up in his arms and vanish from the forest until all threats had passed.
“You are very sure, Sarika. With each passing minute, you seem to get even more certain.” He made it a statement, not an accusation. She was coming back to herself, that courageous woman who had the self-confidence to face down a jaguar who was both angry and hurt.
“I think I was born at least once before, centuries ago, and it didn’t end well for me.”
“I agree,” he validated, hearing the note of doubt in her voice. She didn’t doubt she was right; she doubted he would believe her. “I looked at your memories and saw you. I recognized you. After witnessing Mitro’s reprehensible behavior, you have every reason to fear Carpathians.”
“If I can be reborn over and over, carrying your soul with me, wouldn’t it stand to reason that some of our greatest enemies could be as well?”
His hands stilled in her hair. He had been brushing it out, but he stopped, and Sarika turned her head to look up at him.
“I have never thought in terms of our enemies being reborn. We hunt vampires. When they are destroyed, they do not return.”
“What if they did? What if they were in the underworld and somehow they were able to return?”
Tomas couldn’t conceive of such a thing. “How could we live for centuries and not notice such a phenomenon? If I was able to defeat a vampire and he reappeared, even a century later, I would recognize him.” He shook his head. “That goes against the rules of our world.”
“Maybe, but over the centuries, has every rule remained exactly the same?”
Tomas had always admired the young girl and then, when she was a little older, the young woman who wrote to him and asked him interesting and thoughtful questions.
He had learned she thought outside the norm.
In taking the time to examine her questions and ideas, he found it had always expanded his way of thinking.
“Now that you ask that question, no, the rules have changed over the centuries. In the beginning, no vampire would associate with other vampires. Their egos wouldn’t allow it.
They didn’t want to share the blood of any of their victims. There were all sorts of reasons why vampires didn’t form coalitions. ”
She reached out a hand for a towel, stood and wrapped it around her. “But that changed?”
Tomas nodded. “Over time, vampires began to collect the newer ones and use them as pawns. They would sacrifice them in battle. The master vampire would recruit lesser vampires that had managed to stay alive and have them be their line of defense after the pawns.”
“Like an army.”
“Yes, like an army. A lone hunter would find himself facing multiple vampires, not just one. They were often very skilled in battle.” Tomas kept his voice very matter-of-fact.
Sarika was puzzling things out. She had a mind that once started on a path would continue working until it came up with a conclusion.
He had the feeling that whatever conclusion she came up with would give them the direction they needed to prevent a massacre.
Sarika dressed in a racerback tee and thin capri pants.
Tomas found himself enjoying the sight of her feminine form and the graceful way she moved, almost like a dancer.
He had observed thousands of women over the years, and not a single one had captured his interest, certainly not as a male interested in a female.
Everything was entirely different with Sarika.
He was aware of every movement she made.
Every expression that crossed her face. The way her hair fell in a riot of curls and coils around her face and down her back.
When she gestured or moved her hands, for him it seemed as if she were weaving magical spells, mesmerizing him.
Her voice was beautiful, a soft, low melody that played over his nerve endings, setting them on fire.
He could hear her heartbeat calling to him. At times, their hearts beat in the same rhythm. And there was her blood. The taste of her was always in his mouth. In his mind. It was unforgettable and addicting.
“Tomas, you have to stop looking at me that way.” There was a trace of amusement in her voice. She sent him a look, her green eyes holding that same humor, but there was a trace of desire. A hint of need. Of hunger.
“I was thinking how beautiful you are. And remembering the taste of your blood.”
Her fingers stroked over the pulse in her neck where he’d left his first mark on her.
The touch was gentle, almost reverent. “I know. I was thinking the same thing. It’s kind of scary to me how often I’ve thought about the way you taste when I wasn’t aware of exchanging blood with you.
I woke up with the taste of you in my mouth. ”
Tomas found it very sexy that she would admit it to him that she thought about their blood exchange, and she felt she was as addicted as he. He had never thought in terms of sexy. He never had the experience of just thinking of or looking at a woman turning his body to fire.
He liked the fact that she was courageous. She didn’t think she was because she had panic attacks, but he found her astonishingly brave. That not only made him proud of her, but he found her courage sexy as well.
He gave her a faint grin. “Can’t stop looking at you this way.
I’ve never, in my life, found a woman sexy until you.
I like looking at you. To a man who had no feelings or emotions, when I look at you and you give me a slow, burning heat, or a rush of flames through my veins, I know it would be impossible to ever stop. ”
A blush stole up her neck into her face.
That dusting of freckles stood out against the soft rose color.
“Weirdly, I was never attracted to any of the men I was around. I traveled quite a bit, and mostly, the groups I went with were all men. I can’t remember a single time I found any of them physically attractive. ”
He gave her an old-fashioned bow. One that was courtly and showed respect. “I believe we were created for each other. Every man wants purpose. I thought it would always be my duty to our people as a hunter. But since meeting you, I realize my purpose on this earth was to be your man.”
She pressed her hand over her heart. “One would think you were very experienced in the art of seducing a woman. Everything you say makes me want to stay with you.”
“Don’t sound as if that’s a bad thing. I swear to you, I’ll make you happy you chose me.”
“The strange thing is I feel like I’ve known you all my life, that we’re close and that I can totally trust you, but the truth is we’ve only known each other a couple of days.”
Tomas didn’t correct her language. The Carpathian people would use the term risings for the passage of time.
“You have known me all of your life. T. Smolnycki Sr. was me. I just changed from father to son when it became clear that my findings were being viewed as academic, and I began to make a name. You wrote to me when you were just a very little girl.”
“That seems so strange.”
“Carpathians do not keep anything that would identify age. No photos, no letters, nothing that would allow anyone to think they lived longer than a normal human. I have every single letter you sent me. I keep them in a cave deep beneath the earth, not yet discovered by humans. Those letters were sacred to me, and I did not want to give them up.” He gave her another faint grin.
“That is kind of silly when I could quote each letter word for word. I carry them here.” He put his hand over his heart.
That meant something to her; he could see it on her face. She walked past him, her fingers brushing his face. He followed her to the hammock in the bedroom. “When you say things like that to me, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Fall in love with me.” He said it before he could censor the words. There was no taking them back, no hiding the longing that weighed down every word.
She stood beside the hammock, fingers of one hand tangled in the weave, and studied his face.
“I think it would be very easy to fall in love with you, Tomas. You seem to know when to say the things I need to hear. You don’t push me the way the others are urging you to do.
You take care with me when I’m falling apart.
Those are all the things that sneak up on a woman and capture her heart.
You see me. You seem to see what I need.
I can feel there is urgency in this situation.
The others know you have to leave here soon and hunt the enemy threatening to destroy your prince, but you refused to listen to them in regard to me. ”
Her eyes met his steadily. “I felt as if you stood up for me, even when they were deliberately trying to make you feel as if you weren’t taking care of me.”
Tomas could see his decisions had meant a great deal to her.
“We’ll sort it all out between us,” he assured her.
“We don’t need the others to interfere, although they will continue to do their best to try.
” He stepped closer to her, one hand tucking stray curls behind her ear.
“You know why, don’t you? Lojos and Mataias feel the same driving need to protect you and keep you from harm.
Like Luiz, they just feel they should put you somewhere safe and ensure nothing harmful can get near you.
They actually are able to feel through you.
That’s the gift you’ve given them. You are their sister, and they would lay down their lives for you. ”
There was shyness in her eyes when she looked up at him, turning his heart over. Her expression was soft and open. Her mind was open to him. “I’m aware they do so out of affection, even when they are not,” she confirmed.