The brethren called him Siv rather than his longer given name. His eyes were mesmerizing, a deep blue-green. His hair was blond, and he was considered by all the ancients to be a very dangerous man. Sandu called him brother and knew he would be a good man to have at his side if this journey was as dangerous as his lifemate’s cards seemed to think it was.
Siv, I have found my lifemate and there is trouble. The journey may be long. If you can get away and travel with us, and a few other of the brethren, meet us at the caves.
There is always trouble when one finds a lifemate, I have noted. I will be there.
Sandu found himself smiling. Siv was right. So far, each of his brethren who had found their lifemate had also found trouble. He had a strong foreboding that the beautiful woman in the other room who was taking far too long was going to be the greatest trouble so far of all of them. And wouldn’t you know, it would have to be his lifemate. The others would never let him hear the end of it.
“I am still reading your thoughts,” Adalasia said as she came out of the bedroom, her satchel in one hand. The other was up, fingers pushing at her hair as if that would help to tidy the wild, wayward fall. She’d put the mass of silk in a braid, but hair had escaped. “Your opinion of me is awful.”
He flashed her a smile. She was breathtaking, even with her hair disheveled. Especially with her hair a wild mess. She wore what appeared to be older jeans, ones she’d owned for a long time. They’d been washed so many times the blue was faded to nearly white. They fit her curves like a glove yet looked as if they gave her room to move. A simple tank top was under a loose jacket. The jacket had loops and zippers inside it. He knew she had weapons in those loops and closed pockets, as well as items she considered valuable to her. She wore the same boots she’d had on with her skirt.
“You ready?”
Adalasia nodded. “You have a place in mind for us to go?”
“Go out the back to the roof. I’ll take us from there. You’ve trusted me so far.” Sandu indicated the back door. Even though he’d acted as if she’d taken a lot of time to change and use her bathroom, in reality, it had only been under five minutes.
She moved very quickly through the apartment to the back door and, once again, stepped aside to allow him to scan for intruders. He indicated it was safe and she stepped through, waited for him to step outside, where he cloaked both of them while she locked the door.
“I’m going to pick you up. We’re traveling a different way. It might be uncomfortable if you choose to open your eyes. I’ve got you safe and you’ll have to trust that I do.” He didn’t wait for her agreement. He simply reached down and fitted an arm beneath her knees and one behind her back to lift her, cradling her against his chest. “Put your bag in your lap and your arms around my neck. You can push your face into my chest with your eyes closed.”
For the first time, he really felt her trepidation. She’d been nervous, but this was real fear. She had to force herself under control to keep from fighting him. “Tell me what you’re going to do. It will help me.”
“We’re going to move through the air.” He spoke matter-of-factly. She stiffened, and the fingers linked at the nape of his neck tightened. “Look at me, Adalasia.”
She had courage. Her eyes met his. “What are you?”
“The cards warned you I had certain powers. I do. You aren’t as afraid as you should be. Somewhere you’ve heard of someone like me.”
“But you’re not real. You were never supposed to be real,” she whispered.
“I’ve got my arms around you. Do I feel real?”
“Yes,” she agreed faintly. “But if you can take to the air like . . . If you can do that and you’re real, then the other things I read about, the legends, the blood, the ground, are they true?” Her whisper had grown to the softest of threads. She was on the verge of flight. Of fight.
Had someone written about Carpathians? A written record couldn’t exist. Not if they were to survive. They had to stay secret. More than once, Carpathians had been hunted along with vampires until so few were left they were nearly extinct. It hadn’t helped that other species had waged war to stamp them out.
“We are going to take one crisis at a time. You believe in your tarot cards. We have a journey to take together, ewal emninumam.” He couldn’t keep the caress out of his voice. The last thing he wanted was to frighten his courageous woman. “I believe that is what was revealed to us. I cannot harm you. It is an impossibility, nor can I allow any other to harm you. Think of me as your guardian.”