Desari lay her head on his shoulder, wanting to hold him close. “I think our need for one another is mutual, Julian.”
Desari. The night is winging across the sky, and you two are still gazing into one another’s eyes. This concert is yours. We have not yet rehearsed, and there is no way to plan without your presence. I will not repeat myself in this matter. Darius’s black velvet voice was soft with menace. He demanded her presence, and she must comply.
Desari sighed. “We must go before it is too late to cross the distance this night. The others wait for us.”
Julian’s hand cupped the nape of her neck so that he could hold her still while he bent his head to find her mouth with his. She could sense his amusement at the order for their return to the family fold and her obvious need to comply with it.
“We must, Julian,” she whispered, afraid he might attempt to defy Darius.
He smirked at her, his white teeth flashing. “Come along, little chick, we must obey the big bad wolf or something terrible might happen.”
“You do not even know,” she answered solemnly.
His laughter was his only answer.
* * *
Chapter Thirteen
The crowd was enormous. Julian inhaled deeply, allowing the air to tell him every story. The smell of excitement, of sweat, of rising tempers, and lust. It was all in the breath he drew into his lungs. He was looking out for danger to his lifemate. His amber eyes inspected the huge throng pushing to get into the building. He found himself tense, his every inclination to keep Desari far from these humans. He could hear myriad conversations even as he was scanning innumerable minds. Human security guards were using metal detectors on the people entering, but still he was uneasy.
Julian caught sight of Darius. He was an imposing figure, moving silently and swiftly through the crowd, his black eyes icy, piercing the crush of humans restlessly, in unceasing motion. He was every bit as alert as Julian, determined to protect his sister at all costs. Dayan, although he played in the band, was at a side entrance, as on guard as the others. Barack roamed inside the building, mingling with the crowd to add further insurance to Desari’s safety. Both musicians were projecting images unrecognizable to the public.
The two leopards, Sasha and Forest, were locked in one of the rooms provided for the band members. Syndil, too, had taken her usual form of a female leopard and waited with the other cats. Julian wanted to protest the action, aware of the sadness in Desari at Syndil’s withdrawal from reality. Julian had noticed that Barack was very edgy around all of them. He often placed his body squarely between the other males and Syndil. Clearly the terrible attack on her had shaken the males’ faith in one another. With the assassins making their attempt on Desari and vampires threatening them for their women, the men were all on edge.
Darius paused briefly beside him. “Anything?”
Julian shook his head. “Nothing but a feeling of uneasiness. I do not like this, Desari exposed to all these humans.”
“There will be no mistakes made this time,” Darius said softly, confidently. “There will be no further attempts on my sister’s life.”
Julian had to respect the man’s total conviction. It was difficult not to believe in Darius, power clung to him like a second skin. There would be no chances taken this night. Julian nodded at Darius and continued pacing among the humans, scanning minds, listening to the conversations around him. To his left a fight erupted between two men. Pushing and shoving, voices raised. But the human security personnel were there instantly, escorting the scufflers away from the building. Julian could detect no animosity toward his lifemate, so he ignored the incident, not wanting to be distracted from his primary task of protecting Desari.
Desari was in the dressing room, putting the finishing touches on her makeup. She liked to put it on herself in the human manner. It soothed her somehow before she went on stage. It was also her habit before each concert to scan the minds of the crowd, and try to find those in need so that she could pick the songs most suited to healing and helping. It was important to her to seek the mood of the audience, listen for what they wanted to hear, their favorite ballads or the haunting new melodies she could produce. She liked to know which people had come to more than one of her concerts, who had traveled long distances to see her perform. Sometimes after her shows she would seek out those who had traveled far or often to hear her sing and introduce herself to them and chat.
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