Dark Challenge. Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 5

“It will always be my first duty in life to ensure your safety at all times, cara mia. I want you to live with me a very long time.”

She turned to him, her body pressed close to his, her arms sliding around his neck. “How long is a very long time?” she murmured, her teeth nibbling at the strong line of his jaw.

His arms closed around her tightly as joy swept through his soul and a tidal wave of need consumed him. Julian bent his head to find her mouth with his. The sweet perfection of it. Velvet fire swept over him, through him, electricity arcing between them so that flames danced up their skin and through their bodies. A low growl escaped his throat, a soft sound of possession. Desari responded by moving even closer to him, her smaller frame molding itself to his.

A sound intruded. It was barely discernible, the rub of fur against a leaf, but it was enough to elicit a frustrated groan from Julian. He leaned his forehead against her crown. “This family unit you have is driving me over the edge. We have no privacy, piccola, none whatsoever.”

She laughed softly with the same frustration. “I know, Julian. But it is one of the small sacrifices we all pay for caring for one another. We help each other through any crisis.”

“Who is going to help me through this one? Believe me, cara, I am definitely having a crisis. I need you before I start to go insane.”

“I know. It is the same for me,” she whispered, her lips against the corner of his mouth, teasing, tempting. There was an ache in her voice, an answer to the ache in his. “We will have our time.”

“It had better be soon,” he growled, meaning it. There was a hidden laughter in her, one he felt in her mind, in her heart. She found humor in the situation yet wanted him with the same urgent need. Julian found he was smiling in spite of his body’s demands. There was something contagious about Desari’s laughter, whether it was in her mind or aloud. It was joy. Pure and simple. There was joy in him now where there had never been before.

Desari kissed his hard jaw, his stubborn chin. “We cannot desert Syndil at this time.”

“It is rather difficult to help her when she spends all her time in the form of a leopard.”

“Shh. There is nothing wrong with her hearing,” Desari cautioned, rising on tiptoe to kiss his eyebrow, rubbing at his frown with her cheek. “If she is willing to reach out for just a moment and talk to me as we used to, then I must be here for her.”

“Fine,” Julian agreed grudgingly. “But if that idiot Barack happens by with his hangdog look, tell him to keep going.”

“He seems to be strutting around these days with a rather macho look,” Desari pointed out. “He has gotten progressively worse since Savon’s attack on Syndil. He has appointed himself her personal bodyguard, and he is not very nice about it. Julian,” she added, her dark eyes lighting up with her brilliant idea, “maybe you should tell him to quit being so bossy. She needs him to be more gentle.”

Julian snorted inelegantly. “As if that will happen. I absolutely refuse to interfere with anything Barack is choosing to do. Carpathian males cannot do such things. We believe in allowing one another to work things out alone. Especially anything that might have to do with a woman. Now that I am thinking about it, perhaps I should go and leave you two females to talk privately.”

“Coward,” she whispered, her teeth nipping his ear. “Do not go far, as I have great need of you.”

Julian’s tall, muscular frame shimmered, then became transparent in the night air. He was smiling down at her, that little smirk that always got under her skin. Desari felt her heart take wing, soar, even as he disappeared, becoming part of the night itself.

Desari turned as the female leopard burst out from the brush, shape-shifting as it did so. “Desari.” Syndil’s voice was a mere thread of sound. “I am going to go away. I need to be far from these overbearing males. I do not wish to leave you, but it is necessary.”