“Come with me, Desari. There will be no battle unless you choose to force the issue by staying here. I have a need to talk with you. You promised me this night, and I will not release you from your word.”
They were moving quickly now, out the door and into the darkness of the night. Had she promised him? He had her so bemused, she couldn’t remember exactly what she had said. “There is no way to deceive Darius,” she pointed out. “My blood flows in his veins. He can track me at will, and he is very powerful.”
Julian slipped an arm around her slender shoulders. “It is true he presents an interesting challenge, but we can give ourselves time if you wish it, Desari.”
Despite herself, the possibility intrigued her. She had never really tasted freedom. Darius and the others watched over her as if she were a mere fledgling. At times it was galling. “I do not wish to put you in danger.” Her large velvet eyes didn’t meet his hot gaze as she made the admission. She felt she was giving away her true feelings.
Julian’s hard mouth curved in satisfaction. “I am pleased you worry for my safety, cara” he said, a seductive caress in the deep timbre of his voice, his Italian accent very much in evidence. “But there is no need. I am not without power of my own. I know this man is someone you love. There will be no real confrontation between us. Perhaps a game of cat and mouse.”
Desari shivered, the cool of the night wreaking havoc with her heated skin. It had to be the air; his voice alone couldn’t possibly cause the fever in her blood. And it wasn’t just the strong chemistry between them drawing her, she decided, her chin going up, it was the knowledge he could impart to her. This was a true Carpathian, raised in their homeland. He knew things she desperately wanted to know, things that could be important to her family.
“Tell me how we can do this.”
There was a natural haughtiness in her voice, a note of imperious demand. Desari was used to getting her way when she chose to push it. Julian’s arms circled her small waist. Electricity sizzled and crackled between them. She might try to deny it to herself, but he could see her response in her eyes, feel it in her body, in her scent calling to him. “Merge your mind fully with mine, so that there is nothing of you he can find.”
She tried to jerk out of his arms. “No! I cannot.”
That infuriating smile was curving his mouth, taunting her. “What are you afraid of, picccola? My resolve? I have made no attempt to hide my intentions from you. I want you in every way. I am relentless when something is important to me, and you are the most important thing in my life, in all the centuries of my existence. Merge with me. We will fly far from here and talk of important things.”
It was a dare of sorts. He was making no secret of his amusement. Desari’s dark eyes flashed at him. “I do not fear you,” she snapped. “I am powerful in my own right. You cannot seduce me if I do not give my consent. I will go with you to learn from you.” She sounded like a princess bestowing a favor on a peasant.
Julian knew better than to allow his triumph to show on his face. He caught both her hands in his. “Now, cara mia, come with me, merge with me.” His voice was a caress that sent flames moving through her, flames she had no way of dousing.
His blood ran in her veins. She reached out with her mind and immersed it completely, decisively into his so that she could not panic and change her mind. At once she knew she was lost. He had enticed her into an erotic world of heat and hunger and fierce need. And he was every bit as ruthless as Darius. A loner. A great warrior with centuries of battles behind him. He appeared to hide nothing from her. Nothing, not even the terrible, relentless darkness. He had always been alone, even in his own world. Always alone. Until now. Desari moved into that darkness, suddenly uneasy.
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