“You’re very pale, Shea. You need to feed,” Raven said carefully, knowing from her own experience what a touchy subject it could be.
Shea swallowed hard. She was dizzy with weakness. Maybe that was what was wrong; maybe it had nothing to do with Jacques. “I know. I just can’t face it yet. I know I have to come to terms with it eventually, but it’s still all too new.”
“You can’t see yourself biting someone’s neck, is that it?” Raven laughed softly. “I can’t do it either. Yuck. Well…” She blushed, a faint pink stain spreading across her creamy skin. “Mikhail has a way of making it…” She trailed off.
Shea found herself blushing, too. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Jacques seems to have that same way about him.” Her hand curled around the stock of the gun again, and she tried to quiet the pounding of her heart. Her mouth was dry with fear.
Shea stole a glance at Raven. She was curled up peacefully, almost serene. Silently Shea cursed. Something was terribly wrong; she knew it deep within her, yet she couldn’t explain it adequately to herself or to Raven. “Have you ever tried to leave Mikhail?”
Raven glanced up, startled. A soft smile curved her mouth. “You can’t leave your lifemate. One, he knows what you’re thinking, and two, he can find you wherever you are. Besides, you can’t be away from him for very long—it’s too uncomfortable, both physically and mentally. If you left Jacques, what you’re feeling right now would not stop, it would only get worse. You can’t leave him, Shea. You have to learn how to live with him.”
“I know. I don’t really want to leave,” Shea admitted. She was close to tears. The feeling of dark malevolence was becoming stronger, yet she still couldn’t explain it. She felt very mixed up. She wanted Jacques close to her, but this world was so frightening and bizarre. She was completely out of her element.
Raven immediately jumped to her feet and put an arm around Shea, misunderstanding her distress. “He doesn’t hurt you, does he?” She was examining the faded bruises and wounds on Shea’s neck. “He did this, didn’t he?”
Self-consciously, Shea put a hand to her throat to cover the marks. “He didn’t mean to. He doesn’t always know what he’s doing. But he isn’t the type of man to abuse a woman. I’m in his mind enough to know that. I’m not a woman who would take it, either,” She let the other woman hug her, needing the comfort.
“It’s just that I’m afraid all the time. Afraid of everything. That isn’t like me at all. And I cry. I never cry.” Whatever was stalking them was very close now. She wanted to scream for Jacques.
“You’ve been through a traumatic time, Shea, and so has your body. You’re worn out, and you need sustenance.” Raven released her and took a step away. “Gregori is a great healer. I know you think he could be the vampire—it’s there in your face when you look at him—but he would give his life for you, for me, for Mikhail. He’s a great man. He could help you so much if you’d let him.”
“He’s the scariest man I’ve ever met,” Shea admitted. “If I had a child, a daughter, I would not want that man to be her husband.”
“But then, you don’t know that much about lifemates. If my daughter is his lifemate and chooses him—and it will be her choice, despite what my husband and Gregori think—she’d be the safest woman in the world. And once she learned to manage him, the happiest.”
“You have more faith than I do.”
“That’s because I’ve known them longer. Give yourself some time, and for heaven’s sake put that gun down. There’s nothing out there,” Raven admonished. “You’re just nervous because Jacques isn’t with you.”
Lightning crashed close, and the cabin shuddered beneath a deafening roar of thunder. Raven swung around and paced to a chair. “Something’s going on for sure. That’s one of ours doing that.”
Shea’s hand went to her throat. She could not shake the feeling of impending doom. She turned to Raven. “What do you mean, one of ours?” Why had she agreed to stay and protect Raven? Something evil was watching them, and she couldn’t ferret it out. Jacques, where are you?