Nicolae sighed softly. He could have taken anything but her tears. He had expected anger. He could easily deal with her anger, had been prepared to deal with it. But not her tears. And not just any tears. She wept as if her heart were breaking. As if there were no hope. How was a man supposed to handle such a thing without his heart shattering into pieces?
He glided across the distance between them to sit carefully beside her. Close. But not touching. She didn’t look up at him. “Destiny, I had to find a way to make you understand how much you matter to me.”
She made a small sound, shook her head and looked up. “This is your answer? This is what you thought you’d do to show me you care? Are you crazy or just stupid?”
“I thought about it a long time. There is no other way. You do not see anything but the difference in your blood.”
She swept the cloud of hair from her face and glared at him. “It’s no small thing, Nicolae. It isn’t as if we’re talking about my family tree here. We’re talking about tainted blood. Don’t you get it? It calls the undead to me. You cannot ever creep up on them and surprise them. Not ever again. They will always know when you are in the vicinity. You’re a hunter, and you just lost your edge and put yourself in terrible danger.” She rubbed her hands over her face again. “Oh, Nicolae, how could you do something so ridiculous?” There was despair in her voice.
“Destiny.” His voice whispered over- her skin. “Look at me, little one. I have only bound us together more tightly. Our blood bond will not harm me. I am strong, able to fight any darkness. I have you as an anchor to hold me.”
“You were my anchor,” she cried, looking up at him. It was a mistake. She was instantly caught and held in the dark depths of his eyes. He was looking at her with such love, she couldn’t look away from him. She couldn’t condemn him. “I needed to know I could keep you safe.”
He smiled at her, reached down to lace his fingers through hers. He brought her hand to the warmth of his mouth, brushing kisses along her knuckles. “I am safe. The moment I heard you cry out all those years ago, I was safe.”
“You don’t understand. I wanted to know we could be together and I wouldn’t be the one to harm you. I wanted the vampire far away from you.” There was a terrible sadness in her voice.
Nicolae shifted closer to her, his bare thigh settling next to hers. “You must hear me in this. He was never far away from me. Never. I was there with you from the moment you first merged with me. I felt the pain and the humiliation of what he did to you. I chose to share all of it with you, so I would know firsthand what it was like to be so helpless and vulnerable to a powerful and evil being. All the while, I was ashamed I could not find you and protect you as I should have been able to do. That vampire walked in my thoughts and in my body and ate away at my soul. Every time he put his filthy hands on you, he tore out my heart. He was never far from me.”
Destiny hung her head, shamed. “I couldn’t let you go. I knew I should, I knew I should never have connected in the first place, but your voice saved me. Even as a child I knew I should let you go. I needed you desperately.”
“As I needed you. You do not seem to be able to comprehend that I needed you just as desperately. The beast was strong in me. I had come to the end of my days. You gave my life purpose and meaning. And you brought love into my world. I now see colors where there was only barren gray. I feel emotions, where my life was endless monotony. Your need was no greater than mine.”