You have the most fascinating mouth I have ever seen.
What’s so fascinating? It’s a mouth just like any other.
I think it is your pouty lower lip.
Now I know you’re crazy. I never pout and neither does my lip.
“I beg to differ.” The sheer pleasure blossoming inside him spilled over into his voice. She was alive, his courageous Destiny!
She opened her eyes again to look directly at him. “So what do we do now, Nicolae? I did my best to protect you, but you just don’t mind very well.”
He brought her knuckles to his mouth, his teeth scraping back and forth, gently, insistently, over her skin. “Is that where I went wrong? I should have been obeying?”
“At least listening.” Her fingers touched the shadow along his jaw, a weak, trembling movement that conveyed more to him than her words ever could. “I want you safe, Nicolae. It’s important to me.”
“I am safe, Destiny,” he assured her. The lump in his throat was threatening to choke him. “As long as I have you, as long as we are together, I will be safe.”
Vikirnoff cleared his throat, drawing her attention to him. He was looking at his brother. “You are not bound together, Nicolae. You will never be safe if you do not bind her to you in the way of our people.”
Swift impatience crossed Nicolae’s dark, sensual features. Before he could react, Destiny laid her hand across his mouth and looked up at his brother. “Those words always beating around in his head—the ‘you are my lifemate’ words.” Secretly she thought the ritual words as beautiful as they were terrifying. “How would simple words bind us together or make Nicolae safe?”
His strong teeth nipped at her palm so that she yelped and glared at him. “You are not to think about that, Destiny. We have plenty of time.”
“I don’t believe I was speaking to you,” she responded huffily. “There’s no talking to you when you’re in your ridiculous alpha male he-man mode. Sheesh! All you think about is protecting the little woman. I’m talking to your brother right now.” She attempted to lift her chin but it hurt too much, so she suppressed a squeak of pain and had to be content to challenge him with her eyes.
Nicolae’s heart melted beyond repair. She was so brave, so filled with courage. She lay in his arms, beaten, torn apart, her flesh shredded. Pain coursed through her veins and the taint of the vampire stood between them, yet she met Vikirnoff’s gaze without flinching. It mattered to her that Nicolae was safe. He read the determination in her mind, her complete resolve, even as he read her fear of what Vikirnoff might say.
“He must bind you to him so that you will act as his anchor. Once the words are said and the ritual is complete, he cannot turn vampire. Unless you die. You will provide the light to his darkness.”
Destiny stared at Vikirnoff for several heartbeats. A singe sound escaped her. Muffled. Strangled. Somewhere between humorless laughter, hysteria and tears. “Are you crazy? I’m supposed to be the light to his darkness? Do you have any idea what you’re saying? Nicolae is my light. My only light.”
“Destiny.” Vikirnoff’s voice never changed. It was soft. Calm. Reasonable. “You have dedicated your entire existence to the protection of others. You think first of Nicolae even as you lie broken. Those are not the acts of someone who lives in darkness.”
“Nicolae lives for the protection of others.”
“He was bred to do so. It is his right and his honor. It is his way of life. It was not so with you.”
“You can’t see what’s inside me.” She turned her face away from him, only to find Nicolae. Always Nicolae. He was there in her mind. There in her heart. He held her safely in his arms.
“Nicolae sees what is inside you. Nicolae is no easy man to be twisted around a woman’s finger. He is an ancient hunter of the undead. A dangerous predator who is capable of destroying more than you could ever comprehend. You could never fool him. Never, Destiny. You are exactly as he sees you. His light.”