Dark Fire by Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 6

“Darius would never leave you unprotected. He could not. You are his lifemate. He cannot be apart from you.”

Tempest sighed, enjoying the way the two women made her feel, as if she belonged in their family circle. “Well, he’ll just have to get over it already. I’ll insist he go to sleep the way he’s supposed to. If he won’t, I’ll have no choice but to leave.”

Desari shook her head. “You still do not understand. Darius can never be apart from you. It would destroy him. Do not think that anything will change if you attempt to leave him. He will only put a tighter leash on you, Rusti. He has never once, in all the centuries of his existence, wanted anything for himself. But he wants you. Needs you.”

“Perhaps I don’t want him,” Tempest said. “Don’t I have rights?”

Syndil and Desari both laughed, the notes like silvery bells, like water tripping over rocks. “Darius can do no other than make you happy. He dwells in your mind. If you did not want him, he would know. Can you not understand, Rusti?” Desari asked her. “You cannot be without him any more than he can be away from you. Do you not feel it when you are apart? When he is sleeping the sleep of mortals?”

Tempest ducked her head, the memory of that precise discomfort firmly in her mind. For a moment she felt close to tears. At once he was there in her mind. Tempest? I am here. He flooded her with warmth, with reassurance I’m okay, just being silly.

I will come to you if you have need.

Your touch is enough. And it was. The two women were right. She needed him whether or not she was willing to admit it to anyone other than herself. She felt the brush of fingers, a tender caress that trailed over her cheekbone, down to her mouth. She could feel the instant response of her body, the warmth, the heat, the distress when the contact slipped reluctantly away.

“Rusti?” Desari asked softly. “Are you okay?” She turned Tempest’s hand over to examine the scraped knuckles. “How did you do this? Has Darius seen this?” She closed her palm over the scrape in the same way Syndil had. At once Tempest could feel a soothing warmth.

“Of course,” Tempest admitted, blushing slightly as she remembered the feel of his mouth on her skin. “He doesn’t miss anything. What exactly are the undead? You said Darius hunted the undead. Are you talking about vampires?”

“If our males do not find a lifemate, in time they eventually lose their souls to the darkness within them. They become vampire, preying on our people as well as humans. They must be destroyed,” Desari answered.

Syndil touched Tempest’s shoulder to draw her attention. “The one who attacked me, the one who was raised as my brother, my family, my protector-he had turned vampire. He nearly killed Darius. Had Darius not been so powerful, he might have succeeded. As it was, Darius was severely wounded. I, too, would be dead, and perhaps Desari as well. Who knows?”

“Cullen told me he had seen a vampire in San Francisco. That the woman he had intended to marry was murdered by one,” Tempest said. She reached up to take

Syndil’s hand with her free one, so that they were all connected. “Could Darius still turn?” There was a note of fear in her voice.

“Not unless something happened to you.” Desari was examining Tempest’s knuckles again. “We need to clean this scrape.”

“Is there a possibility of a child? Could we have children together?” Now there was a distinct quaver in Tempest’s voice.

Desari exchanged a long look with Syndil. “I do not know for certain, Rusti,” Desari answered honestly. “Julian told me of one woman who was born to a human mother and a Carpathian father. She was not raised in our ways and had a difficult time surviving. There was no one to teach her, to love her, to help her grow properly because the mother committed suicide and the father turned vampire. The child did survive, however, and eventually was discovered by her true lifemate.”