He pulled her into his arms, removing the blanket as he did so. At the same time he took the distressing memory from her and replaced it with her determination to find out who their guests had been and what he had done to handle the situation. Very quickly Lucian folded the blanket, knowing the association with pain touching the material carried. The woven strands held the boy’s cries, and Jaxon, as sensitive as she was, could not help but feel them. He could not stand the agony entrenched so deeply in her heart. Lucian saw no need for her to suffer continually when he could so easily stop it.
Jaxon blinked and put a hand to her throat. What had she been thinking about? Something had distracted her when she was so determined to find out what was going on in their home. Lucian must have seriously wanted to keep the truth from her. She reached for her jewelry box. “Why did those men want to kill me, Lucian? And this time give me a straight answer.”
“I did not ask them straight out.” He took the jewelry box out of her hands. It contained her mother’s jewels, beautiful gems. He had seen them. Rebecca Montgomery had come from money. She had diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and star sapphires set in necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Jaxon never wore them, only looked at them.
“You didn’t need to ask them straight out,” Jaxon observed. “All you had to do was look into their minds.” Her dark brown eyes were challenging him.
Lucian shook his head. “In all the centuries of my existence, I have never had anyone question me as you do. When I determine something needs to be done, I simply do it. No one questions me.”
“You are not God. You can’t always be right.” Her eyes flashed at him with a warning hint of her temper.
“I would not presume to be God, but I am fully aware of the tremendous responsibilities I have been given and the gifts bestowed upon me in order to accomplish the tasks set to me. I am able to weigh problems without personal anger or any other emotion clouding my judgment.”
“That is setting yourself up as judge, jury, and executioner, Lucian. No one has such a right.”
“You are mistaken, angel. Throughout history many of my kind have needed to be just such a being. It is not easy, and the toll on our souls is tremendous, but we have accepted the responsibility in order to protect both our people and humankind. I am what I am, and I cannot change what went before or what is now. When anyone threatens our way of existence, we do our best to remove their memories without violence, but should the need arise, we have no choice but to fight back. We also have the right to walk this earth. The same being created us in the same likeness. We were given many challenges and trials, and we have accepted them.”
“What if someone completely innocent discovers your existence, and you can’t erase their memory? Do you believe you have a right to take that life?”
A small smile touched the corners of his mouth. “In all the centuries of my existence, such a thing has never happened. If a being discovered us and could not be controlled, I would imagine a good reason existed for such a phenomenon. I would do much investigative work into the matter. I could not render a judgment at this time without much more information.”
“How terribly convenient for you.” She found herself following his tall figure back down the stairs to the lower story.
His black gaze swept over her, in no way perturbed. “Sarcasm does not suit you all that well, angel. I must admit I have a weakness for your sassy mouth, but sarcasm over so great an issue is beneath you.”
She flushed. It was unfair of her to be so judgmental. In her line of work it was easy enough to be put in a position of having to shoot or not shoot in the blink of an eye. In a way, that could render her judge, jury, and executioner, too. She had never had to face a decision like that, but she knew a couple of officers who had chased a suspect, had the suspect turn with something shiny in his hand, and had made the decision to fire. Neither officer had been able to accept that they had shot an unarmed teenager. One committed suicide, and the other quit the force and still battled with nightmares and alcoholism. How would she have handled a life filled with such dark decisions? Her mind shied away from the question.