Jaxon shook her head and gave up. He was exasperating, and she was too tired to deal with him. She would work it out another day—phone her landlady and get her place back. Right now she was too tired and confused. Maybe she was hungry. She should be hungry, but every time she actually thought of food, she felt slightly sick. The refrigerator was intimidating. She stood in front of it. “When I was shot, was my stomach affected?”
For the first time she was aware of his hesitation. Jaxon felt her breath catch in her throat.
“Why do you ask? Are you hurting?” His voice, strictly neutral, gave nothing away.
“I’m hungry, but the thought of food makes me feel nauseated. In fact, I can’t remember eating or drinking anything since I woke up. Is something wrong with me, or am I being paranoid?”
“I can hear that fear in your voice again. The unknown. It is the worst fear of all, is it not?” He said it so softly, she shivered. Whatever he was about to reveal, she did not want to know.
Jaxon held up a hand and shook her head without looking at him. “I think I’ll walk around outside. The grounds look beautiful. In any case, I need to know my way around.” She went to move past him, attempting to duck under his arm.
Lucian’s arm dropped down like a gate. He curved it around her and swept her up against him. “Do not fear the truth. It is different, but it is not evil.”
She squared her shoulders. “Then tell me. Get it over with. Whatever needs to be said, just come out with it. I’m an adult, not the child you think me.”
Lucian’s body urged hers out of the kitchen and into his den. A wave of his hand produced dancing flames in the stone fireplace. She gasped aloud, enthralled by his magic yet frightened by it all the same. Jaxon broke away from him to stand in front of the flickering tongues of heat, needing the distance from him to think clearly. He was so tremendously powerful.
“I am a Carpathian male, as I have explained to you. We are a species that has existed from the beginning of time. I am not evil, angel face, but the darkness, the loss of color and emotion, that slowly overtakes our males who lack the light of their lifemates has grown strong in me for many centuries, making it a struggle to tame the predator inside us all. We are like the human race, yet not. We are blessed and cursed with enormous longevity, often called immortals. If and when we find a lifemate, the emotion is intense and grows steadily over the centuries. If we do not… we may become complete predators, the undead. The night is ours, and the sunlight is difficult to endure. But we have enormous powers, as you are beginning to understand. My blood now flows in your veins, angel. It has already affected your tolerance to sunlight, not to the extent of mine, yet it will be impossible for you to endure daylight without special sunglasses.”
A heartbeat went by. One. Two. Jaxon took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I can accept that.” My blood flows in your veins. A transfusion? She wouldn’t challenge that; she wouldn’t ask. She didn’t want to know how his blood had gotten into her veins.
“The sun will burn your skin. Sunblock will help, but not very much. You will have to learn to stay indoors during certain hours of the day, but your body will be sleepy during those hours anyway.”
She heard the distinct thud of her own heart. Her fingers twisted nervously in the material of the cotton shirt she was wearing. “What are you saying? Do you think I’ve never read Dracula before? You’re describing a vampire, aren’t you?” Her chin was up defiantly; she was challenging him openly.
Lucian could see her courage in her battle with her fear. She was fragile, so vulnerable, with much to admire in her. And he wanted her. He was acutely aware they were alone. He watched the struggle within her, the way her instincts worked, trying to war with the ties with which he had bound them together.