Jaxon raised her head. “They’re out there now, watching us, aren’t they? Where did you get them? You have to secure all sorts of special licenses to have a wild animal. I would have thought, even for you, it would be difficult to attain the permits when you live so close to the city. How did you manage it?”
He shrugged his wide shoulders carelessly. “I simply told the gentleman he was going to give me the permits, and he did so.”
Jaxon sighed and stopped dancing with him. “I need to get away from you. I really do. I can’t believe someone so perfectly logical and down-to-earth as I am is falling for this fantasy world you’ve created. Lucian, you can’t just go around getting your way by crawling into people’s minds and hypnotizing them into doing whatever you want.”
His black eyes glittered with what could have been amusement. “Jaxon, I have been doing just that since the beginning of existence.”
“What does that mean?”
“Centuries. I have been doing it for centuries.”
Jaxon held up her hand. “Just stop saying centuries. Don’t use that word anymore. Something about it makes me crazy.” She pressed a hand to her stomach. “Give me back my gun before you call those animals to you.” She could see the wolves, their eyes reflecting in the dark. Without realizing it, she moved back beneath the shelter of Lucian’s wide shoulder for protection. “I’d just feel better, you know?”
“The wolves are my brothers. They would never seek to harm me or mine,” he said quietly. “They are noble creatures, Jaxon, with a strict code. They would give their lives for us. Do not fear them.”
Her heart was beginning to pound. Right away she noticed his heartbeat match hers, and then both hearts slowed to normal. She glanced up at him. “What are you?”
“Not vampire, little love. Never that.” His every instinct was to scoop her up and run off with her, claim her body and tie her to him irrevocably. Lucian’s mind was a shadow in hers; he knew she would be unable to resist him, but it was not what she wanted. She was still struggling to accept his existence and their strange bond. With a sigh he circled her slight body with his arms and dropped to one knee. Come to me, brothers and sisters. Come and meet my lifemate.
The wolves raced from the woods, eager to welcome her into the pack. Lucian held her tightly, reassuring her physically as well as mentally. In her head his voice was soft and soothing; his heart and lungs directed hers so that she could remain calm in the midst of the large pack. The animals pushed against her legs, rubbed along her thigh, sought to have her hands in their fur. When she was reluctant to do so on her own, Lucian’s hand guided hers, so that her palm was immersed in the thick dark coat of one of the larger wolves.
Jaxon found a smile curving her mouth, joy in her heart. She almost felt as if she could see into the minds of the animals. Images of what they were thinking and feeling. Their fur was incredibly soft and thick. It was amazing to be so close to a wild animal, to be touching one, having it accept her. She turned her head to look up at Lucian. “This is so wonderful. Have you been doing this all your life?”
“I would say for centuries, but I know how much you dislike that particular word,” he teased her.
She made a face at him. “You are so bad.”
He ruffled her hair, trying to treat her like a child instead of the woman he knew her to be. She was tired. He could sense her exhaustion. Her wounds were not completely healed. She needed nourishment, though her mind shied away from that particular need. Lucian sent the wolves back into the woods, scooped Jaxon into his arms, and glided back into the house, cradling her against his chest.
“I’m quite capable of walking,” she pointed out.
“It is faster this way. Your legs are short.”
“They are not!” She was seriously offended. “I can’t believe you even said that.”