She lay in his arms quietly, trying to take in what he was telling her. “Lucian, how can any of this be? How can someone like you exist all this time and not one single person know about you?”
“There are some who have found us out. We originated in the Carpathian Mountains, and we refer to ourselves as Carpathian. There are humans who hunt us, who seek to murder us, There are scientists who would take us apart in a laboratory. They fear we are vampire, and, although we are few, they fear our powers.”
“You scare me to death.”
“No, I do not. The differences are difficult for your mind to accept. Do not confuse that with fear of me. You know I would never harm you. I am incapable of harming you. You are my heart and soul. The air I breathe. You bring light to the terrible darkness in my soul.” He captured her hand and brought it to the warmth of his mouth. “There are moments when I feel you can collect all the missing pieces of my soul and put them back into place and make me whole once again.”
“Is that how you really see me, Lucian?” Jaxon’s large eyes looked into the dark, empty depths of his.
“It is who you are, Jaxon,” he said softly. “I need you. The rest of the world does not need you the way I do. To live. To breathe. You are my laughter and, I suspect, my tears. You are my very life.”
“You can’t feel that way about me when you’ve just met me. You don’t know me at all.”
“I have been in your mind many times, Jaxon. How could I not know you? You have already captured my heart. I am the one who must find a way to make you love me in spite of all my sins.”
“Do you have so very many?” she asked softly. He was turning her inside out with what he was admitting. He seemed so self-sufficient, how could he ever need anyone, least of all someone with all her problems?
“My soul is stained so black, my love, there is no real way to ever redeem it. I am a dark angel of death. I have carried out my duties for centuries and know no other way of life.”
“There’s that word again. Centuries.” A faint smile chased the shadows from her face. “If you’re such a dark, terrible person, why don’t I sense evil when I’m around you? I know I don’t have your”—she floundered for a moment, unable to think of the right word—”gifts, but I have a built-in radar system for anything evil. I feel the presence of it immediately. You can’t possibly have a black soul, Lucian.”
He moved then, a mere casual ripple of muscles, but he was standing without any effort, Jaxon in his arms. “You must eat, little one. You are wasting away right in front of me.”
“You pick me up so much, I thought you’d appreciate the fact that I’m not carrying extra pounds.”
Lucian plopped her down on the counter. “You are not going to try to tell me you do not eat because you worry I will not be able to pick you up.”
She crossed her legs and arched one eyebrow. “I was more worried you’d strain your back.” She tried not to watch the way the muscles rippled suggestively beneath the thin white silk of his shirt.
He laughed softly at her outrageous suggestion as he began to put together a base for a soup. “You will not disobey me again, Jaxon, not when it comes to matters of safety.”
“‘Disobey’? Interesting word. I don’t think I really fully understand the meaning of the word, being a grown woman and all.”
“Grown woman. Is that what you call it? You think you are as grown as you are going to get? A frightening thought.”
“I hope you don’t really think I’m going to obey you,” Jaxon said softly, meaning it. She leaned over to get his attention. “You don’t, do you?”
He shrugged with that casual grace, the movement that always took her breath away. “I have never had to ask more than once.”