Gregori’s hand cupped the back of her head, then slipped to the nape of her neck. “We can cope with your fears, ma petite. They are not insurmountable.” His voice, as always, was calm and unruffled.
Savannah’s heart sank. Nothing moved him to mercy, not even her sharing one of her most private and frightening memories. “I don’t want this,” she whispered, tears burning in her throat. She was humiliated that she had admitted so much and that it had meant so little to him.
“Rest now, little one. We will sort it out later.”
She was silent, seeming to accept his command quietly. But Savannah had a few tricks up her sleeve; after all, she was considered one of the world’s leading magicians. Gregori might be offering her a temporary reprieve, but when they woke, his appetite would be ferocious. She doubted that even his mammoth self-control would save her then. She would have to make her most daring—and most important—escape ever.
“Savannah?” Gregori’s arm drew her tightly, possessively against him. “Do not try to leave me. Fight me, argue, but do not try to leave me. I walk the edge of control. I feel for nothing or no one but you. It would be very dangerous.”
“So I am to give up my life so yours can continue.” Her tears fell on the back of her hand.
“You cannot exist without me, either, Savannah. It is only a matter of time before the growing emptiness consumes you.” He raised her hand to his mouth and touched his tongue to her tears, savoring the taste of her. Then his voice dropped an octave, became purity itself. “Do not deny it. I feel it growing in you. The terrible, aching loneliness.”
Savannah’s heart jumped at the rough velvet of his tongue rasping across her bare knuckles. She would not allow his natural sensuality to seduce her, no matter how her own body responded to the forbidden call. “How much time do I have before then, Gregori? A century or two? Five? More? You don’t know, do you? That’s because none of our women were ever allowed to command their own fate. I shouldn’t be responsible for your life any more than you should be responsible for mine.”
“We are Carpathian, ma petite, not human, despite the way your mother raised you. I am responsible for your life, as you are for mine. It is the way of our people, and the only thing protecting humans from our darkness. Our women are cherished, protected, treated with respect, guarded for the treasures we know they are.” The dark shadow on his chin rubbed along the top of her head in a curiously soothing gesture. Little strands of her hair caught in the stubble, weaving them together. “Your mother has much to answer for, filling your head with human nonsense when she should have been preparing you for your true destiny.”
“Why do you call it nonsense? Because she wanted me to be able to choose for myself what I wanted? To make my own destiny? To savor freedom? I don’t want to be owned.”
“None of us can choose, Savannah.” His arms tightened briefly, and his warm breath found her ear. “Lifemates are born to one another. And freedom is a word that can mean many different things.” His voice was so beautiful and gentle, at odds with his matter-of-fact words. “Go to sleep, and escape your fear for a time.”
She closed her eyes as she felt his lips brush her ear, then slide to her neck. She savored the touch, took it into her body, and hated herself for it. “You go to sleep, Gregori. I want to think.”
Teeth grazed her skin, right over her leaping pulse. Then his tongue stroked, easing the sharp sensation. “I do not wish you to think any more, ma petite. Do as I say, or I will send you to sleep myself.”
She paled. “No!” Like any Carpathian, Savannah knew just how vulnerable she would be when the sun rose and sleep took her body. If Gregori commanded her into the deepest sleep of the Carpathians, she would be completely under his power. “I’ll sleep.” Deliberately she slowed her breathing, slowed her heart.