Julian glanced at Darius, just a quick flash of golden eyes, but Darius caught a glint that might have been amusement.
“Arrogant? Conceited?” Julian reprimanded with a grin. “Desari, that is a little harsh.”
“I do not think so,” she told him severely. “You are like two territorial male animals, circling each other threateningly without even knowing what the other is about. How intelligent is that?”
“Desari...” There was a distinct warning in Darius’s voice.
She glanced down at her bare toes, then blushed, realizing that Darius knew exactly what had taken place in that cabin. How could he not? Julian’s scent clung to every inch of her skin. Julian’s hand went to the nape of her neck, his strong fingers beginning a slow, soothing massage. He was linked to her mind, and he felt her discomfort at her brother’s knowledge of their intimacy.
The protective touch on her neck provided her with courage and conviction, and her gaze leapt back to her brother’s face. “I hold you in the highest respect, Darius, you know that. No sister could love her brother more. I do not know exactly what this thing is between Julian and me, but it is strong and compelling. The two of you will have to get along without further physical violence. I mean it. I ask little of you, but this I will insist on from both of you. You must promise me. You must give me your word of honor.”
Darius’s dark eyes smoldered in warning. “Do not put too much faith in him, little sister. You do not know him. A stranger comes into our midst, heralding an attack on your life, and you trust him completely. Perhaps you are far
too
trusting.”
Julian’s breath eased out in a long, furious hiss. His golden eyes glittered with menace. “You are quick to judge those you do not know.” His voice was soft, even pleasant, but no one could mistake the threat beneath the surface. This Darius
was
like Gregori—he was of the same blood as the healer, second only to the Prince—and he sensed the shadow in Julian just as Gregori did.
“And you underestimate your enemies,” Darius pointed out, his voice like black velvet. “You are so sure of yourself that you take too few precautions to safeguard the one you have claimed as your own. It was unbelievably easy to unravel your pitiful attempts to divert me.”
Julian’s white teeth gleamed in the waning moonlight. “I knew you would follow; how could you not when you are responsible for your sister’s safety? In any case, you could do no other after the assassins had been allowed to make their attempt on her life.” He delivered the blow smiling but without humor. They were indeed playing cat and mouse.
Desari shoved Julian so hard and so unexpectedly, he teetered for a moment on the edge of the porch. “That is it. I have had it with the two of you.” She tilted her chin at them. “I will have no more of this nonsense. I will not leave my family at this time, Julian. You can accept my decision and remain with us as a member of our unit, or you can go your own way. If you refuse to accept him, Darius, then I will be given no other option than to follow where he leads.” Exasperated, she glared at them. “Get over it already. I mean it.”
Julian’s mouth twitched, the amber eyes softening with amusement. “Is she always like this? You are a tolerant male to have raised such an impertinent woman.”
Desari shoved him again but this time Julian was ready for her, laughing out loud at the eruption of her temper, catching her wrists easily and pulling her into him. “I gave your brother a compliment,
caressima
.” His voice was a tender caress, teasing, fanning smoldering embers within her to instant heat. “Is that not what you wanted?”
She tilted her chin. “That is not exactly what I had in mind, Julian.”
“I have not had much experience pleasing women these last few centuries. In truth, I had forgotten how difficult the females of our race could be,” Julian told Darius with a straight face.
“Difficult?” Desari was outraged. “You call me difficult when you and my brother were trying to tear each other limb from limb? The males of our race are in dire need of self-control. You have too long had things your own way. It has made you arrogant and conceited and very spoiled.”
Darius suddenly moved, his speed incredible even within their race, his body forcing his sister’s into the shelter of the porch, down low. “Merge with Savage now, as you did before,” he commanded, a hiss of sound in the stillness of the night.
Desari obeyed because she always obeyed Darius, merging her mind completely with Julian’s. She expected anger, at the least smoldering resentment at Darius’s high-handedness. Instead, she found him on the alert, moving to position himself alongside Darius to protect her. She submerged herself within Julian’s mind so that any outside source probing and seeking a feminine touch would get nothing.
She felt the darkness sweeping over the land, the perverted aberration they called the undead. The vile touch of the vampire sickened her as it moved ever closer, searching, always searching. She smelled the stench of evil, the twisted, damned soul of one who always killed his quarry, drained his victim’s lifeblood, often after torturing and tormenting the doomed creature.
Sheltered between the two powerful males, Desari was unafraid, but the vileness of the vampire was making her body react, her stomach rolling and heaving. Julian enveloped her mind completely as he had done before, shielding her from the undead as it raced across the sky. Dawn was on the heels of the vampire, and it could not face even the first rays of the sun. It needed to find sanctuary immediately. It passed overhead and was gone, leaving a dark stain in the sky like an oily patch of evil.
“They seek our women,” Darius hissed grimly. “Always they track us down. I know it is the women they sense.” He sent an urgent inquiry traveling on the wind.
Is Syndil protected? The undead have once again found us.
Julian reluctantly allowed Desari to surface from the total submersion, his arm circling her shoulders protectively. His heart was pounding in alarm. Had the darkness in him brought this vile creature straight to his lifemate? He had to destroy the demon.
The reply to Darius’s inquiry came back on the mental path used by the family unit so that both Darius and Desari heard the news.
We felt his approach and took precaution. Syndil is deep in the earth where he cannot find her should he try another probe. It is near; he must go to ground soon.
The voice was Barack’s.
Do not fear, Darius, no one will take Syndil from us, and no one will attempt to harm her and live.
“There will be others,” Darius informed Julian, once satisfied that all was well at home. “They have taken to traveling together in numbers, perhaps thinking those of us who hunt them will be more easily defeated.” There was a natural self-confidence in Darius’s voice that said plainly it didn’t matter to him how many vampires tried to defeat him; it would be an impossibility.
“My brother has resided in San Francisco for many years, hunting the undead in the western United States,” Julian volunteered. “He, too, noticed a trend of late in northern California and up into Oregon and Washington of usually solitary vampires suddenly congregating. It seemed insanity to me that they would not simply avoid his area altogether.”
Julian stepped off the porch, taking Desari with him, his fingers shackling her wrist. “What is the news of the rest of your family? The vampire did not detect the other woman, did he?” He knew Darius had contacted his family; he would have done the same.
Darius’s dark eyes flicked over him. Julian was astonished at how much the man reminded him of Gregori, the healer of the Carpathian people. Although Gregori’s eyes glittered silver with menace, Darius’s black eyes could portray an equal threat easily. “Our family is safe,” Darius replied softly, thoughtfully. “I will hunt this one now and go to ground when it is done.”