Rand smiled gently, calmly. “And do you now kill me, too? You are a bloodthirsty one, are you not? You claim I am her father, yet you are eager to slay me.” He looked directly into Shea’s eyes. “Does this make sense?” His voice was low and sad. “That he might want to destroy your father?”
“You are deliberately trying to confuse her.” Jacques’ face, worn and lined, was hardened with anger. Shea found herself studying its every beloved detail. All at once she didn’t think Rand quite so handsome. There seemed something sinister about his perfect good looks and his thin-lipped smile. Rand seemed without emotion, almost lifeless, his sorrow unreal, while Jacques’ powerful form was trembling with volcanic emotion. His mind was a red haze of swirling anger and fear that he might lose her, that he had inadvertently placed her in danger. The rage was toward Rand that he would betray his own daughter.
Rand sighed softly and shook his head. “How easily you allow yourself to be tricked by this dark vampire. Your own neck holds the answers you seek. The wounds there are torn and ragged. Who but a vampire feeds so carelessly? Does a loving lifemate abuse his woman in this manner? When he killed this morning, using your innocence and your very mind and soul to aid him, was he not feeling joy? When you begged him to stop, did he not continue? And when he came to you with blood on his hands, could you not see the dark desire and hunger in his mind, in his eyes, in his body? Could you not see the dark compulsion of the kill? Vampires are very clever, my dear, and you have fallen under his spell.”
Jacques regarded the older man with black, empty eyes. “Do you challenge me?”
Shea gasped. Jacques and her father? She pressed both hands to her head. She couldn’t stand this confrontation, being fought over like some dog’s bone. She didn’t even know what was true and what wasn’t anymore.
Yes, you do, little red hair. He is attempting to bewitch you. He thought me occupied with Byron. He thought he could lure you from the safety of our people. He will not accept a fair challenge.Jacques attempted to reassure her. She was fighting to stay calm, but Shea had suffered far too much trauma in the last few days. Jacques was certain Rand had not only planned for that but also counted on it to sway her.
Rand’s smile was calm. “I would not wish to cause Maggie any further grief. But be warned, dark one, you would be hunted and destroyed if Mikhail were not your brother. You have deceived and hurt this woman I love, and I will not allow you to get away with it. But I would not be the cause of her further distress.”
Jacques bared his fangs. “I was certain you would say something of that nature. You prefer to do your dirty work through trickery.”
Rand raised an eyebrow. “Listen to him, my dear. Next he will be accusing me of associating with the human murderers. Are you going to say I tried to kill Byron? What about Noelle? Perhaps I was responsible for what happened to you and my own son, too. You are the vampire, Jacques, and you are powerful enough to deceive one such as Gregori. I would be a fool to fight you when you are holding Maggie hostage.”
Shea clutched at the back of Jacques’ shirt. “Rand, you’re wrong about him. I look like Maggie, but I’m your daughter. And I would know if he was truly a vampire.”
Rand looked at her with sad eyes. “How many times have you asked yourself what he is? Did you not feel his joy in the kill? He wanted it, welcomed it, and he fed voraciously. You cannot deny this is so. Who better than Jacques to set this entire thing up? Noelle was his sister, and he adored her. He led the others away from you and from his brother’s woman. He killed the humans because they could identify him.” He bowed his head tiredly. “I cannot convince you, I know this, but in time you will see that I am right. Tell me, Maggie, did you not see me differently when he arrived? Perhaps more like a villain? I wonder who projected that image to you? I doubt that I would have done so myself.”
“Her mind was calmer and able to see more clearly with my presence, as you well know. Be gone, Rand, back to the hole you crawled from.” Jacques gestured, his face dark with anticipation, his body poised and ready should Rand attack.
Rand simply faded from their sight, his soft laughter sending shivers down Shea’s spine. Instantly she stepped away from Jacques, her green eyes not meeting his.
With gentle fingers he tipped up her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his. “I love you, Shea. I have no way to combat the lies he has told until we can be free of my debt to Byron. Reserve judgment until I am able to talk this out with you.”
His voice was so loving, his touch so tender, it turned her heart over. She found herself drowning in the mesmerizing depth of his black eyes. She wanted to do whatever he wished. Her body responded to his, to the tormented look of him, to the desperate hunger in him. Her body flared to life and called to his, going soft and pliant with anticipation. Her breasts ached, and she burned for his touch.
Shea jerked her gaze away, stepped back so that his body heat could not affect hers, so that the electricity crackling and arcing between them was broken. Shaken, she shoved a trembling hand through her hair. “How are you going to convince me, Jacques? With sex?”
He was smoldering with need, a dark hunger that never ceased. Once it had risen, it had grown until the urgency nearly overwhelmed him. She was essentially human and could not understand, did not even know of the heat that rose between lifemates. “Love, you are smart enough for the both of us. You can figure out for yourself who is telling the truth. Rand is sick. I wish it was not so, but if he truly believed you to be your mother, he would have attacked me immediately. A lifemate can do no other than guard his woman. That has been our way for all time. No other man can be with her. He is trading on your ignorance of Carpathian ways. I do not need to convince you of what is in my heart or of what is in yours. I know I am damaged. You know it, too. But you would feel it if I was truly evil. You would know it. There would be no way I could hide it.” He held out a hand to her. “Just think it through with that logical brain you have. I trust you to come up with your own answer.”
“Jacques.” She hesitated, wanting to touch him, needing to touch him, but afraid of being lost in the sexual lure she couldn’t seem to resist. “How do I know if I’m the one thinking for myself when you’re always with me, always sharing my mind?”
“You will have to figure that out for yourself. Shea.” His black eyes moved lovingly over her face. “You know me better than anyone, and I have never tried to hide anything from you. If you brand me a monster, even I will believe you.” His smile was gentle and reassuring.
Shea took a deep breath and laced her fingers with his. It felt right and natural. The sparks jumped from his skin to hers, and her pulse raced, but she walked quietly through the woods with him, content just to be by his side. Jacques seemed so much a part of her, the air she breathed. She accepted it because he made her complete.
Chapter Sixteen
Gregori was an impressive figure. Shea watched him as he knelt beside Raven, his entire attention seemed to be concentrated on the woman lying so still. “Have you attended to Shea’s injuries?” The soft inquiry startled Shea. He addressed Jacques, asking the male, as was his irritating way.
“The wounds are closing,” Jacques assured him. Rand drew Shea alone into the woods. He is the betrayer, healer. I walked away from him because he is linked to Shea. He could make her feel whatever I did to him. He is very dangerous. I cannot be the one to bring him to justice. Shea would never forgive me.
“Don’t do that, Jacques,” Shea said with a little bite in her voice. She was exasperated with him. “I know you’re talking to Gregori. If you have something to say, say it out loud so that I can hear you. You think Rand is the vampire, don’t you?”
The thought was in her mind also, and it made her feel disloyal. She knew something was wrong with Rand; perhaps Maggie’s death had twisted his mind so he was living in the past. But something Rand had said in the course of their strange conversation was niggling at her brain. Something she couldn’t put a finger on.