She sat up as he had done, drew up her knees, wishing she could don clothes as easily as he was doing now. «Sharing a dream bothers you? Why? Don't you think it can happen, especially as we're so connected?»
«Carpathians do not dream.» He pulled his hair back and secured it with a leather tie. «We sleep the sleep of the dead. Our hearts and lungs shut down to rejuvenate. Our brains do the same. We cannot dream.»
She wasn't certain what he was telling her, but her mouth went dry and her heart picked up a harder, faster rhythm. «You probably dreamt it as you awakened, or went to sleep.»
«How do you explain my tolerance to the sun? I have been unable to walk in the early morning light for
centuries. Even with clouds and severe storms, the sun hurt my eyes, and my body grew leaden. Yet I stayed with you until almost noon. Explain that to me.» His voice was low and harsh, whipping at her with some unspoken accusation. «I rose with the sun out, yet my skin did not burn or blister.»
«How can I explain such a thing? I know little of Carpathians and lifemates. Perhaps once you have your lifemate, that too is restored to you.» She dragged her blouse to her and slid it on. «You ruined the buttons.»
Impatient, he waved his hand, and she found herself, not in her own clothes, but a cotton T-shirt and jeans. Jeans. Not the dress he'd asked her to wear for him, but the trousers he didn't like. She swallowed fear, trying not to cry as she began to braid the long, thick mane of hair, needing something to do to escape his cold gaze. They'd just shared something few, if any, would ever experience in a lifetime, and he was rejecting her, pushing her away. It felt like a slap in the face.
«You were going to bite me,» he said. «I saw it in your mind.»
She pushed back away from him until her back was against the railing. «Was I? I wanted to, yes. But then, I saw that you intended the same. You took my blood and wanted me to take yours. You wanted to bring me fully into your world, and you wouldn't have asked me. You were going to make the decision without my consent.»
«You are my lifemate. I do not need your consent.» There was dark emotion flickering in his eyes. Little amber lights began to glitter through the pure black obsidian.
Anger pulsed through her. «You know what? I don't need your consent to leave, and I'm going back to the house.» She stood up, and her hands gripped the rail when he stood up, too. He towered over her, looking every inch a predator.
«Actually, you do need my permission. And you will stay here and hear what I have to say. I want to know the truth, MaryAnn.»
She narrowed her gaze on him. «You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you in the butt.»
«You did bite me. And I took your blood on several occasions.»
She tilted her head at him. «Is that my fault? I didn't ask you to. In fact I didn't even know the first time you did it.»
«What are you?»
«A very pissed-off woman.»
He stepped closer to her, so close she could feel the heat of his anger. «You are werewolf. And you are infecting me with your blood.»
Chapter Fifteen
M
^j ^
MaryAnn stared at him for several long seconds, and then she began to laugh. «You are totally crazy.»
Manolito didn't look in the least amused. If anything, his expression hardened even more. «I am not crazy. I smell the wolf in you, and if you are honest with yourself, you can smell it all over me.»
She shook her head, but the laughter faded. «This is insane. I know Carpathians are shapeshifters. I'm not. I've lived my entire life as a human being. My parents aren't werewolves. I doubt such a thing exists.»
«Why would you doubt it when you have seen jaguar-men and vampires? When you know the Carpathian people exist? Why should you have trouble believing in werewolves?»
Perspiration beaded on his forehead. Carpathians sweated blood, she noted. He brushed at his temples.
«Then where are they? And if they really exist, and I'm one of them, why didn't you recognize it sooner?» The sweating blood thing was eww, and she so wasn't becoming Carpathian. She'd much rather be a wolf!
«Because I have not seen or heard of the lycans for centuries.»
She put her hands on her hips. «So let me get this straight. You were all in love with me and ready to turn me into a Carpathian when you thought I was human, but now it's different because I might be turning you into something else.» She raised her chin another inch in challenge. «What you mean is, it's perfectly okay for me to give up who and what I am, but not so much for you.»
He frowned at her. «I was born to be Carpathian. It is who and what I am.»
She pressed a hand to her churning stomach. «You hypocritical male chauvinist, Neanderthal, asinine idiot. I must have been out of my mind to think I could live with someone like you.»
He waved her opinion of him aside. «We are lifemates. Of course I will do whatever is necessary to complete the conversion and bring you to my side completely, but I have to study this problem from every angle. I have never heard of a werewolf and a Carpathian mating. The blood of the wolf is as powerful as the blood of the Carpathian.»
«I don't shapeshift.»
«The wolf lives within you, part of you. It is not the same way I take another form. The wolf is your guardian and will emerge when needed. You have felt him close to you. That is why you have flashes of memory. And it is why both of us can take the early morning sunlight. Only my eyes were affected by the sunlight, not my entire body. You have not burned in the sun in spite of the fact that my blood flows in your veins. The change should have already begun to take hold.»
«And you think I've known all along and somehow have tricked you? If there is a wolf in me, now is the time for it to come leaping out. I just might go for your throat.» Furious, she shoved at his chest to move him out of her way. «You should hear yourself. Do you really think I'd want to spend the rest of my life with a man who has no regard for my feelings?»
«I have every regard for your feelings.»
«Right! Which is why you accused me of 'infecting,' « she spat the word in a fury, «you! Like what I am is some taint. Some disease. You know what, Manolito De La Cruz? You deserve to be stuck in hell. And I'm
an idiot for even thinking a relationship with you could be anything more meaningful than hot sex.»
She went to the edge of the deck and, gripping the rail, looked down. She'd jumped once, but now it seemed a very long way. The thing inside her, the wolf, he suspected, stirred, recognizing her anger. She swallowed the sudden fear in her throat and turned back to him, her heart pounding hard enough for him to hear it. Her own head was beginning to hurt, a buzzing sound, like thousands of insects driving her crazy, reverberated through her mind. Her skull felt too tight, and her brain began to pulse and throb in time to the surge of blood rushing in her veins.
«You know.» He made it a statement. «You were fully aware of my taking your blood. You wanted to take mine. You wanted the taste of me in your mouth. Hot and sweet and bursting with life. That is not human behavior.»
«You made me want that.» It came out in a whisper. She pressed her hand to her churning stomach. Between rage and fear she should have found some kind of balance, but all she felt was disoriented, swinging back and forth.
«I did not. I did not force your compliance. The call of the wolf was on you.»
MaryAnn turned away from him, her heart pounding. Everything was making sense. It shouldn't be. She couldn't accept what he was saying. She didn't want a wolf inside of her. She didn't even know what that meant, or how it was possible. «Take me back.» She didn't look at him, couldn't face him. She felt very alone. «I want to go back now.» Feeling alone made her angry all over again. When he'd faced his worst moment, she had stood with him, but he rejected her. Rejected her.