Razvan's brows drew together. «What kinds of problems?»
Ivory sank to the floor beside him as the smallest female closed the laceration on her wrist. «Nothing big. Walking. Running. Coordination mainly. My muscles were cut into pieces and they need to be strengthened.»
«You should have told the healer.»
A faint, haughty look crept into her expression. «I have never needed the healer or anyone else to survive. If I have need of the soil, it is there for me.» She shrugged. «Besides, it is better for us not to be out much. The less we leave, the less chance of a vampire or hunter stumbling across the lair. I have much work to do here. We go out for a hunt and run, and then we stay in a few days. It has worked out well for us. I will need to go out to feed for both of us. It will take a few hours as I have to travel a distance from our lair.»
«Not without me.»
«There is no need for both to go. Xavier is actively hunting you, using every resource at his disposal. You cannot leave traces for him to find you.»
«Not without me,» he repeated, his tone mild.
She narrowed her eyes. «That is so silly.»
«So was refusing the healer's help, but you had your reasons. I have mine.»
«You do not like anyone giving you blood,» she guessed, shrewdly. «You are Carpathian. You need blood to survive.»
«I am well aware of that.»
His tone never changed. Reasonable. Pleasant. Gentle even. She gritted her teeth. Nothing seemed to get to him, and she had deliberately needled him, wanting to shake him out of his stubbornness.
«It is just smarter for me to go alone.»
«Perhaps. But we go together.»
Her teeth snapped together at that mild tone. «Are you always like this?»
«I do not know. I have not been around any other than Xavier. I did not upset the woman who gave birth to Lara as I am upsetting you. But, like me, she was a prisoner and neither of us could make our own decisions. I am able to make this decision, for ill or not. I go with you.»
She stuck her chin out at him. «I am your lifemate. It is my right as well as my duty to provide for you.»
«Are you willing to provide solace with your body as well?»
Her heart jumped. Leapt. Took flight right along with a million birds in the pit of her stomach. Even her womb reacted. Which was silly, because he never changed expression, not on his face and not with the tone of his voice. They could have been discussing the weather. «No.» The word came out a whisper. Maybe even a question when she wanted to sound absolute and distant. There was just something about him that moved her, called to her, a nameless need, a hunger in his gentle eyes, that stark aloneness that drew her like a moth to flame.
«Then there is no need to provide anything else. We work together toward a common goal. We both wish to pool our vast wealth of knowledge in order to destroy Xavier.»
He was right. She knew he was right. It was exactly what she wanted, yet hearing him say it aloud in that calm, matter-of-fact voice made her want to weep.
«You brought me here to learn what I have learned of Xavier and to show me the ways of a warrior. I accept those boundaries.»
«Good.» She stood up. «That is excellent. We need to go.» Her body gave a subtle shift and she stood in front of him in absolute perfection, her clothes revealing her smooth, petal-soft skin.
«Why do you do that? Why not be seen as you truly are. You are beautiful, you know. The lines are your body's badges of courage. A warrior's true tribute. I have never seen anyone so beautiful.»
She turned away from him, not wanting him to see how his words affected her. She hadn't been told she was beautiful since she was a young woman, centuries earlier. Why did the warmth in his voice bring heat to her body when he seemed so unaffected by her?
«I do not want the vampires to know they marked me. It is a psychological game I play. When I discovered they were superstitious, it gave me the idea and I have continued to make them believe nothing they do to me can harm me.»
His smile was slow in coming, but when it did, she experienced a curious fluttering in the region of her stomach. She took a step backward and spun around. «If you insist on coming with me, I trust you will at least heed my warning to be cautious and leave no trail back to our lair. Xavier is going to send an army to retrieve you, everything he has in his arsenal.»
«Which is considerable,» Razvan agreed. «And he has your imprint now.»
She stilled. Turned slowly. Her gaze locked with his. «What do you mean?» Her mouth went dry.
«You pushed him from my mind, my heart, my body and my very soul. To do that, you shared your light. He cannot fail to recognize you if you studied under him. He will work day and night to wreak vengeance. That is his way, and I will not allow him to succeed. Until he is destroyed, you have me as your bodyguard.» His gentle tone was still low, black-velvet smooth, but implacable.
Her heart fluttered along with her stomach, a feminine reaction she abhorred, which probably made her more caustic than she normally would have been. «I am a warrior, and you know very little about battle. I hardly think you are going to be of much assistance in a fight. If anything you will probably be a complete hindrance.»
He bowed slightly. «Perhaps that is so. But I will be a powerful bargaining chip.»
She went white beneath her already fair skin and her breath hissed out in a long, slow exhale. «Do you think that I would trade my life for yours?»
«No.» He didn't look in the least ruffled. «But I would.» He gestured toward the thin crack winding upward through the thick walls of rock. «Hunger is beating at me. Let us hunt.»
She held out her arms for the wolves to leap onto her, shifting into the form of tattoos.
«Why did you want them fed first when we go to hunt?» Razvan asked curiously.
«Never take a hungry wolf with you when you are trying to leave no tracks. They are allowed to hunt game only once every few days to keep them sharp, but I do not risk wolf tracks or tempting them with human blood. In this form, we leave no tracks, yet they can aid me should I need it.»
«I would not mind a wolf tattoo of my own,» Razvan said. «It makes for beautiful artwork, as well as having eyes to watch your back.»
The admiration in his voice threw her and she bit down hard on her lip to keep herself focused. She didn't want to like him as a person, only to see him as another tool in her war against Xavier, but he charmed her in ways she hadn't expected.
She let her breath out in a little rush again. «You are a frustrating man, Dragonseeker.»
«I suppose I am.» There was no remorse, only amusement.
Ivory turned away from him before her sense of humor got the better of her. The thing about Razvan, she decided as she began to ascend through the inch-wide crack that zigzagged the way up through hundreds of feet of rock, was that there was an inner peace that radiated outward from him. Nothing seemed to disturb him. But then, how could it?
He had asked Gregori what more could be done to him than had already been done. He didn't fear death. There wasn't much in the way of torture, physical, emotional or mental, that Xavier hadn't subjected him to. He had learned long ago that he couldn't control others or events, only his own reaction to what happened. There was a hidden strength in Razvan, a well of it, deep and pure, that she saw and felt every time she was close to him. But there was also a gentleness she hadn't expected from a man honed in violence and blood.
She had always believed she would need a fierce warrior in order for her to be physically attracted to a male, but she found inner strength appealed to her more than fighting skills. His strength and gentleness tempted her as no other. She looked too long at his eyes, those ever-changing eyes that seemed soft and deep where she might lose herself if she didn't take care.