"Not so, my lady," he denied. "Should I be killed, claimed or unclaimed, you could choose to live out your life. It would not be easy, but easier if unclaimed."
"I would follow you as most lifemates would, Fen. It does no good to pretend our lives are not woven together. I'm in your mind every bit as deep as you're in mine. My sister, Branislava, has always been my world, yet I follow you wherever you go. We are lifemates. Our blood will mingle and I will become as you are. No matter what you choose, I will follow you. I prefer to be a claimed lifemate, but if you insist I follow you into the next life unclaimed, so be it."
He shifted on the balls of his feet, a slight movement both fluid and graceful that sent her heart racing all over again. His gaze held hers captive.
"Tatijana, it's important to me that you want me for who I am, not because Gregori or any other sought to shame you for being unclaimed. I need you with every breath I take. My body hungers for yours. The more I share with you, the closer I feel, but I will not let any Carpathian tell us what we have to do. This is our life, and I want us to do things our way, at our pace. You have reservations. I feel them in your mind, and until they are resolved and I feel strong enough to protect you from even me, then we will just have to be careful."
Tatijana placed both hands on either side of his head to frame that beloved face. She loved him all the more for wanting the time to be right. He didn't rush her. He never had. "I am your lifemate. I would bind you to me if I had the power, not because Gregori or any other decrees it, but because I know you now. My life is safe with yours. You do not expect me to change or be any other than Tatijana. I want this for myself."
Beneath her hand his heart seemed to burst. Joy crept into his hungry gaze. His eyes had gone from glacier blue to hot cobalt. "You're certain, my lady? Once it is done, it cannot be undone."
"Here, in this field of flowers, right now, before the sun comes up and we have to go to ground. Bind our souls together, Fen." Tatijana didn't feel in the least bit shy. She knew what she wanted and she told him in bold, certain terms. "The moon is full and never again will we have a time like this one. I know you're not safe above ground during a full moon, but tonight is ours. I think it is meant to be, don't you? We have this one chance, Fen. Let's take it together and never look back."
Fen studied her face, loving her all the more for her declaration. Her emerald eyes never once flinched away from his stare. He slipped into her mind and found implacable resolve. She had every intention of becoming Sange rau, just as he was. There was no fear of a future with him, only contentment now that she'd made up her mind. If he refused, he would hurt her to no end.
And how could he refuse her? Not when every cell in his body demanded hers. Not when his soul cried out for hers. The ritual words pounded through his veins with the force of a jackhammer.
Fen took control immediately, setting the blossom carefully aside for later, wanting to complete the fertility ritual, but the need and hunger surging so hotly through his body had to be assuaged first. He swept his hand along the rows of flowers lifting their faces to the night sky. Velvet soft petals rained from the sky as the rows parted to allow a soft cushiony bed of sheer fragrance. The scent was a mixture of both of them, heady and intoxicating.
He bent his head to hers, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her into the heat of his body. She fit perfectly, breasts tight against his chest and the vee between her legs riding his thigh as he kissed her, pouring the intensity of his hunger into the haven of her mouth.
Who knew that kisses could be so heady? So intoxicating? She swept him into paradise where there was no way to get enough. Not in this lifetime and certainly not in the next. He craved that soft, hot mouth, full of raw wild honey, lavender and clover mixed together. He kissed her over and over, pulling her closer until her body was imprinted on his. Still, it wasn't enough.
He shed his clothes even as she removed hers, the Carpathian way, with just a thought. Both needed to be skin to skin. He felt as if he couldn't get close enough to her. In her mind, in her body-he wanted to wrap his heart around hers.
They floated to the bed of velvet petals, the fragrance sinking into their lungs, so that blood heated and tension coiled. Need lived and breathed between them. Fen could feel the blood pounding in his veins, whispering at first, then drumming louder, demanding he claim what was his. His soul reached for hers.
He laid her down into the bed of white so that her hair spilled around her face, the thick braid falling across the petals. He loved her hair, that ever-changing color, vivid and bright and as thick as his arm. Before he could stop himself, he unwound the cord binding it, fanning the luxurious length across the velvet petals, and buried his face in the waterfall of silk.
The sensuous feel of her hair against his skin only added to the building hunger. Her voice in his mind whispered to him, filling his mind with her. She felt like warm molasses pouring into every dark crack and fissure, repairing damage, bridging the gaps, until all darkness was gone and there was only his lady with her soft skin and sinful mouth.
He kissed her over and over while the ground seemed to shift and tremble and thousands of stars glittered above them like comets streaking overhead in a rare display. His pulse thundered in his ears, and a drum beat hard in his veins. He could feel his teeth sharpening, hungering for the taste of her.
Her mouth was delicious. Hot. Velvet soft. The roaring in his ears grew as the wind danced gently over their bodies. The embers burning so hot in the pit of his stomach became a roaring conflagration, spreading fast like a wildfire out of control.
Fen lifted his head, pressing his forehead against hers, staring into those beautiful multifaceted eyes. "Te avio palafertiilam," he whispered. The moment he uttered the words, he knew he had waited his entire life to say them. Nothing in his life had ever felt so right.
He kissed her again, needing to taste that exclusive spice and honey that was only Tatijana. She was cool on the outside like water, blue and green and soothing to the touch, yet a wealth of hot springs deep inside. She moved against him, her body melting under his, her arms sliding down his back to his narrow waist, her hands shaping his hips, pulling him even closer. She turned her head and licked at the pulse pounding in his neck.
"You are my lifemate," she murmured against that rhythmic hammering beat, translating the ancient language.
He nudged her knees apart with one thigh, wedging his hips in the tight junction of her thighs. His heavy erection pressed into the heated entrance, bathed in her slick welcome. He wanted to take his time, but his body burned from the inside out, his Carpathian/Lycan blood demanded his mate. Her teeth scraping seductively back and forth over his pulse nearly drove him insane.
"Entolam kuulua, avio palafertiilam." The words came out in his ancient language, all Carpathian male, claiming his lifemate. "Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed."
"You do belong to me," she reiterated, showing him she understood every word he uttered binding their souls with unbreakable threads.
"elidamet andam."
"I offer my life back to you," she whispered, nuzzling his neck.
Flames licked at his skin. He was all too aware of her teeth so close to his veins. His blood called to her. His lifemate. His lady. The one. "Uskolfertiilamet andam. Sivamet andam."
Tatijana lifted her head to look him straight in the eye. "I give you my allegiance," she answered back. "I give you my heart." The ring of truth was in her voice.
He had never known tenderness, nor gentleness, but it was there inside of him-for her. She was turning him inside out with her generosity and her acceptance of who he was. He'd killed hundreds, maybe far more than he ever wanted to remember and each kill had brought him closer to that hovering darkness. In truth, he had been close more times than he'd ever care to admit, and she saw those terrible moments when only the thought of his brother kept his honor intact.
"Sielamet andam."