“You will have to trust me that I will look out for you and your grandmother.”
She nodded her head again. She did trust him. There was no doubt in her mind if he gave his word, he would do exactly what he promised. She went up on her toes, her arms going around his neck to bring his head down to hers so she could brush her lips over his. He slanted his mouth over hers and took control of the kiss, sending her stomach plummeting into a roller-coaster dive.
She loved his kisses. Seriously loved them. His kisses should have been an inspiration for all mankind. They were electric, shooting little charges of white lightning through her veins straight to her sex so all she could think about while she was kissing him was ripping off his clothes. Quite frankly, that part of being Carpathian, the ease of getting in and out of clothes—and stylish boots—was one of the best things ever. That and not having to pay for the clothes and boots. How cool was that?
“Teagan.”
There it was. Her name. That voice. Curling her toes. She loved that. She just plain loved Andre.
“Um . . .” She lifted her eyes to his face.
“Sívamet. When I am kissing you, you might consider forgetting about clothes and boots for a moment. I would prefer your mind was on me.”
She laughed softly. “Andre, a little FYI. My mind is always on you. Let’s go before I forget everything but you and leave my grandmother too long hiking on this mountain. I mean, really, what in the world is she doing thinking about hiking and camping in the wild at her age?”
Andre took Teagan’s hand and they walked together away from the gates of the monastery. They were up in the mists and he had no fear of being seen, but already, his warning system was going off. He reached out, this time to one of the ancients inside the monastery, an ancient who had given him blood. It had established a more private telepathic communication between them.
Fane.
There was a small silence. Andre wasn’t certain whether or not the ancient would answer. All of them within those walls were far too close to turning. He had almost entered that monastery himself. Fane was the acknowledged gatekeeper and that said a lot for his ability to stay in control. He wasn’t as far gone as the others.
I am here.
Andre flinched a little at the tone. Fane didn’t want to communicate with him. None of them did. They needed the distance between others, and now with a woman inside the safety of their gates, they all had to be on edge.
Two things, and then we will leave this place. A warning to all of you. There is a group of travelers led by a woman—a woman related to my lifemate. She can tune in to us. Lead others straight to us. A gift. Teagan has used hers to find the resting place of vampires. Her grandmother has fallen in with the society members. They have new weapons. Ones that even the playing field when they attack us. They also, with this woman, have the ability to find this place.
Kill her.
I hope to avoid that, but if I have no other recourse, then I will.
Thank you for the warning.
Andre knew if he didn’t kill Teagan’s grandmother and she made the mistake of leading the others to the monastery, the ancients would kill her. Sadly, engaging in a battle for any of them where they were forced to take more lives could send them over the edge.
One more thing. My woman—and you have met her so you know she is genuine—believes she has found a way to bring all of you a little relief and buy you more time. I found her when I gave up. I believe there are human women with psychic abilities who hold the other half of each of your souls.
Fane was silent again for what seemed a long time. Each of us has searched the world over, down through the centuries, and have not found the woman who would save us. Even as we speak, we are all aware of the rejection by Aleksei’s woman. If there is no hope for him, a man of such honor, there is none for the rest of us.
There is always hope, Fane. I learned that lesson. Teagan taught me that. We have access now to a database of psychic women. We intend to find them before society members do. They were the ones who put together the database.
I have been away from the outside world for a very long time, old friend. I do not understand what you mean.
We have learned that human women with psychic abilities can be lifemates to our males. We believe that Vlad sent those of us out whom he knew to have these women as lifemates in other times so they would not be killed in the wars. He had precog. We all know that. If he knew each of us had a lifemate and we just had to endure until the right time, you know he would have sent us out.
He felt Fane suddenly come alert. Sending them out to endure until the time their lifemates were born would be something Vlad would do. He had asked for volunteers when he sent the hunters out into other worlds, but he was very specific about others, Andre being one of them. Each of the ancients inside the monastery, he had asked for personally.
That is so. There was speculation in Fane’s voice. And your woman can help us to hold out a little longer.
We believe so. She has not had the opportunity to try, but she is willing if one of you would allow her.
Teagan tightened her fingers around Andre’s. Fane had also given her blood. He had said they had a strange connection he couldn’t explain, but maybe this was it. Maybe she was the one to give him hope as well as bring it to the other ancients. Andre hoped so. The three ancients closest to him—triplets whose family had taken him in when he lost his own—were far too close to the edge. They had gone to the United States and he intended to follow. He hoped Teagan could ease them as well.
Explain this database. What is it?
The society compiled names of women with psychic abilities and kept it all in one place. We managed to take it away from them. In the process we discovered that vampires had infiltrated the society . . .
Vampires would never associate with humans and not destroy them. They do not have that much discipline.