Dark Destiny Page 0,110

the velvet-soft lower lip.

"I'm reading your thoughts, Nicolae. There is a blood bond between us. The first thing, above all else, is never listen to that idiot brother of yours. The man never climbed out of the cave. You do all right on your own." She wanted to kiss him. He thought he was so stoic, yet she could see the hungry intensity in his eyes. A terrible anxiety that could only be real. He might be tremendously powerful and capable of all sorts of things, including controlling her, but she could see the genuine need in him, the genuine love.

"I think your pouty lower lip is extremely sexy." He bent his head to hers, brushed her mouth gently, almost reverently.

He could send butterfly wings through her stomach without trying. "You have rocks in your head," she told him lovingly, tangling her fingers in his hair. "There's nothing sexy about me." Laughter danced in her eyes. "I'm lying here in the dirt, covered in it, and you're looking at me like you might eat me. I think you need a few counseling sessions with Mary Ann. You're a bit on the kinky side." But he took her breath away and started a warm glow that wouldn't go away. He had a way of making her feel beautiful in the midst of her nightmares, even when she knew it wasn't so. He had a way of taking her out of death and violence and bringing her to a paradise she hadn't known existed. Most of all, she was never alone.

"You are obviously hallucinating and quite ill." He kissed her again, lingering over the pleasure. He showed every restraint. He didn't kiss her possessively. He didn't devour her, or pick her up and shake her. His insides were roiling like the clouds had been, a turbulent storm that wouldn't die down. He could control it, keep it from spilling out and shaking the earth around him, but he couldn't make it go away.

Her fingers involuntarily slipped away from his hair, her arm dropping to her side. "I'll agree with the quite ill part. I'm not doing a very good job of controlling my body temperature. First I was freezing, then hot, and now I'm cold all over again."

"I am going to do my best to heal you, Destiny, so lie still and do not give me any trouble. A man can only take so much."

His voice was far too loving for her to worry. She smiled as her lashes drifted down. "I wish I were human so I could dream about you all the time."

"I thought you did dream about me." That drowsy note in her voice caught at him. He bent his head once more to brush a kiss over her mouth. "Go ahead and sleep now, Destiny. I will put you in the shelter of the earth when I am certain all traces of the vampire's poison are gone."

She didn't answer him. The choking lump blocking her throat came out of nowhere. No matter what he did, there would be no way to erase the taint of the vampire. She had accepted it as a fact, but she wasn't certain Nicolae ever would. Or even if he could. Destiny had no idea how to resolve the problem and she was far too tired to think about it any more. She allowed herself to drift, lulled by the soothing rhythm of the water and the warmth spreading through her body as Nicolae began the slow, meticulous healing process of their kind.

Nicolae worked for a long time, repairing the damage done by the microbes, checking every organ, every vein, ensuring that there were no infected cells lurking in wait to attack again when she was at her most vulnerable. Despite his painstaking care, he felt uneasy, as if he had missed something.

He knew the moment his brother began to unravel the safeguards to enter the chamber. He heard the musical voice of his brother join with his as he chanted. As always he felt grateful for Vikirnoff with his strength and loyalty, guarding his back and ready to aid him in times of need.

Nicolae pulled out of Destiny's body, swaying with weakness. He flashed his brother a quick glance, mostly to check that no harm had come to him while they battled their enemy.

"How is she?" Vikirnoff asked courteously.

"Stubborn. Gutsy. Impossible." Nicolae's voice was clipped as he sent Destiny into a deep sleep. Only then did he allow his suppressed rage to