Her gaze jumped to his. She only saw his compassion. There wasn’t morbid curiosity. She couldn’t imagine him taunting her with her stupidity. She couldn’t stop the little shake of her head. “You would still remember.”
“I would not care.”
“How could you not?”
“You still do not entirely understand the concept of lifemates, Julija. I would protect you from anything, including these memories that make you sad. Right now, the most important thing to do is protect you from your father. He is bound to strike again soon.”
“When my brothers get close to this place, he’ll do so then to distract me.”
“Then let me help you, sívamet, before he strikes at you.”
Julija had to make up her mind immediately. Either she trusted him, or she didn’t. Isai was pale after giving both cats blood. He’d been careful not to take too much of hers because he didn’t want her weak. He needed to feed. It would be easy enough to find a camper and then return to her, but she knew he wouldn’t until all of them were protected.
“Will I be able to see into your mind?” Her heart beat far too fast and for the first time since she was a young child, she couldn’t seem to command it to a steady rhythm.
He heard, of course. He stepped close to the chair, in between the two cats, and very gently used his hands on the inside of her thighs to open them to him. He knelt down between her legs and suddenly, fear and apprehension mixed with erotic hunger and a sense of urgency.
He took her hand and pressed it to his chest over his heart. “Feel that. Let your heart follow the beat of mine. Breathe with me.”
His eyes held hers captive and she found air moving through her lungs in time to his. Her heart found the exact rhythm of his and beat simultaneously. She had no idea what to expect, but it wasn’t his mind pouring slowly into hers. Nothing had ever felt so intimate. Nothing had ever been so sensual. He found places in her mind, those torn, ugly memories that she couldn’t fix in herself and somehow, he just filled those cracks, the shredded places that kept her apart from everyone else.
He didn’t feel in the least triumphant, but more a part of her. More as if he wholly belonged right there. Once he was in her mind, she knew it would be difficult to be alone again.
He had left his mark on you. A mage mark, not a sliver of himself. He cannot see through your eyes, but he can reach for this mark. It is uniquely his.
Alarms went off in her head. Don’t try to get rid of it. He will know.
Kislány hän ku meke sarnaakmet minan, I have been dealing with mages from nearly the time I was born. I am well aware that your father will eventually strike at us. First, we will build your shield so when I remove his mark, he cannot retaliate.
Isai, Anatolie is a very powerful mage. In his own right, he might actually equal Xavier in power. He will not tolerate interference. I had no idea he had put his mark on me. He’ll find out about you.
You are not thinking straight. He has taught you to fear him. He already knows about me. The cat returned to your brothers with my blood in its claws.
That was on her. She jammed her fist into her mouth and tried not to rock back and forth like a child. Fear of Anatolie often did that to her, although she’d always kept her terror private and didn’t allow it to stop her from her plans to break away. By choosing not to try to kill the shadow cat, she had put Isai directly into Anatolie’s path.
He has your blood. Do you know what a mage can do with someone’s blood? The thought was terrifying to her.
Yes. Work with me. You are of that lineage, too, Julija.
She knew he could see the chaos and fear in her mind. The cats sensed it and became mere shadows, slinking through the chamber, red eyes gleaming as they tried to ferret out the threat.
You said yourself I am mostly Carpathian.
That does not make you less, sívamet, it makes you more. You are the best of both worlds. You hold the power of both. You do not need me to do this for you or even with you, but you