Dark Peril Page 0,117
as her cat would. Her reticence endeared her to him even more.
She took a breath. " When we do this, we'll have a future. What does that mean to you?"
"I would bind you to me, of course," he said, locking his gaze with hers so she was unable to look away.
She swallowed almost convulsively. "Okay, I get that. But then what?"
"I will take your blood--and your body--and make you wholly mine." There was no compromise in his voice, or in his eyes.
Her breasts heaved as she drew in a ragged breath. She put down her fork and once again picked up the crystal flute. "You always make everything sound so simple."
"It is very simple, Solange. When we are in a battle, you trust me with your life, as I do you. Here, when we are alone, you need to give me that same trust. I already have your complete honesty, and you are more loyal than anyone I have ever known. I give those same things back to you at all times."
She moistened her lips again. "I trust you," she said. There was hesitation in her voice.
He smiled at her. "You are beginning to trust me, and I find that an amazing gift. I thank you for your belief in me. You sit there wearing a dress I made for you because you want to please me. And you do, very, very much."
She flushed a soft pink, the color enhancing the green of her eyes. "Dominic, what about after? Juliette was converted. MaryAnn, too. Are all lifemates converted?"
"As a rule, but it is a choice. If you chose not to, you would grow old and die, and then, of course, I would choose to age and die when you left this life for the next."
The flame in the candle leapt, throwing a dark shadow across the wall. Dominic was on his feet immediately. No enemy could penetrate his safeguards. He knew that. Yet . . . He turned slowly, tracking the dark shadow.
I caught sight of him for just a moment. He blends into the dark when he ceases all movement.
Solange pulled the dress from over her head and laid it carefully over the back of her chair as if it was precious to her. There was no panic in her movements, and he wanted to smile at her. She was the right woman for him, no question about it. All business. Everything else set aside, all doubts and fears gone so that his strong warrior went back- to-back with him against any adversary. Vampire? Jaguar? He couldn't scent an enemy, but every instinct told him they were no longer alone.
I don't think so. My jaguar may be of more use.
She shifted without asking him if she should, trusting her own instincts as she always had in battle. In spite of the danger, he felt the first whisper of unease at the idea of losing her. She had been the one to worry about what would happen should something happen to him, but in that oddest of moments, he knew he wouldn't want to face life without Solange. Without her fierce fighting spirit and the sensual, shy woman he was coming to know.
Let me in front of you.
Every muscle in his belly tied itself into a tight knot of protest. He didn't know what they were dealing with. She hadn't really asked him, so much as told him she needed to get closer and the warrior said yes while the man said no. He found he was at war with his own instincts.
My cat is raging already. She knows we have company.
She made no demands, simply waited. Dominic couldn't bring himself to step behind the large animal, but he glided to the side of her. She crouched low and raised her muzzle.
He likes the dark. Light the room.
Dominic did so without hesitation and caught a glimpse of something skittering across the walls into the crack of the nearest pool, where the water streamed in. He couldn't identify it, but now that he was merged with Solange, his senses tuned differently and he could "feel" the creature. He didn't have the same sense of it as Solange. She and the cat were one and the same, and she could make sense of the pattern in the jaguar's mind.
I've never encountered anything like it.
Tell me.
It seems very small, much like a house cat, but shadowy, as if it might not be all substance. It came in through the water, so it swims.
He