so close. She couldn't bear to see him that way. Not now. Not with the past so near and her life closing in around her.
Not death, avio p?l?fertiil --lifemate. The earth holds me in her arms and heals me. She gives me sustenance in her way. This is life, just a different version than you know.
"I have to go outside and just breathe." She couldn't sleep. She needed to lose herself in her cat, to prowl the rain forest and look for-- him.
I do not think so, little cat. If you must shift, of course you should do so, particularly if it eases your mind, but you cannot go out hunting him in your present state of mind. You would be killed. You are seeking death.
"That might be true," she said, willing only to admit the possibility that he might be right about her seeking death. "But sadly for you, you're lying there dead or not dead, and can do nothing to stop me."
Amusement filled her mind. I am an ancient Carpathian, minan , and far more powerful than you can conceive. I am your lifemate and it is my duty to see to your health. Do not think because I am gentle with you, that I do not have the ability to take care of your needs.
Had anyone else said those words to her, Solange would have scoffed at them, but Dominic was Carpathian, and she had seen and felt his power. And he had some sort of power over her. One she didn't quite understand.
You may of course try, Solange, but your doing so would be going against my wishes and you would disappoint me. Again there was no judgment in his voice, no anger. He simply waited for her to make her decision.
Her heart clenched hard in her chest. The pain was so real she pressed the comforter clutched tightly in her fists to her aching heart and then dropped her face into the soothing material. She wasn't weeping. She was in human form.
His arm moved. She felt it. He touched her hair and she sensed the tremendous effort he made. I have never had the pleasure of lying beside a jaguar.
That was all. A simple sentence, but Solange closed her eyes, grateful for something-- anything--she could do to push the memories further away. She took a breath and forced herself to look at him.
He was so beautiful. Every muscle carefully crafted, and the thickness of his arms and chest made her feel small in comparison--almost feminine. She leaned over him, her breasts brushing his chest, nearly crawling on him in order to study his face. His eyes were closed, but she sensed that he saw her. Maybe he was only in her mind, but it didn't feel that way. It felt to her as if his power filled the chamber and surrounded her with warmth, with acceptance.
He didn't think less of her because she wept. Or raged. Or killed. He accepted everything about her. She doubted he would think less of her if she tried to leave, and there was no doubt in her mind that neither she nor her jaguar would find a way out of the chamber. She wasn't going to waste her strength trying. You don't want to disappoint him, her warrior self taunted.
She straddled him and bent down, her hands framing his face. He was so incredible, this one man she'd thought never to find. She didn't know one such as he could exist. She was in his mind, knew him to be a man who would protect a woman, would fight to the death for her. She brushed her fingers lightly over his tough features. He was no boy. A strong face, for a strong man. He had chosen duty to his people, the one thing she understood. He thought to die. "There are so many terrible men in the world, Dominic, men who do horrible things to those weaker just because they can. I don't understand anymore. Why are you chosen for such a terrible mission, and not one of them?"
I chose, f?l ku kuuluaak s?vam bels --beloved. I did not know you were in this world. I was going to the next in hopes of finding you.
Of course he was aware of her hands on him. She sighed and rolled off of him, afraid she was too needy for his touch, for his wisdom. For his company. "Would you have chosen not to go on this mission then? Had