taking blood during a kill and the temptation of feeling at least that. The temptation whispers to you night after night. For centuries. Unrelenting.”
She moistened her suddenly dry lips. He hurt and that made her hurt. She didn’t know if she was feeling his pain or if it was her own, but he clearly felt the loss of his friends. If the things Tariq had told her were true, he had suffered. “How do you know she’s the right one?”
His blue eyes drifted over her face. There was stark possession there. Raw emotion so deep it shook her. “There is only one, Charlotte—she holds the other half of one’s soul. She could be in any century. We thought only Carpathian women could be lifemates, and our women had slowly disappeared until we had so few there were no children to bring us hope. The prince found Raven, and she was human. That gave the rest of us the will to continue when we were already long past our endurance.”
“What happens when you find your lifemate? How do you know she’s the right one? How can you tell?” Because he believed she was his, and she believed he belonged to her. And that was just plain crazy.
“When I heard your voice, I began to feel for the first time in centuries. Real emotions. More, I could see in color. Beautiful colors I hadn’t seen in so long I’d forgotten they existed. When I told you I do not see other women, I meant that. My cock reacts only to you. Only for you. My body would never accept another woman. You are my lifemate. My only.”
She held his words close, so close they sank into her heart. A little shiver crept down her spine. He lived in a world she could barely imagine.
“I saw you once,” he said. “A long time ago. When I was carving the horse. I turned and saw you. Looked right at you. I knew you existed, and I searched for so long. I didn’t ever want to think I couldn’t find you, but time passed and eventually . . .” He trailed off.
Charlotte couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped. She raised her fingers to her lips, pressing hard to keep back the shock of what he’d just revealed. He’d seen her. Far back in time, he’d seen her when she’d entered the tunnel, pulled by the memories in the wood. She put her finger in her mouth and tasted her own blood. Wincing, she removed her finger and rubbed the injured pad along her thigh.
“Do you have any idea how bizarre and scary everything you’ve told me is? I only know about vampires through horror films and books. They were fictional. Mythical creatures to scare us at Halloween. Not. Real.”
“They are very real, sielamet, and something is going on here that we do not yet understand. Something that involves you, Genevieve and Emeline. We found bodies beneath the cities, women in various stages of pregnancy. We believe the Malinovs are trying to establish their own empire. If they try to turn a woman who is not psychic she will go insane. A psychic woman, however, one with strong gifts, can handle the conversion.”
Charlotte really didn’t like the sound of that. “Conversion?” Her voice came out high. A mousy squeak.
He nodded, his eyes on her face. “It takes three blood exchanges to bring a gifted human into our world.”
She closed her eyes tight. Remembering. His mouth on her. Her mouth on him. That taste bursting in her mouth, addicting, setting up a terrible craving. His words, so gentle, so loving, his language, so sexy and intriguing. This was becoming more and more real. Her brain was finally allowing her to process everything he’d said. It was putting all the pieces together to give her the full picture. Tariq Asenguard was converting her, and eventually she would be the mother of all those children.
“I saw the film The Lost Boys,” she warned him.
“I did not see this film.” There was mild puzzlement, but the eyes didn’t waver.
She took a step back again, once more retreating. “A kick-ass film. Funny and scary. A vampire trying to put together his own family.”
“This is not a film, Charlotte. You are my family. My lifemate. The children are lost souls in need of help. I came to their aid because down through the centuries, that’s what I’ve done. What I always have done. I take in the lost and I care