her face close to his. He stared down into her eyes, wanting her to know he was serious.
Uh-oh. Charlotte let her breath out slowly. She’d just come up against the predator. Civilized, sophisticated Tariq Asenguard, owner of several fabulous and popular nightclubs, was gone and in his place was something altogether different. He was really upset with her. Her heart jumped and began to pound slowly. Instinctively she knew this wasn’t about her defying him and touching the carousel horse when he’d told her not to—and that’s what scared her much more than his terrifying demeanor. Something was very, very wrong, and it had to do with that cursed horse.
“In all matters to do with your safety you will obey me,” he bit out.
It wasn’t the time to laugh so she bit down very hard on her lower lip. Seriously? He’d used the word obey. She hadn’t been very good at obeying her parents and certainly not her older brother. It wasn’t the time to inform him that she definitely had a problem with anyone thinking they were her authority figure.
Tariq had lulled her into a false sense of security. He’d looked modern and come off modern, unlike his caveman friend Dragomir, who was just plain scary. She’d smash him over the head with something hard if that Carpathian belonged to her. She might kick Tariq in the shins very soon if he continued to throw words like obey around, but . . . He yanked her even closer, so that she was on her toes, her body tight against his and that very handsome face inches from hers. Her heart pounded hard in her chest, but deep down she knew—she knew—with absolute certainty that this man would never hurt her. Never. He could posture all he wanted, but he wouldn’t harm her.
So why was she so scared? Why was she terrified beyond anything she’d ever known? Charlotte flung her arms around his neck and leaned into the pillar of strength she knew him to be. He felt solid. He was solid. A rock. An anchor. The world he lived in was something she didn’t understand. It seemed to be filled with nothing but danger. It shifted continually until she felt she was on a carousel that never stopped spinning. The world moved up and down like the horses and spun out of control, making her dizzy. But Tariq never seemed to be caught up in the effects of the world, or even the danger. He was solid. Real. Someone to count on.
“He’s in me because of that splinter, isn’t he?” she whispered. The terror that came on the heels of that reality shook her. Vadim, the vile, hideous monster who tortured men and could throw little girls to flesh-eating creatures so callously, was inside of her.
Instantly, Tariq’s body language changed. With his arms he enfolded her, sheltered her, comforted her, just as she knew he would. His mouth nuzzled the top of her head. “We’ll get him out, sielamet, but it isn’t safe here. We need to get you back to the compound. Dragomir was right when he said Vadim could use you to spy on us if we’re not careful.”
She gasped, her fingers curling into his shirt tightly, bunching the material while she hung on to him. “I can’t go back there, where Lourdes and the other children are. He can’t ever get his hands on Liv again. She wouldn’t survive a second round with him intact, Tariq. You know that. She’s barely hanging on as it is.” If she were a danger to these men—the Carpathian hunters—then what would she be to the children?
“The compound is protected. Vadim compromised Emeline as well by taking her blood. She has to stay inside the fence, where we can protect her night and day. He can send an army of puppets at us during the day, and now, after seeing those human males, we know he clearly has others as well. We knew he was recruiting humans to do his bidding, but not like those men. They were different somehow. Just the fact that he gave them Carpathian blood and they wanted it—something is very wrong. During the hours of the day, we have to rely mostly on safeguards to keep Vadim’s army out.”
She took a breath. “You sleep during the day.” She had to know. Maybe she had known all along. He’d told her, but she hadn’t really listened. “Not because of working at the nightclub. You have to