Dark Demon Page 0,44

you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are bound to me and always in my care. That is the closest of translations. Males of my species are imprinted with the ritual binding words before they are born. They are given the ability to bind their lifemate for just the very reasons you have shown this evening." He lifted his bound hands to her eye level. "You should have more respect for your lifemate."

"Okay." She paced across the room. "Okay, hands down. You win this round. Now take it off. Undo it."

Chapter 6

Vikirnoff couldn't pull his gaze away from the angry confusion on Natalya's face. With every step she took, her entire appearance underwent a change. Her skin began to glow and her tawny hair took on a strange banded quality, almost as if there were stripes he couldn't quite make out. Her hair moved with energy and light, even in the darkness. Her eyes were also peculiar, the color ever changing. One moment sea-green and vibrant, the next going opalescent and stormy. She actually looked feral, eyes focused on his face, her body all flowing muscles, her steps utterly silent.

"I would not do so, Natalya, even if I had the power." He could feel very real power building and crackling in the room. She was furious, and maybe, he conceded, she had reason to be. He was not about to allow her to walk out on him, but he'd forgotten she had the nature of a tiger. She was wild and impossible to tame. He should have kept that knowledge close to him and acted more carefully. She was dangerous, he could see and even feel it in her. He waited, expecting anything, breathing away his own rising emotions in an effort to be calm for both of them.

She stalked him across the room. The tension rose between them until it was nearly electric. "I don't think you're in any position to say no to me. I could cut your throat right now and there isn't much you could do about. I've killed vampires. To me, you aren't much different."

"If that is your wish."

"You're such a bastard." She swung away from him, angrier than she'd ever been in her life. Deep inside her, the tigress fought for freedom, demanding the freedom to rend and

tear and remove Natalya's enemy for all time. "Take it back."

He sighed softly. "I cannot."

"I should have left you in the forest to bleed to death or fry in the sun."

"You could not. You did not want to take me with you, but you could not leave me. That is the truth." He said it with a mild tone, yet she felt the lash of a reprimand.

"I owe you nothing. I didn't ask you to interfere and I would never have been injured in the first place if you hadn't been whining so loud the entire world could hear you." Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid it would burst through her chest. She'd fought vampires, yet this man, tied and lying so still on the bed, terrified her in ways she couldn't hope to comprehend. Her lungs burned for air and her throat felt raw.

Understanding dawned. She wasn't afraid of him, she was afraid for him. She was terrified of the power and anger rising up together deep inside of her in a furious meld. The tiger unleashed could do things she could never undo. She would not be caged by this man. By anyone. If-if she ever chose a mate, it would be one of her choosing. She forced air through her lungs. Forced her heart rate back to normal. The dark mage blood in her ran deep and strong. She could undo what he'd wrought. In all her years of study, no other had accomplished the things she had. Still, she would not stoop to murdering a helpless man.

"What you did was wrong, Vikirnoff. Whatever reasons you have, they are not good enough to try to take away my freedom." Looking at him, seeing his dark eyes so filled with pain, she realized the tremendous pull between them had allowed her emotions to become so intense she honestly couldn't tell his from hers. Almost as if they fed one another everything from anger to passion in one long chaotic