mind as a Carpathian must. It takes time to learn our ways, I know, but I cannot have you suffering grief when I am alive and well and able to reach out to you.
Determined to combat her growing sorrow, when there was no real reason for it, Joie sat up. It is amazing how intense the feeling is. And it is a little frightening to think that emotion is stronger than logic. I know where you are, yet I still have such a need to touch you—to feel you in my mind. It makes no sense.
The terrible need inside of her didn’t make sense. Joie considered herself a very logical woman. She didn’t like this out-of-control feeling, a dark dread that stole her good sense and her ability to reason. She lifted her chin. There were changes taking place in her body and mind, but that didn’t mean she would give in to melancholy.
I’ll be perfectly fine, Traian. You worry about yourself. I’ll hang with Jubal and Gabrielle while you’re gone, she assured him. I’m strong and can get through this. Don’t you worry about me, just take care of yourself.
Stay close to Gary as well. He knows both the undead and my people.
Joie did the mental equivalent of rolling her eyes. As if. Traian, you’re going to have to get over your outdated attitude toward women. It must be your age. Gary is the one who needs protection. He lives in another world, just like Gabrielle, I can see it in him. He’s more at home in a lab than fighting vampires.
But he knows the ways of the undead and how best to combat them. Stay close to him.
Joie clenched her teeth. She was never going to be the little woman, hiding behind the big brave man. If that’s the kind of woman you want, you started something you never should have.
She felt a stroking caress along her face—feather-light—the gentle touch of fingers, yet he was no longer close to the inn.
I know exactly who you are, Joie, and what you are capable of. I do not mean to make you feel as if I don’t think you can handle yourself. I know you will not panic and that you will fight the undead without hesitation. I am merely saying stay safe and keep the person who has been around Carpathian hunters close while I am gone. That makes sense, does it not?
Of course it made sense. She didn’t have to like it, did she? Nor did she want to let go of her irritation, not with the strange grief of separation edging so close to her.
You might have mentioned your archaic attitude and your stubbornness when you were being so blasted charming a few minutes ago.
His soft laughter echoed through her mind. You might have warned me I was going to be dealing with a modern female who is determined to get herself into dangerous situations.
The teasing in his tone warmed her—settled her. She took a deep breath and let it out. She knew he had to go without her in his mind. The vampires could detect him through his connection with her.
Just do whatever you have to do and return home safe to me.
Again she felt that feather-light brushing caress along her face. She placed her palm over the invisible mark, holding him close to her as his mind slipped from hers. At once she felt bereft, as though instead of mist streaming through the sky toward the caves, Traian lay beneath the earth dead to her. She was astonished at the strength of emotion pouring into her mind, once he was actually away from her.
Determined not to give in to the strange reaction to their separation, Joie took a long, hot shower. It was nearly impossible to stand beneath the cascading water without thinking of Traian, but she concentrated on pushing him out of her mind enough to figure out how to tell her parents that she was essentially married—and to someone not quite human.
Her father was accepting of everything his children did and was a very tolerant man. Her mother was fiercely protective of her children and loved them very much. Her family was her world. It had been her mother who insisted all of them take self-defense lessons almost from the time they could walk. Her father had been the climber of mountains and delved deep into the caves around the world. He had taught them a love of nature.