Dark Peril Page 0,171

of night when it was safe to rise. He had no doubts that the sun was still high. This time of day his body should be leaden, impossible to move. He was at his most vulnerable with the sun so high. Even beneath the earth he would feel the prickly sensation that threatened to burn his skin, yet he was perfectly comfortable. Uneasiness stirred. Every Carpathian needed a built-in warning system, and his seemed to be missing.

"The sun has not yet set." He made it a statement, but his mind was shocked at the realization. The sun was still in the sky and yet just minutes ago, he had walked over to her, sat down, pulled her into his lap. He had moved with no difficulty, no lethargy. Impossible! He was an ancient, and the sun, still in the sky, should have rendered him helpless.

She bit her lip, her eyes going wide, the shock betraying her comprehension. "If the sun is still out, Dominic, should you be awake? Can that hurt you? To be awakened while the sun is still up?" Anxiety was in her voice.

"Waking is not the problem." Very gently he put her from him and stood. " This is the problem. I should not be able to move right now."

He studied her face. She had changed very subtly. Her cat's eyes were still direct and glowed there in the dark, giving evidence of her excellent night vision, but not in the same way as before.

"What?" She touched her face. Sudden panic crossed her expression. She shifted without hesitation, ensuring her jaguar was safe.

Dominic had seen her shift so many times and she'd been incredibly fast, but this time he barely blinked and she was fully jaguar. The cat stretched languidly and nudged him with her head, clearly unaffected by the Carpathian blood. He was more puzzled than ever.

"This makes no sense, Solange."

The conversion was always painful, some less than others, but still difficult. Her jaguar should be reacting adversely, but instead she looked at him sleepily and yawned. Solange shifted back, laughing. "She's annoyed at me for disturbing her. She's not at all upset with the first blood exchange--in fact, she likes it. She feels stronger and faster." The laughter faded from her eyes and anxiety crept back in. "Check your body, Dominic. Maybe my blood is doing something to you."

There was worry in her voice. He was already assessing his body. His hearing, like hers, seemed more acute, although he'd automatically turned down the volume. His night vision was just a little bit clearer. He didn't feel the sun's warning on his skin, and his body, although heavy, hadn't gone leaden as it should have.

" Minan, I can detect no harm done to me. I am still fully Carpathian. Our blood does not mix. Mine does not take over yours; rather, the two strains connect. It is odd." He sighed, frowning a little. "We know that your blood can remove any spell cast with the blood sacrifice of black magic, and it heals damage done by black magic, but I do not understand why, when I give you my blood, the cells seem mated, yet one does not take over the other."

"I feel the worry in you."

"I do not like anything I do not understand. It makes no sense that I can move now or that I do not feel the warning prickling beneath my skin that tells me the sun is high."

"I actually feel rejuvenated," Solange admitted. "I was looking forward to another blood exchange, but if you think my blood is somehow affecting you adversely, I suppose we shouldn't try another until we figure out what is going on."

The wistful note in her voice touched his heart. She was fully committed to him, to the Carpathian way of life. Her one fear--her jaguar--was taking the whole conversion process in stride as if nothing at all was happening. Did he dare try to bring Solange more fully into his world? Yet even as he wondered, his hand was already, of its own volition, curling around the nape of her neck, drawing her to him. He craved the essence of her, pure Solange, the taste and rush unlike any other. She was an addiction he would never get over, the craving for her deep in his bones and seared irrevocably into his heart.

She shook her head. "Not yet. First go up to the cavern floor and see if your alarm system works from there," she insisted.

Heat