to his mouth and set the butterflies free in her stomach. "I doubt that very much, Solange. You are my lifemate. It does not work that way at all. You cannot ruin it, nor can I. We will find our way with each other. You just have not chosen to commit to our relationship yet."
She shook her head. "I have. I told you about my blood, that it could get rid of the parasites. I didn't go after Brodrick while you were gone. That's commitment."
"Then why do you find it so difficult to ask such a simple thing from me as to transport us back to our lair?"
When he put it like that, it did sound silly. But she wasn't in the habit of asking favors. She was more honest with herself than that. Okay. It wasn't about favors. She didn't want to show weakness. Or ask him for anything. She hated that he was right. It was about trust, but how did one become different? She wanted to be different. She just couldn't get past that terrible wall she'd built around herself in order to survive.
"I don't know how to do this, Dominic." There was despair in her voice. "I can't talk to you." She was beginning to have the urge to run--and she'd never run from anything in her life. "You had no trouble talking to me in our dreams."
He was relentless. And calm. She had the urge to smack him. This wasn't about a dream. "You weren't real then. I could tell you anything and there weren't . . ." She trailed off trying to find the right word. "Repercussions. You have to know it's different. Doesn't it feel different to you?" She couldn't get the pleading tone out of her voice. She wanted him to understand.
"Completely different," he agreed. "Better. I feel emotions I have not felt in hundreds of years. I know what love is. I know what it is to be jealous and to be happy. I can look at my woman and feel the demands of my body. I welcome even the possibility of heartache. I know what it is to not feel, Solange, and I will take emotion and the risks that come with that ability."
She lifted her chin. She knew her eyes had gone cat, but she couldn't help the stir of anger at the implied reprimand. "I've felt too much all my life, Dominic. Sorrow. Heartache. Rage. Whether you want to admit it or not, it's a risk."
He held his arms out to his sides, his gaze steady. "Then you have to decide for yourself whether I am worth the risk."
Her breath came out in a long hiss. "You're backing me into a corner. I'm a fighter. I don't like being cornered."
Those brilliant eyes never left her face. He shook his head. "You are trying to find a reason to run because you're afraid, Solange. Why would you be afraid of me?"
"Because," she said, feeling desperate. "I don't know what to do." The moment the words were out, she wanted to take them back. She sounded so silly. She was a grown woman and she should be able to handle a simple conversation with a man, but that was the trouble. She'd never been a woman. She didn't know how to be. She knew she could not be the woman he wanted and sooner or later he'd walk away from her.
She would be shattered. Completely and utterly broken. It was too much of a risk. She could be a coward in this one instance, because it was self-preservation. She waited for his disgust, for him to simply disappear as Carpathians could.
Dominic stepped forward and framed her face, forcing her gaze to meet his. "All you have to do, kessake, is ask me to take us back to our lair--our home. Is that really so difficult?"
He used that voice, the one that crept inside and wrapped around her heart, squeezing until she wanted to cry. She wanted him so much. She wanted to belong to him. How could she ever believe she was worthy of him? That he would really choose her over all the women he could have? How could he love a woman like her? He didn't prompt her again and she knew he wouldn't. He would just stand there until she acquiesced. She knew he could hear her heart pounding. She tasted fear in her mouth. Why wasn't this easy? She took a breath. Let it out.
"Will you