Jaxon actually felt the sudden stillness in Lucian. He was like a great jungle cat coiled and ready to strike, yet as motionless as a mountain. She found herself holding her breath for no reason at all.
Lucian was smiling with what appeared to be genuine warmth, shaking Barry"s hand and walking with him to the door. Then, when Barry was gone, he turned to look at her. "You do not trust me."
"You sound as if that amuses you." Jaxon was tired of pretending. "I don"t know you, Lucian, not at all. The truth is, I haven"t spent a whole lot of time with other people. I"ve made it a habit to be alone. I"m not sure I"m comfortable being around a stranger who knows so much about me, when I know nothing about him."
"You are quite capable of reading my mind, angel. Merge your thoughts with mine. You will find out anything you might want to know."
She shook her head, determined not to get caught by the magic of his voice.
"I want to go home to my own apartment and think about everything for a while."
The telephone chimed before he could respond. Jaxon was oddly grateful.
She was uncertain if she wanted him to agree with her or protest. The thought of being separated from him brought a great heaviness to her heart. She picked up the phone, expecting her captain"s voice.
"Jaxx, sweetheart? This is Daddy."
Tyler. His voice made her instantly sick inside. It brought back every detail of her life with this man. The terrible responsibility of her childhood, shielding her mother and brother, only to fail in the end. The guilt over the Andrews family losing their lives simply for giving her a home. And over Carol Taylor, whose only sin was that she liked to share a cup of coffee in the morning with Jaxon.
Drake had called Jaxon one long-ago morning, telling her Carol was weak and useless, like Rebecca, playing on Jaxon"s sense of compa.s.sion, the woman was nothing but a leech, a burden. Jaxon had known she would find Carol dead that morning, but she had dropped the phone and run to her apartment anyway.
Now she remained silent, her stomach churning, her hand automatically finding her gun while her eyes began to move restlessly, searching the windows.
Could Drake see into the room? Did he have an angle? Drake was an expert marksman. Without thought she slid out of bed and placed herself between the window and Lucian. Lucian, without a word, simply swept her behind him, pinning her there with one strong arm.
"This man is trying to destroy our family, Jaxx," Drake"s voice barked into the phone. "You can"t allow him to do it. Tell him to go away. You don"t know what men are like or what they want. You can"t trust him." The voice was steely with authority.
Lucian took the phone out of her hand-an easy enough task, although she tried to hang on to it. "Come and get me, Drake." As always, his tone was soft, almost gentle. "I have no intention of giving her up. You have no hold over her anymore. Jaxon is under my protection, and your reign of terror is over. Turn yourself in. It is what you wish to do. You"ve wanted to do it for a long while."
Lucian heard Drake replace the phone in its cradle, cutting off their conversation.
Lucian turned to regard Jaxon with his black, steady gaze. There was no remorse, no fear, nothing at all but the burning blackness of his eyes and the hard, slightly cruel edge to his mouth. Jaxon felt pale and fragile. He looked solid, calm, an anchor, invincible. Very gently he reached out and touched her face. "Jaxon?"
"Why did you do that? Why did you challenge him that way?" Her voice was barely a whisper "You don"t understand. I can"t protect you from him. He will wait. A month, a year-it means nothing to him. Even if I never see you again, he"ll come after you now. You don"t know what you"ve done."
Jaxon was trembling visibly. She looked so lost, so forlorn, so young and vulnerable, Lucian felt his own heart twist with pain. He reached down, gathered her unresisting body into his arms, and sheltered her close to his heart. Lucian simply held her until the warmth of his body seeped into hers. Until her frantic heartbeat matched the calm, steady rhythm of his. Until the terrible churning in her stomach subsided.
How did he do it? Jaxon lay against his large, heavily muscled frame and allowed herself to rely on him for just a few more minutes. He made her feel as if everything would be all right as long as she was close to him. Lucian seemed to have the ability to project his complete confidence in himself to her.
Finally Jaxon pushed away from him, and he set her on her feet. "You"ve been setting yourself up as a target from the very first, haven"t you? You claim you"re my fiance and you"ve got all this money, so it makes you newsworthy. It"s plastered all over the newspapers, isn"t it? The handsome billionaire with the cop.
I bet it"s been quite a story. You knew Drake would read it and come after you."
He shrugged, completely unconcerned, those black eyes steady on her face.
The movement of his broad shoulders was fluid and masculine, a ripple of casual strength that admitted she spoke the truth. "I have not had a way to track him until I knew more about him. With your memories, I had a place to start.
Now he will make it much easier. If he does not turn himself in, he will be mad enough to make mistakes. He will show himself. He will not have his usual patience. He has lost control of you. Always, from the time you were a mere baby, Tyler Drake believed himself in control of your life. This has never happened to him before."
"He won"t turn himself in," Jaxon said with complete conviction.
"Probably not," he agreed complacently. "Drake is unbalanced, and I was not able to connect with him."
"Why me? What was there about me that he fixated on?" Her enormous dark eyes moved over Lucian"s face. "Why did you find me? Why did that... that thing come to your house when he so obviously wanted no part of you?" With sudden insight she backed a step away from him. "It was me, wasn"t it? I drew him there somehow."
His smile held little humor, more an appreciation of her ability to reason things out. "You are far more adept than you realize, honey. Merging my mind with yours gave you more information than I had planned."
"Just tell me." She was almost holding her breath for his answer, but, just as she always knew when there was danger, she knew the truth.
Lucian sighed. "I know what you are thinking, Jaxon, but it is more complex than that. You are unique among your kind, a true psychic. Our species can convert only a true psychic from the human race; all others become deranged if conversion is tried. It is necessary for our males to find their lifemates. I have explained that to you. Vampires-those Carpathians who have chosen to lose their souls and cannot be redeemed-still seek to try. Still seek a lifemate, though it is too late for them. Your presence would draw them."
She closed her eyes. "The serial killer. That was a vampire?"
He nodded. "I found his kill just as your partner arrived. I was not certain who the killer was at the time. Vampires often use evil men in a variety of ways.
Like Carpathians, the vampire cannot stand the light of day. Humans can accomplish certain tasks that vampires cannot, so they use them as puppets."
"They can force people to kill others? Is that what you mean?"
He nodded slowly, watching her carefully. She looked as if she might bolt at any moment. "Among other things, yes, they can program one of their puppets to kill." If it was possible for her to become any paler, she managed it.
Jaxon shook her head. "This is insanity. You know that, don"t you? I can"t believe I"m buying into all this. I don"t even want to know any of it."
"You are doing fine, angel. I do not expect you to handle every detail at once. I have the permission of your doctors to take you home with me. I do not want to raise suspicion by waiting too long."
"I want to go to my home," she said stubbornly.
"You want to protect me."
"I want to get away from you." She avoided his eyes. She desperately needed to think. She needed to be away from him, away from the lure of his presence.
Lucian moved without seeming to do so, covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye. "No, you do not, Jaxon. I can read your mind. It is too late. He is going to come after me. And you still want to protect me."
"Yes, he is coming after you," she burst out, "and I"m not going to walk into a room and find you dead on the floor, your body mangled and bloodied. I can"t go through that again. I won"t. I mean it, Lucian."
His arms snaked around her easily, drawing her back into his embrace, calming her with a touch. "You are so beautiful, Jaxon. You amaze me the way you are so determined to give up your life for others. Come home with me where you will be safe and where we can get to know each other. Look at it this way: If Drake comes after me, at least you will be there to warn me."
She was falling under the enchantment of his sorcerer"s black-velvet voice.
Drowning in the depths of black s.e.xy eyes. Mesmerized by the curve of his sensual mouth. "I have things at my apartment that really matter to me."
"Your mother"s things." He said it softly. "I had them moved from your apartment. They are safe in your room in my home."
Her eyes flashed fire at him. "You had no right."
"I had every right. You are my lifemate, always in my care. I can do no other than see to your happiness. You are under my protection at all times. The things that are important to you are important to me."
"If that"s true, why in the world did you provoke Drake?" Her fingers were twisting the material of his immaculate shirt nervously.
His hand covered hers, holding her palm flat against his heart. "I cannot leave such a man out there threatening your life. You would not leave such a threat to my life."
Jaxon sighed, a heavy weight pressing on her chest. "You"re right, Lucian, I wouldn"t. I have no choice now. I have to try to find him."
Lucian actually found himself smiling. He couldn"t help himself. She was so determined that she was the one who had to take care of him. He shook his head, then bent to touch her hair with his lips.
Jaxon"s heart skipped a beat. What was the use of arguing with him? She couldn"t stay in the hospital. Every doctor and nurse she smiled at would be at risk. Who knew what went on in Drake"s twisted mind? What did she have to lose? Besides, someone needed to find out who Lucian really was and what he wanted. And he wasn"t going to die. She owed him-for saving Barry, if for nothing else. Neither she nor Barry ever would have made it out of the warehouse alive. She had to stay with Lucian as his bodyguard at least until Drake was found.
Lucian"s hand cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her thick mop of blond hair. The strands were like silk. "You are worried for your partner"s safety."
"Drake may strike at him. I"ve always worried about that. I used to change partners constantly until Barry came along. He refused to switch, and the captain listened to him, despite what a risk it was. Drake might be angry enough to hurt me through him."
"He has never tried to hurt you, angel," he said softly. "His motive has nothing to do with harming or punishing you. In his mind he is your savior-in a sense, your protector. You are his beloved daughter. That is how he thinks. All the rest of us are merely trying to separate the two of you."
"Even now, after all this time? How could he think that?"
His hand could not stay still, his fingers continually caressing her hair. Why he was so partial to that short, untamed mop was beyond him, but he decided it was something he didn"t want to live without. She was essential to him. It amused him that she couldn"t comprehend what he was: a Carpathian hunter with tremendous powers and knowledge. His skills went far beyond those of any human male. He could become a shadow, the mist itself. He was far stronger than any mortal, could read the wind, command the heavens. He could run like the wolf and fly like the birds of prey. He could control the thoughts of the humans around him, draw them to him with his voice, and entice their compliance in anything he might choose. He could destroy from a distance, even command his prey to destroy itself. He could track anyone or anything once set on the correct path Nothing could escape him-not the undead and certainly not human prey.
To Lucian, Tyler Drake was as good as dead. The man had murdered everyone who ever meant anything to Jaxon. There was no rage in Lucian, only that quiet stillness that was forever a part of him. He was justice for his people, the executor of their law. Yet even before his Prince, before his own life, before that of his twin brother and his people, he held dear the life and happiness of Jaxon Montgomery. Tyler Drake was condemned and had little time left to live.
"It is time to go home, Jaxon," he murmured softly, aware of the evening giving way to night. He had fed well. He would eventually have to reveal much to her that she would find hard to accept. She was courageous and accepting, her mind open to the possibilities of other life forms. But she was not ready to accept them in proximity to her own life.
He could read in her mind how torn she was. He could read the sorrow in her, the guilt. He could read determination that she guard not only him, but Barry Radcliff as well. With a little sigh, he gathered her up.
Getting through the red tape of leaving the hospital should have been one of those nightmares Jaxon couldn"t stand-she had little patience with paperwork- yet somehow Lucian managed it all smoothly. The entourage of hospital personnel and reporters seemed to grow as she was taken down to the hospital entrance. She glared at Lucian a few times, but he pretended not to notice. He seemed very much in his element, old friends with various reporters; even her captain joined the crowd, wanting to shake his hand. She noticed the captain hadn"t rushed to her side; likely he was too busy looking at a possible campaign donation when he decided to run for mayor.
That is not very nice. There was that laughter again, the one that sent flames dancing over her skin and started a fire in the middle of her stomach. She glanced around to make certain no one was watching her too closely as a faint blush crept up into her face.
I can"t believe these people are falling all over you. It"s disgusting, she told him silently. It was probably his voice. Or his eyes. Or maybe his looks that drew them. And then there was his perfect mouth.
He leaned down to place that perfect mouth against her ear, deliberately, in front of all the cameras, his hand cupping the nape of her neck possessively. "It is all the money, honey. No other reason, simply money. Only you see me as s.e.xy and handsome."
"I never said s.e.xy. And I know I didn"t say handsome," she hissed in return.
She wasn"t adding to his oversized ego by pointing out all the women who were talking about him. He had to have heard them. She could hear them. She ducked her head. Lucian really didn"t seem to be aware of his looks as anything special.
He wore his attractiveness the way he wore his air of confidence, of authority, as if it were merely a part of him and always had been.
A huge white limousine was parked in front of the hospital. A chauffeur stood at the door waiting. Jaxon closed her eyes. This was so absurd, such nonsense. She did not belong in a limousine. Whatever kind of life Lucian had, Jaxon could not possibly fit in.
Knowledge hit her without warning as she was reluctantly walking beneath Lucian"s shoulder toward the chauffeur. The feeling came out of nowhere. Dark.
Ugly. Intense. It was dark now, the light leeched from the sky to be replaced by night. Clouds covered the moon, and a slight drizzle was misting the streets.
There was laughter all around, talk, hundreds of voices, yet all at once she was alone again in the middle of a war zone.
Automatically she darted out from beneath Lucian"s arm, shoving his large frame away from her to put more distance between them. She already had her gun drawn, and her eyes were tracking, moving, looking for a target. It was there. It was close. This was the nightmare of every cop. A large crowd and an a.s.sa.s.sin.
Chapter Four
Where was Barry? Was he the target? Jaxon didn"t dare stop looking for the source of the alarm, not even long enough to a.s.sure herself Barry had remained inside the hospital and out of harm"s way. Her sharp gaze checked the surrounding rooftops, moved restlessly over the crowd itself. She was very still inside. This was what she knew. This was her way of life.
Lucian had not moved from her side despite her attempt to put him in the clear. He caught the warning signal from her and knew the threat was a human one, not from the undead. He would have felt the presence of the undead far before she would. He swore softly to himself in the ancient language. He should have been scanning the crowds instead of enjoying her reaction to him. It was the first mistake he could ever recall making in his lifetime, and he wasn"t very happy with himself. One muscular arm simply swept her behind him where she would be completely protected. His larger frame easily shielded her smaller one, forcing her toward the limousine with its bulletproof, tinted gla.s.s.
She struggled, trying to warn him of danger, but he was too preoccupied to take much notice. His mind was probing the crowd for signs of hostility. Her alarm system was working perfectly. Three individuals were attempting to position themselves to catch her in their crossfire. Their instructions were to make certain she was dead this time. Their boss had ordered them to finish the job or to start running. Jaxon Montgomery had made far too big a dent in their boss"s business to be tolerated any longer. Barry Radcliff was their secondary target. Lucian read their intent quite easily.
He focused his attack the way he always did, calmly and without rage or anger. First he extracted the information he needed to ensure he could stop any further attempts on Jaxon"s life. With that done, he carefully orchestrated the scenario differently than what the a.s.sa.s.sins" boss had in mind. The three men found themselves drawing their weapons right in plain sight. Screams came from all around them. None of them had a clear sight of their primary target, yet their guns seemed to take on lives of their own, turning toward each other. One man tried to open his hand and drop his weapon, but his hand remained locked around it, his finger slowly tightening so that he felt his gun discharge. The sound of the guns firing simultaneously was loud in the night. Chaos broke out, pandemonium, people racing for cover in all directions.
Lucian remained standing, one hand easily pinning Jaxon in the car where no one could see her around his larger frame. He watched dispa.s.sionately as the three men dropped to the street, the water from the darkened skies carrying their blood in tiny streams away from them. For just one moment lightning arced from cloud to cloud, throwing the ground below into stark relief, etching the sight of Lucian standing still and calm in the midst of chaos into Jaxon"s mind for all time. The captain and several police and security men were crouched low, looking for any other attackers.
"I think you should put some extra guards on Radcliff," Lucian advised the police captain softly, using that same "push" in his voice that ensured obedience. "Get him out of this hospital, and take him somewhere no one knows. Jaxon and Radcliff made enemies, and the warehouse was an ambush set to get rid of them.
These men were here to finish that work and kill the two of them." He spoke so low that only Jaxon and the captain heard. The captain was already nodding in agreement as Lucian turned back to her.
She was still trying to get around his body to see what was happening, but he simply reached into the car and swept her over so that he could slide in beside her. At once the chauffeur closed the door, and they were alone and racing away from the scene.
Jaxon shoved a trembling hand through her short blond hair, a habit when she was agitated. It left the soft, silky strands falling in all directions, wild, the way Lucian liked it. "I can"t believe you did that. Lucian, you have to let me protect you. I had the gun. You just stood there, not moving. You"re a huge target-did you ever think of that? A sniper on a roof could have had you before you blinked."
She was really afraid for him. He could feel it in her like a living, breathing ent.i.ty. It was nearly suffocating her. Lucian automatically became aware of his own breathing, deliberately tuning his to hers so that his heart raced and his lungs ached. Just as deliberately he began to slow both of their hearts, breathing calmly for both of them.
"You don"t seem to have any instincts for self-preservation at all," she accused. "Have you hunted those horrible creatures for so long, protecting other people, that you no longer give a thought for your own life?" Her eyes actually burned with tears. Fear formed a hard knot in her throat. She had seen little glimpses of his life, and it distressed her. He had trained himself to be disposable, to place himself in harm"s way to protect others. He had stood tall and straight, his shoulders square, his expression never changing. It frightened her to think of him like that. He had been far more alone in that moment than she had been her entire life.
Lucian pulled her stiff, resisting body into the curve of his arm and held her to him. His miracle. The light in his unrelenting dark world. Her show of fear for him melted his heart as nothing else could. She thought she didn"t know who he was, but she knew him better than he knew himself. Lucian dropped his head protectively over hers, his arms wrapped securely around her so that they clung to each other. How could he have managed to exist in such a bleak void for all those long centuries without her? He knew he could never go back. The will and determination, the remembered love and loyalty, the vow to protect or destroy he had made and kept all those centuries would never be enough now to keep him going should he lose her. If she were taken from him, he would dispense only death and retribution for the rest of his endless days. He would never go quietly into the dawn. His arms tightened, and a smile touched the dark bleakness of his eyes. Joy spread a warmth through his entire body. Yes, he would. He would go wherever she went. If Jaxon moved on to another life, he would follow her there without hesitation.
Jaxon realized her heart had slowed and was matching the rhythm of Lucian"s. She was once more able to breathe more easily. The warmth of his body had seeped into hers, and she felt incredibly safe. She closed her eyes and didn"t fight the emotions he brought out in her. She liked being in his arms. She liked feeling safe and not so alone. Most of all, Jaxon was determined that Lucian would never feel such stark loneliness again. She knew about being lonely, but the few times she had touched on his mind, his solitary existence had been utterly cold and bleak. It didn"t matter that she couldn"t examine the why of it very closely; she knew only that nothing else mattered to her quite so much as his safety.
"I am well aware you did something back there to those men," she murmured against his chest, a note of drowsiness creeping into her voice. "Is this chauffeur yours?"
"He is on loan."
"I noticed he didn"t hit the ground for cover. He dropped into a crouch and was fishing in his jacket for something. What do you think it was?" Jaxon opened her eyes and studied Lucian"s shadowed jaw. Without conscious thought her fingers crept up to touch his chin.
"I have no idea what most chauffeurs do in such circ.u.mstances," Lucian replied innocently. "Perhaps he had a cell phone and was going to call for help."
"Half the police force was already there." She snuggled closer to him. She liked the feel of Lucian"s hand in her hair, the way he caressed the silky strands, the touch of his fingertips against her neck. "Who lent him to you?"
"He is the son of a friend"s housekeeper."
"A friend"s housekeeper?" she echoed, the suspicion in her voice increasing.
He sighed. "This is beginning to sound like an interrogation. Are you a police officer by any chance?"
"Absolutely. Tell me the whole story. I like tall tales."