As if the dragon had given him a little push, Dax continued, "When I go to ground, I will not have the luxury of being close to you, not unless I use what has been made available to me. I can't keep you safe."
Riley frowned, trying to understand. "Riordan appears to be very hospitable. He's clearly devoted to his lifemate and his sister-in-law. What worries you-um-I mean the Old One?"
"I knew the oldest brother long before they came to this place. Then, they did not call themselves by these names. The eldest was not only shadowed, but held great darkness in him, even as a boy. If Mitro could still make the choice to give up his soul, it stands to reason that any Carpathian male could commit such an atrocity."
There it was. No one was safe. Riley frowned, trying to put pieces of information she found in his mind with data she'd learned from a few conversations.
"Dax, can you please explain the lifemate bond to me one more time so I can better grasp the real concept? Gary tried to, but I don't really fully understand." She was missing something here, or Dax was. And given his state of mind, his explosive response to danger, she needed to be very knowledgeable about his world now. She'd been going on instinct, but the information was extremely important.
Dax crossed to her and sank into a chair beside her. Instantly his fresh scent enveloped her. He smelled of the outdoors. Of danger. Of heat and fire. Her entire body reacted to his close proximity, an electrical current surging through her bloodstream. Her lungs burned, and deep inside she ached. He reached out and took her hand, the movement so gentle, his touch barely there, but every sense heightened until she could feel every breath he took.
His skin was warm, almost hot, as his fingers tangled with hers. His thumb stroked caresses over the back of her hand. He was silent a moment, idly playing with her fingers, sliding his in between hers in slow, almost brushstrokes. She could barely breathe, barely think.
She found it strange that even here, back in a city teeming with life, with people, she was all too aware of her hunger and need for Dax. His love for her was so strong in that moment it was almost tangible, wrapping her up in strong warm arms when he was barely touching her. Her love for him brought her to tears when she was alone. Every beat of his heart was heard by hers. Every breath he drew, she drew, too. More than anything, right now she wanted-no, needed-to find a way to comfort him.
"A male Carpathian loses all emotion and the ability to see in color after the first two hundred years. Sometimes sooner. The more one hunts and kills, the faster the process. In my case, it was very fast. We are taught that there is one soul between a man and his lifemate. He holds the darkness, and she is his light. There is only one and she must be found."
Dax brought her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. "I found you."
"Because you bound me to you, our becoming lifemates would prevent you from turning," she reiterated.
"So I thought it would. Now"-he shook his head-"I don't know. Mitro knew Arabejila was his lifemate and still, he turned."
That was one fact she couldn't dispute. "But," she felt compelled to point out, "Mitro bound Arabejila to his lost soul after he became vampire. They were lifemates, but he never truly claimed her until he'd deliberately chosen to give up his soul. He was already the undead. He couldn't bring himself to kill her, that bond at least transcended his need to kill, but he wanted her to suffer. Perhaps she could have saved him if he'd claimed her before he turned."
Dax leaned forward for a moment, and still holding her hand, he covered his face briefly. "I don't think there was any hope of that. He was so black, Riley. So dark."
"Did you see darkness in Riordan?" she asked. Very gently she put her hand in his hair, all those soft, thick spiked strands she loved to stroke caresses in. "He seems so devoted to his palafertiilam." His word for lifemate rolled off her tongue. She was beginning to like the sound and fuller meaning of the Carpathian description even better than the translation of "wife." Somehow it seemed so much more.
Dax shook his head. "Still, we're in his home. He shares these places with all of his brothers. I'm hunting Mitro, an extremely powerful vampire. He's evolved into something I don't understand, and that makes him even more dangerous. If I have to divide my attention between Mitro and one of these hunters we could be in trouble."
The way he was touching her was making it difficult to think straight. His voice was hypnotic, a blend of smoke and velvet. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "You have a way of making me forget about danger, Dax. Do you really think Riordan is an enemy to us?"
"That's good. I don't want you to worry."
You worry enough for all of us, the Old One contributed. If you'd like I can burn down the house and kill them all.
"Don't you dare," Riley said.
"He wouldn't," Dax assured her. "He's teasing you. Riordan appears to be a good man, and very devoted to his lifemate, but that sliver of a shadow is in him. Nowhere like his eldest brother, but it's there. He's capable of great ..."
"Violence?" Riley smiled at him. "Like you? Do you have a shadow in you?"
"Once, before all this started, Mitro said I did. He told the elders the reason I could 'see' into other hunters was because I carried the curse of darkness myself."
The Old One snorted, the sound reverberating through both of their skulls.
"I don't think he's taking anything Mitro said very seriously," Riley confided in a whisper, as if that would keep the dragon from hearing.
"We have company," Dax said, his face totally expressionless, as if it had been carved in stone. Emotions could be shared with her, but no one else.
Movement caught her eye. Dax shifted subtly, putting his body slightly in front of hers, his arm sweeping across her to pin her in the deeper shadows. Jubal held the door of the terrace open for a small, very pregnant woman to precede him.
Jasmine Sangria sent them a tentative smile. "Are we intruding?"
"No, of course not," Riley said hastily. "This is your home, and you're very kind to share it with us."
Jasmine, Riley had learned upon their arrival, was Riordan De La Cruz's sister-in-law. Her sister, Juliette, was fully Carpathian, brought into the Carpathian world by her lifemate. Jasmine was not. She was jaguar, as Juliette had been before her conversion, and she'd been kidnapped and raped before her cousin and Juliette with Riordan had been able to rescue her. Juliette admitted to being overprotective of her.