He slipped his arm around her, halting her, tipping up her chin so he could look into her brilliant ever-changing eyes. "I love you very much, sivamet. I would never want another woman . . ."
"Of course not, because I'm your lifemate."
He shook his head. "Silly woman. I fell in love with you long before I claimed you. It's impossible not to love you when I'm in your mind and see your kindness and compassion. When I see who you really are at your very core. I'm more than honored that you're my lifemate, but my love for you is all consuming. My heart and soul, my mind and body, all belong to you."
He slipped his palm around her neck, his thumb tipping her head up to his. Her eyes, so startling green, looked like deep pools of emerald. "I know this sounds silly to say out loud, Tatijana, but you take my breath away."
Her lips curved into a smile, beautiful beyond his wildest imagination. Her lower lip was perfect, inviting, a temptation he couldn't ignore. He bent his head to hers, brushing small, light kisses over her chin and up to the corner of her irresistible mouth. He teased her lower lip, drawing it into his mouth, tasting the sweetness of her, before settling his mouth over hers.
He was gentle, tender even, something he hadn't known he could be. When he kissed her, the world seemed to stand still. Time simply stopped. She became the entirety of his world. The texture of her skin, the cool feel of it against the heat of his. The silk of her hair falling around her face and brushing his. His hand seemed so large framing her face, as he deepened the kiss, stroking her neck with the pads of his fingers.
He found himself lost in her taste. In the rising passion between them. Love was in his kiss. How could it not be when she was truly everything? He kissed her again and again, reluctant to stop. "I could kiss you forever," he admitted.
Tatijana reached up with her slender arms and pulled his head down to hers, kissing him one more time. "I love kissing you. Kissing forever sounds like a good idea."
"But . . ." He heard that laughter in her voice.
"We'll miss the party and I want to dance. I really, really want to dance."
"More than kiss?" Fen raised his eyebrow and looked as stern as possible, daring her to choose the wrong answer.
"I was hoping for both," Tatijana admitted. "I'm very good at multitasking."
"Very diplomatic. You also think on your feet. I'm going to have to work to stay ahead of you." He took her hand. "Come on. We won't miss the party."
"Is Dimitri coming tonight?" Tatijana asked as she walked with him.
Fen let out a sigh. "Dimitri hasn't claimed his lifemate and he's very close to the edge. We knew some time ago that over the last few centuries our blood exchanges from the battles we shared with vampires had begun the change in him. The change can ease the terrible toll of the centuries of darkness and the constant whispered temptation, but Dimitri has emotions and colors restored."
"But doesn't knowing he has a lifemate help? And he has his emotions and color back."
"You would think so," Fen said, "but it can drive a Carpathian male mad. The centuries close in on you, all those deaths, all that darkness and still no light to guide your way. For some time now, Dimitri has had the infusion of my blood as well, but not enough to change him-just enough to add to the fight he's had."
She frowned. "I don't understand."
"I don't think any of us understand, Tatijana, it's imprinted in our DNA. Our men are driven to find and bind our mates to us. It's primal. The drive is very strong and we don't like other men around our woman, especially if she is unclaimed. Modern society and the fact that many of our lifemates are another species have added to the danger of waiting."
She sighed. "Before becoming your lifemate, I only had Bronnie to worry about. Now I have relatives as well."
He laughed. "I never thought about it like that." He gestured toward the cave. "I think you have far more relatives than I do."
She started laughing as well. "Uh-oh. Relatives. I've probably got a lot more than either of us know. We may have to run from all this."
He leaned down to kiss her again just because she looked so radiant there in the night. Her skin looked flawless, her mouth generous, seductive, oh, so alluring he couldn't possibly resist her.
"I think kissing you while dancing is a very good idea, my lady," he murmured when he lifted his head. "Are you certain you don't just want to have a private dance right here?"
Tatijana laughed. "We're just feet from the entrance. I'm certain eventually someone will come along."
"We'll be doing them a favor, properly educating them in the ways of love," Fen persisted with another stolen kiss.
"You are going to properly dance with me," she said.
He laughed and took her hand, walking her right up to the cliff side of the mountain. The cave entrance was narrow, a mere crack between two jutting boulders. Carpathians had no trouble slipping through to the wider corridor leading down to the well-lit chamber where the gathering was being held. Torches were lit high up along the cathedral ceilings, casting glowing, dancing lights around the enormous chamber. Steam rose from a warm pool in one corner of the room where water spilled from a series of cracks in the wall above it.
The sound of children laughing tugged at Fen. He hadn't been around a Carpathian child in centuries. His heart did a curious somersault the moment he walked into the room and saw two identical twin girls playing with a little boy near a miniature playhouse inside of a jungle gym for toddlers. Another little boy with a riot of chestnut curls hurried over to the other three, a bucket in his hand. Wolf cubs followed the four children everywhere they went.
Several older children were grouped together around a fire pit, their eyes bright as an adult male told them a story. The boy who looked the oldest wrapped his arm around the youngest little girl when she gasped and drew back at whatever the storyteller said. The sight brought back memories of his youth, when Carpathians gathered together and stories were a big part of the night entertainment.
He hadn't realized then how much history was being handed down to him. It was only later when he needed information on fighting vampires or suddenly he'd remember how an ancestor had flown between two close rocks that he realized the stories had been a way to teach him. Clearly that tradition was still in place.
Tatijana slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, her body sliding closer to his as if for protection, bringing his attention back to her. Most of the adults in the room turned to look at them as they entered. The atmosphere was welcoming and celebratory. That also felt familiar to him, the faded memory suddenly leaping to the surface. Carpathians had taken many opportunities to come together for a night of fun.