Dark Beauty

I buried my face in his chest and we stood there together. I didn’t want this moment to end. I wanted this Carpathian…this hunter…this man to be real. I wanted him to be mine and mine alone. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t happen. He wasn’t real. So I savored the moment. It was perfect. And then he spoke.

“Come with me little one. Let me make you mine. Let me change you. Let me bind you to me.” His voice was a soft whisper, but I heard the command and it ticked me off.

“No,” I growled trying to push away from him. I had forgotten that Carpathian males are stronger than your average college student.

He looked down at me confused. I felt a feather-light touch almost like it was on my forehead but neither of us had moved. He frowned and released me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “You cannot refuse me little one, you are my lifemate. I am yours and you are mine.” His brow was furrowed slightly and his eyes bore into mine.

“What is it with these commands? If you’d’ve asked nicely, I might have considered it, but no. I forgot how controlling and completely ignorant Carpathian males can be!” I was angry now. It was starting to look like I was bipolar. It wasn’t my fault that this guy was taking me on an emotional rollercoaster.

“I must say little one, you are strange. I do not understand you. No one can resist our voices.” I opened my mouth but couldn’t think of any retort. He was right. I shouldn’t be able to resist him yet I had told both him and the vampire no. Was that even possible? Since when I had become so spiffy. “I could turn you by force,” he reminded me.

“But you won’t,” I said looking him straight in the eyes. “If you turn me against my will, I will never forgive you. That’s a promise.” I put all the sincerity I could muster into those words. I couldn’t jut give up my life on a whim; even it if this wasn’t real. There are some things that you could never do.

The hunter’s eyes hardened as he stared down at me. “I will do what must be done to keep my lifemate safe.” The words were a low growl that would have made someone thinking logically afraid.

I wasn’t thinking logically. I was mad. I don’t like people trying to control me, especially not fictional characters. No matter how strong or good-looking they are. “Keeping me safe has nothing to do with kidnapping me!” I shouted angrily. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I have to be back at the dorms by one so I can scan in. Do you not understand that?!”

“Such things are irrelevant. You will be with me now.”

“Baka!” I yelled angrily. For those of you unfamiliar with watching anime in Japanese, baka means idiot, fool, and other nice things like that. “You are being a chauvinistic pig! Now I am going back to my dorm. If you decide you can be a human talk nicely then you may come along with me and we can talk in the front parlor.”

The hunter regarded me thoughtfully and then shrugged with such casualty and arrogance that I really was tempted to smack him. “Lead the way little one. I shall follow.”

I just frowned, turned on my heel, and walked away knowing that he was following.

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The hunter followed his lifemate silently. He was not certain what to make of her. She seemed to be so small. At first, he had thought her fragile. Now she had shown fire he had not thought possible. It amused him of course, but the fact that she had totally resisted his voice did not. It was not possible that anyone, especially a human, could resist the voice of any Carpathian. He did not understand it.

Julian my old friend, the hunter called out to the one who had once been so solitary it had worried him for centuries. I have found my lifemate, but there are things that concern me.

I am here, Julian’s voice was gentle. What worries you? Is something wrong with your lifemate?

Not exactly, the hunter was uncertain of how to proceed. She is human, yet she knows of us. She believes us to be some product of someone’s mind. She also resists our voices.

There was surprise in Julian’s reply. You are certain she is human?

Quite certain old friend, the hunter assured him. See her through my eyes. There is no Carpathian who looks like my bellezza scura.

I see what you mean Andreas. Tread carefully with her. Desari and I will come to you. There is much that must be explained. For now, do not let her leave your sight, but be careful how you proceed. I doubt she reacts well to be controlled. There was a soft chuckle in Julian’s voice.

No she does not, Andreas agreed reluctantly as he followed his lifemate into what she had called her dorm. He did not like what he was about to do. For the first time in many centuries, he was about to yield.