Part 6 (1/2)

His eyes stared down at her, his hands softening, stroking soothingly down her arms, rubbing her back in soft, slow circles. Julianna pushed at his chest, shoving free of his arms as she stumbled away, her body feeling bruised and battered.

”The bottom line is... I wanted you. You were the only thing in my mind when you were touching me,” she said hollowly. ”But I wasn't the only thing in yours.”

She turned away and walked off on unsteady legs.

Roman's jaw was still dropped as she reached out and closed her hand over the door. He lunged for her and closed the door shut with a snap while she was trying to pull it open.

Something cold slammed against his mind. They were here. The men of Capiet had arrived to try to claim the blood daughter of Eduard Capiet. He hadn't given them enough credit-they had found them fast.

They wanted her very badly. He could sense their anger, their hunger in the air.

A snarl tore through him even as the alien magick of vampire reached out, trying to call to Julianna.

Mikhail grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her body in a bear hug as he spun her away from the door, kicking it closed with the heel of his boot. ”This lover's quarrel will have to wait, Julianna,” Mikhail said, lifting his eyes to stare at Roman over her shoulder.

”Let me go,” she said faintly, pus.h.i.+ng at his arms. ”I just want to get out of here.”

”And go out there, having them fight tooth and nail to be the first one to shove you to the ground and rape you?” Mikhail snapped, tightening his arms around her as she started to struggle. Finally, he just lifted her feet off the floor and let her fight ineffectually in his arms with her feet dangling in the air. ”Roman has claimed you, yes, but he is werewolf, not vampire. He will have to convince them of his claim on you. He may have to fight for it. Until they acknowledge it, if you step outside this building, you are fair game to them.”

Roman's eyes locked on her pale, tear-streaked face, his gut tied in knots, his heart bleeding within his chest. There hadn't been any other way, d.a.m.n it! Mikhail had gotten here on the heels of their arrival, and already, the vampires of Capiet had stormed his grounds. He hadn't had time to talk to her, to convince her before he made love to her.

Women! he thought, infuriated, as he spun away from the sight of Julianna crumpling against Mikhail in defeat.

The sounds of battle-hisses, howls, and screams-became apparent. The wolves of Wolfclan Montgomery had descended on Capiet. In waves, the scent of blood came floating to him even through the closed windows and bolted door.

His wolves were out there, fighting the men who had come to try to take his woman, and they didn't even know why.

A sour smile curved his mouth. To give him time to claim a woman who may well walk away when she was safe. h.e.l.l, she would walk away now if the vampire holding her would just let her go.

Looking at Julianna, he said, voice dull, ”Stay inside, Julie. You're safe here.”

Chapter Seven.

The odd ring to his voice resounded through her mind as she watched him walk outside, slamming the ma.s.sive oak door behind him. The windows rattled their casings, and outside, she heard a wave of voices raising in eerie howl.

”He loves you,” Mikhail murmured against her temple, his hands slowly loosening. ”What was he supposed to do, talk you into letting him make love to you before Capiet arrived?”

”He wasn't making love to me,” she said thickly, moving away from Mikhail as his hands fell aside. ”He was protecting me.”

”You're his. Why shouldn't he?” Mikhail replied easily, shrugging one shoulder as he studied her.

”I'm not his,” she shouted, spinning away from him, fisting her hands and pressing them against her temples. Pain and indecision wavered inside her belly.

”Aren't you?”

She stood there, shaking, as she slowly turned to face Mikhail, his voice coming from just over her shoulder. His pale blue eyes gleamed at her from the shadows the dancing firelight cast upon his face.

”I was here, watching from without as he took you.” A wicked smile lit his face, and he murmured, ”And that was the most pleasure I've had in quite some time. But I saw a man claiming a woman, making love to her. And she reveled in it. Accepted it. Wanted it. That was lovemaking I saw, Julianna.”

Her eyes burned from her tears as she tried to blink them away.

Mikhail's eyes watched her closely as he asked, ”Wasn't it? You claiming him as surely as he claimed you? Wouldn't you fight anything and anyone that tried to take him away from you?”

Her voice shook as she whispered, ”Yes.” Her eyes moved to the window, and she felt the tears spill free, running down her face in hot tracks. An enraged shout flooded her ears, followed by a terrific crash that shook the building.

From outside the building, she heard voices raising in fury.

Slowly, she moved to the window, staring outside, wis.h.i.+ng her hearing was as acute as her vampire cousins', or the weres who battled outside. The voices were indistinct.

A body went flying across her field of vision, followed by a tremendous cracking sound. ”Why are they fighting?” she asked.

”They have only what he says-even though your scent clings to him, they want further proof,” Mikhail said, lifting one shoulder in a slow shrug. ”You're no small prize.”

”I'm not a prize to be won,” she said flatly, spinning around and glaring at him.

”That is all you are to them. To him, you're more.”

Arching a brow, she said softly, ”I get the point, Mikhail.” She turned back to the window, staring outside with stark eyes as a pair of men came tumbling to ground just outside the window, a werewolf, his body in mids.h.i.+ft, tearing at the vampire that had wrapped himself around the wolf's waist, sinking his teeth into the thick skin of the wolf's furred hide.

They were fighting... over her. Tearing each other apart, over her. On quivering legs, she made her way to the door, reaching out and closing her hand over the ornate scrolled metal of the door handle.

It opened, and she stared out into h.e.l.l.

Blood flew, the sickening thud of bones breaking, and she watched as a s.h.i.+fted werewolf fell upon an injured vampire and tore out his throat, gripping the head of the fallen vamp in his hands and jerking it clear off, beheading him, very messily, but ensuring total death.

”Sweet heaven,” she whispered, her eyes wide with terror.

”They would have fought each other like that-over you,” Mikhail said, his voice flat, disgust rampant in his voice. ”We can do so much, yet we act like animals.”

”Roman.” Her voice trembled as she murmured his name, staring through the sea of battling men, searching for him.

A s.h.i.+fted werewolf appeared ahead of her, ma.s.sive, his hide a warm, golden brown, gleaming wetly in the faint light as he sank clawed hands into a vampire who lunged at him, catching the smaller man and throwing him aside.

Some instinct deep inside her whispered, That's him.

”Mine!” the wolf snarled, the words booming from him in a deep, possessive shout. ”Julianna Capiet is mine. Go back to your master. Get off my lands. Or die.”

From behind, she watched as a man snaked out of the woods, his fangs gleaming under the moonlight as he stalked closer to Roman-one of her father's lieutenants, Lucien. Lucien kept to Romans' back as another vampire squared off against him, his glowing eyes never once leaving the furred throat of the wolf king.

He lunged for Roman, and she screamed out his name, watching in disbelief as Roman ducked and rolled, coming up behind Lucien and grabbing him, jerking him back against him with a growl.

Lucien bellowed, his voice echoing through the clearing before the sanctuary as Roman whirled around, brandis.h.i.+ng Lucien's captured body as the wolves aligned themselves at Roman's back.

Silence fell across them, touching first one and another and another, until all eyes were on Roman.