Part 6 (1/2)
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, s.h.i.+elding 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.”