She knew Andre was aware of the way the woman flirted, but he didn't pay attention. He spoke only to the man, looking friendly, acting like they were good friends. Again he bought drinks for the table and wandered away. The dark-haired woman looked miffed, and Teagan took a sip of water to hide her smile.
Andre's head turned and he looked right at her and smiled that slow, sexy smile that sent fire racing through her veins. She loved her man. He made her feel like the only woman in the room.
Are you all right?
Absolutely. Do your thing.
She loved that she could talk to him telepathically. She could get used to some of the perks of being Carpathian. It was really, really nice that he took the time to check on her. She sent him a smile and gave a little wave of her fingers indicating he should get on with whatever he was doing.
Planting information in their heads. The missing women, how they were all last seen with Jashari and his boys. Possible locations of bodies. They will not be able to stop thinking about it and they will find those bodies.
Her heart stuttered and she pulled out of his mind abruptly. She drew in her breath and looked down at the table, pretending interest in the pattern of the wood. Andre knew where the bodies were, she was absolutely certain of it. She caught that information in his mind. He was giving that to those men. How could he know where the bodies were? How? She didn't know. Only Armend and his friends knew.
Oh God. What had she been thinking? How could he possibly know that? There was no way, not if he found Armend dead. He would have to know him. Know his friends. Dread filled her. Fear. She wanted to jump up and run out of the bar, but she didn't know where she would go or who she would trust. She could make her way to the ladies room and hope there was cell phone service. She could call her grandmother again and alert her to the fact that she was in danger. She hadn't told Grandma Trixie that Armend had sick friends.
Teagan. What is it?
Andre's voice slipped inside, right under her skin. Usually that silk and velvet, rough and sensual and so beautiful voice could calm her churning stomach and keep fear at bay, but the knots tightened and a sense of dread filled her.
How could you know where the bodies are? Stupid. She'd tipped him off that she knew. Her fingers clenched the edge of the table until her knuckles turned white. You knew him. How else could you know?
I did not know him. He was alive when I got to him. We can discuss this when we are alone. I have one more person to talk to.
You lied to me. You said wolves killed him.
Wolves did kill him.
So go talk to your man so we can get out of here.
Are you good?
Yes. And that was a lie. She wanted to go home. To the comfort of her grandmother and sisters. The familiar. She didn't want to be Carpathian, flying through the sky in the form of an owl, no matter how cool it was. She just wanted to feel safe again, and she didn't feel that way.
She didn't know what to think. She bit down on her lip, trying to figure out why she felt so scared inside. She had deliberately touched Andre's mind again while he talked to her and he believed what he was saying. He sounded honest. He felt honest. He was always gentle and sweet with her--but--he had taken away her choices. Still, he could have killed her anytime he wanted. She really didn't believe he was a straight up killer. Maybe he'd had to defend himself against Armend. Maybe he'd really stumbled on the aftermath of the attack by wolves and tried to help him. She'd just panicked as usual. Still. That horrible feeling in her stomach persisted.
She sensed movement and glanced up, steeling herself, expecting Andre. Her beautiful Andre who had lied to her. Instead there were two men she'd never seen before. One carried two drinks, the other one held his own. They must have slipped into the bar while she was dancing with Andre, because she'd really looked around when they first entered and would have noticed both men. Really good-looking.
She hadn't spotted either of them before. She could tell by their clothes and the flashy watch one of them wore that they either weren't from around there, or they were one of the few families with money. She knew instantly why she'd jumped to such stupid conclusions about Andre. She'd been feeling them. These two men. The dark dread in her stomach and moving through her body was all about them.
"A beautiful woman shouldn't be sitting alone," the one with two drinks announced with a smile. "I'm Giles, Giles Barabash. This is my brother Gerard." He set the drinks on the table, one in front of her, and both men pulled out chairs and sat down.
"I'm here with someone," Teagan blurted out, using English just as he had. She could tell by his heavy accent that English wasn't his first language, but he clearly could speak it easily.
Giles exchanged a glance with his brother. The look that passed between them made her uneasy. Giles shrugged. "He's not here at this moment. His loss."
"Seriously, he isn't going to be happy with you sitting here."
Giles pushed the drink toward her with two fingers, still smiling. His eyes were hard. "Drink it."
She smelled the drug with her heightened senses. "No, thank you."
Giles leaned close to her. "I wasn't asking, Teagan."
Two more men slid in on either side of her, trapping her between them. Her stomach did a steep pitch. She didn't doubt for one moment these men were Armend's friends. They knew who she was.
She refused to be intimidated. They were in a packed bar, and after all, Andre was there. She just needed to reach out to him. She didn't. Instead she looked from one newcomer to the other. "And you are? You look like brothers as well."
Giles snarled, lifting his lip and actually making a snarling sound, drawing her attention back to him. "Cousins," Giles snapped. "Keith and Kirt."
"So you're all related. Wow. You believe in keeping it in the family."
"Drink your fucking drink," Giles commanded.
Without warning, the bar went quiet. The air actually vibrated with a heavy sense of danger impossible not to feel. She sucked in her breath and lifted her chin so she could look over Giles's head. Her gaze collided with Andre's. Cold fingers crept down her spine. He was angry. Seriously angry. The walls of the bar couldn't possibly contain the wealth of anger pouring from him. His eyes were glacier blue and burned like a blue flame. She touched her tongue to her lips, unable to look away from him.
Andre looked like an ancient warrior out of a movie. His face was beautiful, carved of stone, totally masculine. His long hair flowed down his back. Her heart did some kind of melty thing and her stomach did a somersault. Hers. That man was hers. He certainly wasn't friends with Giles, his brother or cousins. And he really, really didn't like them sitting at her table.
"Teagan." Andre held out his hand to her. His eyes, total blue flames, totally hot, burned over Giles.
Teagan rose instantly, pushing back her chair and moving around Keith to take Andre's hand. He pulled her into his side. Close. Under the protection of his shoulder, and it was a broad shoulder. She slid her arm around his waist.
Andre didn't say a word to the four men, he simply turned and made his way through the silent crowd toward the door. A woman pushed close, touched Teagan's hand.
"Be careful of them," she whispered. "They won't let this go." Her fingers slipped away and she melted into the crowd, clearly afraid of Giles and the others.
She delivered the warning in her native language, but Teagan caught the gist of it. She knew by the way Andre nodded at her. The nod was barely perceptible, but she saw the way the woman's face glowed, just for a moment.
That's nice, she whispered into his mind. She caught that, and you're so gorgeous she can totally keep that going for months.
Do not be adorable right now. Or funny. I am seriously angry with you.
Gulp. She had been trying hard to pretend he hadn't directed that anger at her, but there it was. No getting around it.
She lifted her chin and snuck a glance at his set jaw as they emerged into the night. The mist was once again thick, but
this time, more of a dense, gray vapor that set her heart pounding--not as much as Andre's dark, angry features, but still, who knew what that fog held?
It isn't as if I invited those men to sit down with me, she told him in a snippy little voice. Sheesh. That totally was not my fault. At all. And, just because, for only one teensy second, I entertained the idea that you might be a . . . Yikes. Calling him a wacked-out killer wasn't going to get her out of trouble. In my defense, you do know where the dead bodies are and I had no idea Armend was alive when you found him.
Armend put bruises on you. He tried to rape you. He punched you. Did you think he would share the same air with you after that?
Oh. My. God. Her heart stopped and then began pounding. Hard. Hurting hard. Andre, what are saying? You told me wolves killed him.
His arm wrapped her up, locking her tightly against him. Behind them the door to the bar opened and then closed. She knew, without looking, that Giles and his crew were following them. They had convinced themselves it was four to one, clearly not counting her as a threat.
I told you the truth. I did not say I had not spoken with him. His mind was rotten and he enjoyed what he had done to those women, thinking of it often. He kept mementos in his home, the third drawer down in his private, locked desk. He takes them out at night and jerks off with the women's underwear surrounding him.
She stumbled. Armend had touched her. Sat with her for three years while she tutored him. They'd laughed together. She'd counted him as a friend. Bile rose and she pushed the back of her hand against her mouth. Her vision actually narrowed, threatened to turn black. She felt dizzy and weak. She stumbled again.
Andre swept her up into his arms. I apologize, sivamet. I should not have shared that with you. Breathe. Take a deep breath.
He didn't increase his speed. In fact, he went from walking in silence, to making noise, allowing the soles of his boots to hit the surface much harder than normal. Teagan took in great gulps of air, her hands clutching at his shoulders. He was luring them to him. Giles and the others. Andre deliberately was baiting them. Tempting them to come after him.
Don't, Andre. There's four of them. You might kill vampires, but you can't take on four killers. And you know they kill. Not all four at once.
They pry on helpless women. They beat up drunks. I am Carpathian. You are Carpathian. You have more strength in your little finger than all of them put together.
She blinked rapidly, trying to process that. I do? Wow. Now that was definitely on the pro side of the list for becoming Carpathian. She could be a real badass and kick butt if she had to. She liked that idea a lot.
Of course.
Still. Why are you getting them to follow you? Why don't we just leave?
I do not leave behind men who rape and murder women. They will follow us into the lower hills. I can dispatch them there.
Dispatch? She licked her lips. I'm just guessing here, but I don't think you're using that word to mean a message, or post or something of that nature.
As in mete out justice to them.
Um. Andre. You can't do that. It's against the law.
I am not human. Human laws do not apply to me. I am Carpathian and I am the wielder of justice in my world.
Yikes all over again. He wasn't kidding. He was planning on killing all four men. Maybe. "Can't . . ."
Sound carries. Stay quiet. Let them follow my footsteps.
They're human. Can't you leave them to the human law?
Humans haven't dealt with them. I will not allow them to torture and kill another woman. They have a taste for it, and Giles has declared himself the leader now. He gets off on hurting others. You should have known they were approaching and you should have read their intent.
Okay. Now they were getting to the anger part. He wasn't angry because she'd been idiot enough to think he might be Armend's friend. No, he was angry with her because she hadn't used her new very acute senses as a warning system.
And you did not reach out to me, Teagan. Immediately, when you knew you were in trouble, you did not call to me.
She hadn't. She didn't know why. But she hadn't, and he had every right to be angry over that.
I didn't, did I? That confused her. She felt safe with Andre. She hadn't panicked. She was afraid, but fear lived and breathed in her all the time. She felt the coiling in his gut relax.
No, csitri, you did not alert me. Had I not been monitoring you at all times I would not have known you were in trouble.
He was monitoring her at all times? She liked that. She shouldn't. She was an independent modern woman who could handle herself in tough situations and had, many times. She didn't rely on others to fix her problems, especially when she was traveling. She relied on herself, which was probably why she hadn't thought to reach out to him.
From now on, you rely on me just as I will be relying on you. Always, always stay alert and scan your surrounding area, he counseled. Read the minds of those around you.
That is totally invading people's privacy.
The world you live in now, sivamet, is dangerous. Humans wish to kill us. Even your own grandmother would put a stake through our hearts if she knew what we are. You know that is true. You have to learn to be vigilant and you have to learn to rely on me. The moment you sense trouble, real or not, you reach out to me.
She bit her lip. He was right about her grandmother, with her Internet vampire-hunting kit. There was a special device that shot wooden stakes out of it, which was very cool by the way. She'd seen Grandma Trixie practicing on targets in her backyard. Teagan hadn't told her sisters, fearing they would lock her grandmother up before she could cure her mental illness.
She sighed. Now she had another problem. Her grandmother wasn't as crazy as they all thought, but she might have to convince her that she was.
Tell me you understand.
Teagan hesitated. She was beginning to realize the idea that she had of Andre being a sweet, gentle man was maybe just a tad off. He preferred to eliminate threats by dispatching them. As in killing them.
Teagan.
That was silk and velvet and rough, but it was a warning. He wasn't fooling around and being all sensual and sweet.
Um. Tell me whenever I am threatened you will not dispatch people. Promise me. She needed to at least bring him into the present century. You are not a wild man, living in the caveman era.
I cannot give such a promise. I am a Carpathian male. A hunter. And you are my lifemate. As your lifemate it is my duty and privilege to keep you from harm at all times.
She huffed out her breath. Taming you is not going to be quite as easy as I envisioned. You are stubborn and maybe just a little too old. You know the old adage about teaching old dogs new tricks.
There was a moment of silence. She glanced up at him. His blue eyes glittered down at her. She wasn't certain of his mood. One moment he'd been furious. Scary. Next he was luring not so innocent prey to him--and they were prey. He had targeted Giles and his crew and meant to dispatch them. Now he was looking at her as if he was torn between laughing or throwing her on the ground and having wild sex with her. If she had a choice, she'd take the wild sex and his laughter. Once in a while he smiled. He didn't laugh except that one time.
Teagan.
Her sex clenched at the sound of his voice sliding into her skin. They were out of the village. She could see the trees every once in a while as the fog swirled, opening a view and then closing it. He took her right into the forest and began to work his way to higher ground, using long, ground-eating strides. Still making noise. Breaking twigs on purpose. Not taking to the air. Still throwing out his lure. From the sounds behind them, the four men were taking the bait.
Are you calling me an old dog?
I would answer that, but anything I say could get me into trouble.
You have no idea.
His voice was that sound that took her breath and her bones. It was a promise, and she didn't know whether to try to run or to cling to him. Either wa
y, her body was thrilled.
18
Andre climbed the mountain fast, taking a deer trail, one that was well-used and easy to navigate even in the fog. In his arms, Teagan shivered, but he knew it wasn't the cold. She didn't understand him or his ways. He got that. He got that she lived under a different set of rules, and his world was very scary to her. He didn't like her afraid, but there was little he could do about that at the moment.
They were in far worse trouble than any human could give them, even humans trained in the art of killing his species or vampires. He tasted the threat in the moisture. Felt it in the soft breeze blowing toward them. Smelled it in the faint stench rising through the trees. Vampire. The undead was hunting and he'd come down from the mountain, heading for the village.
Andre allowed his senses to flair out into the night, seeking more information, but much more carefully. He muffled the sound of his boots on the ground. Kept the snap of twigs and the rustle of leaves from the air surrounding them. That would leave only the noise of the humans as they hurried along the trail, occasionally cursing. One wanted to go back and track them in the morning. He protested over and over in a whiny voice. Even though he'd only heard the voices over a radio, he recognized the one called Keith.
What's wrong? Aside from the fact that you want to commit a felony. Maybe four of them, and I'll have to visit you in some forgotten, horrible prison filled with rats and sewage where they torture the occupants just for fun. She gave a delicate shudder. What else are you preparing for?
Teagan was very sensitive to him. She was already beginning to read not just his moods, but when he sensed danger. He wanted her to be able to do that herself.
Be still. Completely still. Close your eyes if you have to, but feel. Do not think. Just feel your surroundings. When you feel everything close to you, allow your senses to expand outside yourself. Outside the landscape close to you. Go above you. Below you and all around you.
Andre willed her to understand. For all her nonsense--the things she blurted out which he loved--she was highly intelligent. And sensitive. To him, before he'd ever brought her fully into his world, she felt as if she was already partway in it. He'd never heard from a single male who had a lifemate that they felt that. There was something a little different about Teagan. She was human through and through. She wasn't Jaguar, or Mage, or Lycan She was fully human. Yet her gift of healing was incredibly strong and so was that tuning fork of hers, she just needed to refine it a bit.
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