“Try now. If the wind is too much, let me know and I will shield you more.”
She shifted just a little bit more, one hand curling tightly around his neck, anchoring her, the other fisting his shirt while she turned her body, careful of her satchel. Sandu!
For a moment he was seeing out of her eyes, a dark world streaking below them, passing too fast. She shifted her gaze to the stars above and gasped again.
It’s beautiful. Scary but beautiful. She clutched his shirt tighter and dug her fingers deeper into his skin. Is this real? I feel as if I’m in a dream.
There are many things I wish to show you, ewal emninumam. The earth is a beautiful and exciting place.
He had forgotten the beauty of the night sky until he saw it through her eyes. He wanted to see the forest and the caves, gemstones and waterfalls, so many places he’d traveled that had all been colorless battlegrounds to him. He would view them so differently with her by his side.
How was Adalasia so easily accepting the things he was showing her—taking her through the air? Most humans would never understand the abilities a Carpathian had, yet she took them in stride. There was trepidation, but she didn’t fight him; she came with him. She didn’t argue; she followed his lead. She had training, all those weapons she so easily carried on her. The “history” she had in her mind. His lifemate had her own secrets, and their journey together was going to be one very interesting path.
The system of caves Sandu had found was not one that had been explored or used by humans as of yet. The ancients had discovered it the way they often did—by following a tiny bat or listening for the sound of the creatures underground. In this case, the opening was a very small crack no one would ever notice, where an earthquake had shaken the ground enough to cause a shift. A boulder had moved no more than a scant millimeter or so, enough to allow bats to penetrate inside that long, narrow fissure.
The fracture wasn’t the only one the ancients had discovered. The system was fairly large, and there were several places of entry, allowing airflow into the caves. They had made certain to conceal the largest of the fissures, placing safeguards around them to keep people and vampires from finding their place of safety. This was an area they could retreat to when they were wounded and needed to find healing grounds.
He dropped down to the floor beside the large boulder, where the slight crack was hidden by moss and debris. Setting Adalasia on her feet, he kept his hands on her waist to steady her. “My brethren will be meeting us here to ensure your safety.”
She raised one eyebrow as she looked around. The white knuckles of the hand clutching her satchel were the only indication of tension. “I doubt very much that Mr. Castello and his friends would be able to follow us here. I think we’ve successfully lost them.” There was the tiniest note of amusement in her voice in spite of her nerves.
“Mr. Castello is not our only enemy. I believe we have more than one.” He watched her closely.
Adalasia pressed her lips together and then nodded her head slowly as she took a cautious look around. “Are there wild animals out here? I’m not really afraid of too many things, but I don’t know that much about defending myself against wild animals. I’ve mainly learned self-defense against . . . humans.”
There had been more than humans in her mind. For one moment, a hellish image had arisen, just a small glimpse that came and went so fast he couldn’t catch it. Red, glowing eyes staring at him out of rolling orange, yellow and red flames. The thing of nightmares. The undead? He was well versed in the vampire. Was she? And then there was . . . him. At times, in battle, when he became that brutal, vicious fighter, uncaring of anything destroying his opponent, his eyes took on that same red, glowing with fierce, fiery flames. Had she seen him in her nightmares? He pushed the thought from his mind.
“Bears perhaps. The usual animals one finds in a forest. They won’t bother you.” He waved his hand, creating a small archway, allowing the opening to be large enough for her to enter. When she tried to step back away from the cold, very dark interior, he was behind her, and she ran into his large frame.
“I am not going in there.”
He waved his hand again and sconces lined the narrow hallway every ten feet, illuminating the dry floor in spite of the sound of dripping water.
“Now you’re really freaking me out. Stop doing things like that.”
“I told you, I’m not going to allow anything to happen to you.” He took her hand to give her confidence. So far, she’d surprised him by not trying to run from him, but she was on the verge of flight. She just didn’t have a way to run.
“You’re asking me to put a lot of trust into a total stranger.” She continued to eye the interior of the cave warily, still not moving.
Sandu reached down and lifted her, cradling her once more against his chest, ignoring the way she stiffened. “I am not a total stranger. I have not been a stranger since you walked in my mind.” He entered the cave and closed the entrance behind him, sealing them inside.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she buried her face in his chest. “I’m going to die in here. Underground. With a really gorgeous insane person.”
The urge to laugh came again. “Are you thinking of bashing me over the head with your bag? I see the thought in your mind.”
“It occurred to me it’s a little late.” She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him as he carried her through the maze of tunnels. She didn’t look to see where they were going but kept her eyes on his face. “The time for bashing you one and making a run for it was before we came inside. Now I’m stuck with you. I have no way out, and I think you’re keeping me warm. It looks like it could be pretty cold in here.”
He smiled down at her. “It’s good to know I’m safe while we’re in the caves.”
She nodded. “You are.”
“This journey we’re taking together,” he ventured as he brought her into the chamber he’d chosen to use to keep her safe during the day. “This is about your history, isn’t it? The history of your family, perhaps? Is it tied to those men?”
He set her down as he once again waved his hand to install the sconces on the upper walls to illuminate the chamber for her. He did it casually, not really giving it thought. He added things from her home: a rug, comfortable chairs, a bed.
She sucked the side of her lower lip into her mouth and bit down with her small teeth. “Our histories were entwined, Sandu.”
“Our futures are entwined,” he corrected, turning to face her.
“Perhaps, but our histories were entwined as well.”
“I am an ancient. There are few of my kind left in this world, Adalasia. You know I’m not human.” He took a step toward her and framed the side of her face in his hand, his thumb moving in a caress over her cheek. “I don’t believe you are an ancient.”
She was beautiful to him. Her skin like silk. She was courageous. She didn’t flinch away from him, her eyes looking straight into his. Long lashes swept down and back up again. His thumb glided along her full lips. Silky there as well.
“I’m not an ancient,” she whispered. “It’s difficult to take in that you’re actually real. I knew of you only as a legend.”