"We all worked together," Joie said. "I knew you would come. I just had to buy us some time."

"All of you were more than lucky. Any vampire is difficult to defeat, but master vampires have lived for century upon century, growing in strength and power. They use others as minions and puppets and keep themselves from dangerous battles. They sacrifice lesser p.a.w.ns and slide away when hunters are in the area. They only fight when they are a.s.sured of victory. Valenteen had a reputation as a fierce hunter. It helped that mage blood ran in your veins. He had more trouble getting past the barriers in your minds and controlling you. Gary is protected by Gregori, so he wasn't as susceptible as most humans would be."

"Do you really think we're descendents of a mage?" Joie asked, once again stroking her fingers over his lips.

"I do not think there is much doubt. The genetics are quite strong in your brother and since you claim he is a full blood brother, the mage is in all of you. I believe that is what allowed you to resist Valenteen the way you did."

"I can't really recall much after I landed on the floor. Jubal and Gabrielle are all right, aren't they? I vaguely remember Gabrielle's hand holding mine and once I felt my brother very close. Tell me they're both okay. They had to have been terrified when that nasty vampire ripped my neck open."

Traian felt the tremor run through her and pressed his body closer. "They were incredible." He still had trouble believing that neither of them looked at him with blame. And Gabrielle had been so generous in her parting words to him. "They are both fine. Gary took them to our prince. They are with Mikhail and his lifemate, under their protection. I like your brother and sister very much."

Joie covered the hand pressed into her stomach. "You sound a little surprised. Haven't you liked many humans?"

"I never really thought about it before. We live in the world with humans and protect them, but to keep our race safe, we have always remained apart. This has been my first close contact with humans where they actually know who and what I am. I found your family to be accepting and tolerant of me and my people, even with all the danger I brought with me. I feel genuine affection and admiration for Jubal and Gabrielle, which is somewhat of a surprise to me."

"And Gary? Is he all right?"

"He is fine, Joie. Gary is an extraordinary man and obviously trusted by our prince." Traian rubbed her nose with the pad of his finger, and then traced her mouth.

Joie smiled and nibbled gently at his hand. He touched her continually, as if seeking the rea.s.surance of physical contact.

"You'd better have a deep affection for my brother and sister," she cautioned with a wry smile. "It's the only safe thing to do with those two. And with my parents also, I might add. They're going to drive you crazy, so you have to love them, otherwise you'd do them in. I can't wait for you to meet my mom and dad." She burst out laughing at the thought.

"Why do you do that?" Traian asked suspiciously. "You have a wicked way of laughing every time you mention introducing me to your parents."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from them. Jubal, Gabrielle, and I always go home for visits together. If we team up, we have a chance."

"I am Carpathian," he pointed out.

"Like that's going to matter. But you keep thinking it will." Her hand fluttered to her neck, still raw and sore from the attack. "How come I didn't wake up gorgeous and perfect?" Joie glared at him. "I had visions of a makeover."

"You are gorgeous and perfect." He sounded puzzled. "I woke you early to give you more blood, but you'll be going back to the ground until you are fully healed." He touched his chest. "We both will."

She turned her head to look more fully at him, and her breath caught in her throat. "Oh, Traian, let me see." She rose up onto her knees in spite of his restraining hands. "You're really hurt."

Her eyes held worry, concern. Her hands moved over his chest with anxious, caressing strokes. Traian held his breath, shocked at the tidal wave of emotion sweeping through him. "It is of no consequence, but thank you for worrying."

"It's of great consequence," she contradicted him. "How do you do that healing thing? Can I do it to you? Would it work?"

He smiled at her, wrapping her up in his arms. "You are Carpathian. Whatever I can do, you can do. Probably more, but if you really want to try it, let's clean off."

"Not your way. I love the water on my skin. Is that hot spring there too hot to bathe in?" Joie indicated the pool, although it wasn't in her sight, but she knew exactly where it was positioned by the map in his head.

"If you want to bathe in a pool, sivamet-my love, we will bathe in a hot pool." He wrapped his arms around her and floated to the surface. "We may have to sleep during daylight hours, but in truth, few of us long for the day. We were born for the night and for us, it is beautiful. The things we can do make up for our vulnerabilities during daylight hours."

He kept his arm around her to steady her as he put her feet in the heated pool. Joie had no idea how weak she truly was. He had gone out early to feed before he woke her, needing to supply her with more blood. He could feel her hunger beating at him, although she steadfastly refused to acknowledge it. She needed to cling to her human ways just a little longer, to slowly accept a new, completely different way of life.

Joie was far too courageous and if her family and Gary were true examples of human bravery then he had been missing out on knowing many good people. It made him a little ashamed to think he hadn't even tried to get to know those humans around him. He hadn't trusted any of them, and yet when he'd needed help, four generous people had come to his aid. Joie had been so trusting of him, and he honestly didn't know if he could say had it been the other way around, that he would have been so trusting of her.

He rubbed his chin along the top of her hair, enjoying the feeling of the thick, silky strands against his jaw. Very gently he began to wash her body, his hands moving down the line of her back and smoothing over the curve of her hips. Her breath caught in her throat and her hands began to move over him, tentatively at first, but washing the lacerations and bite marks the insects and bats had made clean, pressing her mouth against the terrible, raw, barely healing wound Valenteen had made in his chest.

The touch of her lips moving against his skin so close to his heart moved him unexpectedly-shook him. His body reacted with a hard, painful ache, shocking in its intensity. He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring her touch. Blood rushed hotly in his veins, his teeth lengthened, and need pounded through his head.

Joie lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. "Yes," she whispered. A siren calling to him. "Always yes."

He had to stop before he lost his head. They were both clean of the soil packs and all traces of the rich loam needed to provided healing and rejuvenation for his people. He swept her up in his arms and floated them back to their earth bed. In concession to her humanity, he pressed a simple sheet over the earth as he took her down to their bed. He could remove it later, after he'd fed her and sent her to sleep.

"Not yet," she whispered. "I promised myself the first thing I'd learn as a Carpathian was how to heal my husband's ... my lifemate's wounds," she corrected.

Before he could stop her, she was already leaning over him, her tongue swirling around the edges of his mangled skin.

Traian closed his eyes. He should stop her, just give her blood and send her back to sleep, but the seduction of her mouth was far too enticing. Her tongue was soothing, a gentle caress that took him by surprise. She was attempting the healing chant in her head, the words soft and hesitant, but she got them right. His eyes burned, his throat clogged, and even his chest felt tight. It had not occurred to him that she would try to take care of his wounds-not first-not before anything else. Another woman would have chosen so many other things.

"Silly man," she whispered. "Of course I'm going to take care of you. I need to take care of you."

He didn't open his eyes, afraid she might see tears there. "I thought you were a want kind of woman."

"True, but women get to change their minds all the time. Right now I need to do this." She laughed, and her breath was warm against his skin. "You might be surprised at the things I need to do." Her mouth began to move dangerously lower.

"Oh no, you don't," he objected. "You need to heal first, Joie. I am going to give you blood and put you back to sleep."

She laughed again, blew warm air over the head of his erection. "Really?" Her tongue licked him as if he were an ice cream cone and then swirled and danced and did outrageous things. "I'm back to the 'I'm a want to kind of woman.' I want a lot of things right now. And I want you wanting me enough to stop worrying about whether or not I can make love in my delicate condition. And I want your body inside mine. Only you will do, Traian. I've fallen desperately in love with you, so, darn it, you have a few responsibilities."

His breath caught in his lungs as she engulfed his thick shaft, taking him into the heat of her mouth persuasively. He grit his teeth. "Responsibilities? I believe my main responsibility is to see to your health."

She licked him again, sat up and straddled his hips. "I would be far healthier if you'd take care of a little business. I'm burning up here. Every cell in my body wants yours. I'll sleep after. I promise."

She positioned her body over his. There was no denying her, not with that seductive, s.e.xy look of pa.s.sion on her face. He caught her hips, lifting her into a better angle, and slowly allowed her body to drop over his so that he impaled her, driving through those exquisite, fiery, oh-so-tight petals that reluctantly unfurled from him as he pushed deep inside of her.

Her breath left her lungs in a little rush. His breathing matched hers. She reached out with her hands and he caught them, threading his fingers through hers while she began a slow, sensuous ride, her eyes on his. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s swayed invitingly with every movement while the scorching heat surrounded him.

"You are so beautiful to me," he whispered. And she was. She filled his heart with her beauty, with her courage, with her complete giving of herself to him.

Traian swept his hand through her hair as he bent his head toward the pulse beating just above her breast. Fire swept through his veins, rushed to his very core as her body sheathed his again and again, those long slow glides that just pushed his hunger higher. He slid his hands up her waist to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the soft firm flesh drawing his attention. He lingered there for a moment, lavishing attention on first one then the other before he sank his teeth into that beckoning pulse.

Joie threw her head back as the pleasure/pain burst through her like a firestorm. Her feminine sheath clamped down tight, nearly strangling him, as he dragged steely flesh over her sensitive bundle of nerve endings, feeding from her body in the age-old ritual between lifemates. She cried out, a soft broken gasp of startled pleasure, her hands cradling his head to her as she rode him, slowing just a little to better absorb the sensations he created deep in her body.

His tongue slid over the small strawberry he'd left on the swell of her breast and he lifted his gaze to hers. "I need you now, Joie." His hand wrapped around the nape of her neck, drawing her down over his body toward his chest.

The action pushed his thick shaft hard against her most sensitive bud and she shivered, but she didn't resist or take her eyes from his as she brought her head toward him. His body shuddered in antic.i.p.ation.

"Feel your teeth," he instructed in a low, husky voice. "Can you feel the need pulsing through your body, throbbing in your veins? That dark hunger spreading like a wildfire?"

She nodded.

"Show me. I want to see."

She opened her mouth to reveal the lengthened teeth. His thick erection jerked with excitement-in antic.i.p.ation.