Carpathian 04 - Dark Magic

speck in the sky.
    Gary scrambled across the dirt floor, hunching over to avoid scraping his head on the roof. He sat beside Savannah and waited. It didn't take very long before the bird returned. Gary couldn't take his eyes off the shimmering, iridescent feathers shifting into a solid rock of a man.
    Gregori glided through the cypress trees, tall, fit, healthy. Even his clothes were immaculate. His hair was shining clean, tied at his nape with a leather thong. His silver eyes were clear, and once more his face was a mask of sensual beauty. "Gary"—the voice, as always, was purity and strength—"please leave us for a few moments."
    "Will she be all right?" Gary asked fearfully. In spite of himself, he had checked her pulse several times.
    "She must be all right," Gregori said very softly.
    The voice was like velvet, but there was something in it that sent a shiver of apprehension through Gary.
    If anything happened to Savannah, Gary realized that no one, nothing in the world, would ever be safe again from the Carpathian. He hadn't considered that before, and he had no idea where the knowledge came from, but he knew it absolutely. He crawled from the cramped space and picked his way a small distance from the cave. The night noises bothered him, were strange and a bit daunting.
    Gregori gathered Savannah tenderly into his arms. Come to me, my life and breath. Wake and be with me . He gave the command, and even as he felt her heart flutter, he pressed her mouth to his throat. Feed
    , ma petite. Feed and replenish what you selflessly gave to me .
    Savannah turned her head, her first breath a sigh of warmth against his throat. She nuzzled closer, drowsy and weak from lack of blood. Her tongue tasted his skin, caressed his pulse. Gregori's body tightened alarmingly as her teeth sent white-hot pleasure slicing through him. Slowly her skin warmed, went from ashen to a healthy glow. Her arms slipped around his neck, and she held him close, her body fitting into his, a restless ache of need and hunger.
    Savannah closed the pinpricks on her lifemate's neck, feathered kisses up his throat to his jaw, then found the corner of his mouth. Gregori caught her head and held her still, his mouth dominating, taking hers with a need as elemental as the wind.
    "I thought I lost you," she whispered into his heart, his soul. "I thought I lost you."
    "Are you always going to be pulling me out of trouble?" he asked, some strong, unnamed emotion choking him, blocking his throat.
    A small smile tugged at her soft mouth. "Back you up, you mean."
    He groaned at her terminology. " Je t'aime , Savannah. More than I can ever express in words of any language." His arms held her tight, sheltering her against his heart. She was his world, would always be his world. She was his laughter, his light. She showed him how to slip easily between both worlds. She gave him faith in humans that had never been there before.

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    As if reading his mind, she smiled happily up at him. "Gary really came through for us, didn't he?"
    "Absolutely, ma petite . And Beau LaRue was not so bad either. Come, we cannot leave the poor man pacing the swamp. He will think we are engaging in something other than conversation."
    Wickedly Savannah moved her body against his, her hands sliding provocatively, enticingly, over the rigid thickness straining his trousers. "Aren't we?" she asked with that infuriating sexy smile he could never resist.
    "We have a lot of clean-up to do here, Savannah," he said severely. "And we need to get word to our people, spread the society's list through our ranks, warn those in danger."
    Her fingers were working at the buttons of his shirt so that she could push the material aside to examine his chest and shoulder, where two of the worst wounds had been. She had to see his body for herself, touch him to assure herself he was completely healed. "I suggest, for now, that your biggest job is to create something for Gary to do so we can have a little privacy." With a smooth movement, she pulled the shirt from over her head so that her full breasts gleamed temptingly at him.
    Gregori made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan. His hands came up to cup the weight of her in his palms, the feel of her soft, satin skin soothing after the burning torture of the tainted blood. His thumbs caressed the rosy tips into hard peaks. He bent his head slowly to the erotic temptation