“This is dangerous, isn’t it?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
She was surrounded by Tariq’s friends. They kept her in the center and she knew it was deliberate, although they acted casual, so much so that most of the men ignored her after they nodded to her in greeting.
She recognized his partner, Maksim, and the one called Dragomir from the night before. Dragomir was terrifying. If she hadn’t been clamped to Tariq’s side, she might have run. He didn’t look as if he had a gentle bone in his body. If anything, he looked like a killing machine. She tried not to stare at him. He wore his hair in a long, thick braid that fell to his waist. Every inch or so a leather thong wrapped the hair so that the braid was in intriguing increments running down his back. One would think it would make him look a little feminine, but it actually added to his hard, scary look.
There were triplets Lojos, Tomas and Mataias, all with weathered features and long, streaming hair. According to Tariq, Tomas had been in a battle with vampires, had been severely injured and was still supposed to be healing but had joined them anyway, just as he had in the parking garage.
She recognized the one called Siv as well. She tried to send him a tentative smile to thank him for rescuing Lourdes, but she didn’t get a response out of him.
Dragomir glanced at her. “She should not go into that place of madness. She is sensitive, Tariq, far too sensitive.” He spoke as if she weren’t there.
“She can tell us everything they were doing, and we need to know,” Tariq explained. “Without her, we won’t know what we’re up against.”
“It is dangerous.” Simply that.
The way he said it, without any emotion at all, yet at the same time, with an order, an expectation to be obeyed, made Charlotte cringe. She realized instantly that other than Maksim and Tariq, these men lived in a cold, gray world of nothing. She couldn’t help feeling a little afraid of them and yet at the same time feeling compassion toward them.
Dragomir was not at all like Tariq. He wouldn’t want his woman to walk beside him into danger. He wouldn’t expect her to go into tunnels and use her gift in order to benefit them all. He was older than Tariq, although she couldn’t tell by how much, only that whatever had happened to him had turned him into a very dangerous being. He wouldn’t be asking his lifemate whether she wanted to come all the way into his world with him. He’d simply take her there. She had a feeling Siv was the same way.
“Hang on, Charlotte,” Tariq said softly, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her easily to cradle her against his chest.
She had no option but to put her arms around his neck and hold on. She looked around for a car. Any kind of vehicle. They weren’t anywhere near the parking lot. Genevieve and Lourdes had gone to bed, as had Danny and his sisters. Emeline’s lamp was still on, but other than that one faint beacon of light, the night was very dark on the side of the property away from the lake. She tightened her fingers convulsively when the ground began to drop away, grateful she’d had playtime with Lourdes again before deciding to go with the men to the tunnels. The idea had seemed sound then; now she wasn’t so certain, but soaring across a sky was maybe worth it after all.
“Tariq.” She breathed his name, wanting to hide her eyes, but unable to do so, not when she could stare at the house and lake from above. He didn’t hesitate or falter. Neither did the other men, still grouped in a tight circle around her.
“It’s easier and faster to get from one place to the other this way,” he explained.
That so wasn’t an explanation. But flying through the air was totally kick-ass. She opened her mouth to speak and the wind whipped every word away from her. She chose to use their more intimate path. Will I be able to do this by myself?
Male amusement. At last. Something about my world that pleases you.
You please me. Flying really pleased her. Flying was possibly the coolest thing in the world, once you got over the shock that someone could actually fly. She would be doing a lot of flying in the future.
Tell me why Dragomir thought it was too dangerous for me to go with you. Because, honestly, if a man like that was worried, maybe she should be as well.
Tariq was silent for so long she didn’t think he’d answer her. She watched the houses and lights below her and then finally looked up at his face. Every single time she did that—looked fully at him—he took her breath away. Not just the beauty there, but the depth of feeling he had for her.
His blue eyes drifted over her face. You are so brave, Charlotte. Many, even most, Carpathian males do not want any danger touching their lifemates. However, each lifemate is different, with different needs. For instance, Blaze, Maksim’s lifemate, is a warrior through and through. She doesn’t particularly want to have to fight vampires, but she certainly wants to know how to do so and to become skilled at it. She needs that. So Maksim can do no other than provide for her what she needs.
And I need to do this. She made it a statement because it was the truth. She didn’t want to fight vampires, but she certainly wanted to know how. She wanted to become the best fighter possible. She wouldn’t want to actively go hunting, but she wanted to know she could defend herself and her children—all the children—from the undead should she have to. Blaze has the right idea.Yes. I spent a lifetime or two training young men for battle. I talked it over with Maksim and have no problem teaching you and Blaze and any of the other women here on the property who would like to learn.
You’re very progressive. She couldn’t help but bury her face between his neck and shoulder so she could kiss behind his ear and tug at his earlobe with her teeth. I need a progressive man.
When we go into dangerous situations, I expect instant obedience.
She flinched. There went his progressive status. Tariq, I’m actually quite intelligent. I know enough, without you or anyone else telling me, that you’re far more equipped and experienced at this type of thing than me. It’s your world, not mine.
He started to speak and she shook her head, feeling his thoughts forming in her mind. It isn’t my world yet, but even if I were fully in it, I would still expect you to take the lead and kill the monsters. I don’t mind helping you in any way that I can, but all by myself I can figure out that I don’t have the experience you have.
She didn’t try to keep the attitude out of her voice. Did he think she was crazy? She had no problems wading into a fight. She backed up her friends, and she’d back up her man. She totally would take care of her family, but the idea that he thought she’d be silly enough to try to battle it out with the likes of Fridrick if she didn’t have to do it was just plain crazy.
I told you not to touch the horses and you did.
Okay. He had a point. She’d totally done that. It was an accident of sorts, but still, she’d done just that. When I’m around old things, I like to touch them. It’s a compulsion. As she answered, she stroked his face with the pads of her fingers, hoping he’d laugh.
I can see my woman has a lot of sass in her.
At least she could feel his amusement. I have to keep up with your bossy tendencies. Remember the part about you giving me what I need? I need you to lose the bossy business.
She felt more of his amusement and liked it a lot. That blossomed into full laughter, and she absolutely loved that.
They settled to the ground just outside a vacant building. “There’s an entrance right here. The tunnels lead to a little underground city. The Malinov brothers prepared very well for this.” Tariq put her gently on the cracked sidewalk. “They bought up most of these properties, and we think they’re using the harbor to go out to sea on boats. They buy men and women from the trafficking rings and take them out where no one can see them all die.”
A little shudder went through Charlotte. “Is that what they wanted us for? To feed on and kill?”
“No, Charlotte.” He shook his head, his gaze moving broodingly over her face. “Down there, you’ll find the reason hopefully just by touching the cages. We think we know what they’re doing, but need to be certain. We found the bodies of several young women in various stages of pregnancy. We believe they are trying to find mothers for their children. Those women have to be capable of becoming lifemates.”
Maksim led the way down into the tunnels. Tariq followed him. Charlotte stuck her hand in Tariq’s back pocket in order to feel more at ease in the labyrinth with all the twists and turns.
“They’re looking for their lifemates so they can have children?” she echoed faintly. Who would want the likes of Fridrick as the father to her children? That was the worst possible thing she could imagine.
“It is impossible for them to find lifemates. Even if one stood in front of them, they have chosen to give up their souls. They cannot bind her to them. No, they are looking for gifted human women strong enough to carry their children. How that is possible I don’t know, but it is certain they are trying. We found . . . remains. We removed the bodies but had not gotten to the skeletons and bones. Those are still buried in the debris.”
Charlotte felt a little frisson of fear creep down her spine. She couldn’t imagine what someone like Fridrick would put a woman through, and according to Tariq, he was not the worst, not the man in charge. She really didn’t want to be around to meet him.