Juliette held out her hand. "Come back into the other room and let's try to sort this out. You don't remember at all being alone with Manolito?"
She would remember, wouldn't she? She'd dreamt of him coming to her. A daydream once-only a dream. He'd pulled her into his strong arms and his mouth had slid over her skin down to the swell of her breast. The spot throbbed and burned. Without thinking, she put her palm over the pulsing strawberry that wouldn't quite heal and held the warmth to her.
She shook her head. "It wasn't real. He was across the room at the Inn in the Carpathian Mountains, but I didn't ever really talk to him." He had looked at her. She'd expected his eyes to be flat and cold and empty like so many of the hunters', but he looked… dangerous, as if he might be hunting her. Instead of being frightened as she was now, she had been secretly thrilled, because, after all, it was a fantasy.
MaryAnn followed Juliette out of the room, aware of Riordan prowling behind her like a great jungle cat. He moved in silence, as his brother had moved. She needed air; the room seemed so hot and oppressive, much like the rain forest. That didn't make sense either. The house was well insulated and air-conditioned to comfortable coolness.
"I don't see how I could be his lifemate. I didn't even meet him. Wouldn't I know? Wouldn't he know?"
"He would know," Riordan said. "He would be drawn to his lifemate, and if you were the one, the moment you spoke, he would see in colors and his emotions would have been restored. He would not have been able to get very far from you." He frowned. "But he would have told us. You would have to be placed immediately under the protection of our family."
"She was already under the protection of Gregori as well as Nicolae and Destiny," Juliette reminded him. "He might not have thought it necessary."
He would have thought it imperative… unless… Riordan broke off his thought and studied MaryAnn's face. "You said it wasn't real. What did you mean by that?"
Color slid under her flawless skin. "I dreamt of him."
Juliette took a deep breath. "Oh, Riordan. What's happening? Something terrible is going on or he would be here."
Riordan immediately was at her side, gliding so fast he was a blur, his arm slipping around her waist as he pressed kisses to her temple. "MaryAnn is here. The three of us can figure this out and we'll find him."
For some reason, the fact that Riordan had included her, as if she could help find a solution, eased some of the tension in MaryAnn. She blinked several times, breathing deeply to try to see past the strange image of the vampire superimposed over the couple. The incisors receded a little, leaving them with normal white teeth.
"Is he really alive?" she asked, not daring to believe.
Riordan nodded, "We all tried to hold him to us, but he was dead, by our measures as well as human, his soul
already leaving his body. No one believed we could bring him back, even with the healer and the rich soil and everyone working to keep him in this world, when suddenly he was back with us. If you are his lifemate, you could be the explanation. You may have kept a piece of his soul safe with you unknowingly."
MaryAnn opened her mouth to protest and then closed it abruptly. She knew the Carpathians weren't human. The same rules didn't apply to their species. She had seen things she would have thought impossible only a few short weeks ago. "But why wouldn't I know if I was his lifemate?"
"It is our men who are imprinted with the ritual binding words," Juliette explained. "As a precaution for the species to continue."
"You mean so the woman can't refuse him."
"It is the same thing," Riordan said. "And I doubt if he has bound you to him with the ritual words. It is more likely he has tied you together through a blood exchange."
Her heart leapt again, then settled down to a steady drumming. She had allowed Nicolae to take her blood in order to better protect Destiny, but she had never, never, contemplated exchanging blood. She shook her head. "I didn't. It wasn't real. I wouldn't have done that. I'm still struggling to understand and believe your world. I would never have voluntarily taken his blood."
Juliette and Riordan exchanged another long look. "You used the words 'it wasn't real.' What was this dream you spoke of?" Riordan asked.
MaryAnn pressed her hand tighter to her breast. She could still feel his mouth against her skin. She'd been outside and it had been snowing. Then later, when she'd gone back to the house and she'd been alone… Her skin felt cool and he had pushed aside her clothing. His lips had been warm and soft and so very sensuous. She hadn't thought to push him away, only cradle his head while he drank and then… and then…