Dark Promises(32)

Her grandmother was being used as a pawn, or she was just plain fanatical. If it was the latter, Andre knew he would have to kill her. If he killed her, Teagan would have a difficult time forgiving him. Still, it would have to be done, and lifemates didn’t lie to each other.

“She isn’t vicious,” Teagan greeted. “She’s misled.”

“Regardless, she’s with four men, Teagan. Four men who have come here determined to kill us. You. Me. The men in the monastery. She’s leading them right to them. We are going to have to stop them.”

“I didn’t know you were different when I met you, Andre, and she won’t, either. We can casually meet them on the trail and say we’ve been camping for our honeymoon. Because we’ve just gotten married, it will seem natural for us to want to be alone, even in the daylight hours.” Teagan stepped close, putting her hand on his chest and looking up at him.

His heart did a slow somersault when he looked down into her eyes. He would give her the world if he could. He wanted to give her this. They’d be walking right into the enemy’s camp. He had no doubt that he would have done that on his own, but to bring Teagan along was sheer madness.

“It is dangerous, sívamet. These people have killed many of us. They find our sleeping places and murder us when we have no way to fight them. They kill the innocent. I doubt they’ve ever killed a real vampire in their lives. Your grandmother is the one leading them to us, abusing a special gift.”

“But she doesn’t know that’s what she’s doing,” Teagan insisted. “She’s funny and smart and loves to be snarky, but she wouldn’t kill an innocent person. She just doesn’t know.”

“Teagan.” He said her name gently. Lovingly.

She shook her head. “Don’t. She’s my grandmother, Andre.”

She blinked up at him with her dark, chocolate eyes and those luscious eyelashes that never failed to catch his notice. She was pulling out all the stops, and because she was the world to him, he knew he was susceptible. Still. It was dangerous.

“Even if you were to convince her, Teagan—and I am not saying I will allow you to take that risk—her friends will not care one way or the other. I have seen their kind many times. They will not tolerate different. I am different. You are different. The ancients up in the monastery are different. And they will not come at us at night. They know better. They will strike during the day, when we are vulnerable.”

Andre knew he wasn’t convincing her. She loved her Grandma Trixie and she wasn’t going to back down over the issue. He took her hand and brought the tips of her fingers to the warmth of his mouth.

“Csitri.” Again he used his voice on her. Soft. Mesmerizing. Loving. Pure silk and velvet with the rasp that always shook her. She wasn’t immune to his voice.

“She’s my grandmother. She raised me. Imagine how you would feel, Andre, if you had to even think about killing someone you loved.”

He closed his eyes briefly. He had destroyed several people he cared for. Friends he’d grown up with. Friends who had lost the fight against the darkness in them—darkness Teagan had saved him from.

“You cannot ever be blinded by love, Teagan. By anything. We will be in danger every moment we are in the company of humans. Unless you can feel the threat, such as we do now, because they are in that mode, you could be right next to a member of the society and not know it.”

“She isn’t evil.”

“I did not, at any time, say your grandmother was evil, Teagan.” He framed her face with both hands, tipping her head up so she was forced to meet his eyes. “You love her. You want her safe. I will move heaven and earth to accomplish that for you. But, csitri, you have to get what I am saying to you or I cannot have you anywhere near those people. They are dangerous. They would kill you without even thinking twice about it. I have to know you are with me. Me. Your lifemate. Not your grandmother.”

“Can’t I be with both of you?” she asked in a small voice.

He ran his finger down her soft, mocha skin. Beautiful skin. His beautiful empath. “No, sívamet. Not this time. This time we have to go into this situation with the knowledge that things could go wrong. If that happens, I have to know I can trust you to have my back—that no matter how difficult, you can accept my decisions.”

Her eyes searched his. He liked that about Teagan. She thought things out for herself. She liked to chatter when she was nervous, something he found he liked far too much, but she was always serious when it was called for. She knew what he meant. She knew her grandmother could be facing a death sentence and he wouldn’t hesitate if she stayed with the members of the fanatical society. Still . . . She bit her lip. It was her grandmother. The woman who had raised her.