Dark Promises(36)

She gave a delicate shudder, holding his gaze. “Do you think there’s a vampire traveling with them?”

“I think it is unusual for them to spot three owls winging out of a mist that is as thick and filled with safeguards as the one surrounding the monastery. Your grandmother can hear musical notes, and maybe detect the monastery, but when we take the form of an owl, we are that creature. The notes would be in perfect harmony. She was not the one pointing out Mikhail, Gregori and Gary as they flew away.”

Teagan turned and began moving down the mountain fast. “Is Grandma Trixie in danger, Andre?”

She already knew the answer or she wouldn’t have been practically running. He reached out and caught her arm.

“Slow down. We are on our honeymoon and we have to play that part. Your grandmother knows you like to hike and climb. She will think that is what you are doing and she will convince anyone else with her who might be suspicious.”

“How much danger?” she demanded.

“She is traveling with at least four members of a society that kills indiscriminately. They are fanatical, and that means there is no reasoning with them. Most likely there is something else at play here. A vampire. A vampire’s puppet. Maybe both. If there is a vampire, by now, your grandmother will know she’s in trouble. In order to stay alive, she will have to be very, very careful.”

“She’s highly intelligent, Andre. Grandma Trixie didn’t have a formal education but she’s brilliant. If there’s something not right, she will know immediately.”

“Then she is in more trouble than ever.” He wasn’t going to lie. He couldn’t lie to her, not even to remove the anxiety from her mind. “But, csitri, we will make certain she is safe.”





6


Gabrielle held her breath. She’d never seen a man quite as scary as Aleksei and she’d been around Carpathians, even ancients, for a long while now. The very air vibrated with his darkness. With his fury. He was definitely at the very edge of his control and that alone nearly had her running from him. His eyes blazed fire. As in flames. She could see them.

She breathed out, emptying her lungs, pretending she was doing meditative breathing, sitting tailor fashion as if he wasn’t scaring the total crap out of her. She wished she was like her brother and sister and could find amusement in any situation as they did, but her heart pounded and her mouth went dry. Still. She held herself firm. She wouldn’t flee. She would follow him wherever he led. She owed that to him, and she was determined to see this through.

“Put yourself in the ground, woman.” Aleksei bit out each word, his green eyes glittering and his mouth set with absolute menace.

She lifted her chin. “I will follow wherever you go. It is my right as your lifemate whether you reject me or not.”

He growled. Not low, but a rumbling, scary, mean, threatening growl. Like a tiger might do right before he pounced on you and tore you to shreds. She blinked and dug her fingers into her thighs. His gaze dropped to her hands. Inspected her white knuckles.

“O jelä peje terád, emni.” He said the words low this time, in his own language, and for some reason, that was worse than the growl.

She lifted her chin, trying hard to keep from trembling. “I don’t know what that means. I don’t know the Carpathian language.”

Something moved in his eyes. Something different. Not gentle. Not softening, but still, she had gotten that much through to him. She didn’t know the language. A few words maybe, but those words hadn’t sounded very nice.

“It means, ‘sun scorch you, woman.’”

No. Definitely not nice. She flinched. “I suppose that’s what we’re doing here, isn’t it? Sitting out in the open, waiting for the sun to come up?” She tried a faint smile. “At least you know I’ll obey that order.”

“What is wrong with you? Are you a lunatic? Insane?”

She moistened her lips, and that small action had his gaze dropping to her mouth. She saw his body jerk as if she’d punched him. She probably was a lunatic. Otherwise what would she be doing in the middle of the monastery yard, surrounded by ancients who were there to ensure Aleksei did in fact kill himself? They believed she had betrayed one of them and deserved death. She felt the weight of their eyes, although she couldn’t see them.

Her fingers twisted tightly in the fabric of her soft vintage jeans. “I don’t think I am. But I’m so confused I could be.”

“Put. Yourself. In. The. Ground.”

Her heart nearly stopped beating. She’d really, really made him angry. He was terrifyingly angry. She’d seen him like that already and she didn’t want to go there again. Her fists tightened around the material of her jeans.