Dark Slayer(138)

He licked a small droplet of crimson blood from where it had run down unnoticed from neck to breast in their passion. She shuddered in reaction, producing another fresh wave of liquid cream, hot and unbearably sensual as she clamped down again, draining the last remaining drops his body could possibly produce.

"As long as I please you, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved."

Reluctantly he loosened his hold on her and allowed her legs to drop from where she had them wrapped around his hips. The movement sent another shuddering pulse through both of them. She rolled over off him and lay with her arms spread out, her body still gasping for air.

"I think you might have killed me. At least my lungs are gone. And I am still having tiny, little, very amazing orgasms. How do you do that?"

He turned his head to give her a cocky grin. "It happens to be my job to keep you satisfied, and I take that task very seriously."

Her fingers found his. She closed her eyes and just savored him. Being with him. "I want you to know something, Razvan. It is very hard for me to say the things in my heart. It makes me feel silly to say them aloud but you have to know this."

She opened her eyes, locked her gaze with his and put one hand over her heart. "If things go wrong, and we both know there is every chance they will, this has been the best time of my life. I do not regret one moment with you. You made me feel alive again. You reminded me why I hold my brothers' memories in my soul. And you gave me such a gift of your heart. I want you to know that gift is treasured. I love you without measure."

The admission meant all the more because he knew it was truly difficult for her to express intense emotions.

"I love you, too." That didn't quite make it, as far as he was concerned. He sent the emotion to her. Intense. All-consuming. Swamped her with it. Drowned her in it. Let her see into his heart and mind and very soul.

"You move me like no other could," she said and swallowed hard, blinking back tears. She sighed. "We have to feed well. Ourselves and the pack. This is our best chance to destroy the high mage. He will be weakened by what we did last eve."

"You are certain you want to take on this task."

She smiled and this time her smile was serene, matching his. "I have not changed my mind, nor would I let you go without me, as you are thinking. You need me if we are going to succeed, just as I need you. We have a better chance together than apart."

"We cannot lose this night, then, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved," Razvan said. "Let us choose our weapons and call the pack. If he escapes us it will be a long while before we-or anyone else-has this opportunity again."

"He will not escape us," Ivory said, and there was steel in her voice.





CHAPTER 20



Flakes of snow drifted down as they streamed across the sky away from their home and toward the mountains where Razvan knew Xavier had taken up residence. They had found a small group of human hunters tracking deer through the forest miles from the village nearest to the Carpathian territory and fed well. With the pack sated and everyone at full strength, they immediately began the journey to the glacier mountain where Xavier had gone when his labyrinth of caves had been destroyed months earlier, allowing Razvan to escape.

They traveled through the sky, careful to leave no tracks, but stayed low so they could examine the ground carefully. Once out of the trees near an icy stream, a splash of color caught Ivory's eyes. The wolves reacted with unease. Ivory and Razvan hovered just above the ground, resuming their physical forms in order to study the tracks.

"There is a blood trail here," Ivory pointed out unnecessarily. "You can see where the carcass of a deer has been dragged from the shelter of the trees through the snow and toward the mountains. It is not wolves who killed the deer, nor human hunters." She pointed to the spike marks in the snow. "Bats."

She stood for a long time just studying it. Razvan said nothing, enjoying watching the huntress in her puzzle out the trail. It was highly unusual for Xavier's mutated bats to feed any distance from the caves, but this had definitely been a bat attack. The evidence of the creatures walking on their wings was clear in the snow.

"They ambushed the deer here," she said. She pointed overhead. "Some dropped from above, some came from below, and they obviously surrounded it. The poor thing had no chance."

He didn't point out that she hunted with various wolf packs, aiding them in getting through the winter.

Ivory glanced up sharply, her gaze narrowing. "It is not the same thing. They take the blood to their master for evil purposes."

"That is true," he agreed. "Why do you read my mind when it just annoys you?"