“You…you did?” She put a hand to her throat. “But how…?”
“I don’t know. Just as I don’t know how I was able to make that stupid male you used to employ stop in his tracks and come back to me when he was intent on running away this afternoon.”
“You made Lorenzo do that?” Lauren whispered. “I thought he just didn’t want to lose face. That he came back to prove he wasn’t afraid of you.”
“He was afraid all right,” Xairn said grimly. “I could feel the fear coming off him in waves. But he had to obey my spoken command—he had no choice.”
Lauren shook her head. “But how? Why? I don’t understand. The only other person I know of who can do that is—” She stopped abruptly but Xairn finished for her.
“My father,” he said grimly. “I appear to be growing more like him every day. Just as my dominant urges are growing stronger and stronger every day.” He ran a hand over him face wearily. “I’m changing, Lauren, and not for the better. Which is why I need to leave now, before I hurt you. Before I do something we’ll both regret forever.”
“You’re not going to do that,” she insisted, trying to keep her voice firm, trying to make herself believe. “And besides, you can’t leave—not now.”
“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow at her. “And why not?”
“Two reasons.” Lauren ticked them off on her fingers. “First, a local girl was taken not far from here. I saw it on the news tonight.”
Xairn frowned. “I’d forgotten about that but I saw it too, this morning. She looked—”
“An awful lot like me,” Lauren finished for him. “Xairn, what if your father is still searching for me? What if he thought that girl was me?”
He shook his head. “That thought crossed my mind as well but there’s no way he can find you—your DNA has been altered.”
“But what if he’s looking?” she insisted. “Please, Xairn—you can’t leave me with this fear hanging over my head. Who else can protect me? Who else will even believe me when I tell them what’s going on?”
She looked up at him hopefully. She hated to play the ‘please protect me, I’m a helpless girl’ card but there didn’t seem to be much choice if she wanted to keep him. And God, how she wanted to. She couldn’t let him go—just couldn’t.
Xairn sighed deeply. “You’re right. I can’t leave while you may be in danger.”
Lauren felt the knot of anxiety which had been building since he first ran out of the Sweet Spot loosen in her chest. “Thank you,” she said in a trembling voice. “Thank you for giving us another chance. And I swear we can work this out.”
“No.” Xairn shook his head. “That’s not going to happen. I’ll stay here with you and protect you on one condition—no more physical contact between us. At all.”
“None?” Lauren felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under her. “Seriously, not even casual touching?”
“Casual non-sexual touching doesn’t work for me.” Xairn looked away from her. “I can’t help myself, Lauren. If I touch you—in any way—I want you. And, as I think I proved to both of us this afternoon, I can’t be gentle in my desires.” He shook his head. “If I can’t touch you gently then I don’t want to touch you at all. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Lauren’s heart felt like a brick which had sunk to the bottom of a muddy pond. Well, at least he’s staying, she reminded herself. And as long as he’s here with me, there’s still hope. Hope I can change his mind. Hope we can work through this and still be together. “I love you, Xairn,” she said, looking into his eyes earnestly. “If this is what it takes for you to stay with me, I’ll agree. I can’t promise to never touch you again but I’ll try not to, uh, provoke you the way I did this afternoon.”
A look of mingled relief and regret filled his ocean-colored eyes. “Thank you. And thank you for not…not hating me. As I hate myself.”
“You shouldn’t,” Lauren said softly. She wanted to hug him, to take away the pain she saw in his face. But that was forbidden now, so she contented herself with looking into his eyes. “I could never hate you, baby. And you need to be a little easier on yourself. You can’t change what you’ve always been overnight.”
“I’m afraid I’ll never be able to change,” he said darkly. “Though the Gods know I would if I could.” He sighed and shook his head. “You told me there were two reasons I couldn’t go. What is the second?”