Vampire Most Wanted(66)

            Marcus didn’t mind admitting she knew or had more experience and skill than he did at something. Yet she’d been too embarrassed to do the same.

            Ah well, Divine thought as she opened her door to get out. No one was perfect.

            “Nice job,” Marcus complimented, meeting her halfway up the side of the RV.

            “Thanks,” Divine murmured and went to move past him, but he caught her arm to stop her. Pausing, she raised her eyebrows. “What?”

            “I wanted to ask you a couple of questions,” Marcus said quietly.

            Divine hesitated, but then forced herself to at least appear relaxed and nodded slowly. “Okay.”

            Marcus took a breath, considered her briefly and then asked, “Do you know about life mates?”

            Divine tilted her head a little surprised by the question. “Of course.” She smiled faintly and admitted, “A visiting cousin and I used to play at being life mates when I was eleven. She was always the girl,” she added dryly and shrugged. “Don’t all immortal children chatter and dream about finding their life mate one day?”

            “What do you know about them?” he pressed.

            Divine shrugged. “They are an immortal’s one true mate, the one who can’t read or control them and whom they can’t read or control. They bond for life.”

            “Do you know the symptoms of finding a life mate?”

            She frowned now. “Why are you asking me this?”

            “Because I’m 2,548 years old,” Marcus announced. “And I can’t read you.”

            Divine blinked. He was old . . . but she was older. His not being able to read her, therefore, was no great surprise. However, as the older one, she should have been able to read him . . . and couldn’t. She hadn’t enjoyed any of the other symptoms of meeting a life mate though, at least not that she’d noticed. She wasn’t hungering for food, but then she hadn’t really been around any unless you counted the canned and boxed goods in Vincent and Jackie’s pantry.

            “And neither Jackie nor Vincent should be able to read me, but they can for the first time since I’ve known them,” Marcus added solemnly, and then pointed out, “The inability to block younger immortals from reading your thoughts is another symptom of finding a life mate.”

            Divine swallowed, her mind beginning to whirl.

            “And,” he added, “while I can’t read you, Jackie and Vincent can.”

            Divine actually felt the blood leave her face as this news struck her. This was . . . Cripes, Vincent and Jackie could read her? Two babies like them? Impossible. But if they could . . . Was Marcus her . . . ?

            What had they read? She worried, suddenly. What did they know? Was all of this true? Was Marcus her life mate? She remembered the sensations that she got whenever their bodies touched, brushed, or accidentally rubbed together and had to shake her head. She couldn’t handle that just then. She couldn’t handle Marcus being her life mate either. This was some cosmic joke. One of Lucian’s spies her life mate?

            Dear God, Divine thought with dismay and then her mind circled back around to wondering what Vincent and Jackie had read in her thoughts. What did they know? What had she given away?

            Marcus was her life mate, her mind screamed, and Divine raised her hands to rub her temples. Her thoughts were too chaotic. She couldn’t deal with all of this right now. Couldn’t even consider him being her life mate. He was Lucian’s spy, for God’s sake, and her son might be in jeopardy from whatever Vincent and Jackie had read in her thoughts.