Dark Curse (30 page)

Vikirnoff took Natalya's hand. "You knew Razvan better than any person alive. Could this be possible? Could it have been Xavier controlling Razvan?"

She closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. "I don't know, Vikirnoff. I truly don't know. He only came to me in my dreams. How could Xavier intrude on dreams?"

"How can Xavier find a way to imprison and keep from suicide one of the most powerful Carpathian women? Rhiannon's lifemate was murdered, yet Xavier managed to force her to have triplets with him," Nicolas pointed out. "I knew Rhiannon and her lifemate. She would have followed him if she could have."

Lara cleared her throat. "The aunts talked about her often. She was held prisoner by Xavier and once she had the children, she stayed alive willingly to help protect them and teach them as much as she could about the Carpathian and mage cultures. She imparted knowledge to them at a fast rate because she knew eventually Xavier would murder her, and he did."

You didn't tell me this
. Nicolas's voice slid into her mind with ease.

I'm getting bits and pieces now. Now they just come to me
. She didn't know if she was happy about it or not.

Nicolas didn't like her feeling so confused. In close proximity to Natalya, Lara was already edgy. She hid it well, but she was uncomfortable, her memories still too raw. Twice she rubbed her wrist, although he knew it was habit more than pain, but the gesture served as a reminder of her traumatic childhood.

"I want to go with you," Natalya said. "To the cave. I
have
to go."

"Natalya," Vikirnoff cautioned.

"No, it's Razvan. I have to see if there's a chance we're wrong about him. Maybe we'll find something, a clue to what's been happening."

Vikirnoff muttered something under his breath. "The cave is a death trap. You were there, Natalya, you know it is."

"He kept me away from Xavier. I could be the one with the nightmare childhood. I could be the one he experimented on and fed off. Razvan saved me, Vikirnoff. I love my brother and if I can at least clear his name so his children think better of him, then I owe him that much."

Vikirnoff shook his head. "It is insanity to go back there. You know that."

Nicolas understood exactly how Vikirnoff felt. The last thing he wanted to do was to take Lara back to the underground labyrinth that Xavier had created.
I have to go, Nicolas. If it was your family you would go
.

The problem, he decided, once your heart was involved, all logic went out the window. It mattered little that he knew it was dangerous, but now he understood her needs and that made the decision not quite as easy as it had been when he had no emotions. His eyes met Vikirnoff's, for the first time understanding the difficulties with keeping women safe.

"The caveman method had value," Vikirnoff stated.

"I agree," Nicolas said, sighing inwardly.
I said I would take you. I do not go back on my word
.

"Then we go tomorrow night?" Natalya asked.

"The night after," Vikirnoff corrected. "I want to do a little reconnaissance before we go and we have to attend the warriors' council. Jacques's baby will be named in the warriors' circle. It is important we all attend to support Jacques and Shea. Should something ever happen to Shea, Jacques could not survive it. Their son would have need of our entire community."

The warriors' council… where he had intended to support Gregori in their bid to keep women away from fighting. Nicolas nearly groaned aloud. "Have you heard news of the prince's lifemate? I assumed she was having problems again."

Natalya looked down at her hands, her expression sad. "Not only is Raven having problems, but evidently Savannah is as well. It doesn't look good. Gregori is working with both of them and Syndil has been working with the surrounding soil, but both women are bleeding, their bodies trying to reject the babies."

A burst of pain in Lara's head had her wrenching her hand free of Nicolas in order to press at her temples. Her mind seemed to splinter for a moment, and a door cracked open. She had a brief glimpse of a sobbing woman, blood on the floor and piles of dirt around her. Xavier stood over her smiling with satisfaction.

"Sometimes we must make small sacrifices for the greater good, my dear. One lost child to ensure that the death of many continues is not too small of a price to pay."

Bile welled up and she stood fast, pushing Nicolas away from her and rushing from the house to stand outside in the fresh, cold air where she could breathe. Nicolas came up behind her, placing gentle hands on her shoulders.

Lara shook him off, taking a step forward, breathing fast. "Don't. Don't say anything yet." He had seen that small vignette of her past. She had felt him there at that first burst of pain, before either realized what was happening.

"You cannot possibly think you are in any way responsible for anything Xavier has done. He wanted immortality and he was angry and bitter that he did not have it and the Carpathians did. He wanted every power our species had as well as his own. When Rhiannon's lifemate was murdered and she disappeared, we knew he had been plotting against us for years. Of course we had no way of knowing the extent of the damage or what he had done. He is a master mage, and undeniably powerful. The seeds of hatred and his descent into madness began centuries before you were ever born."

"His blood is in my veins." She gestured toward the house. "In her veins. He set out to destroy an entire species in the foulest way he could think of." She looked at him then, her eyes sad, shamed. "You know that's what we saw. More experiments. He's done something, has been doing it all along, to make the women miscarry, to make the children die." She tilted her head in challenge. "You don't know him the way I do. You can't kill him. You can't stop him. He is the most despicable creature on the face of the earth, the most evil."

Nicolas understood what she meant. Xavier had murdered his own son. Had kidnapped, raped and forced Rhiannon to bear him children and then, after using her blood for years, had murdered her. He had imprisoned his grandson and experimented on him, tortured him and used his children for a blood supply. He had murdered his grandson's mage wife. There was nothing he could find redeeming about Xavier. He'd never liked him in the old days when the mages and Carpathians had a strong alliance.

"It isn't all mages, you know," she said softly. "My mother was mage."

"
Fél ku kuuluaak swam belso,"
he whispered.

Beloved. Was she beloved? Could someone as strong as Nicolas possibly really understand, accept and love someone as damaged as she?

His mouth curved even as he kissed her again.
We both know I am not without my faults, as much as I would like to pretend otherwise. You need to eat this night. We will go to the inn
.

She nodded. "I want to check on my friends anyway. Let's go."

Nicolas glanced back at the house.
Lara needs a little time. I will take her to the inn to get some food. We can meet after the warriors' council and check out the cave before we bring the women
.

A feminine voice gave a small huff of disdain.
The women
?

Lara's voice echoed her aunt's.
There you go with your women theme. I suspect you have hidden issues, Nicolas
.

You have no idea
. She was feeling benevolent toward him now, but after the warriors' council, she wouldn't be too happy.

Chapter 12

The inn was bustling with activity when Nicolas and Lara arrived. It was always necessary within the village to keep up the pretense of being entirely human. Many Carpathians often went to the dining room and appeared to be eating dinner. It wasn't difficult for Nicolas to shift into immaculate clothes, giving Lara a long, swingy dress that swished around her ankles.

Lara patted her hair, surprised that it was down in a long freefall of red-gold silk. She glanced up at the tall handsome man who made her feel beautiful. His male beauty struck her, a mixture of danger, animal and pure sensual male. She swallowed the sudden need rising and managed a quick smile. "Did you remember makeup, too?"

He tangled his fingers with hers and brought his hand in a possessive gesture to his chest as they entered the lobby area where even the villagers often gathered for drinks. "Of course."

As close to him as she was, she instantly felt the difference in him. The moment they stepped inside where there were others, he went from her gentleman to fiercely, primitive male. It happened in a heartbeat. He even smelled different, a combination of musk, spice and wild outdoors. The cut of his mouth was sensual, yet held a cruel, warning edge. His heavy-lidded eyes brooded, drifting over the competition as if marking each man. The hand at the small of her back was distinctly possessive. He even moved that scant fraction of space closer to her, so that he seemed to be everywhere, dominating her space.

Or maybe the difference was in her. She was intensely aware of the darkly handsome man prowling at her side, all raw sexuality and power. Women turned their heads and stared at him with greedy eyes. Their gazes followed her with some disdain and a lot of envy. She was certain she didn't look woman enough to handle a man as blatantly sexual as Nicolas.

The moment she thought it, he brushed across her body with warm air, as if he'd breathed on her bare skin. Her nipples tightened and heat rushed through her bloodstream. She glanced up at his face, at the raw hunger in his dark eyes each time his gaze slid over her. She touched her tongue to her lower lip and instantly his gaze was riveted there.

"You have to stop," she whispered, a blush creeping up her neckline to bring color into her face. "You're making me…" She broke off, hardly able to breathe properly. She'd never felt quite like this before—excited—sexy—wanted. It was amazing and practically incomprehensible that she could draw the undivided and completely focused attention of a man like Nicolas De La Cruz. She wasn't adventurous. She wasn't beautiful. She certainly wasn't sexy, although he made her feel that way and it was a little intoxicating.

She was all too conscious of his fingers splayed wide just above the curve of her spine. Heat spread from every pinpoint as they crossed the bar to the dining room. Music pulsed in the bar and a few couples swayed to the beat, holding each other more than they danced. A few feet from the arched entrance, Nicolas stopped abruptly, his fingers settling around her wrist to swing her in front of him.

Her breath caught in her lungs as he pulled her into his arms. She fit perfectly, her body going soft so that she melted into him, so close she was nearly sharing his skin. Hard muscles rippled and prowled, a heated, seductive slide that sent a shiver of awareness down her spine and had her breasts aching. She felt the hard bulge pressing tight into her stomach, the thick, unashamed evidence of his desire for her. Her mouth went dry and her stomach muscles knotted.

Nicolas bent his head, his lips skimming her exposed neck and the pulse beating frantically in rhythm with the music. "Relax for me." His voice was rough with a mixture of seduction and lust, almost as if he was making love to her instead of dancing with her.

His tone sent a million butterflies winging in the pit of her stomach. Moisture dampened her thighs and sent an electrical current spiraling through her body. It was her first real experience with such an overwhelming sexual reaction and her emotions were all over the place. Every single nerve ending seemed to have flared into life. Every cell was very aware of Nicolas moving so close to her.

"I don't know how to… I've never…" She didn't know whether she was telling him she'd never danced and had no idea what she was doing, or whether she was trying to tell him she'd never had sex and didn't know the first thing about tempting a man.

Nicolas tightened his hold on her, his arm locking her against him as they executed several intricate dance steps across the floor. She felt as if she was floating in the clouds, light and airy and in perfect tune with him.

"You are temptation itself." His lips brushed against her earlobe as he whispered the words.

Teeth nipped, the smallest of bites, leaving her breathless. Arousal fingered her breasts, her thighs and teased at the junction between her legs. He was seducing her, there on the dance floor, and she didn't even want to resist. She touched her tongue to her lower lip, fighting nerves, determined to see this night through.

She wanted him, wanted to belong to him, in spite of his arrogance and domineering ways. When her mind was merged with his, she could see his determination to learn, to make her happy, to be the man she needed. How could she not want him? Aside from that, she found him the sexiest man alive.

He turned her, brought her back into the shelter of his body and just the way he did it, so commanding, strong and protective, sent another rush of heat surging through her bloodstream. His scent enveloped her, the spicy male tang that was exclusively his mixed with the scent of musky male arousal making for a potent combination. The slide of his hands caressed the sides of her breasts, her rib cage and tucked in waist before settling over her hips to pull her tighter against him.