“You were gone so long. I was worried about you.”

She didn’t ask if they had been successful, only said that she was worried for him. He couldn’t remember a time someone had worried for him. He tucked her hand over his heart and took the wrist Ferro practically forced against his lips. It was difficult not to gulp the ancient blood. The moment he took it in, it began to work its magic, spreading through him quickly, infusing his cells and organs with rich, life-giving energy. He felt power rushing through him, filling him again when he’d been so spent.

The moment Gary had taken his fill from Sandu, he rose. “I will return at sunset. We should be ready for a fight, Dragomir.”

“A fight?” Emeline echoed. “What does that mean?”

Dragomir didn’t like that she sounded frightened. He closed the laceration on Ferro’s wrist and put his arm around Emeline. “Thank you, healer. We will be ready.”

Gary gave an old-world, slight bow and was gone, shimmering one moment and then disappearing, leaving Dragomir alone with his woman and three of the men he’d spent years locked away with, men so dangerous they had to be locked away in order to keep the world safe.

“Thank you for coming. Emeline, my friends – brothers, really – Sandu, Ferro and Andor. These are men you can always rely on. Always. They will guard you and have your back. We must go to ground, and we will do so close to you…”

She made a sound, and he felt the tremor go through her body, but she nodded, not voicing her fear that once she was without his protection, if there was objection to the child, Tariq could send his security force to remove her.

“Before we go to ground, we will weave a safeguard that is impenetrable, keeping everyone out. They will not be able to get into the house, or harm your home in any way. It also means you cannot leave. I don’t want you to be afraid if you must remain in the house. It is for your protection and also the protection of the child. The house will not allow even the children or your women friends inside. We cannot take chances with the baby.”

Emeline dropped her free hand to her cover her womb.

“You will be safe. We will keep you safe.” He made the declaration firmly, in the way he stated an absolute. She couldn’t help but hear the resolution in his voice. He stood, flowing to his feet, taking her with him, and setting her aside. Each of the men faced a different direction and they began to weave the safeguards no man alive other than those that had been in the monastery had a chance of getting through. When they were satisfied that the protections they’d woven together were strong, the three ancients bowed as Gary had, ready to take their leave.

For the first time, Emeline looked up at the three men. “Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it.”

It was Sandu who inclined his head, and then the three men disappeared, retreating as the sun began to rise.

“You still do not fully believe we are lifemates, Emeline, but this day will prove to you that we are. It will be difficult for you not to be able to reach me when needed, but know I am close and will come to you,” Dragomir said. “Try to sleep as much as you can.”

She gave him a faint, you-are-a-little-nuts-but-I-like-you-anyway kind of a smile.

“I’m going to give you blood.”

She recoiled involuntarily, shaking her head and wrapping her arms around her middle for protection.

He couldn’t let her get away with it as much as his heart wanted to. “You need my blood, and so does the child, sívamet.”

She swallowed hard and then moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “What does that mean? What you call me? Sívamet. What does that mean?”

“My heart. You are my heart.”

She looked at him a long time, staring into his eyes, searching for something. He didn’t hurry her, although he felt the burning rays of the sun on his skin, when they weren’t penetrating the heavy drapes. She nodded slowly, evidently finding whatever she had been looking for.

“I like that. I shouldn’t encourage you, Dragomir, but I like that someone thinks I’m their heart.”

“Do you want me to aid you? To make it easier?”

Again she nodded slowly, never taking her eyes from his. He reached for her, circling her wrist with his fingers, a shackle, a protection. Very gently, he pulled her to him and leaned down to brush kisses down the side of her face. The corner of her eye. Her cheekbone. He loved that line. The corner of her mouth. He loved her mouth. The shape. The way her bottom lip curved and her top lip formed a perfect little bow.

She shivered in his arms, relaxing into him. He kissed his way along her ear. That perfect little shell he found intriguing. His tongue made a little foray, tracing the lines there. That earned him another shiver, and her body melted into his. The feel of her in his arms was unlike anything he had ever known. She fit. She belonged.

His body came to life, a hard, painful pleasure that took him by surprise. Need flowed through his bloodstream, a hot, urgent demand centering in his groin. It was a beautiful, perfect moment, one he would never forget and would treasure for all the rest of his time. Emeline in his arms, holding her against him while she melted into him, making them one.

He kissed his way down her throat, his lips tasting her soft skin, finding her pulse beating, beckoning. His own pulse quickened in response. Matching hers. Finding that exact rhythm. It was so beautiful. Moment by moment. Each brush of his mouth. His teeth reacted, lengthening while his body hardened more, becoming a savage ache. Now his blood thundered in his ears and pounded in his cock. Deliberately, he scraped his teeth back and forth against her skin right over that sweet sound of her heart so it beat into his mouth.

She gasped. Moaned softly. Music he’d never heard but found he loved. He needed more. He scraped his teeth a second time. She moaned again and moved restlessly against him, pressing her lower body into him. Her hips rocked subtly so that her belly rubbed enticingly over his thick cock. The action sent streaks of lightning ripping through the waves of heat in his bloodstream.

He sank his teeth deep. She cried out. Arched into him. Her breasts and mound rubbed against his body until he thought he might go mad with sheer pleasure. Her blood tasted exquisite. He knew he would ingest the parasites, but the moment he was out of her sight, he could rid his body of them. He could only think about her taste, an aphrodisiac, an addiction he would never be rid of. He had to be careful not to take too much. She would be alone in the house without him. Without anyone. He didn’t like it, but it was the safest way possible for her until she was fully in his world.

He lifted his head reluctantly and closed the wound with his tongue. He kissed his way around her throat, back up to her chin, and then brushed his lips over her mouth. That perfect mouth he found impossible to ignore. It was fast becoming his obsession. He thought about it far too much.

“That didn’t hurt,” she whispered against his chest. “It felt… erotic. Intimate. Beautiful.”

“Te avio päläfertiilam. You are my lifemate, Emeline,” he whispered, opening his shirt. He lengthened one fingernail and opened a line across his chest. “My blood is for you. It will make you stronger. It will bring the baby one step closer to being fully my child. Drink.”

She leaned her head toward his chest before he gave her the command to distance herself from what she was doing. For one moment, he hit a barrier of some kind, a natural protection she had in her brain. He felt her indecision and then she gave him the gift of her trust. The barrier tumbled down, and her lips were on his skin. Soft. So soft. The whisper of movement was nearly his undoing.

He hadn’t expected the way his body would react to her mouth on his skin. Her tongue slid along that seam where ruby drops of his blood welled up. His body went up in flames. Electricity danced over him, so that little sparks seemed to go off in his brain. His cock jerked with urgent need. The world dropped away until there was only the two of them, locked together, her mouth taking from him what she needed, her body edgy, impatient to be with his, his arms holding her to him, one hand cradling the back of her head. The moment was etched into his brain.

So many firsts. All perfection. All sensation. The beauty of having a lifemate was beyond anything he had imagined in all the hundreds of years he had sought her. He thought about how he had decided to go back to the monastery because the modern world and the women in it had seemed beyond his reach, yet here she was in his arms, better than any fantasy he had ever imagined. He knew he had to share that knowledge with the others so they didn’t make the mistake he almost made.