Dark Ghost (29 page)

“I love the jeans, Andre, but I usually wear pants I can climb in easily.” She had to say something because he looked gorgeous, and that was what got her in trouble in the first place. Who knew she was susceptible to cavemen?

His smile was faint, but there was amusement in his eyes. “Teagan. Seriously. You can fly. You can change your clothes with a wave of your hand and the image in your mind.”

She bit her lip. That was seriously cool. “Andre, I’m not hungry at all. Maybe I won’t need to take someone’s blood.” She said it hopefully because, really, she could get used to the cool aspects of being in his world.

“Before I woke you, I fed and then fed you,” Andre said. All trace of amusement was gone and he was watching her closely. Very closely. His eyes hooded and a little possessive. “You told me you liked to be held, so I brought you out of the ground where you were healing and made certain you were completely healed before I woke you.”

Her stomach lurched and she pressed a hand there. “I was in the ground?”

“You were in terrible pain, Teagan. The moment I knew it was safe to send you to sleep, I did. I put you in the ground to heal. You have been there for two risings.”

She knew he meant the rising of the moon. Two nights. Forty-eight hours. He’d
fed
her. That meant he gave her blood. He’d brought her out of the ground. Cleaned her. Cuddled her. She bit her lip again. As much as it was
all
his fault, he’d still been thoughtful. She couldn’t have faced all that. Not blood and dirt.

“Do bugs crawl all over us when we’re in the ground?”

His eyebrow shot up. “Bugs?”

“Andre, I don’t mind insects, but not crawling all over me.”

“I will do my best to keep that from happening.”

“And from now on we make decisions together,” she pressed.

He was silent for a long moment. Too long. She went back to narrowing her eyes at him. He
so
deserved narrowed eyes
and
a black scowl. Her meanest one.

He sighed. “Lifemates cannot tell an untruth to each another. You are not always rational, Teagan, and I do not argue well.”

She was outraged. “I am very rational.”

He shook his head. “You are not. And you admitted already you have trouble with anyone telling you what to do. What happens when I issue an order and you do not obey?”

“You do
not
issue orders, Andre. I do
not
obey.” Now, finally, she knew why people in books were sometimes described as “tearing their hair.” Because she wanted to tear at hers. He was impossible. Standing there, looking all gorgeous from his
way
superior height and telling her she wasn’t rational.
Whatever.

“It was not rational to come here alone and go into the mountains with a serial killer who I will add was also a serial rapist.”

She did grab her long braid and yank. “You
cannot
possibly use that as an example. I didn’t know he was a serial killer.”

He was silent. His blue eyes had that faint trace of amusement in them. She could never resist that. Still. She was entirely rational at all times. She didn’t want to think about any of this right now. She needed to be normal, even if just for a short while. She’d
discuss
life-changing decisions with him when she wasn’t so emotional, because she
was
rational. Feeling better, she took a breath and let it out.

“Thank you for this evening. The wake-up, I mean. That was very thoughtful of you to remove me from the ground and… um… feed me. I’m not ready for reality yet.”

“I am aware of that,
sivamet
. I am happy to take care of those things for you. You will be ready in time, but for now, I enjoy taking care of you. The idea of you taking blood from another man does not sit well with me. We both have things to learn.”

That released about a million butterflies in her stomach. She lifted her gaze to his, trying for rational and practical. “I’m going into that little town to report that Armend Jashari is dead and someone needs to come up and get his body. Then I need to talk to the village police or whatever and tell them about the women he killed. After that I have to call Grandma Trixie and tell her I met someone.”

She could see, by the way his face darkened and his eyes went ice-cold, that once again he didn’t think she was being the least bit rational or practical.

A
ndre stood outside the entrance to the cave, looking up at the night sky. Gray and misty, not even the clouds could be seen. “A storm is coming in,” he announced. “A real one.”

“As opposed to a fake one?” Teagan asked, smiling up at him.

Teagan was full of smiles, he knew, because she was getting her way. It wasn’t rational or practical. He’d explained to her that it wasn’t a good idea for Carpathians to draw attention to themselves. He’d stupidly mentioned that he could easily get someone to come up the mountain, find the body and eventually discover the bodies of the women Armend Jashari had killed.

She had jumped all over that and argued if he could do that, he could protect her in a village with so few people. So she was making him just as irrational as she was – because he couldn’t say no to her. Not when he felt her need to do something normal, something human. Not when he could tell she’d buried her fear, but it was there. She was terrified and still holding it together. Mostly he couldn’t tell her no because he loved her and he wanted to give her everything she wanted and he couldn’t give her what she wanted most.

Not just couldn’t. If he was honest, he would never give her that, never take back that he’d brought her fully into his world even if it was possible – which it wasn’t. He hadn’t known she’d suffer the way she had, but still, it was done. She was his. She would get over being angry – and he could admit her anger was justifiable – but she wasn’t the type of woman to hold on to anger.

He’d said she wasn’t practical, but she was. She knew they couldn’t reverse the conversion. Because she couldn’t deal with it, she buried it along with her fears and turned to human normal. She would let him deal with Jashari’s death and the bodies on the mountain, but she just wanted to walk through the streets and look into store windows. Normal.

Andre shook his head and reached out to take her hand. She was trembling, but she didn’t hesitate. He needed to give her something else. Teagan admitted she was afraid of everything but she didn’t want to allow fear to rule her. She would accept the challenge of her new life. He had to give her time.

He closed his hand around hers and drew her to him. “Do you want to fly? By yourself, I mean. You doing it, not me.”

Her breath came out in a rush of white vapor. She shivered. He brought his hand up to the nape of her neck to ease the tension out of her.

“First, I want you to learn to control your body temperature. When you get cold or hot, you can regulate it to be comfortable.”

Her eyes went wide. Surprise. Shock. Like he was giving her a gift. His fingers tightened on her neck and he brought her closer to the shelter of his body. She had a way of looking at him that made him feel as if he was the only man she ever saw. Or would see. He liked that a lot. He had never considered what the reality of having a lifemate would be like, but he was learning. Emotions got in the way of rational thought.

“I can fly. By myself?”

He nodded. “There are a lot of ways to do it, but the easiest is to take the form of a bird. We use owls at night because they are more common. Owls are found anywhere. As long as you know which species is native to the area, no one will ever know you are even in their neighborhood.”

Her eyes were shining up at him. He couldn’t stop himself. He wrapped her up in one arm and pulled her tight against him, fitting her into his side. With his other hand he tipped up her face and brushed a kiss over her mouth. He couldn’t stop there, not once he got the taste of her. She was so addictive. He didn’t want to go into a village full of humans with her. He wanted to spend a few risings in bed with her. He poured that into his kisses, letting her know without words just how he felt.

Teagan blinked at him when he lifted his head, making him want to groan in frustration. Another thing that happened with emotion was the loss of his great control over his anatomy. She seemed more in control of his body than he was. The moment he pulled her close, or she got that dazed, confused, sexy look on her face, his body went as hard as a rock.

“I love when you look at me like that,” he admitted.

She smiled at him and touched the pad of her finger to his mouth. “I think your lips should be bronzed or something. Really, Andre. You’re smiling, but you have no idea.”

He had an idea because he felt the same way about her mouth – her entire body – but especially her mind. He loved the crazy way her mind worked. He never knew what she was going to say, or think, next. She made him laugh. He’d lived centuries and he hadn’t known he
could
laugh. She’d given that to him. That gift. So many gifts and she still had no idea what she was to him. What she meant to him.

He would guard her, protect her and the only way he could do that was to make certain she was with him at all times. He couldn’t chance her running around the mountain in the daytime when anything could happen to her and he couldn’t save her. She would come to understand the need once she’d spent time in his world and had come to terms with it. Right now, he knew, she couldn’t help feeling he’d betrayed her.

Kissing him the way she did, even knowing she was upset, that she was afraid and felt he had deceived her, was a miracle in itself. He was a man who had given up on miracles. He’d given up on life. He’d thought to die with honor, and in that moment of absolute despair that he would have to continue, she had come to him with her laughter and kisses and a bright, bright light that shone from her soul.

“So how? How do I go from this…” Teagan swept a hand down her body. “To that?” She pointed to the sky.

“I will show you first. And then I will talk you through the steps.”

She nodded, her lower lip caught between her teeth. He could see the flash of fear in her eyes, feel it in her mind, but she wanted to know how to fly. She wasn’t about to allow fear to stop her from learning. Andre felt his heart flutter and the knots in his belly he’d had since he’d risen loosened a little. Teagan faced life head-on.
His
Teagan.

He brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her knuckle because if he kissed her mouth they wouldn’t be going anywhere other than back inside the cave. Dropping her hand, he stepped back, giving himself room and her space. He didn’t want her to panic when he shifted form.

“The change always starts in your mind, Teagan. Stay in mine and see the image I project. It can be anything from putting clothes on to taking them off. Shifting is more difficult in the beginning because you have to have your image in perfect detail. You will learn how to do that and it will become second nature. You will no longer have to think about it, your body will just do it.”

She nodded, but she took another step back. He didn’t like that, but gave her the space.

“
Sivamet
, if this is too soon, there is no need to start yet. I can take you to the village. You will enjoy that as well.”

She took a breath. “I want to learn. This is something that would go on the pro side of being like you. I have to have a lot of pros right now, Andre.”

He smiled at her. He couldn’t help it. She was so adorable. So determined. He didn’t think a man could love a woman more than he did Teagan in that moment. He didn’t wait, because she only had so much courage and she’d already faced so much.

Andre deliberately pictured the owl in his mind. He chose the medium to large Ural owl because he was certain Teagan would have seen it numerous times. Grayish feathers, dark eyes, no ear tufts, chest heavily streaked in gray and white. A good four-foot wingspan. Fierce. Free. Beautiful in flight or sitting quite still, waiting for prey. They punched with their talons and protected their territories, nests and owlets with a ferocious and very aggressive single mind.

He gave her the information as well as showing her the feather structure and detail. As he did, he reached for the change, the shift to that amazing creature’s form. He was lightning fast as a rule. He could shift in midair in the blink of an eye. He’d been shifting for centuries and it was second nature to him, but he did this one slow so she could see it happening.

Teagan’s gasp nearly made him stop midchange, but she stepped closer to the forming bird, her eyes wide with shock and wonder. Her entire face lit up. He stayed firmly in her mind.

While you are shifting, it will feel strange to you, but you must keep only the image that you want to be in your head the entire time.
 

“What will happen if I mess up?”

Even in the owl’s body, he heard the trepidation in her voice.
I will be with you and can guide you back. Keep your mind in mine. Focus on the image of the owl. Study my form before you attempt it. Have no fears, Teagan, I will not allow anything to happen to you.

Teagan took a deep breath and walked around the owl. It was a powerful creature. Intelligent and, she could see, fierce, just as Andre had described it. Its facial disc was prominent and mostly a grayish color. There was a rim around the disc that had beautiful, pearl-like spots in light and dark. The head was round and the tail, with its wedge-shaped tip, was long.

She wanted to make the change. She had watched him do it. Andre, going from his tall, broad-shouldered, thick-chested frame to that of an owl had been unbelievable. She’d seen it with her own eyes and still couldn’t believe it. To think she might be able to do that was… well… extraordinary.

She licked her suddenly dry lips. She
had
to do this. It might be more thrilling than climbing a V13, which was crazy difficult but utterly mind-consuming and absolutely satisfying.

“Shifting starts in the mind,” she murmured softly. Determined. She could do this. Andre had brought her into his world because he’d been too afraid to allow her to remain in hers. She didn’t have to worry that he would ever want her to do anything he considered dangerous to her. That gave her confidence.
He
gave her confidence, because in spite of everything, she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Andre would never let anything happen to her.

She took another deep breath, held the image of the owl in her mind and willed her body to shift. The moment she felt the pull on her skin she startled, but she felt Andre there with her. He was warm and strong in her mind. Steady. Calm. So calm, as if this was an everyday event, not the monumental phenomenon it truly was.

His calm spread to her. Her heart followed the steady beat of his. Her lungs followed his. She held the image firmly. Held to the command, willing her body to cooperate.

When it happened she was so shocked the female owl nearly fell over. She hadn’t really believed it was possible for
her
. Andre, yes. He could do anything. She wouldn’t be surprised if he moved a mountain. But for her to shift. To feel her body changing. Reforming. The sheer exhilaration was alarming because it meant she was already accepting there were good – no –
great
things about being in Andre’s world.

I did it, Andre! Look, I really did it. This is the most amazing thing in the entire world. The best. Well,
she hedged.
That’s not strictly the truth because kissing you is the best. Umm. Okay, that’s almost the best. Making love with you is the ultimate, but this really, really ranks right up there. But not as good. Just cool. Maybe cooler.

She felt his laughter. Right there in her mind even though she was an owl.
She was an owl!
She wished her sisters were around. Not Grandma Trixie, because she’d stake her with that vampire-hunting kit she bought off the Internet, but she was fairly certain her sisters would think it was cool that she was an owl.

Um. Andre. Can we go to church? Because Grandma Trixie is big on church. If I melt or go up in smoke inside a church, she isn’t going to be happy with me. I’m already in danger of being staked by her.
 

The male owl shook his head as if she was being crazy, but it was all the truth.
The church question is absolutely legit. Have you been inside a church, like ever, since you’ve been this way?

I was born this way. Spread your wings, csitri. Get used to moving in the owl’s body. And no, I do not go to church, but Ivory and Razvan and Mikhail and Raven do. I know both couples very well. Neither has ever gone up in smoke in a church, although all four of them could easily become smoke if they wished.
 

She flapped her wings like a wild bird, very enthusiastically. It was totally awesome.
Can I become smoke?
She could scare the pants off her nephews with shifting. How cool would that be?

I think you should try flying first. Smoke is more complicated. Take a few hops. You will have to land. And, Teagan, I know this feels amazing to you, but you have to stay in control. Stay close to me at all times. There are vampires close by. We do not want them to know we are anywhere close. I believe they are still nursing their wounds, and gathering strength, but they must feed, and that means they will come out each rising to do so.
 

Do they know you killed their friend?
She continued to flap her wings and hop around on her taloned feet. So cool. The best – except for kissing and sex with Andre, of course.

Vampires do not have friends. In the old days, if they met one another, they fought to the death to keep territory. Now a master vampire will find fledglings, those who have just turned, and he uses them as his pawns.
 

She couldn’t help but notice the contempt in his voice. He had such a sense of what was honorable in battle that he found the practice appalling. She opened her beak in a semblance of a smile.

The vampire will have connected all of his pawns. They all are aware I defeated the undead in battle. He did not return to his master with a victim to feed from.
 

She went still. She stopped hopping around and folded her wings.
Are you telling me that he would have taken me back to his master so his master could feed off of me?

Each of the pawns will be sent out to bring back a victim for their master. He was wounded far worse than the others in our battle. Had they not come to his rescue, I would have killed him.