Dax watched the huge, wedge-shaped head lunge straight at him. Underwater, the eyes were open and fiercely malevolent. The horned snout opened to reveal a jaw filled with serrated teeth. Just as the dragon snapped at his head, Dax threw himself to the side, still retaining possession of the lashing tail. Beneath the water, he heard the steady drum of a heartbeat. The water amplified the sound. The rhythm of the heart of the water dragon sounded strange to him, the beat booming first loud and then softening only to swell in volume again.
Dax was Carpathian, and he honed in on that sound unerringly. His blood sang in his veins. He reached out to the dragon, matching heartbeats, slowing the giant boom gradually, all the while dodging the lightning-fast strikes with those wicked teeth and the lashing head. He stayed just out of reach, staying in tune with the giant heart slowly taking control of that wild beat. It seemed to beat not where it should have been, but instead was lower and to the right, as if the heart had slipped and lodged in a different place than normal.
The water dragon slowed his great body, shuddering. Still, the dragon was so enraged that something as insignificant as Dax would dare to enter his territory and stop him from gaining the meal promised him by his creator … Dax nearly dropped the tail. Mitro had
created
the dragon. He would know that if Dax faced the water dragon, he would go for the heart and he’d deliberately placed it in the wrong position.
He is real yet not
, the Old One confirmed.
Dax struck hard at the weakened heart, driving through the thin mantle of scales to the soft underbelly. His diamond-hard nails bit through the belly to drive toward the now very sluggish heart. It was much larger than he expected, but he managed to grasp the organ in his fist. The dragon’s head whipped around and ripped at his shoulder.
Dax hung on grimly to the tail with one hand while he curled his fingers around the object he sought. The moment he wrapped the heart in his hand, he knew he’d made a terrible mistake. Spines embedded themselves in his hands. Poison entered his system rapidly. He ripped the heart from the thrashing dragon before the creature could take his head off. It was close though; he felt the blasting breath of cold water pouring over him, the snap of those jaws as the teeth nearly managed to tear his face open.
Dax put on a burst of speed, heading for the surface, feeling the poison taking hold, paralysis setting in. Below him, the gigantic tigerfish scented prey, shooting toward him in a pack hunting formation. His fist punched through the thin ground surface as his legs went numb. He stretched as far as he could, opening his hand, fingertips searching for something solid so he could pull himself out of the water. With the poison slowly spreading through his system, there was no way to shift.
A hand smacked his wrist, caught hold and jerked on his arm. Jubal’s face swam into view. Gary, crouched beside him, reached down, caught him under the shoulder and heaved him up and out of the water. Under him, rising up out of the water, following the same path, a goliath tigerfish opened gaping jaws. The mouthful of thirty-two wicked teeth burst at him like a locomotive.
The gunshot was loud, almost in his ear. Jubal and Gary dragged him up and away as Riley calmly emptied her Glock into the fish. It dropped back into the hole Dax had made, and the water instantly bubbled up red.
We’ve got you.
Riley’s voice poured into his mind.
Give me a minute to drive the poison out of my system. I don’t want you near this. It’s slow-acting but paralyzing.
It took longer than he anticipated to rid his body of the poisonous brew Mitro had prepared for him and to heal the wounds the dragon had inflicted.
Miguel had continued with the others, racing out of the canyon. Dax waited until he had his strength back before destroying Mitro’s mutations. He didn’t want them to breed and grow in the river and eventually kill someone. By the time the four of them had caught up with the others, the helicopter was waiting in the small clearing.
D
ax was glad to see the helicopter lift off, taking with it the engineers and the professor and his party, minus their memories of anything but being caught in the violent explosion of a volcano. The only one who would remember Jubal, Gary and Riley was Ben, but only the experience of running for their lives from the volcano. He’d hesitated over that man, but something prevented Dax from removing everything. He’d relied on his instincts for centuries, and he wasn’t about to stop now.
He was thankful only Jubal and Gary stayed behind with him and Riley. There wasn’t enough room in the helicopter for everyone, and the pilot, a woman, Lea Eldridge, informed him that she’d seen the smoldering ruins of a home several miles to the east and a friend of Juliette De La Cruz resided there. She’d asked if they would check on the woman. As there was a good clearing for her to land, she would meet them there the next night. He had agreed that when he rose the following night, they would do so.
Miguel and his brother left to make their way home along with the last remaining porters. As far as they remembered, their missing men had died in the volcano, just as the professor and Todd Dillon believed Marty Shepherd had died in the ensuing mudslides. Capa and Annabel had been lost to the volcano as well.
Weston left with an additional gift from Dax. He couldn’t watch the man his entire life, but he could plant the suggestion that every time he went to say something inappropriate to a woman or about a woman, he would croak instead. Dax found the solution rather fitting.
“Thanks for staying behind,” he said to Jubal.
“There wasn’t really room for us,” Jubal said with a small shrug.
“There was room if you really wanted to go,” Dax said. “I appreciate you watching over Riley when I’m unable to do so.” He wanted to convert her, so he wouldn’t have to worry that she slept aboveground and he was below. He needed her with him for his own peace of mind.
The sound of Riley’s laughter drew his attention. Dax turned his head to see her standing beside Gary, laughing at something he said. His heart clenched hard. He had never thought to have her. In all the centuries that had passed, he never really believed she would exist for him. His life was one of duty and honor, not pleasure and joy.
She turned her head slowly, the first rays of the morning sun catching the gleaming lights in her hair. Her eyes met his and he had the sensation of falling into those deep, mysterious pools of cool, dark earth. Strangely, he actually felt his stomach tighten. Her smile was for him alone, her mouth curving, white teeth flashing. He knew every sweep of her cheek, the line of her jaw, the little indentation in her chin. He felt like he was soaring high, just as he felt when he’d been in the body of the fire dragon, strong and true, flying free over his world.
She had a way about her, something he couldn’t define, but when he was with her, he felt totally alive, on fire with passion, as if he could do anything. Dax held out his hand to her. She didn’t hesitate, but came to him, never once looking away from his gaze. She put her hand in his, and he drew her into the shelter of his body. “Are you two all right with setting up camp?” he asked Jubal. “I’ll bring her back soon.” He glanced at the sky even as he tucked her hand over his heart, holding her palm tight there with his.
The rain had washed some of the ash from the canopy, and the first streaks of dawn looked as if rays of light from stars bursting overhead shone through the heavy foliage surrounding the clearing. He loved the night, but the few early morning dawns he managed to catch held their own beauty.
Riley didn’t ask questions, but she went with him, walking beneath his shoulder, fitting perfectly as if she was born for him—and he believed she was. She was ethereal, royalty, her body moving fluidly with hardly a sound. Already her skin had taken on the look of that of Carpathian women. She was more than halfway in his world, and he needed to let her know what was to come. He’d noticed she wasn’t eating, particularly meat, which no self-respecting Carpathian would ever touch.
He caught her up in his arms and took to the sky. She loved flying as much as he did, and he took her up, feeling her delight in soaring so high.
This is how you make me feel whenever I look at you,
he confessed.
She snuggled tight against him, her face turned toward the wind and the soft drops of rain still falling.
I’m glad then, because I absolutely love flying. I can’t wait until I can do it by myself, although—
she rubbed her head against his chest—
there are certain perks to flying with you.
He laughed, unable to contain the joy he felt when he was alone with her.
I can already feel the effects of your blood
, she added.
My hearing and vision are much more acute. It’s becoming harder to be away from you. Is that normal?
He tightened his arms around her, feeling slightly guilty. He’d read things in Gary’s mind he wished he hadn’t. Like the present prince of his people who had been the one to inadvertently discover psychic human women could be converted without the danger of insanity; he wished he could be without the knowledge of what the woman went through before he’d started the process. The facts and images in Gary’s mind were very disturbing.
I asked to come into your world
, Riley assured him.
It’s been my choice from the first time I laid eyes on you. I felt your soul and the Old One’s soul. I felt as if I’d come home. You’re my home, Dax. I want to be with you in your world. You never said it would be easy.
He dropped his chin on top of her head, her silky hair weaving strands into his shadowy jaw as if tying them together. He was in her mind enough to know she took responsibility for her decisions. She had made a choice, and it was important to her that he saw it as her decision.
You’re a courageous woman, Riley. I’m proud that you’re mine. I’ll live my life making certain you never regret giving yourself to me, or making the resolution to join me in my world.
Riley sent him the impression of a warm smile. Her hands tightened on his forearms and she turned her head a little to try to catch raindrops on her tongue. Laughing when she managed it, she bent her head to brush a kiss along his arm.
I know I can be of some use to you now. I was worried I might be a burden. I get afraid, but I know I can help you. Not fighting. Well, I can shoot a gun, but I don’t want to get close to anything like those people we saw from the village. But I can be an asset to you in other ways.
Dax spotted the small entrance he’d been looking for. He’d seen the cave earlier and thought it had potential.
I have to take you back to Jubal and Gary in about an hour, but we’ve got this time. I want to tell you what to expect with the conversion and allow you to decide the when and where.
She took a deep breath.
Now? Why don’t we just get it over with?
He nuzzled the top of her head again and dropped down to the entrance of the cave, scanning automatically for traps and any living creature that might be occupying it.
“Not here, not now. Somewhere much safer.” He sighed. “So it isn’t entirely up to you, the when and where, but I’ll get it as close as possible, I promise.”
Very carefully, he set her down in the thick vegetation in front of the cave, waving his hand to the interior, preparing it for their entrance.
“I have no worries that I won’t be safe with you,” Riley said.
The ring of honesty in her voice humbled him. “You will need to rest and heal for several days,
päläfertiilam
. We have a vampire to catch.”
Riley smiled up at him. “I like when you refer to me as your lifemate in your language. And beloved as well. I feel beloved, when I never thought love would come my way.”
He took her hand, ducked to gain entrance through the narrow opening and led the way. The ground curved down and around, dropping several feet as they walked until the hallway began to widen.
“My language is still very natural to me. I have to try to think of a proper translation in your language, but I’m getting better at it,” he said.
“You speak with a perfect accent.”
“I still don’t always choose the correct sentence structure,” he pointed out. “Correct me if I get something wrong.”
“I think it’s cute.”
He turned back to look at her, knowing she wore that teasing smile he loved so much. He stopped abruptly so that she ran into him, his arms sweeping around her, holding her tight against him. The feel of her soft body melting into his astonished him.
“I’m crazy in love with you,” he said.
She turned her face up to his. “That makes two of us. I can do this, Dax. I can make it into your world and be happy. I’ve given it a lot of thought. I’ve seen all the dangers, but I know I want this.” She cupped the side of his face as she traced the strong line with her thumb.
He kissed her hard. Demanding. A little rough. She responded like she always did, not in the least intimidated. She kissed him back. Hard. Demanding. A little rough. Her slender arms circled his neck and brought his head down more fully to hers. She poured herself into the kiss, accepting his storm of turbulent emotion.
The volcano was inside him, buried deep but smoldering. He wanted her with every cell in his body, and he hadn’t even seen it coming on. The force of his need shocked him. Hunger clawed at his belly, a new kind of hunger, but just as urgent, just as feral. His fist bunched in her hair and he pulled her head back to take better advantage of her soft, hot mouth. He lost himself there for long minutes before he finally, still kissing her, lifted her into his arms, high against his chest so he could keep moving through the hallway toward the open gallery.
Riley opened her eyes as the cool air hit her body. She was absolutely naked. Not a stitch covered her skin. The flames from hundreds of lit candles leapt and danced, surrounding her on three walls. Above her head, on the ceiling, blue stars glittered with a soft radiance, creating a midnight sky. The walls of the cave seemed to be studded with gleaming gems.