“I did,” Luiz conceded. “Although I thought only of her as my cousin. My only living relative. I saw her in that capacity, not as a potential lifemate. That came later, when I took her blood.”
“Knowing she was a potential lifemate, she should never have been allowed to leave the safety of this house.”
“The safeguards were secure. Percy would never have been able to get in.”
Tomas wanted to fly across the room and rip out Luiz’s heart. So much for compartmentalizing his emotions. Control was fast disappearing. He seethed with the need to punish Luiz, who answered every question with that same arrogant attitude that must have made Sarika crazy.
Tomas.Mataias, the oldest triplet and their acknowledged leader, was a breath of fresh air, blowing through the ragged, dark thunderclouds in his mind.You have not had time to process these emotions. Shut them down completely.
I won’t lose her.
You aren’t tied to her through unfamiliar emotions. You’re bound together. Your soul is one. Let them go completely before you start a war. Luiz might be one of the oldest ancients, but he feels something for his cousin. He will fight, and every one of the De La Cruz brothers will back him. That won’t matter if it becomes necessary, but it is not at this time.
Mataias was always the voice of reason. Tomas usually was as well, but he’d been shaken from the moment he laid eyes on Sarika. The instant she spoke and he heard her voice, his world had changed. Color poured in, blinding him. Right in the middle of an intense standoff with Rud. Right when he needed to save a child. He couldn’t see clearly. Worse, he hadn’t been able to think clearly. Every sensation that filled him was too intense, especially anything having to do with Sarika. Evidently, he was still feeling those emotions with that same intensity.
Tomas took a breath and slammed the door tight on all feelings, so he faced Luiz with the calm and control of an ancient Carpathian. “But she could still leave, and she did. That wasn’t securing her safety.”
Luiz regarded him with that same expressionless mask. He was a De La Cruz, and there was no reading him. He suddenly inclined his head.
“I made a mistake earlier with her. It was a huge mistake, and I knew it. I took her blood after she adamantly said no.”
“You needed to take her blood,” Dominic said. “You were going to be in the ground when she was vulnerable. What other way would you have of being able to prevent trouble to her should it happen? You would have to be able to see through her eyes if she was attacked.” His metallic-colored eyes rested on Tomas. “You would have done the same. Any of us would have.”
Tomas inclined his head in agreement. “Of course.”
Luiz sighed. “That wasn’t the mistake. She’s a female shifter and my first cousin. She knew nothing of Carpathians. Not one thing. Percy was breathing down our necks, but I had to go to ground. The solution was to weave safeguards and take her blood.” He reached behind him and caught his neck in the vise of strong fingers. “She shouldn’t have known. I’m fast. I relied on my speed. She has a way of knowing when someone is invading her mind, no matter how delicate the touch. So I relied on speed and the lightest of compulsions for her to turn away. Just for a moment.” He broke off, shaking his head.
“She knew,” Tomas murmured aloud. “She somehow knew.”
“I think she saw me. Enemies can’t see me, but she did. She’s extremely gifted, and those gifts are becoming stronger with every minute she spends in the forest. I should have paid attention to the fact that her lineage is the same as mine. I was proud of her for catching me, but she’d specifically told me she didn’t want me to take her blood. When I did, against her wishes, she was horrified. It was genuine. Not manipulative. She was already on the verge of flight. She didn’t trust me and was entertaining the idea that I was holding her prisoner.When I wove the safeguards, I made certain she could exit if she felt it was necessary. I did push her toward sleep, but it was a light push. I didn’t think she would need much. She’d been traveling for days with little sleep. I thought she would stay in bed until the sun went down.”
“We all make mistakes,” Dominic said. “I certainly have made my share of them. I have Solange, and she’s a force of nature. Independent. A total warrior. Keeping her safe has never been easy. She puts herself in the middle of any battle and never hesitates. It is a difficult balance when it comes to family. I can imagine that seeing Sarika in person, when you believed you had no one from your side of the family, had to be a shock.”
What is he doing?Mataias asked his brothers.Luiz is older in his soul than all of us. He cannot possibly feel.
It is clear he did feel,Lojos said.Emotion causes mistakes. He should have bound her to this tree house, made it impossible for her to leave.
Had he done what he normally would have, Rud would have taken that child. In fact,Tomas mused,I believe the shifter would have killed Sandrine.
He needed to make that admission and end the tension that had built up between the Carpathians. “In a roundabout way, Luiz, you saved Sandrine’s life. It was meant to be that Sarika was able to stall all three of the shifters until sunset.” He looked the man straight in the eye. “Forgive me. I am dealing with very unfamiliar emotions and finding it difficult after so many centuries.”
“Strangely, I am also dealing with the unfamiliar,” Luiz admitted. “Sarika has gifts I have not seen. She was able to feel my emotions even before I took her blood, although I cannot. Or I should not. Being close to her, I found myself able to discern sentiments I lost long ago.”
The Carpathians exchanged long, puzzled looks in silence. All were far too old not to have come across every type of gift or ability, and yet none of them seemed to have encountered anyone exactly like Sarika.
“She is unaware of her uniqueness,” Luiz said. “The sad part is, she isn’t trying to hide it, and yet I was slow to pick up on it.”
“There are a few women in our world who can share emotions and lighten the burden with ancients,” Dominic ventured. “She is possibly one of these women.”
Mataias inclined his head. “More than likely.”
“There is more to it than that.” Luiz spoke with conviction.
“I agree,” Tomas said. “I waited until exhaustion overcame her before I used a sleep compulsion. I wanted her completely out before I made a blood exchange. I thought it best that she stay unaware until I have time to explain Carpathian customs and rituals to her.”
Not one man disagreed with his way of handling the situation with Sarika. She was afraid, but they knew she would be happy with Tomas once she accepted that she was his lifemate. The bond would take care of that.
“When you say ‘exchange,’ ” Luiz ventured, “do you mean enough to begin the conversion?”
