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Darcy’s legs were melting, hell her whole body was on fire. This was the hottest thing she’d ever felt and she’d been struck by lightning only yesterday. The hunter’s lips moved against hers, coaxing and demanding all at once. Somehow her arms had wrapped around his neck pulling him closer. She felt his lips start to trail down the side of her neck, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. She could feel his strong arms around her waist, holding her up in order to compensate for the differences in height. His mouth had stopped over the pulse in her neck and she suddenly felt a flash of pain whip through her body as he bit down.

He bit me! Darcy felt her mind crash back into her body. How had a simple kiss got her so distracted! What am I doing? I don’t even know this guy and I letting him take my blood! Darcy started to struggle but his arms were like bands of iron holding her to him, refusing to stop until he had had his fill, and in a tiny corner of her mind she had to admit that didn’t really want him to stop either. But he has to. She admonished herself. She renewed her struggles, until slowly; gradually the hunter closed the wound on her neck and pulled away.

Darcy was so angry, she could hardly think straight, how dare he feed on her as if she was some sort of….of …livestock! The look on his handsome face was so smug she couldn’t hold back her desire to smack it right off. She caught him off-guard with the smack, his face registering such a comical expression of surprise she would have laughed had she not been so angry.

Dominic did not think he’d ever experienced being slapped across the face before. It hadn’t hurt in the least; she must still have been tired from last night. He had a feeling that if she had been at full power he’d have felt the slap down to his bones. Slowly he covered the spot she’d slapped him with his own palm.

He knew that he should be feeling angry at such an action from a lifemate, and yet he didn’t feel angry in the least, instead he found the whole situation, well relieving. After centuries of being spoken of in whispers, he had finally met someone who was not afraid of him; it was quite refreshing. Feelings surely were confusing things. He thought to himself.

This couldn’t be right, in his experience being hit did not lead to happiness, but in this unique instance he could not help but let the laughter bubbling up inside him out. He had finally met his life-mate and she was his match in every way. She looked so offended and indignant with her little hands curled into fists and resting on her hips. Her nose was crinkled adorably as she glared at him, but with the blood connection even stronger between them he could tell that beneath that tough exterior she was feeling confused, turned on, angry and a multitude of other emotions. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and cuddle her to him but he had a feeling that she wasn’t going to let him close to her for awhile. He’d have to sneak up on her.

The hunter’s laughter really caught her off guard, she’d been ready to have an angry Carpathian on her hands but he seemed to find the whole situation funny. Damn hunters! He must be bi-polar because she was pretty sure that just a few moments ago the very sky had been storming with his anger, and yet now he was laughing, the weather once again returning to clear skies as the clouds along with his anger dissipated. In fact with his deep laughter filling the air around her Darcy was having trouble staying angry as well. He took your blood…At once she felt her anger gather again, no one took her blood without her consent. No one.

“Now you listen here you big jerk. I don’t know who you think you are, but around here, I make the rules. So if I was you I’d just forget about taking any more blood from anyone around, in fact it might just be better if you went on your way, before I decide to do more then just slap that smug smile off your face.” Darcy didn’t know if she was shaking from the anger she felt at having let her guard down so thoroughly, or from the intensity of that kiss. Stop thinking about it! It was just a kiss. It wasn’t even that good!

It was more then just a kiss; it was the best kiss of your life. But do not worry we will have much more time with which to improve upon our technique should you feel the need to.

Darcy let out a little gasp as images of them together filled her mind. Having taken her blood a second time he was firmly in her head now. It is just my luck to have a mind bond with one of the dirtiest minds I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know Carpathians were such horn-dogs. She thought back in response.

Once again his deep, smoky laughter filled the night air at her quick retort. “You will get used to it I’m sure little wolf.” She sent him a glare at the little endearment he’d used before turning to stalk back into the house, some people had better things to do with their time. She had a dinner to cook, a pack and household to oversee. She was the alpha; she couldn’t afford to have a relationship. She didn’t have to hear the hunter’s footsteps to know that he was following her back to the house and for the first time in her life she could imagine what a rabbit felt like while being hunted by a wolf. She could feel his sharp-green eyes upon her figure, and tried to squash down the wave of heat that that thought brought along with it.

Such a nice figure. His voice floated through her mind again. She got the feeling that he never really left.

You keep looking at my butt and I’ll be forced to permanently remove an appendage most men are very protective of. She could feel his amusement at her threat, it was kind of nice to have someone to argue with. Stop it. She scolded herself, he would be gone soon anyway once he was completely healed, she thought to herself, ignoring the pain that that thought brought her.

I feel that to remove such a thing would be very harmful to not only myself but cruel to my lifemate as well. Dominic had never felt so happy in his life, even in those few years when he had retained his emotions he could never remember having laughed so much at one time. He had his life-mate to thank for that, she was everything he needed, funny, tough, and vulnerable all rolled up into a perfect little package. He was so involved in his thoughts he almost ran into his lifemate as she stopped abruptly before going up the three steps to the front porch. Turning around his attention was immediately caught by the seriousness in her gaze, all humor and sass was gone. She seemed to be collecting her thoughts, and rather then read them he instinctively knew that the words she was going to say she wanted to be said out loud.

Her eyes were hard as they locked with his. At this instant he could see the wolf that lurked underneath, he could see it peering out from within. He could see the protectiveness of her kind, but most of all he saw the alpha that she was.

Her voice, though merely a whisper, carried power as she started to speak.

“Inside of this house are the two people I hold most dear in my life. I really don’t know why I’m letting you stay here with us, much less risking their safety by letting some strange hunter into my house. But whatever the reason, the fact that you saved my life or that my instincts tell me your trustworthy, should you so much as harm one hair on either my daughter’s or my brother’s head you will wish that you had never been born.” At this point she let out a deep breath before continuing in a softer more friendly voice, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between us, I don’t understand the whole Carpathian life-mate thing, it’s kind of foreign to me, but I’m not one to complain about lack of normalcy. All I ask is that whatever happens between us you think about your actions and who they affect.” At this point she seemed to be struggling for the right words, Dominic watched as she ran her fingers nervously through her hair. Reaching down, he slowly took her nervous hands within his own strong ones and held them. She couldn’t hide her thoughts from him, she knew from her parents and grand-parents much of the ways of the Carpathians, and she knew that to have a life-mate was a great commitment, one that she didn’t fully understand. She had already had to disrupt the lives of her family so much just trying to keep them safe; she refused to let anything more uproot them. Refused to harm them in anyway and she wanted him to understand that before they even entertained the notion of having any sort of relationship. Her hands still held in his he stared deep into her eyes as he put into words what she could not.

“You put you family before all else, and you will not have anyone tear you apart, Carpathian, vampire or other. What you are trying to tell me is that if I want any sort of relationship with you I must place your family before all else, they must become my own. This little wolf I can assure you of, anyone or anything you love will not only be placed under my protection, their needs will be placed above my own. That is what being lifemates is about, it’s about placing someone needs and wants above all else. You can rest easy little wolf, your family is save with me.”

Darcy could feel tears starting to well up in her eyes, this hunter, this man, Dominic, he already understood her better then she understood herself. He had spoken straight from his heart, and Darcy could feel all her fears ease as he continued to gaze straight into her eyes with his intense green ones. What am I getting myself into? She mused silently. It is time you had a mate, it takes two alphas to run a pack. From deep within her, her wolf added her thoughts.

As If I don’t have enough voices in my head already! But she would have to think about what her wolf had said.

“Mommy! Briar burned the rolls, and he gave one to the dog!” Laki’s voice pulled Darcy from her silent reflection. She dropped Dominic’s hands immediately at the sound of her daughter’s voice. The sound of the screen door banging open announced the 5-year olds arrival. Running to the top of the porch steps, Laki stopped at the sight of the strange man and her mother. The young girl seemed to take in everything about the scene before her and Dominic was struck by the waves of power that radiated off of the little girl. As she surveyed the scene she seemed much older then she was, her eyes an ever-changing combo of green and blue seemed to taking in much more then people three times her age ever would.

Within a blink she was once again a normal little girl as she ran down the three porch steps to where he and her mother stood. From behind her mother’s leg she peeked out and up at him, he felt his heart warm at the sight of her. His lifemate’s daughter was adorable; her hair was cut about chin length and was curly and blond just like her mothers. In fact the only thing that about her that did not render her to be a miniature version of Darcy was her ever-changing eyes. Eyes that seemed familiar to him, in fact they were almost like the eyes of his family almost like…Suddenly it clicked. That was why Razvan was after them, it wasn’t just a random attack but rather an attempt to retrieve this little girl, to retrieve Razvan’s own child.

Deep within the ground Razvan called upon the power of the earth to heal his grievous wounds. His hideous teeth gnashed together as he planned his next attack. The presence of Dominic would prove to be problematic; his great-uncle was a great warrior, even better then himself he suspected. But he couldn’t leave this child, he needed her blood, the power granted to her by being the first half Loup-garou Carpathian mix in existence. The alliance had taken much orchestration by Razvan and he would not let her disappear again. Just the thought of how much power that child held in her made Razvan drool. He would get the child, and with her power he would not only kill his grand-father Xavier, he would kill Mikhail Dubrinsky and assume control of the whole of Carpathians, of the whole of mankind.