"Okay. Come in. I want you to come inside." Her mouth moved, voicing the invitation even when her brain screamed at her to stop. He couldn't come in, yet she was desperate to keep him there.
His lower lip curved. It wasn't a smile, but still, her heart nearly stopped. It didn't soften the rough angles and planes of his face. He looked like a fallen angel, maybe Lucifer himself. She gently shoved his hair back from where it fell around his face. Grooves were torn there, made by claws. So much blood. So many scars. She knew Carpathians rarely scarred, yet something terrible had happened to this man.
"Can you make it to the couch?"
Something flickered in the depths of his eyes. Humor maybe. "Need dirt, sivamet, not a couch." He dropped his hand from her hair and then she had his weight. His full weight, all of it. He was extremely heavy, slumping against her so that she nearly toppled over. She realized he was out. He'd shut down his heart and lungs in order to preserve what blood he had in his body, preventing it from leaking out or spraying the floor around them.
She sat for a moment, his head in her lap, her fingers smoothing back his hair. It was thick and as long as hers, falling to his waist. There were a few places it felt soft, but mostly it was sticky with blood. She sighed. At least he wasn't dead. The children were safe. She could see to his wounds and then find out about Genevieve and the others.
He's dead. Those children are dead. Your friend Blaze is dead. I'll burn that place to the ground.
The vile voice filled her mind and with it came the crashing pain, burning through her veins as if whatever terrible parasites he'd put in her body were determined to punish her for him. Deep inside her womb, she heard the screams of pain, of fear, and she pressed both hands over her churning stomach, wishing she could turn back time. But what would she have done? Allow the flesh-eating puppets he created to devour Liv alive? Tears burned again and she was sick to death of crying. She'd made a decision, and she had to bear the consequences. Her. No one else.
Her gaze dropped to the man lying so still on her floor. She scooted, lifting his head so she could put it more fully in her lap. She knew he was unaware and that made her bold. She sat on the floor with him for longer than she should have.
"Emeline! Unlock the door, Em!" Blaze called. "Are you okay? Open the door."
Emeline took a deep breath. Blaze McGuire was her closest friend. Maybe her only real friend. They were more like sisters, and yet she was so afraid to allow Blaze inside. She was lifemate to Maksim Volkov, co-owner of the nightclubs with Tariq Asenguard. Blaze had been human, but now she was completely in the Carpathian world.
"Emeline, I swear, if you don't open this door, I'm going to break it down."
"You're Carpathian, crazy woman," Emeline pointed out, gently setting Dragomir's head on the floor so she could shift out from under him. "That means no entering without being invited."
"I'm your best friend. Practically your sister. Invite me so I can break down the door."
Despite everything, Emeline smiled. Blaze would, too. She'd break down the door in a heartbeat if she thought Emeline was in trouble. "They know," she whispered softly aloud. "Oh, God, they know and they're going to kick me out of here. What am I going to do?" Tears ran down her face. She wanted to stop them, she was sick of crying, but she didn't have a solution. All this time and she still had no idea what to do. She couldn't stay. She couldn't go. Her tears fell on Dragomir's face and she brushed them off gently.
Dragomir's hand moved, coming up to hers, shocking her. By all rights, he should have been completely asleep, dead to the world. "She is not alone." His fingers settled around her wrist lightly, like a bracelet.
She jerked her hand away, her heart racing. Was Blaze, the one person she counted on to help her, betraying her? "Who is with you?" Her voice shook. There was no way to keep fear from shimmering through the room.
Dragomir's eyes opened. For one moment, she saw pain etched into his face. He took a deep, shuddering breath and was once more expressionless. "Go into the other room and close the door. I'll handle this."
"I've brought a healer with me," Blaze called. "Everyone can feel Dragomir's need."
The relief was so tremendous that for a moment she didn't actually realize the implication. Then it hit her. Dragomir's injuries were so severe other Carpathians could feel them. "Put yourself back to sleep. I'll let them in."
He caught at her before she could get up. "Go into the other room. I'll let them in."
Her heart skipped a beat and then became a drum. She tasted fear. "Dragomir . . ."
"Do as I say, woman. You have secrets. A healer will discover them. This healer will discover them. Go now."
"Why are you doing this for me?"
He touched her hair. "Beautiful color," he whispered.
Her hair was a wild mess. In tangles. She wanted a brush immediately.
"Go," he said. "I won't let them near you."
She believed him. He was hurt beyond imagining, but he'd poured steel into his voice and she knew he would do exactly as he said he would. All because he liked the color of her hair? Hardly. It was because he was a good man. The best. He'd appointed himself her shield and he stayed on that course no matter what.
She lifted her chin. Squared her shoulders. It was time to face the consequences. They were hers, not this man's. "I'll let them in. You put yourself to sleep. Whatever he says . . ."
Dragomir moved then, a fluid ripple of sheer power. He stood up, towering over her, reaching down to very gently pull her to her feet. "Do as I tell you." He turned her toward the hallway. "Stay away from the healer until I know if you are safe."
He was implacable, and no matter what she said, no matter that for the first time she was willing to be thrown out of the compound--for him--he wasn't accepting her sacrifice. He was going to force her t
o accept his.
His finger slid down the path her tears had taken on her face. She felt that touch as if it had sunk through her skin and impressed right on her bones.
"Emeline."
She nodded, because he'd stand there all day, leaking blood he couldn't afford to lose. She ducked under his arm and headed down the hall to the first bedroom. She stood in the doorway and watched him lift his hand to wave toward the front door, allowing it to swing open. Blaze was framed there for a moment, her long red hair pulled back away from her face.
"Only the healer is invited in," Dragomir said firmly.
Blaze stepped aside and a man moved into the house. Emeline's breath caught in her lungs, trapped until she felt raw with the need for air. He wasn't particularly tall, nor was he short. Power flowed through him, so much that his body couldn't possible contain it all and the energy surrounded him. Like Dragomir, muscles rippled beneath his clothes. His hair was longer in the manner of Carpathians, but to his shoulders, pulled back with a leather cord. It was his eyes that caught her attention. They were a startling blue, rimmed with a liquid silver. They were eyes that would see right through her to her secrets. She was grateful that she hid like a coward in her room.
Those strange eyes swept over Dragomir and then moved past him, the gaze traveling down the hall straight to the bedroom. Emeline stepped back, certain he couldn't see her, but still uneasy.
"You are the Carpathian who betrayed Aleksei with his woman," Dragomir observed. "Ancient, yet young. I do not believe we have formally met."
"There was no betrayal," the man said, clearly uncaring what anyone thought of him, already striding into the room. "Sit before you lose what is left of your life."
Dragomir hesitated. It was the first time he'd ever done so and she instinctively knew he didn't want to be in a vulnerable position, one that wouldn't allow him to protect her. She silently willed him to do as the healer bid him.