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."I am no child to be shielded.I want a full partnership with you or nothing at all.""My past is not what is haunting our relationship.""Your past is haunting you, Julian." She gestured at their peaceful surroundings."We are in a paradise, where I wish to make love with you often and in many ways.I see nothing wrong with it, yet you are afraid you bring danger to me.I cannot understand why you would choose to hurt me, to chastise me, rather than simply tell me what it is you are so afraid of."She looked so beautiful there in the moonlight.She stole his breath as easily as she had taken his heart."I have exchanged blood with a vampire." He said the words starkly, with no gentle explanations, the plain ugly truth that had haunted him all his life.The truth that had robbed him of his family and his birthright, the truth no other had ever been told.Desari went very still, her face pale as she stared into his pain-filled eyes.The tip of her tongue wet her lips, her only sign of a reaction."How terrible, Julian.When did this happen?" There was love in her voice, compassion.It was in the depths of her eyes.She moved to cover the distance between them, her arms wrapping tightly around his waist to press her breasts against his chest.Julian actually felt tears in his eyes.He buried his face in her hair."I would understand if you chose not to stay with me."Her teeth nipped his skin, a small punishment for doubting her."When, Julian?""I was twelve years of age.He looked young and handsome, and he knew all sorts of things I wanted to know.I visited him in his mountain lair nearly every day, and I told no one, as he bade me.Not even Aidan, although Aidan suspected something was wrong." There was a wealth of self-contempt in his voice.Desari pressed closer to him, kissing the hollow of his shoulder, running her hands up and down his broad back to comfort him."You did not know he was vampire.You were but a boy, Julian.""Do not excuse me." His voice was a whip of self-loathing."I wanted what he had.I always sought to learn things I should not have known.He saw that in me.The darkness gathering.And one day, when I saw him make a kill, he leapt on me, and he took my blood and forced his tainted blood into my body.He tied us together for all time.He would know where I was, who I was with.He could use me to eavesdrop on others, to betray them.If he wanted to, he could even use me to kill.He was powerful, and I was not yet, so I had no choice but to leave, to stay away from everyone I had ever cared about." He rubbed his neck as if it burned him."For centuries he tormented me, but I grew in strength and knowledge until he could no longer use his power over me.But then he vanished, and I could never find him to try to destroy him.I searched every continent, everywhere around the world, and I could not find him.He must use some special power I do not know to keep me from tracking him as I could others who do not have my blood in their veins.""Perhaps he is dead." Desari circled his neck with her arms, holding him close.Julian shook his head."I would have felt his death.The shadow would have gone.I fear he will be drawn to you, through me, that he will come for you."She stayed very still in his arms, taking comfort from the strength of his body."You are no longer a boy, Julian.You have grown very powerful."He could feel the tension running through her like a fine wire pulled taut.His hand pushed at her back, a gentle guide toward shore.They had to complete the trip to the next concert site before the sunrise."He was powerful when I was but a boy, Desari, not yet even a fledgling." Julian chose his words carefully."For centuries I have chased the undead and destroyed them, removed all traces of their existence to protect our people.I have witnessed much death and horror, the cunning and destruction these soulless creatures cause.They victimize our people and humans alike.And they grow in power as they age.""You were a child," she said softly."He more than likely only seemed an ancient to you." Her heart ached for him, for the terrible loneliness he had endured."Why did you not tell your Prince? Or your healer? Or your brother?""He said he would use me to kill my brother," he admitted without expression.That pain ran so deep, Julian couldn't totally share it."Ever since I have dedicated my life to destroying the vampire.You have not seen, as I have, what they can do.I cannot let myself allow you into such dangerous situations to appease your desire for 'equality.' I have no choice but to protect you, even though it may mean at times we cannot agree."Desari waded onto the shore and, automatically, without conscious thought, regulated her body temperature so she did not feel the cold of the night on her wet skin.She wrung out her long hair."Is it so different then, being a hunter, a powerful male, than a powerful, ancient female who does not hunt?"Julian shrugged his broad shoulders with a lazy ripple of muscle, striding easily after her."We males are predators first, Desari.We have not a female's compassion and goodness in us.Our lives are ones of justice, right versus wrong.Those of us who are hunters see death continually, betrayal by old friends and even family members.We are forced to destroy those we once cared for or perhaps even owed debts to.We must protect the females from these horrors they were not made for.""You are much like my brother.You and Darius think and react almost alike," Desari admitted as she donned clothing with a wave of her hand.Blue jeans and white sweater with pearl buttons down the front covered her, hiding her skin from his view."I see why you think I should give you obedience, but I am no child, and I am not capable of returning to that state.""Cara mia, I value your opinion in all things.But I am a hunter, a male Carpathian.It is imprinted on us, before our very birth, what our duty is.We know the ritual binding words, and we know we must protect our women and our children above all else.I cannot rid myself of this responsibility, nor do I know if I would want to do so."Desari stood tall and straight, her long hair flowing in the slight breeze.She looked regal, like a queen."It is shocking to me that males of your acquaintance have forced females no older than a fledgling to bind with them
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