into all this. i don't even want to know any of it."

"you are doing fine, angel. i do not expect you to handle every detail at once. i have the permission of your doctors to take you home with me. i do not want to raise suspicion by waiting too long."

"i want to go to my home," she said stubbornly. "you want to protect me."

"i want to get away from you." she avoided his eyes. she desperately needed to think. she needed to be away from him, away from the lure of his presence.

lucian moved without seeming to do so, covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye. "no, you do not, jaxon. i can read your mind. it is too late. he is going to come after me. and you still want to protect me."

"yes, he is coming after you," she burst out, "and i'm not going to walk into a room and find you dead on the floor, your body mangled and bloodied. i can't go through that again. i won't. i mean it, lucian."

his arms snaked around her easily, drawing her back into his embrace, calming her with a touch. "you are so beautiful, jaxon. you amaze me the way you are so determined to give up your life for others. come home with me where you will be safe and where we can get to know each other. look at it this way: if drake comes after me, at least you will be there to warn me."

she was falling under the enchantment of his sorcerer's black-velvet voice. drowning in the depths of black sexy eyes. mesmerized by the curve of his sensual mouth. "i have things at my apartment that really matter to me."

"your mother's things." he said it softly. "i had them moved from your apartment. they are safe in your room in my home."

her eyes flashed fire at him. "you had no right."

"i had every right. you are my lifemate, always in my care. i can do no other than see to your happiness. you are under my protection at all times. the things that are important to you are important to me."

"if that's true, why in the world did you provoke drake?" her fingers were twisting the material of his immaculate shirt nervously.

his hand covered hers, holding her palm flat against his heart. "i cannot leave such a man out there threatening your life. you would not leave such a threat to my life."

jaxon sighed, a heavy weight pressing on her chest. "you're right, lucian, i wouldn't. i have no choice now. i have to try to find him."

lucian actually found himself smiling. he couldn't help himself. she was so determined that she was the one who had to take care of him. he shook his head, then bent to touch her hair with his lips.

jaxon's heart skipped a beat. what was the use of arguing with him? she couldn't stay in the hospital. every doctor and nurse she smiled at would be at risk. who knew what went on in drake's twisted mind? what did she have to lose? besides, someone needed to find out who lucian really was and what he wanted. and he wasn't going to die. she owed him - for saving barry, if for nothing else. neither she nor barry ever would have made it out of the warehouse alive. she had to stay with lucian as his bodyguard at least until drake was found.

lucian's hand cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her thick mop of blond hair. the strands were like silk. "you are worried for your partner's safety."

"drake may strike at him. i've always worried about that. i used to change partners constantly until barry came along. he refused to switch, and the captain listened to him, despite what a risk it was. drake might be angry enough to hurt me through him."

"he has never tried to hurt you, angel," he said softly. "his motive has nothing to do with harming or punishing you. in his mind he is your savior - in a sense, your protector. you are his beloved daughter. that is how he thinks. all the rest of us are merely trying to separate the two of you."

"even now, after all this time? how could he think that?"

his hand could not stay still, his fingers continually caressing her hair. why he was so partial to that short, untamed mop was beyond him, but he decided it was something he didn't want to live without. she was essential to him. it amused him that she couldn't comprehend what he was: a carpathian hunter with tremendous powers and knowledge. his skills went far beyond those of any human male. he could become a shadow, the mist itself. he was far stronger than any mortal, could read the wind, command the heavens. he could run like the wolf and fly like the birds of prey. he could control the thoughts of the humans around him, draw them to him with his voice, and entice their compliance in anything he might choose. he could destroy from a distance, even command his prey to destroy itself. he could track anyone or anything once set on the correct path nothing could escape him - not the undead and certainly not human prey.

to lucian, tyler drake was as good as dead. the man had murdered everyone who ever meant anything to jaxon. there was no rage in lucian, only that quiet stillness that was forever a part of him. he was justice for his people, the executor of their law. yet even before his prince, before his own life, before that of his twin brother and his people, he held dear the life and happiness of jaxon montgomery. tyler drake was condemned and had little time left to live.

"it is time to go home, jaxon," he murmured softly, aware of the evening giving way to night. he had fed well. he would eventually have to reveal much to her that she would find hard to accept. she was courageous and accepting, her mind open to the possibilities of other life forms. but she was not ready to accept them in proximity to her own life.

he could read in her mind how torn she was. he could read the sorrow in her, the guilt. he could read determination that she guard not only him, but barry radcliff as well. with a little sigh, he gathered her up.

getting through the red tape of leaving the hospital should have been one of those nightmares jaxon couldn't stand - she had little patience with paperwork - yet somehow lucian managed it all smoothly. the entourage of hospital personnel and reporters seemed to grow as she was taken down to the hospital entrance. she glared at lucian a few times, but he pretended not to notice. he seemed very much in his element, old friends with various reporters; even her captain joined the crowd, wanting to shake his hand. she noticed the captain hadn't rushed to her side; likely he was too busy looking at a possible campaign donation when he decided to run for mayor.

that is not very nice.

there was that laughter again, the one that sent flames dancing over her skin and started a fire in the middle of her stomach. she glanced around to make certain no one was watching her too closely as a faint blush crept up into her face.

i can't believe these people are falling all over you. it's disgusting, she told him silently. it was probably his voice. or his eyes. or maybe his looks that drew them. and then there was his perfect mouth.

he leaned down to place that perfect mouth against her ear, deliberately, in front of all the cameras, his hand cupping the nape of her neck possessively. "it is all the money, honey. no other reason, simply money. only you see me as sexy and handsome."

"i never said sexy. and i know i didn't say handsome," she hissed in return. she wasn't adding to his oversized ego by pointing out all the women who were talking about him. he had to have heard them. she could hear them. she ducked her head. lucian really didn't seem to be aware of his looks as anything special. he wore his attractiveness the way he wore his air of confidence, of authority, as if it were merely a part of him and always had been.

a huge white limousine was parked in front of the hospital. a chauffeur stood at the door waiting. jaxon closed her eyes. this was so absurd, such nonsense. she did not belong in a limousine. whatever kind of life lucian had, jaxon could not possibly fit in.

knowledge hit her without warning as she was reluctantly walking beneath lucian's shoulder toward the chauffeur. the feeling came out of nowhere. dark. ugly. intense. it was dark now, the light leeched from the sky to be replaced by night. clouds covered the moon, and a slight drizzle was misting the streets. there was laughter all around, talk, hundreds of voices, yet all at once she was alone again in the middle of a war zone.

automatically she darted out from beneath lucian's arm, shoving his large frame away from her to put more distance between them. she already had her gun drawn, and her eyes were tracking, moving, looking for a target. it was there. it was close. this was the nightmare of every cop. a large crowd and an assassin.