s no boyish trait anywhere. he was all man. he didn't move away from her tentative exploration, nor did he hurry her decision to get into that pit of dark, rich soil with him. he stood beneath her fingers and let her commit his face to memory.

"you want me to sleep beside you?"

"i do not want you even inches from me, minan. i need you this day."

she swallowed every fear and lifted her chin. "how will you know i'm there?" she was going to give him this small thing. what did it matter? it was all he would allow her to give him. she couldn't touch his body, couldn't relieve that fierce arousal. he gave and gave, and she . . .

"i receive pleasure from giving you pleasure, solange. and you are always gracious enough to share each moment with me, even though allowing me into your mind is terrifying to you. i will know you are with me."

"i don't understand why you won't let me . . ." she couldn't articulate what she wanted so she simply dropped her hand around his thick, rock-hard erection.

the breath hissed out of him. "it is not safe." very gently he removed her fingers and pulled her palm to his heart. "it is enough that i share your pleasure."

she doubted that, but she was too unsure of herself at the moment to pursue it. she would have to think about his statement for a while. the vampire blood? he might lose control and convert her? she knew, from talking to juliette, that the drive was fierce and unrelenting in the male to bind his lifemate to him, yet dominic had shown no signs of needing to bind her to him, or wanting to convert her. what did that mean? if she took him at his word that she was everything he wanted, then there was another reason.

he swept his arm around her waist and took them over the edge of the deep pit. just before her feet settled into the soil, a small, thin comforter covered one side of the dirt floor. her bare feet landed on the material. he sank into the soil and let out a sigh.

"juliette tried to describe to me what it was like to be rejuvenated by the earth, but i couldn't get the concept."

"you would like me to share the experience with you, kessake?" he settled into the cradle of dark, rich loam and held out his hand to her.

she took his hand and allowed him to pull her down to his side. she settled against him, curling like the cat she was, one hand flung boldly across his chest. "yes." she wanted every experience with him that she could have.

no one would probably ever know about dominic, her dream lover. he was hers alone, and maybe it was the way it was supposed to be. she'd done a lot of terrible things in her life, committed a lot of sins. in the rain forest, she told herself it was kill or be killed, but the truth was, she was the one who determined who lived and who died. if she had two jaguar-men in her sights, she tried for both of them, but the first was always the one she considered the most dangerous and violent. these stolen moments of happiness with dominic made up for a lifetime without.

he brushed a kiss on top of her head and then waved his hand. another quilt settled over her. "while i sleep, should you wake, i do not want you cold."

she touched the exquisite quilt with the symbols woven into it. the material was soft, dark greens, like her forest, with animals embroidered into squares beside the symbols. she found herself tracing each one with a light finger. "this is beautiful."

"gabriel's woman makes them for us. she weaves in whatever is needed. i wanted one to comfort you and bring you peace of mind. i will appear dead, solange, with no breath or heartbeat. you cannot panic."

she smiled at the command in his voice. "i don't easily panic. well, not as a rule. you definitely shocked me."

"by being real?"

"yes."

he laughed softly. "you shocked me as well. we have bad timing, p?l?fertiil. maybe the worst timing of any couple in history."

she turned his words over in his mind. "i needed time to grow, dominic. there was so much anger in me, so much hatred for the men who slaughtered my family, who have been systematically committing genocide on our own people because they believe the bloodlines need to be pure. i hated for so long and i couldn't distinguish between those men who have destroyed our species and other men. it wasn't until juliette met her lifemate, and i saw the honor in him, that i came to terms with my rage."

he brushed the hair from her face with gentle fingers. she remembered those same tender caresses from her dream man and her heart fluttered in her chest. he was so much like the image she'd conjured up, and yet a little frightening. mostly because she wanted to bring him the same peace and joy he brought her.

he nuzzled the top of her head, and at the same time merged his mind with hers, catching the next, not-so-altruistic thoughts, the need to give him the same release he had given her.

dominic sighed inwardly. i will not take the chance with you.

he could feel the need clawing at her, saw the erotic images in his mind, but he would never have been able to find the control to keep from claiming her both with his body and his soul. he craved her. a dark need that grew the longer he spent time with her.

his first duty was to protect her, even from himself. he had the blood of a vampire running in his veins, and with that acidic poison were thousands of greedy parasites working to consume him from the inside out--although . . . the vile creatures had gone still. none of them moved in him. there were no whispered commands, and there was no stabbing, relentless pain, not since he had been near his lifemate. why was that? how could it be? could lifemates provide such solace even for one already lost?

he took a deep breath. the night was gone. the sun rose steadily in the sky. he was deep beneath the earth, but he could still feel the effects on his body. soon he would be a leaden weight and his heart would cease to beat. he felt solange's sharp intake of breath and knew she was experiencing the prickly sensation on his skin, the scorched feeling that lived right under his skin in all the nerves.

he relaxed into the richness of the soil bed. the earth welcomed him, whispered to him, the abundance of minerals immediately seeping into his pores, enriching his body, speeding the healing of every wound, the long slices caused by the sword that had bit deep into his flesh. zacarias had helped to speed the healing, but it was here in the earth where he would find the natural medicine for his kind.

solange's wonder delighted him. she put her hand in the soil between them and allowed it to slip through her fingers. "i had no idea. all this time i've walked on it and yet didn't feel it alive, living and breathing with cures. even if they aren't for my kind, it's a miracle what the earth does for yours."

"she welcomes us as her children." he tried to put it in words she might understand, although he could feel her acceptance.

he would cover them with dirt, but not their faces. unlike him, solange would need the air to breathe. he moved, and the aching demands of his body moved with him.

"i could . . ." she stopped when he put his hand on her head and held her to his chest.

"you cannot tempt me, solange. i battle with my honor. honor is important to me. and you--you are my most precious gift. i could never live with myself if my selfishness placed you in danger. go to sleep and it will be enough to hold you in my arms."

he had sung to her in their shared dream, and he did so now, his song to her, the haunting melody, all the things he'd always wanted to say to his lifemate.

i was half-alive for a thousand years. i'd given up hope that we'd meet in this time. too many the centuries. all disappears as time and the darkness steal color and rhyme.