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your happiness. I could never hurt you. Do you not understand yet?" He captured her hand, brought it to
his mouth, and kept it pressed against his finely chiseled lips. "Even if you chose to be with another male,
I would never harm you. It would not be possible for me to do such a thing. But I am being honest with
you when I tell you I would kill the man. I am a predator. Nothing, not even your light, can change
completely what I am. I will allow no one to take you from my side."
"Does it not scare you, Julian, the intensity of our feelings?" she whispered, her dark eyes clouded. "It
frightens me more than anything I have ever encountered. I could not bear to be the cause of another's
death.
I see you struggling with your emotions, those that I have brought to you. It is a battle within you that you
cannot hide from me. And there is something else, something you struggle to hide even from yourself."
His teeth scraped the knuckles of her hand lovingly. "Yes, the emotions are new and strange, unknown
to me these many centuries. And yes, they are difficult to learn to deal with, as they are intense and
violent." The "something else" he could not yet share with her, could not yet face. "But we have centuries
for the learning," he concluded. Reluctantly he eased his body from hers. "I feel your discomfort,piccola .
Come here to me." He was already drawing her up so that he could examine her body for marks.
"I am perfectly fine, Julian." For some reason it embarrassed her that he was searching her fair skin for
telltale bruises his passion might have left on her. "Explain to me why Syndil has experienced sexual
feelings while I did not before you. Am I so different? Not feminine?"
Julian's head came up, his amber eyes heating. "How can you not know how desirable you are, Desari?
Surely you see the effect you have on males, mortal and immortal alike."
Her fingers clung to his. "You are the first immortal I have ever encountered outside of my family. And
just because human males find me desirable does not mean I am. Our race often has that effect on
mortals. It is not me. Besides, I felt nothing in return."
"For which I am eternally grateful. Why Syndil has felt these urges, I do not know. Perhaps she has
sensed her lifemate near but without recognition of him." There was a faint frown on Julian's granite
features. "It is possible some women are able to have sexual affairs with men other than their true lifemate
prior to their claiming. But I cannot see how, given how closely our women are guarded. I cannot see
Darius allowing males near you or Syndil, even though he was not raised in the traditions of our people."
"That is true. Darius would never have allowed either of us to carry on with a male. Neither would
Dayan or Barack. They watch us all the time. Since Savon's treacherous behavior, they watch one
another just as closely," she added sadly.
"It is only Darius who fights the darkness so desperately," Julian answered grimly. "He has been drawn
deep within the shadows because he has had to kill to protect you all. The others can hang on longer if
they wish it. Darius's battle is a difficult one."
Tears swam in Desari's dark eyes. "I cannot leave him, Julian. He cannot think we can do without his
protection. I have seen the same thing in him, and I fear for him constantly. More and more he keeps to
himself. He rarely shares his thoughts with me. He is a great man, and I do not want to lose him."
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Julian bent his head to brush each of her eyelids with the soothing touch of his mouth. "Then we can do
other than see to it he remains with us."
Desari lifted her face to his, smiling up at him as if he had given her the moon. "Thank you, Julian, for
understanding. If you only knew Darius, you would see how important it is."
"I have been in your mind many times,cara . I can see him as you do. I have also seen the iron will in him
that allowed all of you to survive impossible odds. He is one truly worth saving." Then his golden gaze
was sweeping the length of her body, and once again there was a hungry gleam in the depths of his eyes.
Chapter Nine
At once Desari was gone, leaping away from him like a gazelle, her taunting laughter floating on the wind
as she alighted on the huge fallen tree trunk. She took his breath away, standing there naked in the
moonlight, branches swaying all around her. The wind tugged at the waves of hair cascading around her
body like a cape. A sound escaped his throat, something between a growl and a groan.
Julian was a hard man honed by centuries of a harsh existence. If he had ever had a sharing of laughter
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