Christine Feehan - Dark Demon 16

He glanced down at the flex cuffs. «It appears that I am your prisoner.» His voice was sensual, a deliberate implication.

She felt faint color stealing into her neck and face. Her temper went up a notch. «You'll be able to get out of the cuffs once the binding spell wears off. I'm leaving now and that will give me a good head start. You should be fine.»

«I will not allow this. Ask me for anything else and it is yours, but not this, Natalya. I am warning you. I will not let you walk out on your responsibilities.»

Natalya tossed her head, eyes flashing at him. «Who would have guessed the hunter is a sore loser? Talk is cheap, little slip of a boy!»

He still hadn't blinked and his predatory stare kept her heart pounding. She knew he could hear it and it only increased her resolve to get away from him. If it were possible, his eyes deepened into a black that made her shudder with sudden anxiety. He had formed a barrier in his mind, most likely to prevent her from feeling his pain, but it also shielded other emotions, such as anger. Or rage. His eyes were turbulent and as black as the stormiest night.

«Te avio palafertiilam. Entolam kuulua, avio palafertiilam.» He whispered the words in his ancient language, his eyes never leaving her face. «Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed. Elidamet andam. Pesamet andam. Uskolfertiilamet andam. Sivamet andam. Sielamet andam.»

«Stop!» She pressed her palm hard against her heart. Whatever he was saying was affecting her. She knew spells. She knew almost all spells, but she didn't recognize the words. She knew Hungarian, but she didn't know his language. It was more ancient even than Hungarian. It didn't seem to matter. She felt every word in her heart and soul.

Vikirnoff's expression never changed and he didn't take his gaze from hers, holding her captive with his eyes and his voice, in spite of the flex cuffs on his wrists. «Ainamet andam. Sivamet kuuluak kaik etta a ted. Ainaak olenszal sivambin.»

As he spoke, each word he uttered in that soft, mesmerizing whisper of sound seemed to penetrate deep into her body and mind, wrap around her heart and go deeper still, finding something inside of her that rushed to meet him. «Stop,» she pleaded again.

«Te elidet ainaak pide minan. Te avio palafertiilam. Ainaak'sivamet jutta oleny. Ainaak terad vigyazak.'»

A spell. It had to be a spell. She pressed her hands over her ears, but nothing stopped that insidious whisper. Worse, she was beginning to think she was catching some of the words, although she was certain she'd never spoken the language. «What have you done?» She pressed against the wall, tried to make herself smaller as if by doing so she could escape his magic.

She was so certain she'd held him prisoner with physical and otherworldly bonds, but his words had done something irrevocable to her. She felt everything in her reaching for something in him. Needing him. Wanting him. Somehow those ancient words had bound her soul to his for all eternity, as if they really were two halves of the same whole and his words had somehow put them back together.

«What have you done?» she demanded again when he only watched her through his too-black eyes. «Something about giving me your body and soul and heart. You said that, didn't you? Answer me, Von Shrieder. What have you done? What did you say?»

«I claimed what was rightfully mine.»

«Translate it.»

Vikirnoff studied her pale face. Her eyes were enormous, her lips trembling. «Do not be so afraid. It is a ritual as old as time and no one has ever been harmed by it.»

Natalya gnashed her teeth together and opted for a blatant lie. «I am not afraid. I'm angry. Whatever you did is some kind of binding spell, isn't it?»

«You mean like the one you used on me?» His tone was mild.

She felt color flooding her face. «Maybe I went too far,» she conceded. «I'll take mine off if you'll remove yours.»

«It cannot be done.»

He didn't sound remorseful. There was no inflection at all. Her breath hissed out. «I would very much like you to translate what you said into a language I can understand. All spells are reversible if you know what you're doing. And I know what I'm doing.»

Vikirnoff studied her face. She was lying through her teeth. He could smell her fear. She might not know, but she felt he had said something that was irrevocable, that her life had been changed for all time. «I cannot translate exactly but this is close. The words are said in our language first and then translated aloud for the woman in a language she can understand, although it is binding without doing so. It is roughly this. I claim you as my lifemate.»

Natalya gasped. His voice was sensual, mesmerizing, just as powerful as when he spoke the words in a language she didn't understand.

Vikirnoff continued. «I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give to you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are bound to me and always in my care. That is the closest of translations. Males of my species are imprinted with the ritual binding words before they are born. They are given the ability to bind their lifemate for just the very reasons you have shown this evening.» He lifted his bound hands to her eye level. «You should have more respect for your lifemate.»

«Okay.» She paced across the room. «Okay, hands down. You win this round. Now take it off. Undo it.»

Chapter 6

Vikirnoff couldn't pull his gaze away from the angry confusion on Natalya's face. With every step she took, her entire appearance underwent a change. Her skin began to glow and her tawny hair took on a strange banded quality, almost as if there were stripes he couldn't quite make out. Her hair moved with energy and light, even in the darkness. Her eyes were also peculiar, the color ever changing. One moment sea-green and vibrant, the next going opalescent and stormy. She actually looked feral, eyes focused on his face, her body all flowing muscles, her steps utterly silent.

«I would not do so, Natalya, even if I had the power.» He could feel very real power building and crackling in the room. She was furious, and maybe, he conceded, she had reason to be. He was not about to allow her to walk out on him, but he'd forgotten she had the nature of a tiger. She was wild and impossible to tame. He should have kept that knowledge close to him and acted more carefully. She was dangerous, he could see and even feel it in her. He waited, expecting anything, breathing away his own rising emotions in an effort to be calm for both of them.

She stalked him across the room. The tension rose between them until it was nearly electric. «I don't think you're in any position to say no to me. I could cut your throat right now and there isn't much you could do about. I've killed vampires. To me, you aren't much different.»

«If that is your wish.»

«You're such a bastard.» She swung away from him, angrier than she'd ever been in her life. Deep inside her, the tigress fought for freedom, demanding the freedom to rend and

tear and remove Natalya's enemy for all time. «Take it back.»

He sighed softly. «I cannot.»

«I should have left you in the forest to bleed to death or fry in the sun.»

«You could not. You did not want to take me with you, but you could not leave me. That is the truth.» He said it with a mild tone, yet she felt the lash of a reprimand.

«I owe you nothing. I didn't ask you to interfere and I would never have been injured in the first place if you hadn't been whining so loud the entire world could hear you.» Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid it would burst through her chest. She'd fought vampires, yet this man, tied and lying so still on the bed, terrified her in ways she couldn't hope to comprehend. Her lungs burned for air and her throat felt raw.