Christine Feehan - Dark Celebration 17

«You cannot cook, and who cares? Certainly not me. The oven, however, blew a rather large hole in the house and I need to repair it, so come back here where I can keep an eye on you.»

«Take it back.»

«For heaven sake, baby, you set the house on fire. The entire kitchen is black. What did you think you were doing?»

«The oven wasn't working right so I fixed it.»

Darius dodged another snowball. «Tempest. It is not fixed. There is a hole the size of our tour bus in the wall and the kitchen is black with soot. Whatever that purple gooey concoction you were making is, it's now all over the ceiling and walls.»

«Okay.» She held up her hand, indignation on her face. «That was so not my fault. The stove shorted out and blew a hole through the pot and sent berries all over the ceiling and down the walls. I had nothing to do with that. And if you ask me, that probably did something to make the heating coil melt in the oven as well. So take it back!» She scooped up snow on the run and packed it into weapons.

«Even if the stove did short out, it does not take away the fact that you cannot cook. You have never been able to cook. Not even when you were on your own. And if you keep going and I lose sight of you, you will be instantly lost. You know you have absolutely no sense of direction.»

Her red-gold eyebrows drew together in a furious frown. «First, you accuse me of blowing up the house and setting the kitchen on fire. Then, you tell me I can't cook, and now you say I have no sense of direction! I have a perfectly keen sense of direction.»

Darius looked up at the sky to see if lightning was about to strike his lifemate. When none was forthcoming, he chuffed out his breath and changed the subject, afraid if they continued and she told any more whoppers like the last one, they would be in for the strike of a lifetime. «What was the purple sauce all over the wall?»

«Berry pies. I made like ten of them and they blew up.» She eyed him with suspicion. «Did you mess with that old stove after I told you something wasn't right with it?»

«I did not go near that kitchen. It was a ridiculous idea. I told you if you wanted the silly things made, I would look at the recipe and reproduce it for you.»

«The idea was to cook, smart one, you know, like a human.»

«It was a stupid idea, Tempest,» he said with patient persistence. «Now come here to me this minute.» He was beginning to feel a little desperate. His lifemate seemed to be the only one capable of making him feel that way. There were times, like now, when he would much rather face a vampire than Tempest. She was halfway between tears and laughter and that was never a good thing.

She had been an independent human nearly her entire life before he converted her, and he had been the sole commander for most of his. He had been responsible for the safety of his family for so long, the protective urges couldn't be suppressed. In truth, he wouldn't have wanted them to be. He had a good alarm system and it was shrieking at him. He tried to gentle his voice. «Baby, do we really care so much about this dinner? We are not even going to be eating it.»

«Every woman is bringing a dish.» She gestured through the snow toward the house. «And do you think Barack and Julian are going to stay silent about that big mess? I will never hear the end of it.»

Darius swore under his breath. He was going to have to do something different, unexpected, completely take her by surprise if he was going to get her out of her mood. He took off running toward her, scooping up snow as he ran, shaping the flakes into loose round missiles. Tempest's eyes widened in shock and as he fired off his ammunition at her, she shapeshifted on the run, her small, compact figure taking on the shape of a snow leopard. Soft gray fur adorned with black-brown spots covered the compact, muscular body and yard-long tail.

«Tempest! What are you doing?» He called gruffly, his black gaze shifting to search the area around them. As often as he scanned, he couldn't find danger, yet he couldn't quite shake the edginess, the need to hold his lifemate close to him. His silly attempt at being playful had backfired on him. Her mood had been mercurial lately, swinging from one end

of the spectrum to the other.

The leopard looked back at him and took off, large furry paws making it easy to run through the snow, and worse, with the form she'd chosen, powerful hind legs helping her spring a distance of thirty feet or more with ease. He leapt into the air, shifting as he did so, the male snow leopard landing on the steeper side of the slope away from the trees to follow closely in the tracks of the female. He was a good thirty percent larger, and used his size to shoulder her back in the direction he wanted her to go.

The female snarled, showing her teeth. Inside the cat's body, Darius frowned. He could have sworn that, in spite of the leopard showing temper, deep inside she was weeping.

Tempest. Tell me. Surely these pies are not so important. Tell me what has you so upset. He rubbed his fur along hers as he shifted back to his human form, sitting in the snow, holding the female leopard in his lap. Her teeth were mere inches from his throat as he looked into her eyes, seeing beyond the cat to his mate. You are my life, Tempest. You know I cannot bear to see you upset. This cannot be beyond my ability to fix.

The cat shifted in his arms, warm fur giving way so that soft skin slid over his and a wealth of silky hair fell across his face. Tempest circled his neck with her slender arms. «I don't know, Darius. I don't know what's wrong, but I want to cry all the time.»

He felt a small shiver run down her spine and gathered her closer, automatically regulating their body temperatures so they wouldn't feel the cold. His fingers fisted in her thick red hair. «How long has this been going on and why did I not know?»

«Because it's so stupid, Darius. There's nothing wrong.» She rubbed her face along his chest much like a feline, as if remnants of the animal still clung to the woman. «I'm not used to being around people, so maybe I'm just nervous.»

He touched her face and found tears. His heart clenched in his chest. Darius took a deep breath and let it out. «I am going to check you over, Tempest. We do not know what conversion might have done to your body. Perhaps you are ill.»

She turned her face into his neck. «Maybe I am. I don't feel very well.»

He frowned as he brushed the hair from her face. «You did not want to take any sustenance this evening. I thought it was because of this dinner. After all this time, does it still bother you?»

«Not when it is from you,» she admitted. «I just feel tired, that's all. Tired and out of sorts, I guess.»

«You should not have tried to hide this from me,» he said.

«I didn't want you to worry about me, like you're doing now. This entire time you've been looking around us, searching the ground, the sky, the trees, as if you're expecting trouble.

You have enough to do just looking after the security.»

«Anything concerning you is always and forever my first priority, Tempest.» He brushed bright red strands of hair from her face. «I know the adjustment to our way of life has been hard on you.»

She shook her head. «It was my choice, Darius. I wanted to be with you. I chose you and your way of life myself. You would have chosen differently for me-for us. I've grown to love the others, Desari and Julian, Dayan and Corrine and Barack and Syndil, and I'm getting used to being around them, but this…» She waved her hand to encompass the snow-covered mountains and forest where all the homes were hidden from prying eyes. «This is overwhelming to me.»

He feathered the pad of his thumb back and forth tracing over her cheekbone. «We do not have to participate, baby. We can walk away from this-go far away and just be together. I thought you wanted to come.»