Christine Feehan - Dark Secret

He felt the rising of something dark and deadly. The beast roared and his fangs exploded in his mouth. He kept his gaze fixed on the road, opening the gate with a wave of his hand and closing it behind them with a clang of steel and a rattle of chain as it slipped back into place.

They rode in absolute silence up to the ranch house. Colby slid out of the truck and made her way up to the house, annoyed that her leg felt completely better. She couldn't ignore that Rafael could heal her, that he had nearly died to save her and Paul from the vampire. That he had come to her when he was in terrible pain, near death, to help find Ginny. But could he be manipulating her mind in some way to believe all those things had happened when they hadn't really? Was it possible everything was an illusion? Standing alone in the living room, she touched the throbbing mark on her neck with her fingertips, stroking a caress over the pinpricks. Both Rafael and Nicolas were capable of powerful mind exploitation; she'd seen them use compulsion and enthrallment on others. Their eyes, their voices, everything about them shouted power.

The nape of her neck tingled. Her breasts began to ache and heat pooled in secret places. She closed her eyes briefly before turning around, knowing he was there in her living room. Rafael leaned one hip lazily against the wall, his black eyes watching her.

"Where's Paul?" Was that her voice? She could barely speak, her mouth was so dry. She couldn't look at him and not want him. It had to be compulsion. She had never been a woman to be obsessed with a man. She kept her hand over the bite mark that never seemed to fade on her neck.

"The Chevez brothers are taking him over to the Everetts'. He can visit with Ginny and calm down. Sean's good for him, a very steady man, and his uncles will watch over him. It will give him a few hours of relief. The vet left a note for you. He's taken the horse back to his clinic. I made certain the chores were done for the evening." He held out the veterinarian's note.

Wary, Colby stayed where she was. It was the way he looked at her. He was so handsome, so tough and hard yet completely sensual, and his gaze was hot and possessive when it rested on her. And so hungry for her. It made her feel as if he saw only her. That only she existed for him. Her body responded to the dark intensity of his look no matter what her brain said.

"I still have some things to get done. I need to make a few calls and go over the bills," she said. Her voice didn't even sound like her own. She felt behind her for the wall and gripped it as tight as she could.

"I am not going to go away."

"If you were just asking for my body, Rafael, I'd give it to you. But you're trying to take all of me, and I don't want that." She spread her hands out in front of her and stared down at the small white scars from repairing too many fences and handling too much barbwire.

"I am not going to go away."

"I have to have room. You aren't letting me think or breathe. I have to try to figure out what we've gotten into. I'm sorry it isn't what you want to hear, but I'm asking you to leave."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you persist in thinking I would ever leave you?"

She tried a careless shrug and just managed to pull it off. She didn't want him to go, but he couldn't stay. He devoured her, ate up her personality until she didn't recognize the woman who would do anything for him, be anything for him. "Maybe because you look human and you seem to be a fairly reasonable person. If a woman asks you to leave, I would imagine you would comply."

"I cannot leave you and you do not really want me to go. I can smell your scent calling to me. I am like the great cats in the forest, or the wolf running free. I claim what is mine and I hold it to me. Your fear is of little consequence."

"Does that type of line endear you to women you go out with?"

"I only go out with you so you will have to answer that." He suddenly straightened, a show of muscle and fluid strength.

"No, it doesn't endear you to me at all. I want you to leave." Because if he didn't, if he stood there looking the way he was looking she was going to go up in flames. She was all too aware of her body's reaction to him. She had to figure out whether she believed in him, or even trusted him, before they went any further.

He shook his head. "You think to be rid of me. You have no idea of the power I possess, or the lengths I would go to keep you."

"And you have no idea what a stalking law is," she said. "But you're right, I don't have any idea of your power. How can I trust that any of this is real?"

"You believe this is all an illusion?"

"I don't know what to believe. You came here to get Paul and Ginny. Suddenly they're in danger and my entire world is upside down. Surprise-the big solution is to take them to Brazil with you. How very convenient is that? I'm not going to just accept it all without really thinking it through. That's who I am. Live with that." Her eyes challenged him, dared him even. She needed Ben, needed to talk to him desperately. She was out of her mind, baiting Rafael the way she was.

"I suggest you stop thinking of this other man." His voice was very low, almost a purr, but fear blossomed deep in her stomach and spread.

"Ben is my friend. If you stayed out of my head, you wouldn't know I was thinking about him," she pointed out.

His eyes hadn't blinked once; they were totally focused on her. He was mesmerizing her, as efficiently as a cobra mesmerized prey. She stood her ground because she had no other choice. She would not allow him to take her over.

"What do you think would happen to you if I disappeared? You have gone through hell without me these last few risings, yet now you are so willing to do so again. Could you have managed without my brother's aid?"

She winced visibly. "There you go, Rafael. No, I wouldn't have managed and that tells me something important. It isn't normal not to be able to go a few days without seeing someone. Or feeling them inside your head. That's where you are, inside my head, and I can't get you out. It isn't right."

"How do you know what is right? You purposely keep our relationship physical. You do not touch my mind to find out who and what I am. You do not want to know."

His tone was mild but her stomach tightened at the way he kept watching her. She suddenly realized she was completely alone in the ranch house and he had arranged it that way. "You keep it physical, Rafael. The way you look at me and touch me. You're a very physical man and you don't take no for an answer, not when you want me."

"Well, at least we understand one another," he said.

"No, we don't," she burst out. She paced the length of the room and then swung back to confront him. "You act so calm, like everything is normal, Rafael. You tried to kill me. Okay, let's just say for the moment we put aside you ripping the heart out of a man's chest and the fireball you pulled from the sky. We'll just shelve that for the moment and go right to the fact that you nearly killed me. I saw it in your eyes. You might have killed Juan as well."

Rafael's dark gaze met hers. "That is true."

"You told me you could never harm your lifemate. If I'm that person, how is it possible? Your own words make you a liar, or very much mistaken about this entire thing." He had scared her to death. Even now, just thinking about it made her go cold with fear.

"In order for you to understand how such a thing is possible, I have to tell you about myself and my brothers. Even when we were young, not yet two hundred years, we knew we were different from most other Carpathian males. We challenged every rule, pushed every limit. We reveled in our power and strength and when the prince gave us orders, we obeyed, but we questioned. Zacarias was our acknowledged leader, first and always before our prince."