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He met her gaze. “I wish I understood what was happening here. Do you get this? The purpose of it?”
“Not all of it, though it feels very protective in nature. But I do sense the marks will increase each of our abilities, though in what way I have no idea.”
He nodded. “I would agree with your take on it because this vibration feels full of power.”
“Are you concerned about marking me in return? Does this feel like it will be too much of a connection between us?”
He slid his gaze away from her, no doubt exploring the vibration himself. Finally, he shook his head, reverting his gaze to her. His eyes narrowed. “I don’t have a sense this is about a bond, more like power we’ll be able to use.”
“I agree.” She then held out her arms to him and smiled. “Just do me, Ian.”
He held her gaze steadily and when a new wave of his earthy, erotic scent rolled over her, he added fuel to the fire by throwing a growl into the mix. Once more, his fangs emerged. Only this time he punctured the tip of his right index finger and began creating the trails as she had, first with a center line almost from the elbow of her right arm, all the way to the wrist bone, followed by angled lines down each side.
When he was done, he took both her hands in his, frowning. She understood why. The power she’d been feeling had doubled on them both. The vibrations raced up her arms and down her back, flowing from her hands and into his, then returning the journey.
“Holy shit.” He held on, his frown deepening. “Regan, what’s going here? Is this because you’re a blood rose?”
“I think so. And because you’re a very powerful mastyr vampire.” She thought it was an idea worth exploring, but his cell phone rang and he instinctively let go of her hands to retrieve it. With their physical connection broken, the vibrations drifted away as swiftly as they’d come.
“Hey, Ben,” he said, his cell t
o his ear. “Everything’s good here. I have Regan with me and I’ll be sticking close for a while, especially since she’s seen Margetta’s fortress and her army.”
He paused to listen to whatever Ben was saying.
Regan moved away, needing a moment to think. Whatever this was between them, it was happening fast and coming on strong. She felt dizzy with sudden concern. Nothing had truly changed between herself and Ian, just the strange blood rose phenomenon that had clipped her at the back of her knees.
She saw movement from the corner of her eye and shifted to see if an owl had flown out over the gorge. But what was actually there sent fear pummeling her heart. A red wind flowed down near the cliffs, the truest sign deadly wraith-pairs were headed their way.
She returned to Ian and waved her hand at him, drawing his attention back to her.
“Invictus,” she said, gesturing to the southern vista.
Ian followed the line of her arm. “I see the wind.” To Ben, he said, “I’m switching to telepathy. We’re in trouble here.”
He shoved his phone back into his pocket and she sensed he was now pathing to Ben.
Looking up at his face, she could see he stared out at the gorge, then slowly turned to view the farthest western horizon, the southern cliff, then the eastern flow of land in the direction of the Leberion Plain.
Finally, he turned to her. Regan, I won’t pretend we’re not in trouble. By my best guess, having fought the Invictus for centuries, we’re looking at twenty pair and they’re headed straight for us. Ben’s sending the Guard. Ten will be here in a few minutes, with an additional thirty arriving after that.
What do we do until then? she pathed.
Hold them off.
Even during the time they’d been together, she’d never been in a real battle situation with Ian. She felt his tension as though every muscle in his body was flexed, ready and waiting.
He lifted his arm, staring down at the blood tattoos. “Do you know what this means?”
She looked at his arms. Each line now pulsed. She lifted her own arms and it was the same thing, as though the marks were alive. “We’ve both agreed this is power, but I don’t know what it is or what I’m supposed to do with it.”
“Same here, but we’ll figure it out. Right now we have to hunker down.” He caught her arm and guided her back into the house, closing the sliding glass door and locking it.
He began moving furniture, pushing the sofas and chairs up against the curved windows. “The glass is bullet-proof, but with this many pairs, I don’t know what we’ll be up against.”
“Can I help? What about the steel shutters?”
“That’s next, because it will slow the enemy down. But most of the shutters are set at a distance from the house. Any of the Invictus can slip between.”
