Free Carpathian 03 - Dark Gold by authors_sort Page A

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    
    I claim you as my lifemate. I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give 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 placed above my own. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care .
    
    He spoke the ritual words in her mind, both in her language and in his native tongue. The ritual would not be complete until her body was bound to his, but, this done, no one would be able to take her from him, nor could she escape him.
    
    Aidan gave her as much blood as he could. He wanted the vampire's blood thoroughly diluted when the conversion began, during which she would expel whatever might remain. They had little time before the transformation would begin, and he was weak and pale. He desperately needed to hunt before she needed him again, which would be very soon.
    
    Alexandria lay back, her long lashes thick crescents resting on her cheeks. Even in her hypnotic state, he could see the pain twisting her body. It was difficult to keep his promise and not command her to sleep the deep, healing sleep of immortals. But if Alexandria was ever to trust him, he had to keep every promise he made. She had exceptional cause to despise his kind. Her trauma and terror would never be fully erased, even as she came to understand their race.
    
    His call to Marie brought the older woman to the chamber immediately. "You will stay with Alexandria while I hunt this night."
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    Marie watched him, appalled as he staggered with weakness. She had seen him weary and wounded from battle, but she had never seen him so starved before. He was nearly gray. "You must take my blood before you go out, Aidan," she said. "You are too weak to hunt. If a vampire caught you is such a state, he would destroy you."
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    He shook his head, touching her arm gently. "You know I would never do such a thing. I do not use those I care for, those I protect."
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    "Go then, and hurry." Marie watched with anxious eyes as he bent to brush his mouth across the girl's forehead. He was suddenly so tender, this man she had come to know so well. He had always been aloof, remote, even to those he called family. This rare gesture of tenderness made her want to cry.
    
    Aidan whispered the command to awaken Alexandria from her trance. "I must go now," he told her. "Marie will stay with you until my return. Call to me if you have need of me."
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    For some strange reason, Alexandria didn't want him to leave her side. She curled her fingers in the sheet to keep from calling out to him. But he moved quickly with his peculiar grace, like a great jungle cat, and soon was gone.
    
    Marie held a glass of water to her lips. "I know you're sore, Alexandria—may I call you that?—but some water might help. I feel I know you, what with young Joshua telling me such tales of his wonderful sister. He loves you very much."

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    
    The rim of the glass hurt her mouth, and Alexandria pushed it away. "Just Alex, that's what Josh likes to call me. Is he okay?"
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    "Stefan—that's my husband—looked him over very carefully. He was hungry and tired, a bit hypothermic and dehydrated, but we attended to that. He's eaten and is in good spirits. He fell asleep by the downstairs fire. Under the circumstances, with him so worried about you, we felt he should sleep close to us and not alone in his room."
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    "Thank you for looking after him." She tried to sit up. With the infusion of the hunter's blood, she felt stronger. "Where is he now? I'd like to go see him."
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    Marie shook her head. "You must not even attempt to leave this bed. Aidan would have our heads. You're very weak, Alex. I guess you haven't seen yourself yet either. In your condition, you'd scare Joshua to death."
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    Alexandria sighed. "But I need to see him, to touch him, just so I know