Chapter 18
"Why are you blocking me, Ariane?"
It was much later, near dawn, and they were back upstairs in Colin's bedroom. But Ariane hadn't been able to relax.
It wasn't the lovemaking. That continued to be wonderful. The same easy meeting of minds persisted as they explored each other's bodies more thoroughly. Ariane loved the way Colin combined great delicacy of touch with his confident sensual demands. He was a gentle taskmaster. He knew what he wanted and didn't hesitate to ask for it, yet at the same time he used the bond to learn what her yearnings were and how best to nurture them.
She liked the balance he established between his needs and her own. He honored both. She knew there were men who cared little for their partners and sought only their own satisfaction, although she had never had such a lover herself. But she had once had the opposite—a young man who was so devoted to pleasing her that he neglected his own pleasure, claiming, not very convincingly, that her satisfaction was all he desired. That relationship hadn’t lasted long—she had quickly grown bored.
She did not think she would ever be bored with Colin.
But she was at a total loss about what, if anything, she should tell Colin about what she had seen as Cam had left the keep.
"I can sense that there is something you are keeping from me," he stated when she didn't answer his question. "I can feel the tension rolling off you. What's wrong?"
"Colin, I'm so sorry. I, just, I'm feeling edgy."
"I'm not going to press you. You're getting enough pressure from Cam. I'm just wondering why you suddenly seem so strained."
"It's naught to do with us," she assured him. "I think I'm still trying to adjust to this strange world of yours."
She knew she hadn't convinced him, but he kept his word not to press her.
It had been hard to hide the reason for her stress from him. Blocking took energy, and by the time he fell asleep, blissed out and happy, she was exhausted. On one level, she too was blissed out and happy. On another, she was scared.
She had tortured herself for a while trying to figure whether Colin and everyone in his family were darklings. Was she imprisoned in some demon castle? Were any of them what they seemed to be?
But this extreme paranoia had faded as she'd remembered Kate's warmth and Ross's kindness. As for Colin, she had been inside his head, and unlike her, he was not very good at blocking or guarding his thoughts. Colin was not a demon, and he was telling her the truth when he declared he could only change to two other forms—a wolf and a sea dragon.
The next thing she concluded was that Colin had no knowledge about his older brother's strange ability. Darklings, called vampires here, were hated creatures among the shape shifters of Scotland.
Did Cameron shift to that form because he wanted to? Because he chose it? Or because he could not help himself?
Given that darklings were so reviled, maybe he kept it a secret from his family?
Yet how much of a secret could it be if he left the castle in the middle of the night and shifted right in the courtyard? Over the years, she couldn't have been the only person who had seen this happen.
The scariest thought of all was this one: had it been Cam, in his vampire or darkling form, who had attacked her and Rin on the far side of the Abyss and driven them through? She had never seen a darkling close up before. No doubt if you dealt with darklings on a daily basis you could tell them apart, but what if Cam had been in her world, which he must have been at some time, since he spoke the Common Tongue? What if he had targeted her for some unknown reason and driven her across the Rift to Mallochbirn for some dark purpose of his own?
What did this creature look like? Would you recognize it if you saw it again? That had been one of Cameron's first questions to her. Had he been afraid of being recognized by her?
It didn't really make sense, though. She was a Traveler, yes, but a junior one. She wasn't important. What could he possibly want from her, this intimidating man with all his relentless questions? Had she been brought here specifically to be interrogated? If so, why? She really didn't know anything that was significant.
If he wanted her here, then he must have a plan. By answering his questions, she was playing into that plan. Maybe all the nonsense about how she might be a threat to this world by stealing their technology was really a spin on his own plan to snatch something from her world? Or to attack it? To sow chaos? To steal resources?
If she was part of his plan, then wasn't it incumbent upon her to thwart that plan? To prevent him from getting whatever it was he wanted? To escape?
Rin was well now. He still had to regain some strength, but he could swim. If Cam's plan had been to kill Rin and capture her, leaving her with no way back to her own world, then he had failed. She was no longer helpless—a Traveler without a means of Traveling. She could go down to the cavern, hook onto Rin's breathing bud, and have him swim her away from here. She knew where the Barrier was on this side. The mission to rescue Rin had shown her the way.
She could leave.
But...but Colin. Their lovely sex. Their mental bond—two intelligent minds linked together in joyous conversation and laughter.
He didn't seem overly fond of his brother Cam. Maybe she could tell him what she had seen and explain all her fears. Maybe he would come with her. They were mates, after all.
Maybe he would refuse.
He was bound to uphold his Council—he had already made that clear. Neither he nor Ross had liked what Cam was doing to her, but they hadn't stopped it, had they?
She could take Rin and flee. Better still, she could steal some of the medication Ross had given to Rin, that antibiotic stuff that had healed him. There was no medicine so effective in her world. Without that treatment, Rin surely would have died. And if she understood correctly, he still needed to receive the medication for several more days.
They had believed she was a spy, here to steal technology. She had never dreamt of such a thing, but now the idea was in her head.
Could she betray her promise to such an extent? Could she betray Colin, whom she adored? Colin, who was her destined mate?
Oh Mother. Her head was pounding.