1

Tritan headed toward the caves he used the week before. The time he'd spent searching for Circu had cost him the chance to find a new place to rest and he was still no closer to finding his friend who had disappeared while Tritan incinerated the heart of their former comrade.

They'd tracked a vampire to this area but neither hunter suspected their quarry would be a companion from their youth. Robert had chosen the false joy that becoming a vampire offers and so had become an enemy to all Carpathians. Circu and Tritan fought him to the death. Both hunters had been wounded in the fight. The blood of a vampire was both poisonous and corrosive and there was no way to kill one without spilling it. Robert, of course, hadn't fought alone, he'd called up vicious insects and other creatures to distract them during their struggle. But even though, Robert had fought ferociously, Tritan was left with the feeling that it had been too easy, that maybe Robert had been used as pawn by another, more powerful vampire.

Although, they remembered Robert was their childhood friend and shared memories of two centuries of being able to feel emotions and see the colors that nature provided; that they, in fact, had traveled together across the ocean to this land more than two hundred years ago, that truth in no way affected their actions. Robert's choice to become a vampire, made because a male Carpathian loses his ability to feel and see colors after two hundred years of life, and that deprivation becomes too much for some. The only way to regain their lost abilities is to find their life-mate but because there are no Carpathian females outside of their homeland, the hunters who were sent away from there to find and destroy their enemies, had no hope of that ever happening.

Why Robert didn't make the honorable choice and meet the dawn, Tritan didn't know. But he did understand wanting more of the rush that was as close to emotion as he could feel and that only came with a kill. Tritan supposed he'd just have to find more vampires to slay, even though that seemed to make the darkness in soul grow larger. He was determined to never take an innocent life by draining them of all their blood and so become a vampire. But if the emotionless being that he was now could be tempted even when not in the grip of the rush of the kill, then he could understand why it happened to the older Carpathians who had been without stimulation for so long.

He was a hunter, though, not a destroyer of human life. As hunters, it was their task to protect that life and keep the human population from discerning any knowledge of either vampires or Carpathians, as most people saw no difference between the two. And, so, it was knowledge of their duty alone that motivated them to battle the evils they found, because they felt no fear when they faced it or satisfaction when they triumphed over it. If Tritan had been able to, though, he knew he would regret having had to be the one to destroy the shell that once had been his companion.

But now, because he'd gone almost a full day without nourishment and was injured as well, his need for sleep was urgent. He didn't think he'd make it all the way to their last resting place, but he needed to get closer to it, as the soil by those caves would have more of the healing properties he required than the rocky ground he was walking on now.

As he made his way across the frozen snow, subconsciously noting the barrenness that surrounded him, he looked down at the town he and Circu had taken such pains to steer clear of. He didn't notice any unusual activity and decided that the people indoors had no idea that the freak winter "thunderstorm" they experienced last night, complete with lightning, had been anything but natural.

The unmistakable cry of a newborn broke the absolute quiet of the predawn winter morning. Tritan's eyes searched out the source. A young mother was hurrying from her house, carrying a baby. He saw her settling the infant in a car, but she lost her balance when she reached inside. She slipped on the ice and fell. He waited, but she made no further movement. The front window lit up and Tritan prepared to move on. As he turned to continue his journey, though, a nervous tension for the well-being of the unknown woman gripped him.

He was in the front yard of her home before he fully realized his own intentions.

"Danna, your mother called back," a man, obviously her husband, called as he stepped out the front door. "Reece is okay. He called home. You don't have to leave right now. Danna?" When there was no answer he sprinted toward the car and saw his wife's hair standing out starkly against the white of the snow -- her red hair.

Tritan had every intention of finding out for himself if the injured woman was seriously hurt, but was distracted by the high-pitched crying of the baby and then by the realization that the light coming from the house had a yellowish glow.

Suddenly he was overwhelmed by emotions. Worry for Circu, fear for the life of this Danna, and anger at the man who was standing far too close to the female who'd brought color and emotion back into his life after centuries of loss. "My life-mate," he said. The words were faint but fierce.

"Danna, sweetie, are you okay? Can you open your eyes?" The man kneeling on the ice was anxiously trying to get his wife to respond.

"She requires medical assistance?" Tritan asked, his tone distinctly menacing. His tall, muscular frame was set in an intimidating stance as he literally hovered over his apparent rival.

Whatever response the husband had planned on making was lost when the baby, who hadn't been completely buckled in, started to fall. Tritan caught the youngster while her father stood up. He reached for the baby, "I've got to call 911."

"Your infant is safe. Go contact a physician for the woman." Tritan pushed a compulsion at the man that had him immediately running back to the house.

Confusion, a building rage, and an undeniable need to claim what Tritan knew was his, was severely hampering his ability to make rational decisions.

He knelt next to the woman, Danna; reached out and touched her face. She was really quite beautiful. A tiny red-head with a pixiesh appearance. There was a vitality about her that made her unnatural stillness even more disturbing.

"Wake up, Danna." He didn't know if it was a demand or a plea.

She moaned and reached up to touch her head, instead she ended up holding Tritan's hand.

The child in his arms started to fuss, Tritan looked at the woman's face and sighed. Then he did what had known he was going to do before he'd even seen the woman fall.

Kneeling in the snow, in an obscure Wyoming town, as pre-dawn became true dawn, holding another man's child, he took Danna's hand and with the ritual words bound his life-mate to him and himself to her.

"Te avio päläfertiilam. Éntölam kuulua, avio päläfertiilam. . . "

Less than a minute later Danna became aware of her surroundings. "Joey!? Where's my husband?" Danna was agitated and more scared than she wanted to admit. Her entire backside was cold and wet, her head was throbbing with pain, and an unbelievably handsome man was holding her baby and talking to her in some foreign language.

She started to sit up and heard a siren. The front door slammed shut and Joey was there, insinuating himself between her and the stranger. Danna was finally able to breathe easy.

"Okay, now you just stay still. The ambulance is almost here and we're going to get your head checked out. You must've hit it really hard, you were out for three or four minutes." Joey was talking calmly and at the same time he was encouraging her to lay back down, this time with a blanket pillowed under her head.

Tritan knew something was horribly wrong. There was no place for him here. He, Tritan, was in the way while his life-mate lay injured. He could see the love that connected her to the mortal; it was obvious. 'None of this makes any sense.' he thought, 'Only a meeting of life-mates would affect the sight and emotions of a Carpathian the way I have been affected.'

The baby whimpered.

Tritan froze.

2

An old black pick-up made its way down a dirt road, spitting rocks and billowing dust. The driver, a pretty young woman, whose most striking feature was her long, wavy, light brown hair, wore a contemplative look as she searched the area for . . . something.

"It's out here, you know, I saw it when I scryed in the mirror, I even saw it in the water, and that psychic at the state fair, he put into words what I've known forever." The divination she heard over a year ago from the almost frightening man was lodged in her memory, 'You are tied to a place and bound to a fate. Free yourself from the first and hold tight to the other and you will find the joy you've been searching for.'

That's why she was out here, she was trying to find what tied her to her home, a place that except for her family, she had no love for. She always thought that she'd move away when she was done with school, but even though she dreamed and planned and schemed and twice had even tried to live in other cities, she always came back. And she knew that even if her parents left, she would stay.

She was a few miles outside of the small town that had pinned all of its hopes on coal mining. Coal that nobody wanted to buy. The town was like a not-so-mighty oak that had died years ago but just hadn't fallen over yet.

The homes were clustered together in a hodgepodge of ten or so streets. Most of the employed there drove forty to fifty miles each way to work, so they could put in their eight hour shift at the state penitentiary. A very few were actually employed in town, most though, didn't work at all. There was above average public housing, after all, and three bars.

She hated it. She'd grown up hating it. Wanted nothing more than to move away and create the life she not only knew she deserved, but one that her very nature told her was her destiny. The mean spiritedness that permeated this place was practically a toxin to her soul.

"This isn't where I'm supposed to be, Chase." She told her new companion in her daily search for whatever it was that tied her to this place. He was a stray dog that had attached itself to her a few weeks ago. She very much hoped it was a dog, at any rate; her father seemed sure it was at least part wolf.

She trusted the creature, though. She'd seen the dog while scrying with the mirror in an old compact her mother had given to her years ago. He showed up a few days later and because of the white mist that surrounded him in her vision she believed he was going to help. She'd accept help in any form.

She pulled over at the top of a rise and once again studied the uninterrupted vista all around her. She was looking for a cave entrance and was sure it was hidden from view by thistle plants topped with red flowers. The image of them had been very clear for the last two weeks and had appeared when she was scrying for her "tie" to the town. Unfortunately, though, the only ones she'd found so far hadn't been anywhere near caves.

The dog started scratching at the window; when she didn't respond, still scanning the landscape, he barked loudly in her right ear.

"Jeez, Chase, calm down. You want out?" Obviously, Chase did want out. When she opened the door to exit the truck the dog squeezed past her and took off like a bullet. Toward a whole lot of nothing.

"Don't you dare get lost! It's gonna be dark soon! Do you hear me, dog?" She set off after him.

When she caught up with him, he was calmly standing by a rather large rock some ancient glacier had randomly deposited there long ago. As she walked up to him, the red flowers behind him captured her attention. The sight of the fissure in the ground they surrounded stole her breath.

"Oh you sweet, wonderful, beautiful dog. You did it." The words were almost whispered but they were full of an emotional intensity that revealed her awe at having achieved a life-long goal.

3

Tritan was very angry. Laying in the ground, searching his surroundings with his mind, he knew both Circu and the child were close to his resting place. He had no wish to confront the mortal child he'd inadvertently made his life-mate. In the time since that fiasco he'd kept watch over her making sure she was safe, but never mentally joining with her. He knew he was bound to her but had no intention of completing the binding ritual-- mortal women couldn't survive it with their sanity intact. They became vampiresque and had to be destroyed.

He was ashamed his hasty actions had irrevocably changed both their lives. He carried with him a bitterness caused by the fact he would never know the sweeter emotions bonded life-mates share. Bitter, that because of his incomplete bonding he was now a danger to both mortals and Carpathians alike. He felt as though wrath and frustration ruled him and his ability to control himself was always in doubt, which was why he'd spent most of his life since that fateful morning in this cave, leaving only occasionally to feed and ensure the child was safe.

Until a few weeks ago the last contact he'd had with another Carpathian had been when he spoke to Circu after he'd left the small family that morning. He'd fed from a man he found sleeping off a night of drinking in his car, found an adequate place to rest and stayed there through three risings of the sun. When he woke he knew he couldn't put off finding Circu. Fortunately, Circu was also searching for him, so it took nothing more than communicating his location to him for the two of them to meet, find nourishment and then for Tritan to disclose his utter stupidity.

It was a short exchange and both agreed that it would be best for Tritan to stay and go to ground. Circu would return to their homeland and tell the Prince what happened. There was a small chance Gregori, the Prince's friend and a great healer, would know of a way to fix the situation he'd unwittingly created. Tritan had no contact with Circu after that and tried to resign himself to his fate.

Intermittently, over the twenty-five years he endured his half-life, he felt a psychic touch but he could tell the source wasn't Carpathian and never responded to the call.

That had been his existence until Circu showed up and insisted it was time to face the girl-child and remedy the situation; maybe find some peace. He told Tritan he'd been watching her and discovered she was very unhappy, that she'd made many plans during the past few years to leave this place and she couldn't understand that it was Tritan's presence near the town that kept her there. Because the ritual words had been spoken, she would never be able to physically separate herself from him, anymore than she would be able to find real pleasure her life while their bonding remained incomplete.

Circu also told him that mortal woman with psychic abilities could be safely bonded to Carpathians. That even their prince had taken a mortal as a life-mate. That her conversion, while physically painful for a day or so had been successful.

Circu seemed to believe that because he'd sensed untapped abilities in Tritan's life-mate as well as actually having seen her scry using mirrors and reflections in water, that she, too, could be converted.

Tritan, meanwhile, discovered during this conversation with Circu that a happily bonded Circu was extremely annoying to deal with. And although, he told him very seriously to eff off he had no real hope he would.

Now they were both there, standing outside his resting place, and Tritan miserably acknowledged that the time to face her had come.

While Chase sat and watched her with seeming impatience, she pulled out a small compact. The make-up it once held was long gone, but she was never without it. Her mother gave it to her when she was little more than a toddler and she had been fascinated by the pictures she saw reflected in it when she looked real hard. As a child she used it as if it were a particularly accurate Magic 8 Ball. Later she learned the visions she perceived in the mirror could have far reaching consequences, both good and bad, and she was very aware of the importance of keeping most of what she discovered to herself.

Since she received her bachelors degree from a university that offered an on-line program, her scrying had been limited to finding out why she was couldn't bring herself to leave her hometown. And she did that so often lately she worried it was becoming more of an obsession rather than a search for independence.

She felt a breeze as the sun started its earnest early evening descent. "Dark comes quick around here." She'd heard it all her life and it was true.

She took a deep breath, focusing her thoughts and finding a tranquil place for her emotions to rest. She stood next to the thistle plants as she reverently held the mirror in front of her, slightly tilting it so she could look through rather than at it, and said for what she hoped was the last time, "Show me what ties me here."Usually a red or yellow mist would cover the mirror when she searched for that answer. Neither was a good sign; one signified a fight, the other conflict with a lover. A very few times blue or white would appear, promising future happiness and love. After the mist faded a portrayal of a future event or a still picture of a place or person would be displayed. Sometimes she would see clues like the thistle bush that led her here. Other times she would see herself walking the streets of unknown cities or the face a man who, depending on the vision was either very angry or whose eyes were filled with a love that brought a smile to her heart. They were amazing visions. Her favorite, though, was the one where she was watching her own baby peacefully sleep while being tenderly held in the arms of the man who was her only chance for finding joy.

But none of that happened this time.

No mist. No images.

There was nothing. Just the harsh reflection of the cave beside her.

A jumble of thoughts danced through her mind, the overriding one being an awareness of failure. She was too numb to cry; but that didn't make her despair any less. There would be no more searching for a way out, no more dreaming of life beyond these few miles. No man to love her, no man to give her love to.

She would have to stop scrying, even though it was the only thing that gave her a feeling of freedom. Never finding what the mirror promised was killing her spirit. She miserably acknowledged the time had come to give up her dreams. Her arm fell to her side and the mirror dropped to the ground.

5

She closed her eyes and sank to her knees. She felt Chase next to her and blindly reached out burying her face in his fur, taking what comfort she could in the canine's attempt to console her.

The tears that wouldn't come earlier poured from her now. She cried with the abandon of a hurt child and the despair of betrayed woman, and held even tighter to her only source of solace.

She never heard Tritan walk toward her. She only knew that only minute she was on the ground bawling into the fur of her wolf/dog and the next she was picked up and firmly anchored next to her "man in the mirror".

"Circu, you have dared much since you returned to this place. All in the name of our friendship. But you will never embrace my life-mate again, or we will have no friendship for you to meddle with." Tritan spoke with an vehemence that left no doubt he meant every word he said.

Where, a minute before, there had been her trusted four legged friend, there now stood a man. She noticed in a detached way he was quite good-looking, and as soon as she was done staring at Mirror Man she would give him, and his transformation, her full attention. Part of her, though, doubted she would ever be done gazing at him.

"Truly, Tritan, I would never do such a thing. And you must have noticed that she was doing the embracing. I was merely giving her a safe harbor while she dealt with the abandonment of her life-mate." While his words were placating his expression mocked. "Besides from what you said when we last spoke, I was under the impression her safety was your only concern. She was never in any danger while her arms were wrapped around me, her face snuggled next to mine."

Tritan growled and took a half step toward him. Circu just laughed.

Tritan dismissed him from his thoughts and turned to face the woman he could feel intently watching his every move, absorbing his every word. He was so aware of her. Of her body that radiated both tension and exhilaration. He didn't need his preternatural Carpathian senses to know that he was the source of her elation, he didn't need to be anything other than a man. The loneliness of the past years rushed up and over him. It settled there, bringing with it all the bitterness and rage that had made him an outcast to all societies. Then he looked at her, read in her eyes, in her very being, the joy that was engulfing her because she had found him. All the anger he felt because of the time he'd spent here, just fell away. It had seemed so interminable and useless while he was going through it, but now he saw it as a worthwhile sacrifice. The kind any true Carpathian male would make for his life-mate.

And so when he reached out to her it wasn't just with his arms, but with his mind, with his heart, with his very soul. And he found in her everything he never knew he always needed. And he was made complete. Peace flooded his soul.

"I love you, Susanna Binjoe." His arms were holding her close as he whispered the words into her ear.

"I . . . I love you, too," a smile in her voice. "From the first time I saw you in the mirror. But, ahh," her voice got even quieter, "how do you know my name?"

"There is much for us to discuss."

6

Susanna's openness with him and her efforts to understand him, even though, she knew he was different from any man she'd ever met before, was astonishing. Even to the point of her unblinking acceptance when she saw Circu change from man to wolf and lope off into night, gave him yet another emotion to deal with; contentment. Part of him just wanted to be still and hold her close, but he couldn't deny the passion he felt or the compulsion to possess her that was building in him.

As they walked away from the cave Tritan's craving and need to complete their bonding began to interfere with his ability to answer the many questions she had. He'd been fighting his own nature for years now and the strain of that combined with actually being with her and touching her was starting to get to him. His own senses were beginning to betray him.

The sun warmed scent of her hair kept teasing him, the softness of her body next to his left him with no sense of direction. Her voice caressed his skin and when she said his name he felt his body tighten. But it was the thought of the smell and taste and feel of her blood that was making him insane with yearning.

His step slowed as he became aware of the obstacles that were still between them, 'How much of my nature does she understand, how much can she accept?' His hand moved slowly up her arm as he considered how much and what to tell her. 'Such a naive and young girl, what can she know of the realities of a Carpathian bonding, she has never even known the love of a mortal man.' A primitive satisfaction shot through him at the thought.

"Oow" The hand that had been absently traveling up and down her arm tightened suddenly. Susanna saw the intensity in Tritan's eyes. She watched as he responded to sound of her complaint. She saw his eyes focus on her arm, his hand still wrapped around her arm, his thumb innocently touching the side of her breast. She saw Tritan become a Carpathian male then. One who was about to claim, bond, possess, take his life-mate.

She didn't understand what he was, but with her very soul she knew who he was. And he needed her. Whatever part of her would give him comfort she wanted to give. There was no hesitation in her as she leaned toward him. She reveled in the opportunity to give to him, to take from him. To finally belong.

His hands were in her hair as he moved her backwards to lean against the side of the truck. His mouth covered hers, demanding entrance but begging acceptance at the same time. As much as his body insisted on immediate satisfaction, he couldn't forget how precious she was to him. The war that raged inside him was killing him.

Susanna responded to his urgency, her lack of experience didn't stop her body from answering the call of his. Her breasts felt heavy and tight as he held and caressed them. They both watched as he roughly pushed down her top and exposed her nipples to the night air. His finger lightly touching one and then the other. Leaving them hard and throbbing. Needing more of his touch.

She followed his lead so sweetly, he wanted to just stroke and play with every part of her body. The way she offered herself up to him made him want to know more of her. Wanted to feel her hot and wet around him, taking him deeply inside her. The thought of a unhurried exploration of all her secrets only made him burn hotter for her now.

He leaned down, his teeth and lips caressing her neck. His hands touched her intimately, her jeans disappeared at his touch. She was so slick and ready for him when he found her, he couldn't resist slipping a finger inside her.

"Susanna, do you want this?" his voice was low, almost a growl against her ear, he wanted her so much. He pushed a little deeper. He heard her gasp wordlessly, he felt the dampness of her acceptance.

Tritan used his fingernail to cut her just above her breast. Her blood welled up. The smell of it nearly brought him to his knees. "This is who I am, who you will be." His eyes bored into hers, he repeated, "Do you want this?"

She never looked away from him as her hand moved across the deep scratch. Her finger was covered with her blood. Susanna raised it to Tritan's mouth and laid it softly on his bottom lip. "This is who I am, do you want me?" His tongue and lips responded to her offering. He stopped thinking.

His mouth moved over the slice on her chest as he lifted her onto the bed of the truck. Somehow the sleeping bag that had been rolled up tight in the back seat now was spread beneath her. He drank deep the taste of her, he needed to be inside her the way her life essence was inside him.

He moved against her, felt her opening up for him. "Susanna, I don't want to hurt you," he said.But then he did.

He pushed into her in one strong motion, reshaping her body forever. Making it a perfect fit for his.

He cut himself on his chest, much as he had done to her. Then he pulled her face close to the cut, urging her to taste, to drink, to know him the way he knew her, his own mouth found her neck and he again took nourishment from her.

She tasted him, licked the scratch and swallowed the gift of his blood.

Susanna's head was spinning, her whole world nothing but the throbbing in her body. With each beat of her heart she felt tender in places that had never before been touched. It hurt, but she couldn't help moving against him, causing herself pain but wanting more of the sensation the friction gave to her. She was achy, scared, and very edgy. She wanted him to make her feel better and she new he could if he would … just … do … something.

Tritan felt her tentative movements and lifted his head. He felt her need become his. He gave to her what they both so ardently sought. His movements took on a steady rhythm and he began to mumble the ritual words, his volume and clarity increasing with each inward thrust. "I offer my life for you. I give you my protection."

Susanna felt overwhelmed with sensations unable to focus on any one for more than a moment. Her overriding awareness was of him buried within her. She was hardly conscious of him in her arms, the words he was speaking flowing over and through her; somehow freeing her from the sadness of her past and changing her into what she had always been fated to become.

"I give you my heart."

"I give you my soul."

"I give you my body."

He plunged deeper with each statement. Pushing her closer and closer to the edge.

"You are my life mate."

He stopped moving. Took her face in his hand and looked into her eyes. "You are bound to me for all eternity."

"Yes, yes. I know." She caressed his face, his arms, his back, anywhere she could reach, to soothe him, to make … him … move.

He took her wandering hands in his and held them above her head, leaning down to kiss her, to sip the blood at her neck once more before he closed the wound with flick of his tongue. He began moving again, taking her further than he had before, staying with her, pushing her ahead.

"You are always in my care," he finished the ritual. He pushed against her one last time, "Now, give it to me, Susanna, come with me."

She didn't know what he meant, but "Ahhh," she tightened around him and he let himself explode inside her. Her muscles were alive around him and drained him. A sun burst inside her and she stopped breathing as wave after wave of sensation washed over her. But before she realized she was afraid of the intensity of the experience, she felt his arms around her holding her close, keeping her cradled against the safety of his body.