Page 97 of Blood Mosaic

“Excellent. You’re making yourself at home.”

She looked up to see Oleg leaning against the double doors of the dining room, his arms crossed over his chest.

Tatyana blinked and looked out the window. “I didn’t even realize the sun had gone down.”

“Did you spend all day in here? Studying your numbers and accounts?” He walked toward her, and she felt it again, the magnetic force of everything he was bearing down on her. “You should have made use of the grounds. There are several pools, a grotto, and a boat available should you want to use it.”

Tatyana saved her work, closed her laptop, and scooted her chair back from the table. “I had work to do.”

“You can’t work all the time.”

She was desperate to change the subject from herself. “You’re a mosaic artist. You told me that and then wiped my memory.”

He stopped walking. “In my defense, you touched my hand and passed out.” He looked her up and down. “I do love your reaction to my hands.”

Tatyana’s cheeks burned, but she ignored his provocative words and continued with the statement she had decided to make. “I don’t want you to alter my memory again. I know I can’t stop you. If you really want to do it, you will. But I am asking you not to, and if you have any respect or regard for me, you will not do it again.”

Oleg smiled. “So businesslike, my little wolf.” He walked over, bent down, and placed a chaste kiss on both her cheeks. “I regard you highly, and I will not alter your memories again unless I deem it necessary for your safety.”

That was likely the only concession she was going to get out the overbearing vampire lord. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I have spent all day working, but I did eat lunch out on the main balcony, and the fountains are beautiful.”

Oleg pulled out a chair and sat next to her, stretching his legs out and crossing them at the ankle. The position made Tatyana very aware of just how tall he was. His physical presence dwarfed hers.

“This was the house I built for Luana.” Oleg looked around. “And Zara. Water vampires prefer to live near their element. They resided here for many years after they became lovers.”

She let out a slow breath. “I don’t think I knew that before. So your mate and your…”

“Child.” He lifted one shoulder. “The tie between Zara and me was completely independent of her relationship with Luana. We were in no way a family. Zara was Luana’s lover first. Mymate asked me to change her lover so Zara could remain at her side.”

Wow. Just… wow.

“That is… very twisted.”

“Perhaps from a human perspective, but we are not human.”

“Wait. I’m confused.” Tatyana remembered what Mika had told her. “Zara is your child, but you’re a fire vampire who comes from an… earth vampire. Right?”

Oleg stared at her with a blank expression. “You listen well.”

“But how?—”

“My mate was a water vampire. It’s not common, but when one exchanges blood with a vampire of another element—and Luana and I exchanged a lot of blood—then sometimes unpredictable things happen with amnis.”

“So you had Luana’s blood when you changed Zara.” Something about that felt so wrong to Tatyana, but she didn’t know why. Oleg was right—she was trying to assign human morality to creatures that were not human. “That means Luana had your blood too.”

He lifted one eyebrow. “That’s what a mate bond is.”

She felt a twisting pain in her heart. She looked at Oleg’s cool grey eyes. Calculating. Cold. Predatory. He didn’t like this subject, but he was indulging her curiosity. “Did it hurt you physically when Luana died?”

There was a twitch under one eye. “It was excruciating.”

Which meant that killing Zara would be just as painful to him. Maybe more.

“And Luana didn’t change Zara herself because then she would be like a mother?”

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