A/N - Sorry it took so long to update! It's been a crazy, hectic summer! This is a very LONG chapter with lots of info and stuff happening! I think I tried to make up for the fact that it took so long to update and that it might take another week before I update again.


The situation seemed stable enough. Dayan had long before gone home to Corrine and their daughter. Darius and Rusti's young daughter was also with Corrine while the band was on the road for those few weeks. The band had created an isolated home fortified with numerous spells, safeguards, specially made protection glass -even the Earth itself underneath and around the house had been warded against vampires- it was made specifically to protect Carpathian children in that part of the world. Manolito and MaryAnn were also there since Dayan didn't feel right about leaving Corrine on her own for longer than a few hours at a time.

Back at the campground that Dayan had long left behind, by 2 a.m. that evening Natalia was absolutely exhausted. Ragnar, of course, was also still there with them. The entire tract of land had been properly safeguarded and most of the males had gone to hunt for the night.

The human young people were all sitting in their bus together to set a few things straight. Ragnar was not too far from Natalia's position. He had intentionally attuned himself to listen in on whatever conversations she took part in. He did not like the fact that she was in the tour bus with other males but he forced himself to sit there and simply listen and learn who she was. The last thing he wanted to do was make another major mistake.

"Guys, does this mean the band is breaking up?" asked Steve sadly as he avoided looking at anyone.

"Oh, no, baby!" Natalia said as she sat next to him. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"But lifemates go where lifemates go," Steve said as he shook his head sadly. He was very distressed that their plans might be changing. In his mind, they were supposed to absolutely be on the road until right before college started up again and after that they were supposed to be back in the studio while doing one gig a month.

"Well my lifemate is going where I go," Natalia assured him.

Derek spoke up then. "You know I joke all the time, Natalia, but I'm serious when I say this. We know the deal and we know what comes next. Just say the word and we'll all go home until you can figure this out. We support whatever decision you make. This stuff is bigger than us and we understand the repercussions -all of them- if things don't go well."

Natalia looked around at her bandmates. Some of them were teary-eyed and half of them were avoiding eye-contact with her. She could see that they were all nervous about the future of the band. "Guys, my goals are still the same. I'm a performer." She could see they were having a hard time believing that things weren't about to instantly change overnight. "When Julian came along," she asked, trying to prove her point, "did Desari stop performing?"

"I guess not," said Tanya with a half shrug. "She's still out there doing her thing."

"And doing it well!" Jewel laughed nervously.

"So why can't I be like that, too?" asked Natalia. She looked over at Lena. "Right?"

Lena nodded reassuringly. "That's right, girl. You do your thing. It'll all fall into place the way it's supposed to."

"Well at this point, I'm about to fall into bed," joked Derek, "because I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, me too," James agreed.

They had all had that band meeting in their pajamas. All of the girls went to the back of the bus where they drew a curtain. The guys went to their bunks up front. Everyone settled in to their places to sleep and the lights went out. But not one of them could close their eyes.

There seemed to be some kind of ball of tension in the bus sitting on the silence in the air. Nearly twenty minutes passed. And then, "Guys," Natalia whispered into the darkness as tears formed in her eyes. "Guys, I didn't say this before, but I have to admit it now. I'm scared. I'm like really scared." They could hear a quivering in her voice. "I don't know what's going to happen next," she sobbed. "And that's the truth."

They all felt afraid on her behalf. This was unknown territory.

So the band did what they knew how to do. "Let's sing a song," said James. "I mean we should practice Vivir Lo Nuestro, right? I kind of still suck at singing the beginning."

It was one of the only songs in Spanish the group knew, but they'd learned it because Natalia felt that if they were going to call themselves 'Eclectic', their musical range should cover many time periods, languages and cultures.

One thing was certain, James did not 'suck' at the beginning. But she knew it was his attempt at making her feel better to take a song from her culture for them to sing at that moment. James began the first verse and sang it well! Natalia then did the first answering verse, her voice shaky with her tears and then it became stronger as her vocals progressed.

Pretty soon, all the guys were singing the man's part of the song and all of the girls, including Lena, were giving the verses delivered by the woman. It was a bus sitting in the darkness full of harmonizing voices.

Somewhere far away, Desari and Syndil looked at one another and smiled. They had been worried about Natalia since Ragnar had come off so entitled from the start, but now they knew that so long as she had the band with her, she might eventually transition well into becoming a lifemate whether she converted or not. Support for her at this crucial stage was of primary importance, they knew, in order for her to maintain sanity enough to allow Ragnar to get close to her.

The band felt light-hearted with comfort by the end of the salsa ballad and they were good and drowsy with smiles on their faces. They were all falling asleep when Natalia said into the air, "I love you, guys."

"We love you, too, Natalia," said Tanya.

##

Ragnar stood there as he realized that Natalia's band was tied up with her identity. It was only the first night since he had met her and he was beginning to suspect that courting her was going to be more complicated than he originally thought. Frustration at the forefront of his mind, he wondered, how was he going to extricate her from this group? He cursed his bad decision from earlier since it seemed his approach caused her to push herself into the center of them even more!

He knew that maybe he should sit back and simply be glad to be in her company, stay out of her way for a time and let her grow comfortable at the thought of him being around. He just didn't want to!

He wound up deciding it was better for her to want to leave with him than to pressure her in some way. He would have to do the last thing he wanted in this situation. He would have to wait some more.

##

They continued on their tour into the following week. Ragnar pretty much kept his distance the first three days with them on the road.

Natalia felt a tiny bit of relief once she realized that he wasn't going to be pushy about things.

After that initial three days, little by little, he made his way to Natalia's side. Each day, he would manage to bring himself closer and closer to wherever she stood or walked each evening. After a time, he became somewhat of a silent shadow. He didn't come too close or do much of anything else. He was simply persistent with his presence. It took all of his strength to be so passive, but he did it.

The night before the big concert for that week, he found Natalia outside sitting in a lawn chair. She was working on the wording of new lyrics with Lena. The other members of the band weren't too far away, roasting marshmallows over a tiny camp fire. Lena saw Ragnar approaching and gave him a tiny smile as she discreetly stood and left her spot empty for him. He was grateful that her friends were at least open to him being around now, even if he could detect that they initially thought he was 'the biggest jerk on the planet'. He seemed to have scored some points with them due to his newfound patience.

Ragnar walked up close and stood near where Natalia sat, towering over her. "May I sit down with you?" he asked almost carefully.

She tried to ignore the fear that the sight of him brought up in her. She found herself looking him up and down once and then rolling her eyes. "Yes, go ahead," she said anyway.

He sat in the other lawn chair that had been vacated by Lena. The chair was quite low to the ground and he had to allow his long limbs to casually unfurl outward. He then rested in that oh-so-casual position and then began staring at her.

Natalia found herself annoyed with her betraying thoughts. The way he sat in the lawn chair, all lounged like some kind of large jungle cat, it was a little too hot and distracting. His beautiful eyes caught the light of the fire not far away and his gorgeous face was looking over at her… more like he was staring at her, her hair, every single move she made. She couldn't believe it, he was actually staring.

She had half a mind to tell him to get away from her, but she knew that wouldn't be fair. He had been trying, she noticed, to make his presence not as known as he could have. She had to concede that Lena was right, she was attracted to him and he was good looking to her. Then she had to break it down in her mind even further and finally admit to herself that he was THE BEST looking man she had ever seen in her life and that there was 'something' about him that was inescapably magnetizing to her. Yes, she felt betrayed by her insides and decided to take it out on him.

"What are you staring at?" she suddenly snapped at him.

"You," he said simply. "Your lovely face." He wanted to add more but had a feeling his thoughts on her body would not be welcomed just yet. He slammed his lips shut but continued to stare. Her body was healthy and waiting just for him…

She looked skyward, annoyed at the staring sentinel sitting at her side. Another part of her was worse than flattered that a guy that looked like that—she shut the thought down immediately. "Are you going to sit there and stare at me all night or are you going to make conversation?"

He gave her a slow, hot smile as he openly looked her up and down. His gaze returned to her face. "If you are willing to speak with me then I am willing to speak."

She swallowed back a retort. She sighed. "Well, um…" She shook her head. What do you ask a man that's supposed to be your mate…for life? Once again, her stomach lurched with not only nervous nausea, but also with a strange sense of anticipation that made no sense to her. It was like a prearranged marriage, but not exactly. Some other part of her wanted to connect with him, but she was still fighting it. "Where are you from? I mean… I know you're a Carpathian, but I mean… Ragnar Thorsen? You stayed with the Vikings?"

He was more than ready to tell her anything she wanted to know. "My parents took me away to the many Viking lands when I was barely eight. They were sent that way to keep an eye on those regions. We were the only ones of our kind that we encountered for such a long time afterward…" A shadow passed over his face.

"Thorsen," said Natalia. "Son of Thor? Is there a reason for that name in particular?"

He smiled over at her warmly. "So you are aware of the meaning of the name. Yes, my father named himself 'Thor'… Tor in some places. That was his first name. He had another he used, too, but very rarely. Our family became the Thorsens. We moved around very much, never spent more than twenty years anywhere. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland… Wherever we went, he and my mother were able to make themselves appear to age. On our journeys from one land to another, by the time we would arrive at the new land, they would have 'died on the journey' and my father would take a new identity, my mother would have a different name."

He nearly laughed, "She had more names than any of us. I lost track after awhile. It is easy to simply call her 'mother' after all, is it not? My father was the unfortunate one that had to keep up with her name changes, after all, ja?"

Natalia found herself actually smiling with him since a piece of the accent he had probably used for years bled through in that quick second. It seemed that he was showing his true self in that moment, not the front of who he wanted the world to see.

He seemed to get more into telling her of his past then since he felt she was truly listening to him. "They would say they had a young son visiting with other relatives. I would arrive ten years later from those 'other relatives', obviously a grown man at that point. It was tricky, but we were able to make it work for a time."

She found herself fascinated, lost in his narrative. "Did they call him 'Thor' because he did things, you know, out of the ordinary?" she asked carefully.

He nodded slightly as his smile began to depart. "He did. I did not agree with my father doing that, either. It was the one thing he and I strongly disagreed upon once I grew old enough to understand the world around me and the consequences of such a thing." He sighed. "My mother and he had another child during one of those stints when I was away for ten years. When I reached them, I encountered my younger brother for the first time. He was a mere seven years of age."

Her eyebrows rose and she was genuinely curious as she asked, "You have a little brother? Where is he now?"

Ragnar shook his head. "I do not know. I lost track of him over two centuries ago. The last time I saw him, he had just lost his emotions. I wanted to help him because by then I was used to the—the bleak blankness of what my existence had become. I felt that I could guide him to finding resolution and peace until he could find his lifemate. But he did not want my help. He simply wanted to be left alone. I lost track of him after that. I have been searching for him ever since. I had already been on the search for you from long before then."

That comment jarred her back to the reality of her situation. "How long is that?" she asked, growing nervous.

He looked at her hungrily. "I have been searching for you since before I fully lost all of my emotions. I had none for 800 years, I had them fully for 200, and in between that time, it took a century for them to bleed out, little by little… For nine hundred of those years I have looked for you," he said with deep intensity. He looked away from her then into the darkness. "And for five hundred I have been searching for my younger brother, Harek. Searching for others keeps one busy when the darkness calls," he said as he finally looked over at the fire that the band was sitting around not too far away. Dark shadows caressed his face and for once Natalia felt sympathy for him. Something along the lines of 'caring' began waking up within her where he was concerned.

She realized how old he was, then. Just over a thousand years. She knew the older Carpathian males became, the more ridiculous they could be with their arrogance. Why couldn't she have wound up with a younger one?

She remembered how he had tried to simply come and snatch her and a gate slammed back around her heart once again. It was going to take more than a sob story for her to trust this man! She tried to move the conversation onto neutral territory where she wouldn't be feeling sorry for him. "So where are your parents now?"

"Lost at the height of midday." He shook his head once again. He didn't realize being able to recall the past with his emotions intact would hurt so much. "Someone they trusted betrayed them."

Her plan was torn to shreds because her heart was very stricken for him at the thought of what happened with his parents. "Someone killed them?" she half whispered with horror.

He nodded as he continued to look away. He felt the emotions then, fresh, raw. When it had originally happened, he had been too emotionless to feel the loss fully. But remembering now… The memory of finding their defaced bodies, his mother's head had been cut off and stakes had been driven through their chests. It looked like whoever it was had been scared away prematurely because his father's body was only mostly, not totally, burned.

Pain shook him and he found himself pointedly looking away so that tears did not grab him. He still did not know who the betrayer was. But he would find them, too. He had already done the next to impossible and found his lifemate! He would find his brother, Harek and together they would perhaps find clues to who had betrayed their parents. Maybe that or perhaps they could find Harek's lifemate.

She saw that he had been rendered speechless, realized that he was able to truly and fully feel those memories for the first time. Natalia found herself truly heartbroken for him at that point and couldn't stop herself from instinctively reaching out and touching his arm gently. He turned then, his eyes practically ablaze. They had turned red with emotion, heat and flame as he grabbed her hand and held it in his as of it were a life raft. He leaned forward into her space, looked deep into her eyes. Was she ready to accept him yet?

Natalia was flipped out by how fast this had happened. She snatched her hand away from his and stood quickly, very afraid. "I have to go now," she said in a half panic but trying to disguise it.

Ragnar found himself speechless as she walked away from him as fast as possible. He didn't know what to say, but he knew it would be a bad idea to follow her. After she left, he sat there, frustrated with her and with himself. Why did he keep messing up? Why was his lifemate still afraid of him? Why didn't she want him the way that he was in need for her?

The leader of their group strode over silently. "This seat is not taken, I trust?" asked Darius.

Ragnar shook his head mournfully. "She will not return this evening. I can tell."

Darius sat down in the vacated chair. "How goes your courting of our Natalia?"

Ragnar bristled. The only one Natalia belonged to rightfully was HIM. She was HIS! Not everyone elses! But he knew that was not what Darius had meant and he forced himself to make the beast in him back down on the issue. "It has been slow… difficult," he admitted. "But tonight we truly spoke. At least there is that."

Darius saw the man was not going to say another word. "I am familiar with what it is like to come across your lifemate and meet initial resistance."

"Oh?" asked Ragnar, surprised.

"I was as gentle as possible with my lifemate and yet she was still afraid." Darius kept the reasons why Tempest had been afraid to himself. The reasons were immaterial to this conversation. Fear was fear, and Natalia was horribly afraid of being Ragnar's active lifemate. "If I may offer a suggestion?"

Ragnar was totally disgusted then. To need advice from another male about HIS woman? "Fine. Speak," he said as if he were only tolerating hearing the words.

"Your level of intensity may perhaps not suit her personality. She may perhaps be in need of some levity first. Show her you are capable of laughter. And gifts are never a bad thing."

Ragnar's eyebrows drew inward. "Gifts?"

"Gifts. Think it through and then act. But I must say, Ragnar, you are doing well with giving her time to think and adjust. And for that, I am grateful."

The frustrated Carpathian found himself glad that at least someone saw that he was trying the best that he could under the circumstances. "I thank you for that acknowledgement. If only my Natalia could realize the same."

###

The next morning, Natalia, Lena and Tanya rolled out of bed before everyone else. It was time for them to go shopping for some food. Natalia was itching to get out into some semblance of regular life since there was this ticking time bomb feeling in the back of her mind. It had begun once Ragnar had shown up in her life the week before. She knew once time was up, she would have to join him. He couldn't help his feelings for her. She knew it was inevitable what would happen since already her feelings for him were starting to grow. It was what it was and she was finally coming to grips with that. It was just the life altering things that went along with that attraction that was baking her brain every second of every day!

At least, she comforted herself with the thought, she could still go out into the light of day and think things through! Both Lena and Tanya were also going a bit stir crazy at the campground.

As for the guys, they just wanted to sleep in. Jewel pretty much stayed attached to her twin brother's hip -and vice versa- so she slept in that day, as well.

The three girls rolled out of the bus, dressed and ready to shop for food and whatever else they needed at the nearest indoor food market.

"It's hilarious that freaking 11 a.m. is considered 'sleeping in'!" laughed Tanya as they sped off in Darius' sports car.

"I can't believe we jacked Darius' car," Lena said, paranoid, as she drove the expensive vehicle.

"We did not 'jack' it! We borrowed it!" Natalia said. "Rusti said we could. She said it would do his ego well to share once in a while."

Tanya's mouth dropped open. "For real? Like for real she said that?"

"She did! She's always jabbing at him!" laughed Natalia. "Besides, how do you think Lena got the keys?"

"Girlfriends," declared Lena, "Rusti may have handed them keys over to me, but it still feels weird driving Darius' vehicle without his express permission. Wish I had his permission signature on this puppy in triplicate!"

"So what made you get in the car?" laughed Natalia.

"I thought I'd be cool with this, but I most certainly am NOT," said Lena as the other two girls laughed. "I have never driven anything this expensive in my life!" she exclaimed as she kept looking in the rearview mirror as if she expected to see Darius himself flying after them to get his car back.

"You know Rusti's got that man wrapped around her little finger!" laughed Tanya. "As does another lady in this car, you know, have a man wrapped around her little finger, but we shall not say it at this time."

Natalia almost blushed. "Stop it! I do not have Ragnar wrapped around my-"

"Oh yes you do!" Lena finally relaxed as she laughed while driving.

The three girls gabbed on as they made it into town to a supermarket.

###

They went shopping for themselves and the boys using the card given to them by Andriev for that purpose. "He said he wanted us to eat while we were on the road," said Lena, not at all feeling guilty like she thought she would for spending that money as they stood at the checkout.

They were able to find everything they needed. Lena had one cart and Natalia had another as Tanya helped pack up all of the stuff they had into the carts. "Are you sure we don't have too much food?" Tanya asked.

"Have you seen those boys eat?" asked Natalia.

They had purchased five boxes of cereal, four gallons of milk, a bunch of bottled water, a whole lot of lunch meat and bread and assorted fruits and vegetables. They had also purchased a huge amount of microwave meals for their dinner to last them for the next couple of days. They were really grateful for the large fridge and microwave Darius had gotten just for them. The band really tried their best to eat their food before the sun went down since they didn't want to subject the Carpathians to the smell of cooked meat.

The three girls were loading up the car and Tanya said, "I have to run back inside. I forgot about our Friend," she laughed.

"Oh, you can't forget Maxi Pad!" Natalia said the two words if they were a proper name as she laughed.

Tanya ran back into the store to go and purchase enough products for herself and the other three girls on the road with them.

The two girls finished loading up the car while Tanya was inside the store. They had so many items, they all couldn't fit inside the small trunk, so they loaded up half of the back seat with the rest of the groceries. Some of the items wound up on the seat itself and others on the floor.

Once they were done packing, they waited for Tanya. Lena sat down in the front passenger seat, door open, her legs out and feet rested on the pavement as she opened up a Snicker's bar and started eating it. Natalia sat down half in, half out of the driver's side and opened a bag of Doritos and started noshing. They were both very careful not to get their snacks in Darius' car. They doubted Rusti could save them from that tongue lashing if they did! The two were laughing and talking together as they waited.

At some point two men dressed in suits walked up to them. They looked a little bit confused and unsure of themselves. They were standing at the front of the car since there was no other car parked in front of them.

Natalia looked over at Lena wondering what was going on as one of the guys looked at them eating and seemed even more confused. He was staring at the girls biting and chewing on their snacks. "Hey guys," said Natalia, trying to be friendly. She was used to meeting fans all of the time, but she had a feeling these two weren't exactly fans. Wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt, she stood up out of the car and asked, "What's up?"

The two men looked at one another. "Are you with Eclectic? Are you Natalia?" asked the shorter man with brown hair.

Natalia gave off a huge smile. "That would be me! How can I help you fellas? You want us to perform at a gig or something? I can give you our managing agent's number and he'll set everything up."

Lena sat there chewing on her Snicker's bar, but her eyes were squinted with suspicion.

The other taller man who hadn't said anything up until then looked at Lena. "I've never seen you on stage."

"That's right you haven't," Lena tried to say casually. "I'm a roadie and all-purpose jack of all trades for the band. I try my best to stay out of the public eye."

"And you two are?" asked Natalia thinking of what Darius had warned them about that night in their hotel room about the Morrison Group. These two had the smell of Morrison all over them.

The men looked at one another. "I'm Oscar," said the shorter man. "And this is Dell. We're from a group that's interested in the goings-on with the Dark Troubadors."

Natalia looked confused. "Goings-on? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are traveling with them, aren't you?" asked Oscar.

"Yeah, we're their opening act," Natalia nodded happily as if she were ignorant to everything going on around her. "Dream come true, that was."

"Why would they pick your band out of all of the other bands they could have picked?"

She found herself scoffing. "Cause we're awesome like that!" Natalia bragged and then pursed her lips and folded her arms. "Did you want to book a gig or not? This is confusing."

The two men looked at Lena eating the last of her candy bar and then at Natalia as she balled up her now empty bag of chips. Tanya showed up then. "Got it, guys!" she said as she approached them.

"You are Tanya," said the tall man named Dell.

"Hello!" she greeted the two happily, but she wondered who the heck they were.

"They're from some group or something?" said Natalia, acting as if she didn't know what they meant.

Oscar watched as Tanya dropped the last bag into the car next to the pile of groceries already on half the back seat and the floor but she continued standing outside of the car, watching them. "We actually have some serious questions for you girls," he said.

The three of them looked at the two men. "Okay?" asked Natalia.

Oscar asked, "Have you seen anything strange with the Dark Troubadors?"

"Strange?" Natalia asked. "Define 'strange'. We're music groups. We're not exactly normal, as it is."

"What does that mean?" asked Dell. "Not normal?"

"We live and work on the road," said Natalia. "That's not normal for most other people, anyway. It is for us. But we travel and work at night and sleep in the daytime. Our clocks are turned upside down. Hell, I'm having a hard time standing here when my body is asking for some sleep since I'm usually still knocked out at this point after finishing up a 2 or 3 a.m. gig."

Oscar's eyes squinted. "Are you sure that's the only reason why your body is asking for sleep right now?"

"What?" asked Natalia, trying to act as if she were clueless as to what they were trying to assert.

"Have any of the Dark Troubadors tried anything strange with you?" asked Dell.

The three girls looked at the two men and then looked at one another. "Strange? Like coming onto us or something?" asked Tanya, scandalized. "No, there ain't no sexual harassment going on with them!" she said as if she were outraged at the assertion. "What's wrong with you guys? Are you just looking for kinky dirt? Are you from some kind of tabloid or something?"

Oscar jumped ahead and asked, straight out, "Have any of them ever tried to bite you?"

The three girls looked at the two men and then looked at one another again before they burst into uproarious laughter.

"Yeah, they're from a tabloid!" Tanya said offhand as she went and immediately placed herself in the backseat of the car, obviously ready to go. She slammed the door shut. "I think we have heard enough weird slander for one day."

Lena was crossing around to the other side of the car, trying to act casual so she could get into the driver's seat as Natalia crossed around to the passenger side. Dell declared to the car full of girls, "You need to get away from them as soon as possible!"

Natalia shook her head. "Dude, we have a contract with them. Why would we risk getting sued for breach of contract when nothing is out of the ordinary? Besides, if anything was going to happen, wouldn't it have happened by now?"

Oscar was the one that said, "Or maybe you're already one of them," directly to Natalia.

Having reached the driver's side, Lena got into the car, closed the door and started it up then. "What's that supposed to mean?" Natalia said as she sat down in the passenger seat.

"You're in league with them!" Oscar declared fervently. He was starting to sweat a little too much and even his partner Dell was looking at him strangely. "You're one of them! You're a vampire!"

The three girls forced out heavy laughter then as Natalia closed the car door. "You hear that guys? I'm out in broad freaking daylight snackin' on chips and they're claiming I'm a vampire!" She shook her head. "Damn that show, Vampire Diaries with those freaking Daywalkers!"

"Yo, that's my show!" Tanya said. "Don't knock it!"

Dell didn't look at all convinced at what his partner had declared. "It is daylight, Oscar," he reminded him. "And she was eating."

Oscar didn't look shook one bit from what he thought. "We'll be watching you."

"I got fans," Natalia shrugged as she motioned for Lena to start driving. The car began to back out of the parking spot little by little. "I'm always watched." The three ladies drove away from the two men who were obviously from the Morrison Group as Natalia threw up two fingers and shouted, "DEUCES!" out of the car window.

###

The three girls were well away from the supermarket by the time Lena said with a wavering voice. "They could have snatched us."

"They sure as hell could have TRIED," Natalia declared angrily.

"We'd have given them a fight they'd never forget, I know that," said Lena, "but still, Morrison? How the hell did they know where we were at?"

Tanya said, "That's the million dollar question. Our tour route is published, but not where we're staying. How the hell did they know the place we were most likely going to shop?"

"And how in the hell would they figure we could go shopping in broad daylight if we're vampires?" asked Lena. "They truly are out of their minds!"

"Oscar's box was obviously missing a few crayons," said Natalia.

"One nugget short of a kid's meal!" Tanya agreed.

"That may be so, but that makes it worse," said Lena.

"He's just stupid, how does that make things worse?" asked Natalia.

Lena shook her head. "Because the Morrison Group is powerful, Oscar is with them and that gives him some power. The man is an idiot, yeah! But nothing is worse than an idiot than an idiot with power."

"We're really going to have to watch our backs," Tanya sighed.

"No more daytime shopping, that's for sure," Natalia shook her head. "What a shame." It was starting to feel to her like her life was closing in on her.

###

They got back in time to practice, but told the guys about what had happened, first. After putting all of the food away and talking about what they should do, the band sat around for the better part of an hour, delaying their practice, and continuing to talk about the situation. "There's really nothing we can do," Derek commented as he shook his head, "except what Natalia said. Anytime we need anything, we have to go at night so at least we have some backup looking out for us from above."

"And I think we need to stick together more, guys," said Jewel. "I should have gone with you this morning." Her blue eyes looked patently guilty. "Theoretically two guys can snatch three girls, but it'd be harder with four."

"There was no way for you to know that the Morrison Group was going to track us all the way here!" Lena said as she shook her head. "And we're still confused about that. How the hell did they know where we were?"

"It's easy," said James as his blue eyes narrowed angrily. "The Troubadors set up camp and probably the rumor went flying the minute we put down stakes here a day ago. It's the information age. A butterfly crosses a sensor in New Mexico and they can have that info in New York instantly. It doesn't take long to get across the country these days. They found out where the band was camped and probably sent out teams to each supermarket within some radius of the area. And Natalia… well her eye color is hard to miss."

"Guys, this is depressing me," Natalia shook her head. Everything in her life had turned upside down overnight. "Can we just practice now and finish figuring this out later? I just want to practice and… just let's just forget this for now. I'm freaking stressed out."

"Come on, let's practice," Derek seconded her idea.

####

The band began their tune-up with help from Lena and they were well on the way to a great practice. They paused an hour before sunset to get in dinner and afterward went back to practicing. Before the sun's rays went down fully, Ragnar ripped himself out of the ground and took several painful steps as he tried to reach Natalia.

He knew what had happened from hearing the band's frantic conversation from earlier and he could not bear the thought of what could have happened to her.

The music stopped, little by little, as they all saw Ragnar staggering forward and starting to emit smoke due to the few remaining rays of sunlight.

Natalia dropped the tambourine she had been using and ran over to where he was at, pulled him into the tour bus. "What are you doing up so soon!" she demanded to know. "Are you crazy? Are trying to bake your skin off?!" On their own, her hands were pushing his hair out of his face and she was checking him for burns. He had at least fashioned a heavy cloak around himself and had only smoked up a little bit. "What were you thinking?" she demanded, actually worried about what might have happened to him being exposed to daylight like that.

"I was thinking that perhaps today I could have lost you!" he said. "Do you understand what it is to lie in the Earth and know there was nothing I could do to help you if you were pursued back here?"

She saw it in his eyes, then. He was full of fear and dread at what could have happened to her. Was this the Carpathian equivalent to an anxiety attack? "Ragnar, I'm fine," she reassured him. "I'm fine. You didn't have to hurt yourself like that for my sake."

"I will always put your interests first, your needs," he said as his hands grabbed her shoulders. "Can you not understand it is built into me? I cannot help it and I do not want to help it? I am glad for it!"

She swallowed back saying anything impulsive under the circumstances, because his eyes looking into her eyes that way was giving her thoughts she would rather avoid. "Ragnar," was the only thing she was able to get out. Anything else she allowed herself to say at that moment would have been incriminating!

But the way she said his name spoke volumes to him. For now, it was enough. But there was one thing more he wanted after such a scare. "May I hold you, my Natalia, assure me you are still here?"

"I am here!" she insisted as she was struck by his care. It didn't scare her as much as it had before. "Yes, give me a great big hug if it makes you feel better," she offered with half a smile, trying to keep things light.

But his arms went around her instantly as he drew her deep into his chest, buried his head in her hair and inhaled, exhaled over and over, his hands running over her hair repeatedly, passing the strands through his fingers. She was permeating his lungs and his soul and everything in between.

As for Natalia, there was an unexpected chain reaction happening inside her. It was the closest she had ever been to him, pressed to his skin, feeling his strong arms around her. Some part of her was reaching out for some part of him, tucking into the crook of his soul, trying to convey comfort to him. In the process, some part of him was pouring into her and she could feel the connection between the two of them fully for the first time. She was no longer fighting it. He was, without a doubt, she now knew from the deepest part of her, definitely her lifemate. She already loved him. This could be a problem.