" I am sorry, Shea, I was thinking only of your protection. It is difficult for me to know we are hunted while I am so helpless to protect you, that we cannot leave this place because of my weakness. You are tied to my side, and I endanger you. He tried as hard as he could to undo the damage his thoughtlessness had caused. She deserved so much more than a half-mad lifemate. She seemed to have no real idea of what they needed to survive. You have no conception of the monsters we are dealing with. It is always important to scan as you wake, before you leave a dwelling. He tried to be gentle as he imparted the information. It was easy for him to read her mounting fears.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Her genuine puzzlement brought out a protective urge in him so strong that it shook his narrow world. He wanted to take her into his arms and shelter her for all eternity within his soul. She looked impossibly small and fragile, the questions in her mind as easy to read as the worry on her transparent face. His dark eyes widened in sudden understanding. You do not know the ways of our people at all, do you?
“What people? I’m an American, of Irish descent. I came here to do research on a rare blood disorder, which I seem to share with you. That’s all.” Unknowingly she was biting her lip, her knuckles white from clenching her fists, her body tense, waiting for his reply.
He cursed his inability to remember basic things, certain they were of great importance to the two of them. If she was as much in the dark as he was, they were in deep trouble. "

― Christine Feehan , Dark Desire (Dark, #2)