Sergey had been acting so strange, making so many crazy decisions that every hunter—and his own followers—questioned his leadership abilities. The fact that Sergey had prepared for turning by kidnapping Elisabeta ahead of time and stashing her where his brothers had no knowledge of her meant he had the Malinov genius. By taking her, it had allowed him to experience feelings through her.
The other Malinov brothers all had reputations for their battle skills, and yet few talked of Sergey. Through it all, he had appeared to follow his brothers, never vying for leadership. In the end, he had two slivers of Xavier, the high mage, in him. One alone would make him a very real adversary, but two made him more than lethal. He had also acquired slivers from his brother Vadim. Who knew if he held them from his other brothers as well? If so, he could call on any battle expertise they had when he needed it.
Lorraine lifted her face to the wind, eyes wide open, taking in everything as they flew over the canopy of trees. Tell me we’re not headed back to the campground. I didn’t find it in the least romantic. I’m expecting romance.
He tightened his arms around her. I will give you romance, woman. I thought the campground very romantic. You were there.
So were about ten other guys, and not all of them were good ones.
He had to concede she had a point. He dropped down to the side of the mountain. It was a complete drop-off, but there was a small crack, a jagged fissure that ran along the middle of the rock facing outward. He knew behind that very small opening was a cave that would give them privacy and protect them. More, it was a stunning cave. Spectacular.
They approached the side of the mountain. The rock face bowed out in several places, covering the giant fissure from sight.
I am not skinny enough to fit inside that crack.
He heard the laughter in her voice. He liked that she never seemed that afraid. She was curious, but unafraid. He waved his hand toward the crack just behind one of the rocks that jutted outward. Immediately the crack opened for him and he swept inside. The cave was large and opened back a long distance. The sound of her laughter was like music to him. He felt and heard her happiness. As they moved through the cave he waved behind him to close the crack, giving them privacy. At the same time, he lit sconces along the walls of the cavern.
Settling to the ground, he took her hand. “You will like this, Lorraine. There is one narrow section, and then it opens up to a large chamber. There is a natural pool. Water comes in from the side of the mountain away from the drop-off. It is a little cool,” he added when he felt her shiver. “I can regulate your body temperature.” He did so.
“That part of being a Carpathian will be cool,” she said.
“Are there parts you are still concerned with?”
“Yes. I’m committed, but I do have questions. I wanted to meet the other women, but you whisked us away so fast, I didn’t get the chance. I’m not complaining,” she added hastily. “I would much rather be with you than anyone else.”
“Good recovery,” he teased.
They reached the narrow hallway. They had to maneuver it single file. He went first. Behind them, the lights flickered out one by one. Ahead of them more candles flickered along the walls. As they passed each, that light went off.
“You know, Andor, if I were afraid of very closed-in places or the dark, this would be a little scary. You could be leading me to my doom.”
He stopped abruptly, forced her body up against his and tilted her head back, exposing her neck to his teeth. He scraped back and forth several times. “I am leading you to your doom,” he whispered in a creepy, theatrical voice. “At last, I have you alone with me and I can do what I wish with you, including bite your neck.”
“You were going to bite my neck no matter where we were,” she said, but he felt the little shiver running through her again. The tiniest of trembles, and this time, it wasn’t because she was cold.
“I do not intend to bite your neck,” he clarified. “I had other, much more sensual places in mind.” He turned back to continue through the narrow hallway.
“I thought the neck was very sensual,” she objected. “At least, it felt that way to me.”
“That was only for getting started.” He kept walking. “And when we are finished here, I will take you back to meet the women. I cannot convert you here. It has to be done there, where the others will aid in keeping the pain at bay.”
He walked out into the chamber and stepped aside, his eyes on her face. She stepped after him and lifted her gaze. Her breath caught in her throat. Her face flushed and her mouth opened, those lips of hers in a perfect round O. One hand went to her throat. “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Gemstones glittered like stars. Clearly, the mountain, thousands of years earlier, had been part of an active volcano. Diamonds sparkled overhead and along the walls of the chamber. The flickering candlelight picked up the dazzling display and enhanced it. Water poured over more diamonds, enlarging them, so it appeared to be a waterfall of diamonds cascading into a deep pool formed of rock.
“Are those diamonds real?”
“Yes.”
“Why hasn’t anyone discovered them and mined them? Everything is mined nowadays. Nothing is sacred.”
“How would anyone possibly discover this place? It’s completely enclosed.”
“I can feel a draft, and it’s easy to breathe. The flames are high. They wouldn’t be like that if there was no air.”
“There are plenty of cracks through the rocks. That’s how the water gets in and out. The pool doesn’t overflow and the water goes out through holes in the rock formation at the back, nearly where it comes in, when it gets so high.”
“This is truly beautiful. A person can hike and cave their entire life and never discover something like this.”
“It’s just as well,” he said. “It would be gone if they did.”
She nodded and turned to him, her arms sliding around his neck. “It was difficult without my mind touching yours.” She leaned her weight into him, her head resting on his chest. “I’ve always been so independent. It never occurred to me that I’d have such a hard time.”
“I am sorry, hän sívamak, I really am.” He stroked caresses down the length of her hair. “I was afraid it might be bad. We spent so much time together, mind to mind, that we both got used to that so fast. Add that to our souls being woven together and there was every possibility of you having a very difficult time.”
“It was unexpected,” she admitted.
His heart clenched hard in his chest. He had wanted to bring her to this place, one of the few he had discovered in the United States. He hadn’t had much time to explore. Had they been in Europe he knew hundreds, but here, this was it.
He tipped her face up to his and kissed her again. She was giving up so much for him. He had explored her mind on waking and seen her regrets. He hadn’t seen one moment where she thought to back away from her commitment to him, but there were things she definitely considered difficult to give up.
When he lifted his head, he rubbed her lips with the pad of his thumb. “Tell me what you’re most worried about.”
“Children. I want them, but I want to raise them myself. I don’t want to be like Tariq and Charlotte, who are apart from theirs. What happens when we have children?”
He hesitated. One didn’t lie to one’s lifemate, no matter how difficult the answer. “Our women had no problem getting pregnant, going to ground, carrying, giving birth, feeding and sleeping in the ground with our offspring in the old days. Xavier, a trusted mage, ended all that.”
He held her tightly against him when he felt that deep inhale and her body start to pull away. “No, csecsemõ, it is not all bad news. Quite a few people have been working to find solutions, Gary among them. It was discovered that Xavier introduced what amounted to parasites into the ground where we sleep. These parasites caused miscarriages. The few children born had problems sleeping in the ground, and now, of course, we k
now why. Babies could not nurse because the parasites were passed from mother to child.”
Lorraine tilted her head to look up at him. “That’s horrific. How could someone do such a thing?”
“Envy. Need of power. Greed. Xavier betrayed all of us.”
“Those parasites are in the ground here?”
“No, they are not. According to Gary, periodic checks are made on both male and female Carpathians in the Carpathian Mountains to ensure that they stay free of the parasites, but it is a constant battle to keep the soil free. They found the source and have eradicated it, but it will take some time to destroy them all.”
“So, are you free of the parasites?”
He nodded. “I was in the monastery and the parasites never had a chance to travel that far, so all of us residing there are fine. We heard all this when we left the monastery.”
“Can the others carry these parasites from the region where they’re from to infect us here?”
He couldn’t help running his hand through her hair. It was soft and silky. Thick. The strands caught on his wrist and shirt, weaving them together like the threads tying their souls so irrevocably. “I do not know, but Tariq insists on checks often, and so far there has not been a problem. The soil Tariq has gathered for the healing grounds is clear of all parasites.”
“Does everyone use the healing grounds when the sun rises?”
He could hear it in her voice that she didn’t like the idea, and he was glad. He shook his head. “No, Lorraine. We are not a trusting lot. We scatter and find hidden places to go to ground. We use our own safeguards even within the gates of Tariq’s compound. We were taught to always consider that one without a lifemate could rise vampire. With my brethren here inside the compound, that concern is very real.”
She pulled back, her gaze startled. “What do you mean?”
He dropped his arms, allowing her freedom. “We secreted ourselves in the monastery for a reason, sívamet. Each of us was at his end and yet we did not believe, after living with honor, that it was honorable to take our own lives. Still, we did not want other hunters to have to attempt to destroy us. We knew we were very powerful and it would be a difficult task. We stayed within the monastery, locked away, so humans and Carpathians were safe. Now we are out and in the world once more. Every battle takes a toll. Killing without emotion becomes … easy. It should not be.”
She paced away from him and then turned back to face him. “You’re talking about Ferro. You’re afraid for him.”
She was very intelligent and able to read him very quickly. He nodded. “Ferro is the oldest and the most powerful of all of us. His fighting skills are unbelievable. He struggles. He also does little to protect himself in a battle with the undead. He is the ultimate hunter, Lorraine. He would be very difficult, if not impossible, to defeat in battle. If he turns, there will be hunters lost in trying to destroy him. I fear, as do the others, that it would take all of us and many of us would not survive.”
“I have touched his mind …”
“You touched what he allowed. Ferro would never allow you to see into his mind.”
“I thought my soul was bound to his.”
“It is. Both our souls are. Sandu and Gary are in that mix now as well. It makes Ferro vulnerable, but just as we can track him, he can always track us. He can find you, Lorraine, anywhere in the world. He will know where you are. There is great danger in that.”
“That’s why you were upset with me for allowing them to bind us all together.” She stood at the wall of rock surrounding the pool of water. When she dipped her hand in, her eyes went wide. “How is this warm?”
“I warmed it for you,” he admitted. He had tried to think of everything she could want. “And yes, that was why I was upset. Sandu would be dangerous. Gary also. But Ferro …”
“It was his idea.”
Few things shocked Andor, but that did. “I thought it was the healer’s idea. Why would Ferro suggest such a thing? It makes him vulnerable.” It was his turn to pace. “No Carpathian male would fail to protect a female, and you are my lifemate. The pull to save you would be very strong. There would be that. He is my brethren. There is that as well.”
His attention was caught when Lorraine lifted her hands above her head, pulling her hair up. The action drew attention to her breasts as they rose beneath her T-shirt. He found that very distracting and lost his train of thought.
She smiled at him. “I need a tie for my hair.”
His stomach did a slow roll at her smile. He gave her the tie immediately. She took it and secured the thick mass of chestnut-colored hair in a messy knot on top of her head. For some reason, he found the knot very sexy.
“I thought, with Ferro tied to all of us, he could feel through me and through you. Isn’t that possible? Even just a little?”
“In theory. I hope he can. He will also feel Gary and Sandu and their darkness. That will compound his own.”
“You’re scaring me, Andor. I don’t want to lose him.”
There was more to it than that, Andor realized. Lorraine’s beloved brother had turned into a monster, killing her family. She thought of Ferro, Sandu and Gary as brothers. If Ferro did the same as Theodore and became the very thing they hunted, he would have the potential of killing her new family. It would be history repeating itself, but on a much larger scale.
He didn’t point out that the risk to the women and children residing in the compound was great. Or that the risk to Lorraine, in particular, with the three ancients tied to her, was even greater. He forced air through his lungs. He didn’t just have to worry about Sergey, and whatever nefarious scheme he had hatched against Lorraine, he had to worry about his own brother—whether or not the ancient could hold out against the ever-encroaching demon.
“None of us want to lose him, csecsemõ,” he assured. He found, now that he could feel again, now that emotions were strong, that the brethren in the monastery were family to him. Brothers. They all knew it, but now, thanks to his lifemate, he felt it. He hoped through his lifemate, at least Sandu and Ferro could as well. Maybe that extended to the healer.
Lorraine pulled her T-shirt over her head, folded it neatly and placed it on a nearby rock. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I want children. Not right away, but eventually. I want to take care of them myself, Andor, not have an aboveground nanny. I want us to be very clear on that. If I can’t be with my own children, then we aren’t going to have them. I mean that. To me, a family is being part of something together.”
“I understand.”
He understood watching her remove her lacy bra had his lungs burning for air. He willed her to turn around. She did so slowly, bending to undo the laces of her hiking boots. The way her breasts curved into two soft mounds, firm and full, swinging with every movement had his mouth watering.
She pulled off her boots and then her socks. “Good. I just want us to be on the same page about this. I need to know our children will live the way we do before we have any. I can’t imagine what it is like for Charlotte and Tariq, to know the children they’ve chosen to adopt can’t be with them for more than a couple of hours.”
Her hands dropped to the waistband of her jeans. He was mesmerized by that small action. He could have waved his hand so easily and removed her clothing, but watching her peel them off, one garment at a time, was not only fascinating, but sensual. She wasn’t even trying to be. If she ever tried, he might not survive.
“I will gather all the information we need, Lorraine,” he assured, watching the zipper slide down, almost as if it was happening in slow motion. The air was being squeezed out of his lungs, leaving them burning and raw.
“Thank you. What is Tariq going to do about those children?”
He sighed. “The boy presents a problem. The little ones will be easy enough, now that we know all Carpathians can help ease the way into our world the way it was done for Liv. Amelia needs to be brought in as soon as possible. She’s suffering. She does not want to
be converted until all of them can be. Danny is male. In order for the ritual binding words to be imprinted on him, the ancient warriors have to judge his worth, give consent and pour into him from the line chosen—obviously Asenguard. They would give him their knowledge and their bloodline. He would be reborn a pure Carpathian from that bloodline with all the same powers and gifts given to them.”
“And this has to be done in the Carpathian Mountains? It can’t be done here?”
He shook his head. “No, the ritual must take place in the sacred caves. Tariq plans to travel with the boy to our home and go with him before the prince.”
He watched as she shimmied out of the jeans, the material sliding over her hips and down her legs. She pulled them off and then hooked her thumbs in the lace panties. He could see the little tiny reddish curls the lace tried to cover.
“I want you bare so you can feel my mouth on you.”
Startled, she glanced up, her gaze colliding with his. At once he saw the dark flush of desire staining her cheeks and darkening the green of her eyes. She licked her lips, the panties halfway down her legs. “Bare?”
He nodded slowly. “Bare.” He was decisive. “I want you to feel every lash of my tongue and scrape of my teeth.”
“I can’t feel that with hair?”
“You will be far more sensitive. Besides, I can see every inch of you. I want that, Lorraine.” He didn’t take it. It would have been so easy, but he liked getting her consent. Her cooperation. He liked that she gave him what he wanted, and she was going to. The idea intrigued her. She found it as sexy as he did.
She tugged the panties down and placed them with the rest of her clothes, on top of the rock. He was beginning to lose focus for anything but Lorraine. He had woken with the usual hunger, but it was far more acute. He craved her taste. He craved her body. He had fed before going to her, knowing he needed to take the edge off. The idea that tonight would be their first night together, going to ground as Carpathians, had him more than exhilarated.
Dark Sentinel ('Dark' Carpathian Book 32) Page 28