Raja has our backs
, she assured.
“It was an amazing feat for the wolves to carry four humans through such treacherous terrain with a vampire close on their heels,” Mikhail observed.
Ivory shot him a wary glance. “They are special. My family. Thank you for aiding them. Is the little girl still alive? We had no time to prep her for the journey. We had to send them out fast.”
“I saw the destruction at the farmhouse.” Mikhail went straight to the woman sitting in a large, stuffed chair, her feet resting on an ottoman. “My lifemate, Raven,” he said and there was a wealth of love in his voice. “Raven, Ivory and Razvan.”
“Thank you for coming,” Raven said. “I’m sorry I can’t get up, but do please sit down.” She sent a quick glare at both her lifemate and Gregori. “It seems I’m being dictated to by both the healer and Mikhail.”
“And I so enjoy the opportunity,” Mikhail said, unrepentant.
Ivory and Razvan sat in two of the wide-backed chairs set in a circle. Mikhail sank onto the arm of Raven’s chair and Gregori seated himself opposite Razvan, his restless eyes moving constantly to sweep the surrounding forest through the windows.
“I think you have enough guards out there,” Ivory said. “I counted seven. Did I miss any?”
“Guards?” Raven echoed, looking from the prince to the healer. “What guards?”
It was Natalya who answered. “My brother has been considered the enemy for so long, many, including me, thought him a traitor, and it is difficult for others to believe he isn’t.”
“You are pregnant with the prince’s son,” Gregori pointed out gently. “Many think it is a suspicious coincidence that he has arrived when you are close to giving birth.”
“But Mikhail would never invite anyone into our home he was not certain of,” Raven said. “That’s utterly ridiculous.”
“And they are suspicious of me as well,” Ivory pointed out, unwilling to let the prince get off too easily. “Because I am a Malinov.”
“Long thought dead these past centuries,” Gregori said. “Yes, some are suspicious, but I have been in your mind, healing you and Razvan. I know what you went through to save the farmer and his family.”
“Tell me about the child,” Ivory persisted.
“She lives and is well,” Gregori assured. “Falcon and Sara took the family in until the child was healed. They are living at the inn now, and we will help them get started again. Just about everything they had was destroyed. Fortunately, the vampire didn’t kill all of the animals, as often happens. You must have come along and interrupted him before he could do too much damage to the farm.”
“Have you erased their memories?” Ivory asked.
Mikhail leaned forward, frowning. “The parents were easy enough, but the children still have nightmares. Gregori is working to help them. Some are more resistant than others. I’d like you to tell me about your wolves.”
Ivory stayed very still. Razvan was just as still inside as she was, sensing this was no idle question. “I made a promise to the wolf pack that helped me and I have always kept it. The summer the pups were born, game was plentiful and it had been a mild winter. The pack had two litters of pups, which sometimes happens in a good year. I helped with the hunting, so my pack was well fed and the alpha pair and the next in the hierarchy mated. The vampires hunted my pack and destroyed them, hoping to find me running amongst them.”
Her hand trembled in her lap and Razvan laid his over it, his thumb sliding back and forth in a soothing gesture. Ivory didn’t look at him, but she opened her mind to his and let him comfort her where no one else could see. It had been one of the worst moments she could remember, finding the pack dead and dying.
“The pups are all that remain of my original pack. They were badly hurt, but I was not entirely”—she searched for the right word—“sane . . . in those days. I could still barely stand the moonlight and spent most of the hours beneath the ground. I needed the pack for my own survival. I couldn’t let them go, and I crawled into the den with them and gave them my blood repeatedly. Sometimes I had no choice but to take their blood. It was a long time—weeks, I do not really remember—before the first turned.”
She remembered that moment, the animal screaming in pain, and her shock at what she’d done. “I was careful to make certain they learned to hunt only with me. I feed them and care for them. They do not breed.” She lifted her head and looked the prince straight in the eye. “They are my family. We have hunted the vampire for centuries and they have saved my life countless times.” She conveyed in that one brooding look exactly what she meant—that she would fight to the death for her pack.
“You can see how they could be troublesome if they began to prey on the human race for food,” Gregori said.
She flicked him a cool glance. “No more than when one of us does. We would have no choice but to hunt the wolf and destroy it.”
Mikhail held up his hand. “We just needed to know, Ivory. The pack is most unusual, but you seem to have it all well in hand.”
Razvan stirred. “It grows late and we have not fed. The pack is fine, but we must hunt before we return home.”
He savored the word
home
. Let it roll off his tongue. The confines of this house were too stifling. He couldn’t really remember when he had been in a home, certainly not with so many other people with all eyes on them. Ivory was hiding it well, but she was equally uncomfortable. Neither of them was good at social skills, having been alone for so many years.
“We can feed both of you,” Mikhail said. “I really brought you here for a purpose.”
Ivory settled back in her seat, but Razvan noticed that her fingers circled her crossbow, and he felt the ripple of awareness in the wolves. “Of course you did.”
Mikhail smiled easily. “Our children are dying before they are born, Ivory. I have no time to waste on the niceties. Our greatest minds have tried to find solutions to the problem and finally, recently, we had a breakthrough. We discovered the source of our miscarriages is Xavier. He mutated extremophiles, microbes that attack our unborn children. The microbes are in the soil. Even should we move locations, and of course we considered that, he can contaminate soil anywhere we go. We have to stop him.”
“That is our goal,” Ivory said.
“Gregori informed me he believes both of you are set on destroying Xavier. He believes if anyone can do so, you two have the best chance. I have a great deal of faith in Gregori, as well as in my own instincts. We would like to aid you in any way possible.”
“No,” Natalya interrupted. “No, Razvan.” She shook off Vikirnoff and stood, hands on her hips. “I’ve just got you back. You can’t go near that man. Not for any reason. You know he’s hunting you. You know he is.”
Razvan sighed. When she was a child he had never liked it when Natalya was upset, and it was equally bad now that she was a fully grown adult. “I know him better than any other, Natalya,” he said, his voice gentle.
“Ivory has studied him and has actually worked with him at one time in his school. She is good with his spells, turning them around. Mikhail is right in that Ivory and I have a better chance of stopping him than any other we know of.”
“But it isn’t right. You’ve suffered enough.” What she really meant was she’d given him up for years, and it wasn’t right for either of them. She wanted him back.
Vikirnoff held out his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, she took it, leaning back against him, obviously trying not to cry.
“Ivory’s and Razvan’s great sacrifice may be the very thing that saves our people,” Mikhail said. “Both knew our enemy in the years we thought him dead. We have only Lara to keep the unborn children alive, and she cannot continue forever. We have four women—Syndil; you, Natalya; Lara and Skyler—who can cleanse the earth. Our species is very fragile right now. Should we manage to remove the threat of Xavier, we still will be fighting the odds to continue. We need Razvan and Ivory. We need every warrior we have to fight in any capacity they can.”
“I do not understand what you mean about these extremophiles,” Ivory said, frowning. “Before, when we were beneath the ground, I caught images of these things in your minds, but I do not understand exactly what these things are used for. Xavier has bred parasites to enhance the vampire’s communication as well as to identify his allies. What do these microbes do?”
“They are in the soil and enter the male’s body while he rests,” Gregori answered. “During sex he transfers the mutated microbes to the woman, who then transfers it to her unborn child. It is a vicious circle we cannot seem to stop.”
“And you are very certain Xavier is the source?” Ivory asked.
It was Razvan who answered. “I witnessed his experiments, all of them. I was present when he cast his evil spells, twisting and corrupting nature for his own dark purpose. He had pools of blood and liquid poison.”
Ivory’s head came up as if scenting a fresh trail. “You actually
heard
his spell? He let you? You were there with him?” She tried to quell the exhilaration bursting through her.
“I told you I am not good with spells. That was why he wanted Natalya. She is.”
Natalya started to interrupt, to say something, but Mikhail silenced her.
Let them speak together
. He could see—feel, even—that Ivory was suddenly excited.
“But you have an extraordinary memory,” Ivory pointed out. “I have seen it, and you do not forget the smallest detail.” She looked to Gregori for confirmation, knowing the healer had spent a great deal of time in Razvan’s mind. “We have talked about this, Razvan. If you can remember the precise,
exact
words of his spells, I am certain that I can unravel them. He used apprentices for the base of most of his spells, and then when they were getting too good at what they did, he got rid of them, because he feared them.”
Razvan’s hand moved against hers, stroking over her wrist, over the thin white line where a cut had been.
I have said I can remember, and yes, I recall even this one, but the remembering will not be easy
. He didn’t want to relive those days of torture, the sounds of screaming, helpless victims, of women he couldn’t help, of his own role, whether knowing or not.
If it is your wish, I will do so
, he said.
Ivory touched his mind and found that same serene peace in him, the calm of complete acceptance. If she asked him to go back in his memories, she knew he would without hesitation, and love for him shimmered in her heart. Her pride in him rose in her soul. No matter what the others saw when they looked at his worn face, she would always see a hero.
“If you had the spell he used, could you take command of these extremophiles?” Mikhail asked Ivory.
“I might be able to, with enough time. I would have to study the spell. Xavier likes complex spells. And he would need a very complex one for the killing of an entire species and the mutating of another.” Ivory shrugged. “I have no idea how long it would take, but so far, when I have studied one of his spells, I have been able to reverse it.” Her chin lifted. “I was a very good student.”
Now Razvan’s thumb pressed into the sensitive skin of her wrist, stroking a caress over her jumping pulse.
“If we have to move from the mountains, we will do so,” Mikhail said, “but I doubt if that will solve the problem. Eventually it will spread across our country into other lands. It would be far better if we could eradicate it.”
Ivory nodded. “Xavier will make his move against you very soon.” She looked at Raven. “You already have a daughter and now, with a son, he cannot afford to let you or your children live. He will come after her.”
Mikhail slipped a comforting arm around Raven’s shoulders. “We are prepared.”
“Is that why your warriors surround this house?” Razvan asked.
Mikhail nodded. “We are all uneasy. The attacks are becoming frequent, picking us apart, one by one, going after the children during the day, using their puppets. They wear us down. It was a shock to have the two of you show up. And, of course, as mentioned earlier, the timing is highly suspicious.”
“But not to you?” Again Ivory met his gaze. Steady. Challenging.
He sent her a small smile. “The weight of my people has been on my shoulders a long time, Ivory. I do not have my father’s gifts, but I have good instincts. I have to trust them. Few things are certain in this world. I choose to go with my instincts about the two of you and with Gregori’s opinion. The combination has rarely failed.”
Gregori gave an inelegant snort. “
Never
, you mean. I do not make mistakes when it comes to your safety.”
“I do believe Razvan managed to hold a knife to my throat with you not twenty feet away,” Mikhail pointed out with amusement.
Ivory realized the relationship between the two men was one of close-knit friendship and camaraderie.
“I paid him a great deal of money to do that,” Gregori said. “I wanted you to realize, as our prince, you shouldn’t be chasing vampires all over the country and Razvan agreed to help teach you a lesson.”
Raven laughed. “You two are impossible. I can feel our guests’ hunger. Perhaps you should do something about that so we can visit,” she suggested.
“We are capable of hunting,” Ivory said, trying not to sound stiff. It was one thing to take blood when she was helpless, something altogether different when she was fit. She was a warrior, not a child.
“There is no need,” Mikhail said. “I offer my blood freely.”
The prince smiled at her. Easy. Friendly. Making her stomach knot up. She didn’t have friends. She didn’t know how to have them. What did he want from her? What was he expecting? The room felt too small. She could barely breathe the air.
It matters little what they want from us
, Razvan reassured.
We need nothing from them—they need us. Anything we choose to do is our decision. We have no sworn loyalty to this man. We are set on a path and we will continue down it. There is no harm in listening to him. His blood is pure and carries more power than any other. If you do not wish to feed from him, I will do so and feed you later
.