Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
They could try to safeguard the gates from the inside, but every entrance and exit would have to be safeguarded, and Sergey would know what they were doing. Ferro was proud of his lifemate. Around her, the discussion raged on, but she simply went about her work, taking care of Charlotte and then Amelia and Danny. She was swaying with weariness as she replenished her blood, refusing to take it from Ferro, thanking Lorraine when she volunteered to give it to her.
You need to be one hundred percent for the coming battle, Ferro. If I take small amounts from others, it will not be so draining on any one person.
His woman. The voice of reason whether he liked it or not. Josef was going to be next, and both of them knew by the way Gary had described him that the burns were going to be bad. The boy looked in a bad way. His skin was drained of color, his eyes bloodred. He clearly knew exactly what was going on and fought his need to explode into rage. Tiny beads of blood seeped out of his pores, indicating his tremendous inward fight. His two guardians, Traian and Joie, appeared quite anxious.
“Elisabeta,” Traian said softly. “This boy is a good being, amazing and selfless. He has already done things at his age that few can say they have done. I fear this infection is taking a great toll on him. He just got to this place. I want to stay here and get to know you, but I feel a great responsibility to our people, who need him, and also to his family. If he is being targeted and you feel it is unsafe for him, we will escort him home.”
Ferro would never have allowed Traian to put such undue pressure on Elisabeta had he had any inkling that her birth brother planned to appeal to her. Already she took on far too many sins and guilt that didn’t belong to her. Guilt rode hard on her slender shoulders, guilt that didn’t belong there. Traian didn’t understand just how difficult things were for his sister, and Ferro knew the Carpathian tried. He wanted her to be fine. Healed already. Carpathians could heal bodies so easily and they were used to doing so. One couldn’t do the same when the damage was done over centuries to a mind.
Elisabeta’s gaze flicked up to Ferro’s eyes as if asking for guidance. He realized she did that often when she felt helpless and at a loss for how to respond. “We will do our best to assess the situation,” Ferro answered for her.
Gary led the way into Josef’s mind. Ferro’s breath hissed out of his lungs. The burns were much worse than Gary had led them to believe. Elisabeta didn’t falter.
You should have warned her, Ferro told the healer with a hiss of displeasure.
I wanted to see what her reaction was. How she decides on the best way to handle this and what her conclusions are. This makes no sense at all to me, Gary admitted. Had I warned her, I could have tainted her response.
Ferro couldn’t feel a difference in Elisabeta. There was only kindness and compassion. Her genuine need and willingness to help Josef. She sent the boy waves of reassurance and that gentle caring breeze that tugged at the horrendous vivid slashes of what looked to Ferro like a solid wall of crimson, bloodred paint.
He is not alone in this battle, Ferro. There are two others, an ancient warrior and a young woman belonging to Mother Earth. I feel them in him. They are a great distance away, but they have forged their strength to his.
The moment Ferro heard his woman say Josef was not alone in his fight to keep from exploding into violence, he and the other ancients moved to surround Elisabeta with their protection.
Gary, is it possible Sergey set a trap for her?
Give me a minute. Josef has powerful friends. They cross oceans for one another. I will feel them if I get close enough.
Ferro had a moment of near anxiety while he watched as the thick wall of vicious red, woven so tightly together, refused to even thin in the least. Elisabeta didn’t seem to notice. That slight breeze never changed but continued to flow gently toward the violent painting, changing angle occasionally to come in at one corner and then another, all the while providing Josef with her calming serenity. It was impossible to feel anger and hatred in the face of very real compassion.
The ancient is Dimitri and his lifemate, Skyler. Josef and Skyler are childhood friends. Josef helped Skyler save Dimitri’s life and then when all was lost, he helped Dimitri save Skyler’s life.
Even a hunter who cared nothing for rumors, legends and the outside world had heard the story of the three young ones who had defied all odds and had gone into the very heart of werewolf country to save Dimitri from death by silver, a sentence passed on him unfairly to start a war between Carpathians and Werewolves. Josef, Skyler and Paul, the human nephew of the De La Cruz brothers, had prevented that war.