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)
Her voice was so low he could barely hear her, but it was impossible not to catch the notes of fear, of weeping, of utter hopelessness. She didn’t believe he would listen to her. Men were arrogant. She had seen so many die over the centuries, men who had been intelligent and had risen to power only to be defeated in the end. Sergey was the last of the Malinovs, the last of the five brothers and the only brother no one, Carpathian and vampire alike, thought would ever be leader, yet he had proved the most powerful of them all.
“I did not live this long by underestimating my enemies, piŋe sarnanak,” Ferro said gently. “I appreciate that you would worry about me, Elisabeta. Always tell me when you have concerns.”
Her lashes lifted again, and this time he found himself staring into her dark, liquid eyes. His stomach did a strange clenching. His groin tightened. It would not be good for either of them if that liquid spilled over onto her high cheekbones. He wouldn’t know what to do with tears. He had never dealt with such things.
“You aren’t going to punish me for the things I said to you?” Her hand tightened in his shirt as if she were bracing herself. He felt a little shudder go through her body.
“I might have to kiss you now and then,” he said. “That is the closest you will get to a punishment and only because it is difficult to resist you.”
She blinked up at him as if she couldn’t process what he’d said. He took a step out of the healing grounds, forcing her to move with him. That instantly took her mind off what he’d just said and put it back on the world around her. He kept her in the gardens, avoiding the playgrounds where the children might be or the homes where the women often gathered to talk on the front porch. He wanted to just walk with her in the beauty of nature so she could feel air on her face and freedom surrounding her.
Ferro knew she couldn’t be out of the ground too long. They were going to have to start their life together in baby steps. So many people were waiting to meet her. Tariq, the owner of the compound—the man the prince of the Carpathian people had appointed to take his place in the United States—wanted Gary Daratrazanoff to examine her for signs that Sergey had left something of himself behind in her to spy on them. He wanted that done as soon as possible. Although he understood why Tariq felt it was needed, Ferro would rather take Elisabeta and leave than subject her to that.
Ferro was very uneasy subjecting Elisabeta to Gary’s examination. Both Carpathians had given Elisabeta blood numerous times. Ferro’s soul was tied to Gary’s through Andor and Lorraine, a tie that bound them together with several other ancients. Ordinarily, that would have assured that Gary’s first loyalties were the brethren, but Gary was second-in-command to Tariq. His lineage, the Daratrazanoff line, had always been second-in-command to the prince. Gary had been sent by the prince to guard Tariq, and that would put his loyalty to Tariq first. Ferro knew the strange, vague threat was emanating from one or both of the two men he should have every reason to trust.
Women were sacred, particularly Carpathian women. Lifemates were held as cherished treasures. In a time when children were so scarce their people were on the very verge of extinction, the last thing a Carpathian male would do was threaten a female, especially a lifemate. Ferro couldn’t even say if there was a concrete threat, only that he had the vague impression of one and that it seemed to emanate from a man tied to him soul to soul. Even that he wasn’t one hundred percent certain of, but to a man like him, it was enough to make him wary and to want to take his woman and leave.
Her brother, Traian, had arrived with his lifemate, Joie, from the Carpathian Mountains. Traian was very eager to see his sister after so many centuries. Ferro knew it was natural to want to see her, but she was nervous and didn’t clearly remember him. Sergey had deliberately stamped out her memories of her past as much as possible. When she tried to remember, there was pain involved, although she didn’t associate the emotional and physical pain with the vampire anymore. It was going to be a long road back for her.
The moment Ferro had heard the sound of Elisabeta’s voice and knew she was his lifemate, he had taken over her care when he wasn’t hunting the enemy. He very gently moved through her mind to examine the fragmented pieces of her memories each rising as he fed her. He hadn’t been invasive on purpose, not wanting her to associate him with Sergey. The glimpses he caught of the vampire’s punishments had set the predator in him snarling and ready to hunt down Sergey until the task was complete. He knew, right then, Elisabeta needed him more, and he would have to wait to hunt the master vampire.