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)
He stepped back and she actually felt the loss of both his strength and heat. Her hands went to the buttons, little squares she recognized as old-fashioned. Her lifemate hadn’t caught up with the times in his clothing as he had with hers. She pushed the little squares through the buttonholes and the edges of the material fell open so that he could shrug off the shirt. She took it automatically, rather than allowing it to fall to the floor.
He had tattoos scarred into his body, inked in the ancient language. He turned so she could read what he had so painstakingly put into his skin when Carpathians rarely scarred.
Olen wäkeva kuntankért. Staying strong for our people.
Olen wäkeva pita belső kulymet. Staying strong to keep the demon inside.
Olen wäkeva— félért ku vigyázak. Staying strong for her.
Hängemért. Only her.
Elisabeta read the lines several times, wanting—no—needing to commit them to memory. Seeing the words inked into his skin, knowing he had to have had them done repeatedly in order for the scars to actually take effect, nearly brought her to her knees. Staying strong for her. She had tried to stay strong for him. It was the only thing she had held out for. The only thing she had managed to keep from Sergey—Ferro’s soul. His light. She had that in her keeping and she had steadfastly refused to give it up no matter what he had done to her or to others.
Ferro slid into his shirt easily, and turned back to her, standing still, as if waiting for her to button it for him. Elisabeta did so with shaking fingers.
“That is the creed of our brethren, our code,” he said, as she slowly slid each button through the buttonhole. “It is what we sometimes chanted through the nights to keep ourselves from stepping off the path and losing honor. Always, our lifemates saved us. You saved me many times, Elisabeta, in my darkest hours. So many times through the centuries, I can’t even tell you. Never say to me, or to yourself, that you are a coward.”
She dared to look up at his glittering eyes. She’d never seen eyes so piercing, as if they could look right through her and see right into her— and she knew he could. He was in her mind as all lifemates could be. He was polite about it, gentle, but he was there, providing a shield because both of them knew Sergey was going to strike at her soon. He would know she had risen and he would insist she answer him.
Elisabeta shuddered at the mere thought of Sergey using her to bring down the compound and killing anyone there—especially the children.
“We will take care of that first. Come sit with me, here in this room. Do not try to look beyond this small area. I do not want you overwhelmed. This room is where our visitors will eventually come to see you. Julija and perhaps Lorraine.”
Lorraine was someone he really admired and wanted her to get to know. He thought of Lorraine as a sister. She was the closest thing he had to one. Elisabeta made up her mind that she would not only get to know Lorraine, but for Ferro, she would do her best to establish a good relationship with the woman.
Ferro took her hand and again walked in front of her, allowing her to keep her eyes closed in the large room. “You do not have to have a relationship with anyone, piŋe sarnanak, not for me. I am happy only with you. Others do not matter so much to me. I wish them in your life in order for you to be happy. If we left this place and went somewhere alone together, it would suit me just fine. I have no need of excess company.”
He sank into a large chair and pulled her onto his lap. One hand forced her head to his chest, tucking her face against him. “I am going to examine your mind and see what the master vampire has left behind that allows him a gateway, a path to reach you.”
“Centuries,” she whispered, appreciating that he rarely called the vampire by name. That would have frightened her more. Naming him would make her feel as if it gave the vampire even more power over her. “He had me for centuries. He knows my mind. He can find me anywhere.”
Ferro brushed a kiss on top of her head and then brought his hand down the back of her skull in a long caress, his strong fingers massaging her scalp as he did so. “Perhaps that is so, Elisabeta. But you have a lifemate, so you are changed. Your mind is changed. Your life is changed. You have accepted my claim on you and our soul is once more fully formed back together. I am older and more experienced than he expects his opponent to be. He will find it much more difficult to take on your lifemate.”