The wolf pack raised their voices again and he lifted his head and answered as he raced over the frozen river. With each step they took, more jagged ice towers erupted, so they were forced to dodge as they ran, but Mikhail could feel the strength of the attack weakening. The vampire was close to the pack and wanted to direct his energy there. Not knowing what the wolves were capable of, Mikhail redoubled his efforts to reach them, taking to the air, avoiding the higher skies where the icicles could hinder them.
He caught sight of the running pack as they came around a bend in the river, streaks of silver with the burden of humans on their back, running tirelessly toward them on the ice. One child was slumped over the alpha's body, and blood streaked his thick fur. Out of the corner of his eyes, Mikhail saw a massive black cloud moving fast across the sky toward the wolves.
Get into the trees. Get off the river and away from the open, he warned.
Vikirnoff actually swerved into him before he could turn toward the riverbank, packed high with snow. Mikhail shot him a quelling look as he streaked through the trees toward the running pack. The two alphas with the children made it into the thick trees. Mikhail caught the little girl as Raja skidded to a halt beside him, tongue lolling, sides heaving. The vampire had bitten into the child's neck and had not closed the wound.
Natalya dropped to her knees beside the girl. «Can you save her?»
The moment the two alphas were relieved of their burdens, they whirled around and raced back to defend the rest of their pack. The first strike hit perilously close to the wolf carrying the adult farmer. Blaez didn't even try to swerve. He ran steadily in a straight line toward the Carpathians.
Vikirnoff stepped out of the trees and faced the raging vampire. While Natalya and the prince worked to save the life of the little girl, he streaked toward the spinning black cloud. Gregori burst into view, coming up on the vampire's right, slamming bolt after bolt of lightning at the undead. Caught in the crossfire between two experienced hunters, already wounded, Sergey retreated, thrusting one last bolt of energy toward his ice spear, hoping to destroy the ground beneath the prince, wolf pack and humans.
Falcon struck at that exact moment, sending a fiery blast of heat through the brittle spear, shattering it, obliterating its potency.
Gregori! Mikhail called back the hunter. Do not give chase. The wolf pack says we are needed at the farmer's home. Ivory and Razvan had been fighting the vampire. The fact that he escaped them bodes ill. Natalya, escort the family to safety with Falcon and see to it that the child is well cared for at the inn. Ask Slavica, the innkeeper, to put them up for me. She will take good care of them.
I wish to go with you to see my brother.
I need you to do this for me. If the vampire doubles back, they will need the added protection.
Natalya hesitated, and then touched her lifemate's mind. Tell me the truth, Vikirnoff. Does he need me for this task, or is he trying to protect me from what you might find?
Vikirnoff, Mikhail and Gregori were already in the sky, moving quickly toward the farmhouse, while the wolf pack circled back, running across the snow-laden ground.
He worries. The undead is a master vampire. Look at the havoc he has wrought on the earth. The wolf pack worries for Ivory. I feel their fear and Mikhail, as prince of our people, feels it doubly.
Natalya sighed. It is done then. She waited for Falcon to lift the two adults and she took the children, whispering a command to ease their fears as they raced for the village.
It seemed an endless journey to Mikhail. He felt the tear in the fabric of his people. The injuries were great. He knew Gregori, a healer of tremendous skill, would not fail to feel the agony the two fallen fighters were experiencing. The fact that the energy was not concealed told all of the Carpathians what shape to expect Ivory and Razvan to be in.
Still, none of them were prepared for the horror of that sight. The farmhouse was a pile of rubbish. It looked as if a massacre had taken place, a slaughter. Blood was everywhere, and in the midst of it all sat Ivory, her wounds massive, yet she sought to heal the man lying in her lap. Two spears still remained in his body, while four lay broken and bloody a distance from him. His body was hacked nearly to pieces, with his arm in segments.
As they neared, it appeared as if Razvan was still breathing and Ivory's voice sang the healing chant softly, interspersed with another song none of them had heard before.
This cannot be, Gregori whispered in awe. He cannot still live. No one could live through that. He listened to the ebb and flow of Ivory's voice, melodic and tuned to the very heartbeat of the earth.
Mother, dear Mother, I plead with thee now. Daughter to mother, heal me and mine somehow. I am his light, he is my warrior strong. Challenged and scarred, he stood alone so long. Mother, I beg you to look deep within, try to see My soul gives light to his darkness, setting him free. Lifemates we are, two halves of a whole. Standing united, fighting evil, aged and old. Mother, dear Mother, hold us close in your arms. Provide us with shelter, with healing, hold off all harm. Mother, please bring balance, darkness to light Allow us to live, go forward to fight.
Ivory sang the words in the ancient tongue, the notes moving in and out of the rippling earth, twining with the ebb and flow of the sap in the trees and the heartbeat that was the earth itself. As she sang, the soil moved over their bodies, as if a living blanket, or the tide itself, always in motion, pouring over and around them, flowing into their wounds and encasing them in rich, black loam.
CHAPTER 10
Razvan floated in a sea of pain. He had been there many times before, but nothing like this. His body felt as if all the parts weren't connected. He couldn't move. Maybe he was just afraid to move, to worsen the agony ripping through his body. He felt movement around him, as if insects and other nameless things crawled over him. Or through him. Even that wasn't enough to induce him to try to move.
He heard whispers, so low at first he thought he was hallucinating, but the voice grew stronger in his mind. Soft. Feminine. Determined.
I am with you. You are not alone. I watch over you and protect you. I will not leave you alone deep within Mother Earth. Do you feel her surrounding you? Holding you in her arms? Welcoming you? Feel her, lifemate. Feel her when all else seems lost.
He was certain he was hallucinating. Xavier would never allow him to sink into the rich soil to be rejuvenated. There was only pain and suffering. An endless life of it. He couldn't let go. He forced his will to obedience. No matter how much his heart stuttered or his lungs fought to draw breath, no matter the pain, he couldn't let go. He had promised-her.
He remembered her, although she might have been a dream, another hallucination. He considered that when he could get his mind to work through the waves of pain. He doubted he could have conjured her up even in his wildest imagination. He tried to picture her, but he found he couldn't think, so he just lay listening, trying to hear her voice again.
Far off he could hear a chant, spoken in the ancient language, voices raised, both male and female. It was impossible to sort through them to find one single voice, and he was certain she wasn't chanting with them. He felt her, not surrounding him, but merged with him, sharing his body. He didn't like the idea. If he felt so much pain, was she sharing that as well? He didn't know the answer.
Again his mind drifted, as if, because he couldn't do anything to prevent her from feeling the terrible pain, he didn't want to know if she was with him. He had spent too many years causing those he loved distress and he refused to think he was doing the same to her.
No, my love. I am with you by choice. I asked to be bound to you. I share your body willingly. Hear me, Dragonseeker, you must hold tight to me. Never let me go.
If he could have smiled, he would have. Where was he going to go? He couldn't move. He could only lie there, believing himself insane. The only consolation was her voice. He tried to remember if he'd dreamt it up when he was young.
After a while-and it could have been nights, o
r weeks, or even months-he became aware of a heartbeat. The sound was unusual, deep, echoing through his surroundings, so that it vibrated through his body, every muscle and organ, torn sinew and bone. Each beat shook him, yet soothed him. Each beat brought a twisting pain, but at the same time was strangely comforting.
After a long, indeterminate passage of time, he found he listened for that sound, enjoying the echo of it through his battered body. Now came a stirring of interest in his dark world. What are you?
I am Mother Earth, my son. You have become a part of me. My daughter begged me to accept you, to heal you. You are hearing the heartbeat of the earth moving through your body, making you one with me, with all of nature.
Now he knew he was insane. He was having a conversation with the earth. It was strange that it didn't bother him that he'd lost his mind. The pain was no less, but he had grown used to it, and he found the darkness and warmth a peaceful, restful place. He drifted further out on the sea of pain, letting it carry him as he had done so many times in the past.
His mind turned to his woman. Ivory. His lifemate. She was so beautiful she took his breath away. He knew if he'd met her a few hundred years earlier, their lives would have been so different. He had never dared to dream of her-never wanted Xavier to know for a moment that somewhere in the past or the future, there was a woman who held the other half of his soul. It was such an intimate gift, the sharing of souls, and he would never taint that bond with Xavier's evil.
Had he not died and been buried to suffer in this place, he would have taken her to his secret garden, the one place he remembered from his childhood where life had been good and filled with joy. He had played there with his beloved sister, Natalya. They had laughed together so often, running free through the fields of flowers and skimming stones over the placid waters of the lake. He would have brought Ivory there to share his one fond memory.
He felt the brush of fingers against his palm. Warm breath on his face. Take me there, beloved. Show me this place you dream of.
He had not expected that his desire for her was so strong that he could conjure her up. He skimmed his hand down her face, shaping the angles, tracing the pad of his thumb over her soft skin. I would take you there for our first courtship. It is part of me, the best part of me. Long before Xavier took my soul.
He no longer has your soul. You gave it to me, remember?
Razvan searched his memory. He remembered her face. So beautiful to him that when he closed his eyes she was still there. Her body, covered in those thin white lines, badges of courage, a living embodiment of the strength of will she possessed. He wanted to kiss every line, follow the map of them over her body until he knew each white jagged line intimately. Her skin, soft beyond all imagining, called out for him to simply touch her, to feel how extraordinary she truly was. He loved the way she moved. Just watching her, the sway of her hips and her purposeful stride, brought him a simple joy he'd never thought to feel. The way her face softened when she knelt to greet her wolf pack made him wonder how she would look when she held their child to her breast.
Dragonseeker. She called his wandering mind back to her. Do you remember giving me your soul?
Yes. To save me, Ivory. I have sinned lifetimes and cannot save myself, but I have touched you inside where no one else sees you, and you can do it. Put me on your wall with your brothers and carry my soul into the next life.
You are already safe, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved.
Her voice poured over him like warm honey, and he lay quietly, listening to the beat of the earth's heart and feeling every wound throb and burn in tune to the steady symphony. He thought about her words. Fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved. He wished he was truly her beloved.
I would have walked through the garden with you. I have always wanted to grow my own flowers. I know exactly what they would have looked like and I would have named them for you. Ivory. Han ku vigyaz sielamet-keeper of my soul.
Show them to me, she entreated him.
Again he swore he felt those fingers moving against his palm, tangling with his own. He closed his hand tight to capture the feeling of closeness. He could drift along in the dream, or hallucination. Maybe he was on the other side, in a better place-although he could do without the agony rushing in waves over his body. He shoved the pain aside, settling deeper into the arms of Mother Earth and letting himself imagine the things he would show Ivory.
She looked carefree, with her long hair cascading down past her hips, a waterfall of silk that moved against his arm as they walked side by side. He liked that she was tall. He could see the length of her lashes, curling at the tips, two thick crescents that veiled her enormous eyes. He was thinking of leaning over and licking along the jagged seam of white that joined two pieces of her shoulder. Temptation was the way her skin was mapped into quadrants for him to explore.
I do not look like that. Embarrassment edged her voice.
Like what? He was puzzled that his dream woman could be embarrassed over his perusal. He could look at her forever-want to taste every square inch of her. He had a need to memorize every detail with the sensitive pads of his fingers, with his mouth and tongue, so he would forever remember the taste and feel of her.
As if these scars are sexy.
She ducked her head as she walked beside him down the narrow ribbon of stones that was the path winding through his garden. The long fall of hair hid her expression from him.
He stepped in front of her, effectively halting her, catching her chin in his fingers and lifting her face so he could hold her gaze captive with his. Everything about you is incredibly sexy, especially the way you fight. You take my breath away. The pad of his thumb rubbed over her full bottom lip. Sometimes I spend far too much time thinking about each of those lines on your body and wondering where they lead. What pleasures they can take me to-take us both to.
She blinked, her eyes going warm, then sultry. You think of me as a woman, then, not just a warrior.
How could I ever separate the two? Your traits make up the whole of who you are. His voice roughened with emotion. He searched in his mind for words to describe her, the way he saw her, but he could find little to express the way he felt, the beauty and light she brought to his soul, so empty and hollow and gutted by Xavier's evil.
Tell me. I need to know.
Words are not enough to explain a miracle, but I will do my best. You are tough, strong and skilled. Gentle. Kind. Compassionate. Fierce and formidable, with a will of iron. Sexy. Soft. Beautiful. Mysterious. Gentle and magnificent. You are all of these things. A miracle to me. A gift beyond any price.
Her lashes fluttered as she veiled her expression. The temptation of her mouth, the curve and soft texture, was too much to resist. It was a dream, nothing else, and it was his dream, the first one he had dared in a long time-since the betrayal of his sister. He hesitated, suddenly afraid. Could Xavier be tricking him? Was he now betraying the one woman who held his heart and soul?
No!
The warm honey poured over him again, stirring his body. His heart jumped, beat for a moment out of tune with the heartbeat of the earth. Pain slammed into him from every direction, taking his breath, his ability to think, his very sanity. He thought he screamed when he'd been so stoic, but he had concentrated more than he knew on the natural rhythm of the earth, allowing the heartbeat to keep the pain at a distance so he could tolerate it. For a moment he couldn't breathe, couldn't think. It was impossible to live with such pain.
Do not leave me! Her voice was panicked.
He'd never heard Ivory sound anything but cool and under control. The note of alarm in her voice steadied him. He realized he was drifting away from the scent and feel of her, distancing himself to prevent Xavier from discovering her, but there was need in her that he'd never seen before. She'd been injured. He remembered that much. Horribly injured. He didn't feel as if he had much strength left, but what he had, he would gladly give to her.
Ivory?
I am h
ere, Razvan, with you. In you. I hold you tight, my heart to yours, my soul to yours. Do not leave me. Give me your word. No matter how terrible it gets, give me your word of honor that you will stay with me.
If you need me.
I will always need you.
He could barely conceive of the pure honesty in her voice. Could she really have need of him? He would never, no matter how difficult the circumstances, turn away from her should she need him. I will be with you always, Ivory, if it is within my power.
Her voice came again, close, gentle, that warmth that seeped into the coldest marrow of his bones and heated from the inside out. Rest, then, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved. Gain strength, but hold strong and endure for me.
It was no small task she asked of him. He allowed the pain to consume him, to wash over and into him, to become part of him. It was the only way to survive. His will-and acceptance. He would survive for her.
He woke again after an indeterminate amount of time had passed. Like all Carpathians, he knew the difference between night and day; even deep beneath the earth he knew it was dark and the moon was full and high. Sound had awoken him. Summoned him. Voices raised in the ancient tongue-the healing chant rising and falling with both male and female voices lifting toward the night sky, burrowing deep into the richness of the soil to find his shattered body to surround him and provide strength and healing power.
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