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  “Why do you do that?” Traian asked suspiciously. “You have a wicked way of laughing every time you mention introducing me to your parents.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from them. Jubal, Gabrielle, and I always go home for visits together. If we team up, we have a chance.”

  “I am Carpathian,” he pointed out.

  “Like that’s going to matter. But you keep thinking it will.” Her hand fluttered to her neck, still raw and sore from the attack. “How come I didn’t wake up gorgeous and perfect?” Joie glared at him. “I had visions of a makeover.”

  “You are gorgeous and perfect.” He sounded puzzled. “I woke you early to give you more blood, but you’ll be going back to the ground until you are fully healed.” He touched his chest. “We both will.”

  She turned her head to look more fully at him, and her breath caught in her throat. “Oh, Traian, let me see.” She rose up onto her knees in spite of his restraining hands. “You’re really hurt.”

  Her eyes held worry, concern. Her hands moved over his chest with anxious, caressing strokes. Traian held his breath, shocked at the tidal wave of emotion sweeping through him. “It is of no consequence, but thank you for worrying.”

  “It’s of great consequence,” she contradicted him. “How do you do that healing thing? Can I do it to you? Would it work?”

  He smiled at her, wrapping her up in his arms. “You are Carpathian. Whatever I can do, you can do. Probably more, but if you really want to try it, let’s clean off.”

  “Not your way. I love the water on my skin. Is that hot spring there too hot to bathe in?” Joie indicated the pool, although it wasn’t in her sight, but she knew exactly where it was positioned by the map in his head.

  “If you want to bathe in a pool, sivamet—my love, we will bathe in a hot pool.” He wrapped his arms around her and floated to the surface. “We may have to sleep during daylight hours, but in truth, few of us long for the day. We were born for the night and for us, it is beautiful. The things we can do make up for our vulnerabilities during daylight hours.”

  He kept his arm around her to steady her as he put her feet in the heated pool. Joie had no idea how weak she truly was. He had gone out early to feed before he woke her, needing to supply her with more blood. He could feel her hunger beating at him, although she steadfastly refused to acknowledge it. She needed to cling to her human ways just a little longer, to slowly accept a new, completely different way of life.

  Joie was far too courageous and if her family and Gary were true examples of human bravery then he had been missing out on knowing many good people. It made him a little ashamed to think he hadn’t even tried to get to know those humans around him. He hadn’t trusted any of them, and yet when he’d needed help, four generous people had come to his aid. Joie had been so trusting of him, and he honestly didn’t know if he could say had it been the other way around, that he would have been so trusting of her.

  He rubbed his chin along the top of her hair, enjoying the feeling of the thick, silky strands against his jaw. Very gently he began to wash her body, his hands moving down the line of her back and smoothing over the curve of her hips. Her breath caught in her throat and her hands began to move over him, tentatively at first, but washing the lacerations and bite marks the insects and bats had made clean, pressing her mouth against the terrible, raw, barely healing wound Valenteen had made in his chest.

  The touch of her lips moving against his skin so close to his heart moved him unexpectedly—shook him. His body reacted with a hard, painful ache, shocking in its intensity. He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring her touch. Blood rushed hotly in his veins, his teeth lengthened, and need pounded through his head.

  Joie lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. “Yes,” she whispered. A siren calling to him. “Always yes.”

  He had to stop before he lost his head. They were both clean of the soil packs and all traces of the rich loam needed to provided healing and rejuvenation for his people. He swept her up in his arms and floated them back to their earth bed. In concession to her humanity, he pressed a simple sheet over the earth as he took her down to their bed. He could remove it later, after he’d fed her and sent her to sleep.

  “Not yet,” she whispered. “I promised myself the first thing I’d learn as a Carpathian was how to heal my husband’s . . . my lifemate’s wounds,” she corrected.

  Before he could stop her, she was already leaning over him, her tongue swirling around the edges of his mangled skin.

  Traian closed his eyes. He should stop her, just give her blood and send her back to sleep, but the seduction of her mouth was far too enticing. Her tongue was soothing, a gentle caress that took him by surprise. She was attempting the healing chant in her head, the words soft and hesitant, but she got them right. His eyes burned, his throat clogged, and even his chest felt tight. It had not occurred to him that she would try to take care of his wounds—not first—not before anything else. Another woman would have chosen so many other things.

  “Silly man,” she whispered. “Of course I’m going to take care of you. I need to take care of you.”

  He didn’t open his eyes, afraid she might see tears there. “I thought you were a want kind of woman.”

  “True, but women get to change their minds all the time. Right now I need to do this.” She laughed, and her breath was warm against his skin. “You might be surprised at the things I need to do.” Her mouth began to move dangerously lower.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” he objected. “You need to heal first, Joie. I am going to give you blood and put you back to sleep.”

  She laughed again, blew warm air over the head of his erection. “Really?” Her tongue licked him as if he were an ice cream cone and then swirled and danced and did outrageous things. “I’m back to the ‘I’m a want to kind of woman.’ I want a lot of things right now. And I want you wanting me enough to stop worrying about whether or not I can make love in my delicate condition. And I want your body inside mine. Only you will do, Traian. I’ve fallen desperately in love with you, so, darn it, you have a few responsibilities.”

  His breath caught in his lungs as she engulfed his thick shaft, taking him into the heat of her mouth persuasively. He grit his teeth. “Responsibilities? I believe my main responsibility is to see to your health.”

  She licked him again, sat up and straddled his hips. “I would be far healthier if you’d take care of a little business. I’m burning up here. Every cell in my body wants yours. I’ll sleep after. I promise.”

  She positioned her body over his. There was no denying her, not with that seductive, sexy look of passion on her face. He caught her hips, lifting her into a better angle, and slowly allowed her body to drop over his so that he impaled her, driving through those exquisite, fiery, oh-so-tight petals that reluctantly unfurled from him as he pushed deep inside of her.

  Her breath left her lungs in a little rush. His breathing matched hers. She reached out with her hands and he caught them, threading his fingers through hers while she began a slow, sensuous ride, her eyes on his. Her breasts swayed invitingly with every movement while the scorching heat surrounded him.

  “You are so beautiful to me,” he whispered. And she was. She filled his heart with her beauty, with her courage, with her complete giving of herself to him.

  Traian swept his hand through her hair as he bent his head toward the pulse beating just above her breast. Fire swept through his veins, rushed to his very core as her body sheathed his again and again, those long slow glides that just pushed his hunger higher. He slid his hands up her waist to her breasts, the soft firm flesh drawing his attention. He lingered there for a moment, lavishing attention on first one then the other before he sank his teeth into that beckoning pulse.

  Joie threw her head back as the pleasure/pain burst through her like a firestorm. Her feminine sheath clamped down tight, nearly strangling him, as he dragged steely flesh over her sensitive bundle of nerve endings, feeding from her body in the age-old ritual between lifemates. She cried out, a soft broken gasp of startled pleasure, her hands cradling his head to her as she rode him, slowing just a little to better absorb the sensations he created deep in her body.

  His tongue slid over the small strawberry he’d left on the swell of her breast and he lifted his gaze to hers. “I need you now, Joie.” His hand wrapped around the nape of her neck, drawing her down over his body toward his chest.

  The action pushed his thick shaft hard against her most sensitive bud and she shivered, but she didn’t resist or take her eyes from his as she brought her head toward him. His body shuddered in anticipation.

  “Feel your teeth,” he instructed in a low, husky voice. “Can you feel the need pulsing through your body, throbbing in your veins? That dark hunger spreading like a wildfire?”

  She nodded.

  “Show me. I want to see.”

  She opened her mouth to reveal the lengthened teeth. His thick erection jerked with excitement—in anticipation.

  “I have waited centuries for this moment,” he whispered, his fingers threading through her cap of dark, silky hair and bunching the strands inside his tightly closed fist.

  Joie licked at his broad chest, right over the pounding beat. She felt the answer in her veins. That dark need that throbbed and burned. So much hunger. She couldn’t tell the difference between her sexual appetite and her need to connect them together through his pure, ancient blood. All that mattered was the lust rising in his eyes. The way his body surged into hers, connecting them. The way his mind moved so erotically in hers and that deep well of hunger inflaming her every nerve ending.

  She sank her teeth deep. His body arched. His hips slammed deep and hard sending shock waves of sheer pleasure rushing through her. Little whips of lightning sizzled through her veins and rushed to her core. She felt his essence flow into her, filling her the way his mind and body filled her. She would never be alone, always connected to him. She didn’t think she’d ever get enough of him, not his mind, not his blood and certainly not his body. She drank as though starved, embracing the life he’d given her.

  Enough, use your tongue to close the wound.

  The moment she did as he instructed, Traian trapped her in his arms and rolled over, pinning her underneath him, dragging her legs up over his shoulders, almost in one smooth motion, hands sliding to her hips, taking control. He surged into her over and over, driving her up further and further until she was gasping his name.

  He felt her sheath clamp down hard, a fiery sensation that milked and gripped until he couldn’t hold back any longer, emptying himself into her, giving her everything he was. She cried out as the waves of pleasure crashed over and through her. The aftershocks continued as they lay together, holding one another close. Traian spent a good amount of time kissing her before he reluctantly left her body.

  “You really need to go to sleep, Joie. I am being far too selfish.”

  She laughed softly. “I started it.”

  Traian wrapped his body around hers protectively, her head on his shoulder, his breath warm on her neck. “I must say I am glad you did.”

  “We only managed to kill two of the master vampires, Traian,” Joie said, nuzzling his shoulder drowsily. “There were three of them, and the other one took your blood. Is that going to be a major problem? Should we go after him?”

  “He is long gone, Joie. Perhaps we will not see him for another century, let us hope not. I fear if he returns, his hatred of your brother will outweigh his hatred of the prince.”

  “Then we’ll have to stick close to Jubal, although he can never know that’s what we’re doing,” she said, her eyelashes drifting down.

  He wrapped his arm around her. “The three of you are so close, I can’t imagine that being a problem, although because the master vampire took my blood, he could conceivably try to use me to spy on my people. I intend to stay away from the prince just to be on the safe side.”

  “Perhaps visiting my parents will make tracking down the master vampire who got away much more of an interesting proposition.”

  He laughed softly, kissing the top of her head. “I am looking forward to the visit home.”

  “Mom won’t be happy I’m not having an elaborate wedding.”

  “We will have to give her five or six little grandchildren to make up for it then.” He held his breath.

  She turned her head to look at him. “Is that possible?”

  “We can only try. If you are willing.”

  A slow smile lit her eyes. She leaned into him for a kiss before she settled down again, ready for sleep. “I think it will be the only possible way to appease my mother. I’m all for it.”

  “Go to sleep, avio päläfertiilam—my lifemate,” Traian whispered, love rising to overwhelm him. Joie had courage and she would face whatever their future held right beside him. “I am a lucky man.” He gave the command to send her to the deep sleep of their people to allow both of them to heal properly.

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  Read on for a

  bonus Carpathian story

  DARK DREAM

  Prologue

  The night was black, the moon and stars blotted out by ominous swirling clouds gathering overhead. Threads of shiny black obsidian spun and whirled in a kind of fury, yet the wind was still. Small animals huddled in their dens, beneath rocks and fallen logs, scenting the mood of the land.

  Mists floated eerily out of the forest, clinging to the tree trunks so that they seemed to rise up out the fog. Long, wide bands of shimmering white. Swirling prisms of glittering opaque colors. Gliding across the sky, weaving in and out of the overhead canopy, a large owl circled the great stone house built into the high cliffs. A second owl, then a third appeared, silently making lazy circles above the branches and the rambling house. A lone wolf, quite large, with a shaggy black coat and glittering eyes, loped out of the trees into the clearing.

  Out of the darkness, on the balcony of the rock house, a figure glided forward, looking out into the night. He opened his arms wide in a welcoming gesture. At once the wind began to move, a soft, gentle breeze. Insects took up their nightly chorus. Branches swayed and danced. The mist thickened and shimmered, forming many figures in the eerie night. The owls settled, one on the ground, two on the balcony railing, shape-shifting as they did, the feathers melting into skin, wings expanding into arms. The wolf was contorting even as it leaped onto the porch, shifting easily on the run so that a man landed, solid and whole.

  “Welcome.” The voice was beautiful, melodious, a sorcerer’s weapon. Vladimir Dubrinsky, Prince of the Carpathian people, watched in sorrow as his loyal kindred materialized from the mist, from the raptors and wolves, into strong, handsome warriors. Fighters every one. Loyal men. True. Selfless. These were his volunteers. These were the men he was sending to their death. He was sentencing each of them to centuries of unbearable loneliness, of unrelenting bleakness. They would live out their long lives until each moment was beyond endurance. They would be far from home, far from their kin, far from the soothing, healing soil of their homeland. They would know no hope, have nothing but their honor to aid them in the coming centuries.

  His heart was so heavy, Vladimir thought it would break in two. Warmth seeped into the cold of his body, and he felt her stirring in his mind. Sarantha. His lifemate. Of course she would share this moment, his darkest hour, as he sent these young men to their horrendous fate.

  They gathered around him, silent, their faces serious—good faces, handsome, sensual, strong. The unblinking, steady eyes of confident men, men who were tried and true, men who had seen hundreds of battles. So many of his best. The wrenching in Vladimir’s body was physical, a fierce burning in his heart and soul. Deep. Pitiless. These men deserved so much more than the ugly life he must give them. He took a breath, let it out slowly. He had the great and terrible gift of precognition. He saw the desperate plight of his people. He had no real choice and could only trust in God to be merciful as he could not afford to be.

  “I thank all of you. You have not been commanded but have come voluntarily, the guardians of our people. Each of you has made the choice to give up your chance at life to ensure that our people are safe, that other species in the world are safe. You humble me with your generosity, and I am honored to call you my brethren, my kin.”

  There was complete silence. The Prince’s sorrow weighed like a stone in his heart, and, sharing his mind, the warriors caught a glimpse of the enormity of his pain. The wind moved gently through the crowd, ruffled hair with the touch of a father’s hand, gently, lovingly, brushed a shoulder, an arm.

  His voice, when it came again, was achingly beautiful. “I have seen the fall of our people. Our women grow fewer. We do not know why female children are not born to our couples, but fewer are conceived than ever before, and even fewer live. It is becoming much more difficult to keep our children alive, male or female. The scarcity of our women has grown to crisis point. Our males are turning vampire, and the evil is spreading across the land faster than our hunters can keep up. Before, in lands far from us, the lycanthroscope and the Jaguar race were strong enough to keep these monsters under control, but their numbers have dwindled and they cannot stem the tide. Our world is changing, and we must meet the new problems head on.”