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  "Are you telling me that when he had a long painful needle in you and you were surrounded by vampires, nailed to the dirt naked, you had the presence of mind to make certain the baby was female?"

  There was both awe and respect in his voice. She shrugged. " I didn't know I would be rescued, but I thought maybe if I was able to get out of there with her, she wouldn't be like him."

  "Woman, you are amazing."

  The admiration in his voice shocked her. She expected condemnation, not praise. Once again, stupid tears burned behind her eyes. She let him hold her, her ear against his heart so she could hear that steady, reliable rhythm.

  "I will need the healer to help me, but we must get rid of the parasites. Vadim will be unable to harm you or the child. As for the child, we must get rid of Vadim's blood. That is what is torturing her. I will need to examine her, Emeline. I will not tell you a lie. If she is evil, I will destroy her. If she is not, she will live and be our child."

  5

  Dragomir took her breath away. Emeline hadn't known there were men like him in the world. She instinctively put a protective hand over her womb. He placed his hand over hers.

  "Know this, sivamet--this child will be mine. I will take Vadim's blood from you and exchange it for mine. Eventually, over time, she will be ours. My child and yours. My blood will change her cells, her organs, reshaping and repairing any damage. The healer--"

  She shook her head. "Just you. Only you. No one else can get near her. I wouldn't trust them to keep her safe." Just the thought of anyone trying to harm her daughter after what the baby had suffered was enough to make her want to run.

  "This will not be easy, Emeline. We need a delicate touch. The healer knows I will kill him if he attempts to harm her. He has the blood of Daratrazanoffs running in his veins so it won't be easy, but I have been on the earth a long, long time. My experience is . . . great."

  She continued to shake her head. He caught her chin and held it firmly, forcing her to meet those golden eyes. "Emeline, you are my lifemate. I told you the kind of man you are dealing with. This is best for you and for our child. I know you are frightened, but you have to trust me to protect both of you and to know what you need."

  "We can wait," she said desperately. "You're not at full strength. You need blood. He'll need blood. We have to wait. Vadim is leaving me alone. He was angry at first but he's quiet now. Go to ground, Dragomir." She didn't know what she would do. Just thinking about leaving him, or him leaving her, was suddenly terrifying. Still, she had that need to make certain he got everything he needed to heal. She didn't know how he was awake and alert.

  "Vadim is leaving you alone because his wounds are very severe. It will take him some time to heal. Now is the time for us to do this because we won't have to fight him. He will be asleep in the ground."

  "Where you should be," she pointed out, feeling like a broken record.

  He brushed his thumb across her bottom lip and a million butterflies took wing in her stomach. All at once she couldn't breathe. He stroked across her lip again and she wanted to moan. Men had kissed her and her body hadn't reacted. She was in pain, suffering from the inside out with the blood and parasites of a vampire running through her veins, making her feel unclean and so exhausted, yet the moment he touched her with such a small gesture, her body came alive.

  "I am going to summon him now."

  She shook her head but didn't look away from those brilliant eyes. Holding her breath. Fighting not to cry. Trusting him, not just with her life, but the life of her unborn daughter, a baby no one was going to want. But me, she murmured to the baby. No, us. We want you. We'll take care of you and love you. She kept looking into Dragomir's eyes as she nodded slowly.

  His expression changed subtly. His lips softened. So did his eyes. "My woman is extremely courageous. I appreciate that trait in you. Thank you for giving me your trust. It will not be misplaced."

  "Maybe you should ask him to bring Blaze. If anyone would help us, it would be her. She can give blood again."

  "There is uncertainty in your mind, Emeline. I can hear it in your voice. I would kill a woman if necessary, but I prefer not to. You are correct. We will need a blood supply. Perhaps her lifemate?"

  He would kill for her. Kill for their child. She had the feeling he was prepared to call any number of ancients he knew to give them blood. And he would. He would do what he considered best for her. She had seen the way the others talked about Vadim and the possibility that he might be attempting to bring children into the world. They considered it an abomination. She was terrified they would view her daughter that way.

  "Can we let Blaze come first, and if she is okay with everything, ask her what she thinks Maksim will do or say and if we can ask him to come?"

  He nodded slowly. She had the feeling he wanted one of the others, but he didn't say any more. She felt the energy in the room as candles sprang to life and a combination of healing scents filled the air. The lights went off, plunging the room into darkness so that the red and orange flickering flames were the only relief. The drapes over her windows were heavy, blocking all light from the house. She'd done that deliberately. Her eyes burned in the sun, and she didn't want anyone to see her clearly.

  The knock came almost immediately. Emeline took a deep breath, her hands going to her hair. Before she could ask for a minute to try to tame the tangles, he ran his hands over the length, all the way to the ends, smoothing and cleaning her hair so that it shone brightly. A wave of his hand gave her a long thick braid that hung down her back.

  "Is that better?"

  She nodded. "Thank you, it was really bothering me."

  "I need to take a small amount of your blood and give you mine, just so we have the ability to speak telepathically on a path that is intimate between the two of us."

  She recoiled instantly, nearly flinging herself out of his arms. "No. Not with the parasites in my blood. No. Absolutely not." She would do anything to protect him. Anything.

  He studied her expression for a long time and then he nodded. "Stay here while I let him in. While he is in the house, please do anything I ask you without argument. If I say leave the room, do so immediately. I will be at a disadvantage in a fight if I have to worry about where you are." He brushed his lips over her hand again. "Do you understand?"

  "Yes." She did. She didn't have to like that he would put himself in jeopardy for her, but there would be no arguing with him. Well, at least no winning the argument.

  He set her very gently on her feet and stood, towering over her. She watched him walk to the door. She couldn't tell that he'd been in a major battle just hours before and that it had taken half the night to heal him. Power clung to him and as he moved, it seemed to be distributed throughout the room. Flames flared as he walked by the candles, reaching toward the ceiling and flickering brightly.

  Dragomir resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder to look at his woman. Her fear was palpable. He wanted to soothe her, to reassure her, but he had no idea how the healer would react to the child in her womb. His child now. His daughter. He should have taken blood from Emeline, but he'd already pushed her very far out of her comfort zone, and he could see it on her face that she would have fought him. She was very resistant to compulsion. The childish sleep spell wouldn't have worked at all on her if she hadn't been so exhausted.

  Gary Daratrazanoff stood in the doorway, Blaze one step behind him. Behind her was Maksim, her lifemate. He didn't look happy and Dragomir didn't blame him. Emeline wouldn't be summoned anywhere without her lifemate going to ensure she was safe.

  "Thank you for coming. We have great need of a healer. Great need. We will need blood. A good amount of it. Maksim, I must ask you to wait outside until Emeline talks to Blaze. It will be difficult for her."

  Maksim and Blaze exchanged a long look. He finally nodded his consent. Dragomir stepped back to allow the healer and Blaze entry. Blaze went immediately to Emeline and took both her hands. Gary remained standing beside the d
oor, waiting. He didn't look like a man easily shaken.

  Emeline moistened her lips. "I can't go through telling that again, Dragomir. I prefer you do it." She had dropped into her favorite chair again, too shaky to stand.

  Dragomir stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders to steady her as he quietly told them what happened to her, including that the same may have happened to the young girl, Amelia. As he told them, he watched them closely, not only for visual cues how they took the news, but feeling for any ripples of hostility. He had subtly spread the receptors through the room, drifting in the air with the scents of the candles.

  "You're pregnant? With Vadim's child?" There was horror in Blaze's voice. "Emeline, you should have told me. You shouldn't have tried to do this alone."

  "You were able to make certain the child is female?" Gary asked. His first question. He watched Emeline closely, his strange eyes burning over her face.

  She nodded. "I didn't think he would want a female as much as a male, and if we got away, he would lose interest. I don't know." She pushed back the few tendrils of hair falling around her face, showing them her exhaustion. "I honestly don't know what I was thinking, I just acted instinctively. Something told me to do it and I did. I could at least control that."

  "An extraordinary feat, especially considering Vadim would be using compulsion on you as well as forcing his will physically. Later, when you feel up to it, we will need to know exactly what his delivery system was like. Perhaps you can give us the image in your head. Or at least," he added when she looked horrified, "give it to your lifemate."

  Blaze shook her head but before she could deny that Dragomir was Emeline's lifemate, the healer continued. "By now, the parasites will have found every hiding place in her body." Gary switched his attention to Dragomir.

  "I'm particularly concerned with the baby's heart," Dragomir said. "If you listen, you can tell that each beat is painful. The child can't last with this kind of torment."

  "Are you certain you want the baby to survive, Emeline?" Blaze asked. "She might always be a reminder of what happened to you."

  "She wants to live," Emeline said. "We went through it together. We've been through the pain he inflicts together. I won't abandon her."

  "I need to look and see what we're dealing with."

  "I will enter with you." Dragomir didn't bother to tell the healer that he was a dead man if he made one move against Emeline or the baby. He reached over Emeline's shoulder and took her hand. "I will reassure the baby."

  Emeline's fingers tightened around his. She didn't look at him, and he knew she was holding herself together by a thread. He was proud of her, and by the end of the healing session he would make certain they would form a telepathic bond no one else could hear--including Vadim. When the master vampire woke from his sleep, his favorite punching bag would be out of his reach.

  Vadim will fly into a rage when he awakens and cannot hurt her. He will definitely retaliate. The girl must be checked.

  You know if he has planted a spy . . .

  I am aware. I have told her there is a possibility we cannot save the child, but we are going to try. He was firm on that. His lifemate had fought to save her daughter. He could do no less nor would he allow the healer to do less.

  "Blaze, what do you think Maksim's attitude toward Emeline and the child will be? Emeline is very fragile. We need his blood but not his condemnation." Dragomir pinned her with a hard stare, hoping she got the message that retaliation would be swift and brutal.

  "Maksim loves Emeline," she said. "Of course he will do anything he can to help." Her chin went up. "Why would you care one way or the other?" It was a challenge.

  "Blaze." Emeline sounded horrified. "He saved my life. He saved the children."

  "Emeline is my lifemate," he said firmly.

  "But that's imposs--" Blaze broke off under his continued stare.

  "The night is fading," Gary said. "Forgive me, but I have very ancient blood running in my veins. I cannot yet take the dawn light easily."

  Neither could Dragomir, and he was already exhausted. They still had several hours, but they would need every one of them. He wished he could send Emeline to sleep.

  Blaze hurried to the door to allow Maksim entry. Clearly she had told him what was going on, because he positioned himself beside the healer to donate blood when needed. Gary didn't wait. He shed his body with astonishing speed, his energy so strong the light was blinding in the muted light of the room. Dragomir followed him.

  Emeline's bloodstream was packed with parasites, streaming through her body, hiding in cells and surrounding the baby and placenta. Gary didn't hesitate. He began driving the parasites out of Emeline, leaving the child to Dragomir.

  Emeline's blood circulated through the baby, so the healer was right to try to clear her blood first, but the child was in pain and struggling for survival. Dragomir surrounded her with his spirit, sending her reassurance as he moved into the tiny being. Her heart was clogged with the parasites. Every time they moved her body thrashed in pain, her heart hiccupping. Dragomir's light moved to her developing brain. The parasites were fewer there, much fewer, but they were beginning to increase in strength. They washed through and some remained, building a nest.

  He attacked them first. Little one, hold on. We will get rid of these things causing you pain. He wasn't good with children, but he felt sympathy for her. More than just sympathy, but he thought that might be a reflection of what Emeline felt. He worked carefully, meticulously, driving the parasites from the tiny brain, all the while looking for any anomalies and abnormalities. He took his time, even though he felt urgency to aid the child.

  You're being so brave, little one. So very brave. You are like your mother. She was. She was stoic and courageous, just like Emeline. He moved through her brain, over and over, leaving little pieces of himself behind. Her little brain absorbed his spirit, his energy, the bright light that shone from his innermost soul--the light Emeline had given him, so that he became a part of her. Satisfied that her brain was developing normally despite the torment from Vadim and the continual assault of the parasites, once he knew every last one was gone, he moved to her heart.

  The heart was so clogged it seemed almost impossible for it to continue beating. It was clear to him that Vadim was setting up to kill the child. Why? He was still trying to acquire Emeline. Was it possible Vadim realized the baby was female and Emeline had managed to thwart him on the sex? Was it possible the baby was resisting him in the same way Emeline was? Whatever the reason, the heart was laboring because Vadim had ordered the parasites to clog the chambers. They scurried away from the light, some clinging in desperation to the walls.

  The vile little parasites sickened Dragomir. He found himself pushing emotion away. He hadn't remembered how feeling could be both a blessing and a curse. The longer he worked, the more he felt for the child and the more he didn't want to leave her alone. He had no idea how much time had passed but he was only a third of the way through her heart when light edged along the outside of it.

  He wanted to protest as Gary moved through the tiny child. She was barely there, just developing, but the healer had no emotion, no sympathy. He was what Dragomir needed to be. Still, even knowing that, even knowing the child had to be vetted to discover whether she was a potential weapon Vadim could use, Dragomir wanted to stop the healer from examining the baby. It took a tremendous amount of discipline to stay still and let the Carpathian do what he needed to protect the others.

  We must return to our bodies and be replenished.

  The healer's light was dim, his voice the same, but there was a single weary note in it. Dragomir couldn't let himself think about exhaustion. It was wrenching sliding back into skin and bones, the pain overwhelming. It took seconds to block it out, but those seconds were pure hell. He breathed through them, his head down, his body slumping against the back of the couch Emeline rested on.

  "Dragomir."

  Just his name. Her voice was breathless. Fi
lled with tears. He knew he must look like hell. He'd been maintaining a facade, making certain the repairs the healer had made looked far better than they were. Several of his wounds had been extremely severe, bordering on deadly. He was almost desperate for blood. He needed an ancient. One from the monastery. He had a long way to go before he was finished. Even with Maksim and Blaze donating, it wasn't going to be enough.

  He lifted his lashes to stare into the healer's strange eyes. Such a mixture. The blue was light, almost silver. Strange. Disconcerting. Eyes that saw far too much. Gary's skin was so pale it looked almost translucent. The ancient shook his head and turned toward the wrist Maksim held out to him.

  "Dragomir?" Blaze held out her wrist.

  He took her wrist politely, his mind reaching for the one ancient he'd known as a young man. Afanasiv Balan was close. Others nearby included the triplets--Tomas, Lojos and Mataias--and Nicu Dalca as well. Valentine Zhestokly was gone. Dragomir could recall him, but not soon enough. He had known the men on and off over the centuries, but he wasn't as close to them or as sure of their support as that of those in the monastery. None of those that had been in the monastery with him were sworn to the existing prince.

  He needed the men who would have his back no matter what Carpathian politics were at present. Sandu had been in the monastery nearly as long as he'd been there. He had followed Dragomir to the States and was somewhere close by. Where some said Dragomir had ice in his veins, Sandu was thought to have fire.

  I have immediate need, Sandu. A war is coming and my lifemate and I are at its center. He sent the call on their private path. He politely closed the laceration on Blaze's wrist, afraid of taking too much blood from her.

  "She is holding strong, Emeline," he said aloud, turning his head to look up at her. She looked so scared he took her hand and tugged until she tumbled into his lap. His arms closed around her. "The healer examined her as did I." Ferro, I have need of you. Ferro was a question mark, but he was close and his loyalty would be to those of the monastery. Ferro was the tallest of them, with wide shoulders and strange, iron-and rust-colored eyes. He rarely spoke and was a man few ever challenged. Dragomir couldn't recall a single time over the centuries that Ferro had been defeated in battle. I have found my lifemate and we are in great danger.