“Who is Aidan Savage?” Lorraine asked.
“He is Carpathian, lifemate to Alexandria. She has a younger brother, Joshua, who is getting up there in age, I think,” Dragomir said. “I have had to catch up quickly with all those Tariq has to call on. Aidan resides in San Francisco and has his hands full with a very large territory. It was Tariq’s bad luck that the Malinovs targeted Southern California for their stronghold. Aidan is alone unless the Dark Troubadours are performing and then he has help if he has to hunt the vampire.”
“What is happening for him to have need of help? Aidan Savage is renowned for his abilities. Even I have heard of him,” Sandu said.
“There were two master vampires wreaking havoc in San Francisco. They were aware of his presence, and they trapped him. He fought them both, and I believe it was Alexandria who came to his aid. She fought with him when he was mortally wounded. I have no idea how they were able to drive the two off when Aidan was hurt, but they did, and Alexandria was able, with the help of young Joshua and a human male who works for them, to get Aidan back to their home and into the ground.”
“I would have thought the prince would choose him as his representative here in the United States,” Andor said.
Gary politely closed the slash in Dragomir’s wrist and sank back onto his heels. “He is moving to the East Coast as soon as he is well enough to travel. He is used to living in cities now and so establishing residency in several larger cities in the East will be easy enough for him. Others will be joining him. It was Tariq’s bad luck to have established his businesses here, and he has always been a part of human society. He understands them. Aidan has learned to do that as well. Like the De La Cruz brothers in South America, he has always had a human family looking out for him during the day. That same family looks after Joshua while Aidan and Alexandria sleep.”
“Are you all right?” Lorraine asked him, anxiety betraying the fact that she was tied to Gary and could feel his fatigue.
Gary nodded. “I just need a little time to recover. All of us will take turns working on the worst of Andor’s wounds. We hope to have him ready to travel by the next rising.”
Andor shook his head. “That gives her another day to get through without a guard. If Sergey is looking to acquire her, he will eventually strike during the time we are underground.”
“For all intents and purposes, Andor,” Gary said with a sigh, “you were dead. You have three mortal wounds. Three. Not one. Three. Each of those wounds would have killed you. They have to be dealt with before you can travel. If you tried to shift, everything we’ve done would be undone. We will be flying you home on the back of a dragon.”
Lorraine burst out laughing. “Oh my God. Now you’re adding dragons to the mix.”
“We can shift into any shape,” Andor told her.
When she looked around at them all, the brethren nodded. “It’s true,” Sandu assured. “From a dragon to a moth. You will be able to do so as well after Andor converts you.”
Andor’s gaze was fixed on his woman and he saw her discomfort immediately. Her small white teeth bit down on her lower lip and she gave a slight shake of her head. He wasn’t the only one who noticed. Gary’s head went up alertly as did Sandu’s. Ferro turned to look at her. Lorraine’s color deepened.
“You do know you must be converted,” Gary said, his tone very gentle.
Andor realized immediately that because Gary had been human, he had an advantage over the others. Shaking his head slightly to keep the brethren from speaking, Andor kept his gaze fixed on Gary. Having that bond between the three men, Lorraine and him had bothered him on some level. Now he realized it was a good thing.
“I don’t know that at all,” Lorraine denied.
There was no defiance in her voice, and that told Andor more than anything else that she really hadn’t made up her mind. Lorraine thought things through. No one was going to force her to do anything, not without a fight. He was patient as a rule, and that was a good trait to have when his lifemate needed to work things out for herself.
“Lorraine,” Gary said. “A male hunter is extremely dangerous, especially one as ancient as Andor. Those locked away in the monastery were there for a reason. Should any of them turn vampire, it would take several of our best hunters to track and attempt to destroy them, most likely at a great cost. Without you fully with him, he will always be vulnerable to turning, even more so than usual, because now he will feel unfamiliar emotions that will rule where his logical judgment once prevented him from making terrible mistakes.”
She frowned. “How is that part of the lifemate ritual? The vows? I listened to them very carefully, Gary, and he promises to put my happiness above his own. If I’m not happy being Carpathian and want to stay human, that makes no sense.”
“Carpathian males were imprinted with the ritual binding words in order to prevent them from turning vampire. They found their lifemate and recited the words, binding the two together. A woman was raised knowing, and excited about finding, her true lifemate. She had no problem being tied to the man who would spend an eternity devoted to her.”
“I’m not Carpathian, and I wasn’t raised in your world.”
“I wasn’t raised in the Carpathian world, either,” Gary said. “I was born human. I am no longer human, not a single part of me. Even my past is different, but I still understand what you fear. I had those same fears when Gregori told me he was going to convert me. I’d seen a conversion. It isn’t easy on the one undergoing it.”
“That is true,” Dragomir said, “but we also have found a way to make it easier. Tariq had to convert a child recently and to make it easier on her, the entire community helped and she barely felt the pain. We sent the news back to the prince.”
“Pain?” Lorraine echoed. “I really have to know every detail beforehand if I’m going to make an informed decision. I’m not just going to accept that I have to do what everyone expects. The binding ritual was intended for a Carpathian woman …”
Gary shook his head. “It was intended to bind a lifemate. Soul to soul. You hold the light to Andor’s darkness. You have already restored emotion and color to his world. There is no mistake. If there had been, Lorraine, we couldn’t have followed him into the shadow world. I am a modern man. I know he would have been considered in a coma and have slipped away with modern medicine. In the Carpathian world, a soul can still be retrieved. You know how far gone he was from us. I couldn’t track him on my own. Even with Ferro and Sandu, I couldn’t find him. It was your soul reaching to his that allowed us to find him. We just boosted your strength, allowing you to follow him further when it was needed. You know that. You were there.”
She conceded with a small nod and another, much harder bite of her teeth into her lower lip. “I don’t doubt the things you say are true. I’m not arguing that I’m Andor’s lifemate. I’m just not certain I’m ready to become fully Carpathian. I want to take my time and really look at it from all angles.”
Andor brought her hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “I want you to take your time, Lorraine. We are bound together, soul to soul, and as long as you realize we are lifemates, meant to be together, I want you to do whatever you need to in order to come into our world with your mind fully made up.”
“If you’re weighing the pros and cons,” Gary said, “consider the skills you will have. You will be faster and stronger. You will be able to shift and assume any form. You will be able to shed your body and become pure spirit in order to heal others when needed. You already have incredible skills. You will not only be an asset to your lifemate, but to all of us. All of the Carpathian people. We have women and children to protect. Tariq is very forward-thinking. I believe that our women should know how to protect themselves against any danger. You, along with some of the other women, are a perfect example.”
Andor made certain to keep his mind blank. He had the ancient’s resistance to the idea of his lifemate being in danger of any kind. Being Carpathian meant adapting. Acquiring knowledge very quickly. He wanted to take a page from Lorraine’s book and look at everything from every angle instead of making snap decisions and laying down the law to his woman. Everyone was different and would have different needs. That meant he had to know his lifemate and give her the things that would keep her happy. She had been right when she asked to learn to fight a vampire just in case one would happen along. She learned fast, and she had done well against them.
“I was wrong to be upset with you for allowing the others to use you as bait before I let you explain. I am proud of your abilities, Lorraine,” he conceded. “Gary has a point, that the women should learn to defend themselves. Perhaps if Elisabeta had known how, she might not have been taken.”
“She might have had a better chance to escape,” Gary said, “but I doubt she knew when Sergey approached her that he had chosen to give up his soul.”
“She would have known,” Sandu said.
“Not if he had made up his mind but hadn’t done so yet.” Ferro sank down into the soil as if he was too tired to keep his frame upright. “I have thought on this more than is necessary. Dragomir told us that all the Malinovs turned at the same time. It was a decision made with much thought, not, as in most cases, when they were at the end of their endurance. If that was so, Sergey could easily have plotted to take Elisabeta. She knew him. She would have spoken with him, gone with him if he said the right thing, maybe claimed someone was injured. He would have overpowered her and secreted her away. If they were in league with Xavier, they would have known his spells. That meant Sergey could use that knowledge to prevent her from reaching out to her brother or any of our people.”
“I hate that this man could do this to her,” Lorraine said. “I want to help her.”
“We’ll be returning to the compound as soon as Andor can travel,” Gary said. “She will be able to rise in a couple more weeks. I have been attempting to heal some of her old scars and lessen Sergey’s influence on her each time Tariq feeds her. If you’re there, Lorraine, she will need a friend, a very patient friend. You will have to remember, she is from an ancient time and has been programmed by her captor to be a certain way. She most likely will never be very much different, but your influence and the influence of the other women will help. You can’t try to just thrust modern ideas on her, though. You will have to be gentle.”