Ferro called Isai ekä, brother. Isai’s loyalty would be first to his lifemate, Julija, but he would fight with Ferro if need be, to get Ferro and Elisabeta away from the compound. Ferro also thought that having Julija there would help to calm Elisabeta when the others arrived.
He should have known that when Tariq Asenguard arrived, as the leader appointed to represent the prince in the United States, he would be closely guarded, and that meant more than Gary Daratrazanoff came with him. Chairs formed a loose circle around the large room, Tariq sitting directly across from him. Gary sat to his right. He was a strange man. At one time he had been fully human, but he had been turned and the blood of the Daratrazanoffs ran in his veins, and their knowledge of healing and battle experiences filled his mind. His eyes carried the peculiar, bluish-silver color only their particular line held. Power clung to him and he gave the impression that he saw everyone, including Elisabeta, which didn’t sit well with Ferro. The battle experiences and skills of every warrior that had come before in the Daratrazanoff line lived in every cell of his body and resided in his brain. He would be a difficult opponent and the one to kill first. Ferro didn’t want that to happen. He felt a kinship with Gary, but if his lifemate was put in jeopardy and he had to fight his way out, it was the healer who would have to go first.
Maksim Volkov sat on the other side of Tariq. Maksim had run with Tariq on and off for centuries. They hunted together as loose partners just as Ferro had with the brethren. Maksim was a force to be reckoned with. He could be very still and then explode into action with blurring speed. Maksim was a man never to be discounted under any circumstances, no matter how much he liked to fade into the background.
Valentin Zhestokly had been in the monastery on several occasions but the call of his lifemate had been strong and he had left several times to hunt for her. He had found her when she was still a human child. She had been taken by a vampire and given to a puppet to use as food. When she was rescued, eventually, the Carpathians had to convert her in order to save her. Valentin watched over her now, staying close to the Asenguard compound, where Liv resided. He sat in one of the chairs and it was impossible to know where his loyalties would be, so Ferro didn’t count on him.
Elisabeta huddled into herself, retreating further and further into her mind. She seemed light, almost insubstantial in his arms. He knew immediately it had been a mistake to have her be present for the discussion on how Sergey might have accomplished reaching out to her while she was safeguarded in the healing grounds. There had been an attack on her once, using one of the children. Now, it seemed, there had to be a second breach in security.
Talk with Julija and pay no attention to those coming to discuss this security matter, Ferro advised his lifemate as gently as possible.
He didn’t want to draw any more attention than necessary to his very frightened woman. She had curled up so small in his lap that he doubted she was even visible in the dim lighting of the room, although all Carpathians could easily see in the dark. If her trembling got any worse, he feared she might really shake apart.
He kept his hand curled around the nape of her neck and his gaze fixed on Tariq, as if he wasn’t in the least concerned with his lifemate huddling on his lap. His fingers gently massaged in an attempt to ease the tension out of her. He knew that Elisabeta hadn’t been exposed to so many people in centuries. It had to be a terrifying experience for her. This rising was proving to be far worse than he had expected for her.
Seven men had come with Tariq. Ferro knew they had come as guards because he was considered dangerous and he had never sworn his allegiance to the reigning prince. Tomas, Matias and Lojos, triplets who were always together and had been for centuries, had been sent by the prince to help guard Tariq whether the man wanted it or not. They took their job very seriously. Ferro knew they were a force to be reckoned with.
The seventh man who had come to protect Tariq Asenguard was Afanasiv Balan. Most of the Carpathians simply called him Siv. Like the brethren, he was a true ancient and he was considered extremely dangerous. He had thick, long blond hair and strange eyes that by turns could be green or blue. More than once, Siv had sought respite in the monastery when demons had been too close, but he left to hunt vampires and eventually ended up in the United States, guarding Tariq. He had the creed of the ancients inked onto his back, just as the brethren did. If he turned on them, he would be forever branded a traitor among them. Ferro had no idea whether or not he had sworn allegiance to the prince.
“After what you’ve told us,” Tariq said, his voice soft but carrying, “there is very little choice but to have our healer examine Elisabeta for signs Sergey has left behind that would allow him access to her.”
Ferro had known that the moment he revealed to the others that Sergey had tormented Elisabeta even while she was in the protected sacred healing grounds, until Ferro had woven his own safeguards for her, Tariq would insist that she be subjected to their examination. He didn’t blame them. There were children to protect. All along, many had speculated that she could have been used as a spy by the master vampire. Even his own brethren had considered the possibility. He also knew Gary wanted to examine her. He just didn’t know why.
Elisabeta heard Tariq’s soft declaration and her instant rejection was immediate and visceral. She made no sound but he knew if she could have run, she would have. The thought of strangers violating her mind, seeing the cruelties Sergey had subjected her to over the centuries, was humiliating to her. She was Ferro’s lifemate. Already she felt she was embarrassing him by not being a warrior woman, a fitting mate for a man like him. To have the others see what the master vampire had done to her, keeping her in a cage, forcing her to beg him for everything—it was too much for her to bear.
Ferro glanced around the room at his brethren. They had come at his call. Isai, of course. He had his mage lifemate with him and she was powerful in her own right. Sandu, with his black eyes that could burn with red flames, was only a few feet away. Petru, eyes the color of pure mercury, standing as still as a statue in the corner so that one forgot he was even in the room. Dragomir, lifemate to Emeline, one of Tariq’s own, there in the compound, but Dragomir with his golden eyes would always back the brethren if it came down to it.
Andor, lifemate to Lorraine, one he called ekä, brother— Ferro had tied his soul to Andor’s to save him—sat in the circle looking alert. Andor would stand with him. Benedek lounged as if he were barely paying attention, very close to the door, ensuring they could fight their way out if necessary. Nicu, worn and grim, who moved like lightning in a fight, was the last of Ferro’s seven, and he also sat in the circle, but was close to Ferro, close enough to block the others with his body if Ferro took to the air to leave with Elisabeta. They would give him the chance to take his lifemate and flee the compound with her if Tariq pushed his authority beyond what Ferro believed it should be.
“I have searched for anything Sergey may have left behind and found nothing,” Ferro said, keeping his tone mild. He didn’t protest Tariq’s decree, but made it clear that Tariq was going to have to challenge his abilities. That would be difficult in light of the fact that he was an ancient and few could match his skills.
He waited for the leader of the compound to make his next move. There is no need to shake until your body falls apart, piŋe sarnanak. No one is going to harm you. My brethren are here to protect you. Look carefully around the circle. I want you to try to determine which stayed with me in the monastery in the Carpathian Mountains.
Perhaps that would take her mind off the fact that Tariq and his guards were regarding his lifemate with piercing eyes, as if they could see beyond her flesh and bones to what lay beneath. She shivered again. He didn’t want to be like Sergey, hiding her away in a cage from others, but he felt she was going to be sick if this kept up.
Elisabeta, I can shield you from their sight if you prefer, although I do not wish to do so. You are no longer a prisoner in a cage to be hidden from the world.
Her fingers pressed into his arm. So many eyes staring at me. I feel their scrutiny, as if I could be their enemy.
No one thinks this of you.
Yes. I can feel that they do. They think I harbor . . . him. She couldn’t even say his name. Sergey. The master vampire. Her captor. The one who had stolen her life.
Ferro lifted his head, his gaze sliding around the circle of men facing his woman. A low, feral sound slid from his throat, and when it did, the brethren immediately went on visible alert.
“I suggest you shield your thoughts from my woman,” he said, his tone even softer than normal. “If you have doubts about her, that is your prerogative, but she does not need to feel them, hear them or know of them. Just staying aboveground is difficult enough.” There wasn’t a single hint of a threat, and yet the air vibrated with it.
Tariq looked around at those seated. “I’m certain all of us in this room know that Elisabeta was taken against her will, held and subjected to untold cruelties by a master vampire. She is not responsible for anything that hideous monster visited upon her, nor would I hope any here would think that she would be. If you do, I would ask you to leave immediately. This is a delicate matter and she is very brave for allowing us into her home on her first official rising.”
Honesty rang in his voice. Tariq was not a man to mince words, and there was an underlying tone of anger. He continued to look around at those guarding him. No one moved.
“Forgive us, Ferro,” Lojos said. “We should have been guarding our thoughts more carefully. Your lifemate is Carpathian and very sensitive. We do not think your lifemate is in league with our enemy or in any way wishes to aid him. We have seen the way the Malinov brothers can use innocents to wreak havoc here in the compound. They plan far in advance for every situation.”
Matias nodded. “It is so. We did not mean disrespect. Your lifemate has been through enough without any of us making it worse for her.”
Tomas steepled his fingers and regarded Ferro over the top of them. “Your woman deserves only admiration, Ferro. If Sergey was able to speak to her while she lay protected in our healing grounds with safeguards woven around her, there is a major problem in our fortress. We continue to have security breaches, over and over. We need them addressed. Our worries were never about considering that your lifemate might be a spy sent here by the master vampire to aid him, but rather concern that he has found a way to keep his eyes on her as well as on us.”