The air had gone cold, unnaturally so. She could feel the safeguards woven into the mists broadcasting a warning that got under her skin even when she knew why and how it was there. Inside the mist things moved. Shapes. Voices whispered warnings. The mist swirled, dense and heavy, so that even in the form she’d taken, she was saturated, the water penetrating her feathers, a nearly impossible feat.
She could easily see how the ancients had stayed undiscovered for so many years. Their warning system was brilliant and cleverly in play all year round as well as both day and night. The actual location of the monastery appeared to change as well. She’d catch a glimpse of it, the mist would close over it and when the veil parted again over what she could swear was the exact same spot, the buildings were gone.
She was fully Carpathian with all the powers. She had never really utilized her gifts before. No one had really talked to her about what she could and couldn’t do, and she hadn’t asked. She should have asked. She knew most humans were converted by a lifemate and their lifemate taught them everything they needed to know. She’d been converted and, although grateful to be alive, she had disappeared into her work so she wouldn’t have to face a life that was very alien to her.
Perhaps if someone had worked with her, she wouldn’t have felt so cut off, but no one thought to do so, and she couldn’t ask. Not the prince. Certainly not Gregori. She had counted on Gary. She had always counted on Gary. He would teach her what she needed to know.
Now, she used her mind to keep herself in the air. She knew everything started in one’s mind. Her feathers might be soaked, but she could shift in the air if she had to. Whatever the ancients tried, she would not be afraid. She would not back down. Gary belonged with her. No one was going to take him away from her. She’d seen in his eyes that he was close to capitulating.
The owl began to falter in the center of the mist and she forced a shift, one she’d never attempted before, but she was very familiar with molecules and the molecular structure of the human body, so she wasn’t as afraid of becoming molecules as she had been when she’d first learned how to shift into the form of an animal or bird.
The veil of mist parted again, and way down the mountain she caught a glimpse of four men and a woman hiking the mountain trail above the human village. They looked tiny, like ants. She was grateful they couldn’t possibly see her in the thick, swirling clouds of living fog miles and miles above them.
Without warning a wrenching sickness took her over, so that even in her present state, without a body, she felt as if she might tumble from the sky and be sick over and over. Fear seized her. She couldn’t tell why. It was unreasonable. She knew that, but it didn’t help to lessen the effect on her. Fortunately, the veil parted again, and this time, she actually saw the gates of the monastery. More. She saw Gary. He was with Andre. She recognized the Carpathian others referred to as “the Ghost.” With him was a woman. She was shorter than Gabrielle and had beautiful, mocha skin. Her hair was a deep ebony, and even braided it was very thick and hung to her waist.
Relief flooded through her and she dropped down fast, afraid if she didn’t get through the small hole in the mist, she would lose the location again. She saw Gary turn his head toward her, as she came out of the mist to shift only feet from him. Andre stepped in front of his lifemate.
“Gabrielle.” Gary breathed her name.
The unguarded look on his face was everything she could ask for right before a mask dropped down.
“Gary. I’ve had enough time to think about everything, and I’m willing to take the chance. We have too much for me to be afraid of reaching for what I want,” Gabrielle said hastily, moving right into him.
She ignored Andre and his lifemate, Teagan. She ignored the fact that she was nearly pressed against the huge, thick gates of the monastery. She knew better than to touch them, but she stayed firmly inserted between Gary and the gates. She knew she only had a few minutes before everything was lost. She knew because she felt the two Carpathians trailing after her. If they arrived before she managed to convince Gary they deserved their time together, she would lose everything.
“Gabrielle.” Gary said her name softly. Just that—her name.
She closed her eyes at the love in his voice. So real. So raw. So honest. How could anyone ask them to give up each other? As humans they would have married, had children and lived a happily-ever-after life. She knew that with every breath she took. She could hear the same knowledge in the sound of Gary’s voice. In her name.
She held out her hand. “Come away with me. Right now. Andre can do the prince’s bidding. We can take fifty years. Fifty. That’s all we’re asking for ourselves. We have an endless amount of time ahead of us.” She couldn’t think about that long eternity of loneliness stretching in front of her—not without Gary. “Fifty years isn’t too much to ask, Gary.”