Release me.
Not with a threat so close to the prince. Not with Gabrielle trapped in the monastery. Mikhail answered Gary, sparing Gregori.
I can do nothing to help Gabrielle. I can help to guard our prince.
Mikhail raised an eyebrow at Gregori and shook his head slightly. It was there, that clarity, but Gary was also an extremely intelligent individual. He worked out many of their battle strategies. He could so easily, even in his present state, lull them all into a false sense of security. He was thinking and that was a good sign, but they were too near Gabrielle, and if those starting up the mountain truly were members of the society hunting them, Gary could easily be tipped over the edge into permanent darkness should he kill, even to save the prince.
“We are leaving.” Gregori jerked his chin toward Mikhail, and the prince shook his head, a small smile softening his hard features.
“Andre. Good to see you. I hope to meet your lifemate soon. Raven was very pleased when word came down that you had found Teagan. She is very fond of you.”
“Mikhail.” Gregori growled his name, patience gone. “Your enemies are everywhere. We have no idea how close any of those in the monastery are. And we need to get Gary into the ground.” He played his trump card, knowing Mikhail was fond of Gary. Fortunately, Gary understood what he was doing and remained silent.
Mikhail shifted immediately and took to the sky. Gregori waited for Gary’s body to shift, staying in his mind, just as Mikhail was. Gary did so with such speed and precision, Gregori found himself wondering just how much of the information the ancients in the Daratrazanoff line had given him the man had already processed. He was “getting it” at an alarming rate of speed.
Mikhail is correct, Gary, Gregori said. You will do great things for our people, more than you’ve already done. Hold to your honor, brother. Hold to it and when there is nothing else for you, you will have that.
I will.
Two words, but Gregori felt the truth of them. The sincerity. He’d always known. From the moment he’d met Gary, when they walked down the street together in New Orleans, he had known then that this man was connected to him. He shifted and took to the sky, the two Daratrazanoffs doing what they always did, positioning themselves on either side of their prince for the long flight home. They were many, many miles from Romania, where they all resided, and it would take a good part of the night to return.
Far off, they heard the sound of a rifle. They were too high, in the mist, and the shooter was closer to the lower part of the mountain, but still, all of them knew that was no hunter, but one of the society members eager to make a kill.
How would they know we are not anything but what we appear? Mikhail asked Andre through their common telepathic path, suddenly worried about the ancients in the monastery.
Teagan can tune herself to vampires and follow that path straight to their lair, Andre admitted, if a little reluctantly. I believe that is her grandmother with those men and she has the same talent.
Andre. Teagan breathed his name. Filled it with anguish. A sense that he had betrayed her. You do not know that.
Teagan, our first duty, always, is to the prince. Without him, our people are lost. His son is still too young to assume the mantle. He is too small to be a vessel for our people. The prince must stay alive or all of us will die and our species will be extinct. Andre did his best to explain to his lifemate.
Teagan was young. She had been human and he had very recently converted her. She had come to the Carpathian Mountains in search of a particular stone that would help her to “cure” her grandmother’s growing insanity. Her grandmother believed in vampires and had gone so far as to order a vampire-hunting kit off the Internet. Her family had tried to convince her to stop talking about them and then sent her to professionals. In the end, Teagan, afraid for her grandmother’s sanity, took matters into her own hands and made the trip to the Carpathian Mountains, only to find her grandmother was right and everyone else was wrong.
The problem was, her grandmother didn’t discriminate between a vampire and a Carpathian. She had no idea the dangerous, ruthless people she traveled with.
Teagan came out of the mist, walking toward him, taking his breath away like she always did when he laid eyes on her. She was beautiful, no doubt about that, but more, she was alive as in alive. She lived life large. Right now, she was very unhappy with him, and there was no misreading that look on her face. With Teagan, what you saw was what you got. She adored her grandmother. Family was all-important to her.
The danger, Andre decided, of bringing humans into their world, was that it would take a long time for them to realize the importance of protecting the prince and his children. They couldn’t understand that one man held the entire future of their species, which made him vulnerable to outside attacks.