Ivory stayed very still. Razvan was just as still inside as she was, sensing this was no idle question. "I made a promise to the wolf pack that helped me and I have always kept it. The summer the pups were born, game was plentiful and it had been a mild winter. The pack had two litters of pups, which sometimes happens in a good year. I helped with the hunting, so my pack was well fed and the alpha pair and the next in the hierarchy mated. The vampires hunted my pack and destroyed them, hoping to find me running amongst them."
Her hand trembled in her lap and Razvan laid his over it, his thumb sliding back and forth in a soothing gesture. Ivory didn't look at him, but she opened her mind to his and let him comfort her where no one else could see. It had been one of the worst moments she could remember, finding the pack dead and dying.
"The pups are all that remain of my original pack. They were badly hurt, but I was not entirely"-she searched for the right word-"sane . . . in those days. I could still barely stand the moonlight and spent most of the hours beneath the ground. I needed the pack for my own survival. I couldn't let them go, and I crawled into the den with them and gave them my blood repeatedly. Sometimes I had no choice but to take their blood. It was a long time-weeks, I do not really remember-before the first turned."
She remembered that moment, the animal screaming in pain, and her shock at what she'd done. "I was careful to make certain they learned to hunt only with me. I feed them and care for them. They do not breed." She lifted her head and looked the prince straight in the eye. "They are my family. We have hunted the vampire for centuries and they have saved my life countless times." She conveyed in that one brooding look exactly what she meant-that she would fight to the death for her pack.
"You can see how they could be troublesome if they began to prey on the human race for food," Gregori said.
She flicked him a cool glance. "No more than when one of us does. We would have no choice but to hunt the wolf and destroy it."
Mikhail held up his hand. "We just needed to know, Ivory. The pack is most unusual, but you seem to have it all well in hand."
Razvan stirred. "It grows late and we have not fed. The pack is fine, but we must hunt before we return home."
He savored the word home. Let it roll off his tongue. The confines of this house were too stifling. He couldn't really remember when he had been in a home, certainly not with so many other people with all eyes on them. Ivory was hiding it well, but she was equally uncomfortable. Neither of them was good at social skills, having been alone for so many years.
"We can feed both of you," Mikhail said. "I really brought you here for a purpose."
Ivory settled back in her seat, but Razvan noticed that her fingers circled her crossbow, and he felt the ripple of awareness in the wolves. "Of course you did."
Mikhail smiled easily. "Our children are dying before they are born, Ivory. I have no time to waste on the niceties. Our greatest minds have tried to find solutions to the problem and finally, recently, we had a breakthrough. We discovered the source of our miscarriages is Xavier. He mutated extremophiles, microbes that attack our unborn children. The microbes are in the soil. Even should we move locations, and of course we considered that, he can contaminate soil anywhere we go. We have to stop him."
"That is our goal," Ivory said.
"Gregori informed me he believes both of you are set on destroying Xavier. He believes if anyone can do so, you two have the best chance. I have a great deal of faith in Gregori, as well as in my own instincts. We would like to aid you in any way possible."
"No," Natalya interrupted. "No, Razvan." She shook off Vikirnoff and stood, hands on her hips. "I've just got you back. You can't go near that man. Not for any reason. You know he's hunting you. You know he is."
Razvan sighed. When she was a child he had never liked it when Natalya was upset, and it was equally bad now that she was a fully grown adult. "I know him better than any other, Natalya," he said, his voice gentle.
"Ivory has studied him and has actually worked with him at one time in his school. She is good with his spells, turning them around. Mikhail is right in that Ivory and I have a better chance of stopping him than any other we know of."
"But it isn't right. You've suffered enough." What she really meant was she'd given him up for years, and it wasn't right for either of them. She wanted him back.
Vikirnoff held out his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, she took it, leaning back against him, obviously trying not to cry.
"Ivory's and Razvan's great sacrifice may be the very thing that saves our people," Mikhail said. "Both knew our enemy in the years we thought him dead. We have only Lara to keep the unborn children alive, and she cannot continue forever. We have four women-Syndil; you, Natalya; Lara and Skyler-who can cleanse the earth. Our species is very fragile right now. Should we manage to remove the threat of Xavier, we still will be fighting the odds to continue. We need Razvan and Ivory. We need every warrior we have to fight in any capacity they can."