Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“I am quite capable of defending myself, as you well know, brother,” Vasilisa assured him. “Having a lifemate adds to my protection. I also feel that Dimitri and Skyler are in grave danger. He is on our land. Send word to Grigor and Andros that we have a traitor, someone close to us, within the council. We must be very careful. I’ll return as soon as possible.”
“Three ancients travel with me. They are staying at the inn but may find refuge in other places if they have battled the undead and cannot make it back. Benedek Kovac, Petru Cioban and Nicu Dalca. These men are ancients and very dangerous. They are hunters of the undead, Carpathian, but I cannot stress to you how dangerous they are. Do not challenge them in any way. Keep your young Lycans from them if they are feeling a need to prove themselves. These are not the men to test their mettle on.”
Garald did not take offense as Siv feared he might. He gave a short nod, his worried gaze on his sister. “Good hunting,” he murmured. “Vasilisa, come home to us.”
“Always, brother.”
Afanasiv didn’t much like the sound of that. He started to shift into a bird and at the last moment stopped himself. His lifemate was quite capable of doing the same, but from the concerns with their union—specifically the mixing of their blood, allowing them both to become so much more than either Carpathian or Lycan—he realized Garald had no idea Vasilisa already was more. He held out his hand to her, his much larger fingers engulfing hers when she took it.
He’d never held hands with a woman in his life—certainly not that he could remember. She felt small and delicate through her gloves. He glanced at her as they walked swiftly away from the black ashes in the snow and her brother, who was quickly moving in the opposite direction. Since they had to slow down anyway, Siv wanted to take the opportunity to catch Vitus’ imprint near the falls.
“You are not only extremely intelligent, but you are an accomplished fighter, Vasilisa. I’m honored to be your lifemate.”
She glanced at him from under her long lashes, a small smile briefly flirting with her lush lips. “Thank you.”
His eyebrow shot up. “I have said something amusing?”
“No, I quite liked your compliment. It’s just that most men would have complimented me on my looks. That’s all they would have seen. They wouldn’t have noticed that I am intelligent, or if they did, it wouldn’t have mattered to them. They wouldn’t have wanted me to be good at fighting because they would want me to stay at home.”
“Lycan women are very good hunters. I recall hearing that one of your most experienced hunters had a female Lycan on his team who was every bit as skilled as her male counterparts.”
“Her name is Daciana, and she’s an excellent example. She’s an elite hunter. Many of the Lycans belonging to the Sacred Circle have decided they don’t want the females serving on the elite teams no matter how good they are. The Sacred Circle forbade them to do so. Although many have said they no longer practice those beliefs, they do,” she admitted.
“The one thing I have noticed as I have moved through the centuries is if you do not keep up with the times, you eventually become extinct. You cannot hope to survive. I am not going to say I am in any way modern. I am not. In fact, I cannot keep up with technology at all. Computers and the like defeat me completely. Young Josef did his best to try to teach us, but since it is so much easier to just pull the information from other’s brains, I admit I saw no use for the device. He tried his best to explain it to us. When he was explaining, it made sense. When I was attempting to learn, it didn’t.”
Vasilisa smiled up at him. He liked that she was tall. He was a tall man, and he wouldn’t have to stoop low to reach her. Still, she was a few inches shorter, and when she looked up at him, as she did now, she made him feel things he couldn’t identify. Sensations were strange and new to him. These were good emotions. Powerful ones. He found himself enjoying these new feelings.
He slid his thumb over the back of her hand and then turned her hand so he could feel for the pulse in her wrist. “You didn’t flinch once. Demons or vampires. You were prepared.”
“I trained from the time I was a toddler—I could barely walk. My mother knew I held your soul and would possibly face vampires. She also knew I would need to know how to face anything that might slip through from the underworld. I must guard one of the gates created in the underworld to hold a beast that is uncontrollable by the demons or by those aboveground.”