Dark Song

Josef whispered in Linda’s ear. She shook her head, but he just laughed and turned them, heading toward the actual bar where people were lined up to get drinks. Ferro waited until Josef was at the bar, engaging with others around him. Dayan and Corinne had come up behind him. Barack and Syndil had hemmed Linda in on the other side, making it just a little difficult for them to move. Syndil immediately began talking with Linda. Her voice was very mesmerizing, enthralling Linda so that she barely realized minutes were slipping away as Josef waited patiently for his turn instead of calling for a drink as he could have.

Ferro immediately hurried to the second cave and the middle of the wall where the women waited unseen and impossible to detect, protected by not only the Carpathian warriors but Julija’s mage magic. Julija alone would have been a force to be reckoned with, but the combination with the Carpathian ancients should have put Ferro’s mind at ease. It should have, but Elisabeta was his world, so it didn’t.

“Where do you need to be?” He knew exactly what she was going to say before she even said it.

“The rooftop.”

Out in the open. Exposed. Of course it would have to be the rooftop. He looked in despair, first at Lorraine and then to Andor, Lorraine’s lifemate. Andor knew. Isai, Julija’s lifemate, understood the danger as well. The rooftop was where the vampires could strike easily with just about any weapon. The two ancients had joined him to escort the women to their new location and then weave safeguards around them.

“Is there a second choice?” Isai asked.

Elisabeta looked at Ferro. For the first time, he silently willed her not to answer. If she couldn’t do it on her own, as she normally couldn’t, then maybe he would have every reason to justify keeping her safe—but he knew better. He knew he wouldn’t.

For finding the army of vampires and directing our hunters to them, it has to be the roof. There are so many of them, and so many different directions you need me to find them in. From there, I can find the master vampires as well. Elisabeta gave her answer to Ferro alone. There are safer places, but those places will limit me. I do not wish you to be so uneasy, beloved. I will do whatever is your preference.

Her courage astounded him, as did her audacity. Sun scorch the woman; she was manipulating him and it was working. He couldn’t very well be a coward when she was a shining example of female daring.

“I will take Elisabeta to the roof. Lorraine and Julija do not need to be with her there. In fact, they might be of more use in the club.”

Lorraine rolled her eyes. “You are not in the least good at telling lies, Ferro.”

“I said might,” he pointed out.

He took his lifemate in his arms. She could fly. She might even want to fly, but he needed to hold her as he took her out of the cavern and into the night air. His brethren could deal with their lifemates, decide one way or the other what they were going to do, but right now, he was going to let himself just feel the soothing comfort of his woman’s gift.

Elisabeta surrounded him with her serenity, heightening the night’s deceptive illusion of peace with her familiar and haunting fragrance, the one that now stayed with him even when he was away from her. Above them the moon had begun to slip into its next phase. Clouds drifted lazily across the deep midnight-blue-colored sky so that a slightly wider sliver of a silver curve peered down at them. A sea of stars, each trying to outshine the next, surrounded the moon as the gray clouds floated almost languidly. The clouds were deceptive; already the predicted storm was moving toward them.

Her breath caught in her throat and she pressed her face into his shoulder. The vampire servants are spread out, Ferro, moving through the city, all heading this way.

Numbers? At once he was all business, a full Carpathian hunter, setting his lifemate on the rooftop, his two brethren joining him with their women.

They began to weave their safeguards over the top of the building, an intricate web with Julija adding in her strand of magic and binding it tight every few strands over and over as they shared information with the others as quickly as possible. They couldn’t leave Josef waiting too long or Sergey would become suspicious.