Dark Song

He was totally dependent on you all those centuries. He may have had his brothers around him, but remember, they had turned vampire. They no longer had emotions. He felt emotions only through you and he didn’t share you with anyone. He was afraid to and for good reason. The others felt he was less than they were. Only you had the knowledge that he was more. Only you could see that he was the strategist capable of biding his time to take the ultimate prize. He became dependent on the way you brought him peace. On the way you made him feel. He will be losing his mind now, unable to function without you.

She was silent, turning his opinion over and over in her mind. How could you know that?

If I lost you, even now, having you for such a short period of time, the loss would be . . . difficult beyond measure. Ferro told her the truth so it would sink in how valuable she was.

I am your lifemate.

He framed her face with both hands and stared down into her eyes, feeling as if he could get lost there. You are more than my lifemate, Elisabeta, which should tell you something, because a lifemate is everything to an ancient hunter. Everything. And you are so much more.

It humbles me that you think that of me, Ferro. I will try to be worthy of your opinion.

He could feel her resolve and wished the others were gone so he could kiss her. Instead, he brushed kisses in her mind, telling her without words what she meant to him, trying to give her courage to face whatever the healer was going to say when he returned from his examination. He knew there was a part of her that she held back, wary that his kindness was an act and at some point he would turn on her. He didn’t blame her for that worry. She had lived with treachery for too long. She had seen Sergey deceive others over and over. It would take time for her to trust Ferro fully.

You are already worthy. Sergey needs you and knew that he would when he decided to follow along with his brothers down this path they chose. You were the one he depended on for the strength to get him through. His brothers beat him down, made fun of him and used him. They never acknowledged that he had the Malinov brilliance, that he was every bit as intelligent as they were. He feared them, not because they were any smarter but because he knew how vicious they were, and all his life, being the youngest, he had been the one they teased and made fun of.

That is so. I was often stashed in a corner, part of the wall when one came in, and they would be quite cruel to him. He would talk to me and feel very smug and superior because his brothers never had a clue that I was there right in front of them. They could never detect me, although they often wondered how the master stayed so young and composed.