I can live with the fact that you struggle against becoming more of a brute during battle.
Liking it too much, my lady. Wanting to make the kill. This is against my code of honor.
It isn’t if whatever you are doing battle with is evil. I trust you never kill an innocent.
That would not be likely.
Then I can accept your secret, Afanasiv Belan. I hope that you can accept mine. I told you that I have a friend who is Carpathian. We grew up together and have spent time together over many years. We have other friends we occasionally have traveled a great distance to see. Spain, Italy, the border of Algeria.
He was horrified. She could tell he was. She felt his protest, but he didn’t voice it.
We often went alone to see our friends, and as two girls, teens and then young women, we got into a bit of trouble. We managed to get out of it, but not always unscathed. Sometimes that required giving her blood. Sometimes, if I was severely wounded, she would have to give me blood. We had no idea that, over the years, by saving each other’s life, we would make the other one into something beyond what they already were. Carpathians exist on blood.The only real difference for her is that now she has the ability to walk into sunlight during the day if she desires. She’s faster, stronger, and she can tolerate the sun if she needs to. It is uncomfortable for her, but she can do it if necessary to save her life. And she can tolerate drinking tea.There was the slightest amusement in her voice.
There was a small silence again, and she sobered instantly. He knew of the war that had just barely been avoided between Lycan and Carpathian. No one wanted to speak of it. Certainly, there on the mountain they didn’t, not where Dimitri had a residence and where he’d worked so hard to keep the land safe for the wolves.
Dimitri had been at the very heart of that war. He had been taken to a war camp deep in the forests of Russia and hung by silver, allowing the silver to drop into his body, killing him slowly. They had wrapped him in silver so he couldn’t call out to his Carpathian brethren and let them know where he was. No one had counted on the bond between him and his lifemate, Skyler. With two of her friends, she had tracked and saved him. Dimitri would forever bear the scars of the silver. The Lycans would forever bear the shame of that underhanded treachery.
Even though she knew every Lycan said aloud that they condemned what the rogues had done to Dimitri, she knew they secretly feared him and wanted nothing to do with him. He had been a longtime resident of their world and had done such good, yet they would shun him—or even side with the rogues over his horrendous treatment.
Afanasiv was an ancient. He understood exactly what she was saying. Her Carpathian friend had exchanged blood too many times with her over the years. They both had become something different. Vasilisa was no longer pure Lycan. Sorina was no longer pure Carpathian. The combination of the two species gave them the best of both worlds, so much so that the advantages were frightening to the Lycans. They sought to eradicate any who were of mixed blood.
She wasn’t a pureblood anymore, and she never would be again. IfAfanasiv bound her to him, he would take her blood. Over the years they would exchange blood, and eventually, no matter how careful they were, he would be as she was. And then there was the matter of children. Lifemates for Carpathians were very scarce, and all couples hoped to produce children, especially females to aid their brethren. They hoped that the females would be reborn carrying the soul of a Carpathian hunter who had lived a life of honor. Her child would be of mixed blood.
She waited for his condemnation. Just knowing that their child would bear the consequences of her actions was enough to justify his censure. Still, she refused to bow her head. She hadn’t known. Even if she had, they had saved each other’s life. The exchanges they’d made had been necessary.
You expect that I will turn away from the woman I have waited centuries for because she is extraordinary? I carved an oath into my back for you. A code of honor so that when I was lost, I would know you were there with me, and I had a reason to hold on in the darkest of times. In that never-ending silence, I had you with me. I would imagine that I would hear you whisper to me to hold on, that you were out in the world waiting for me to find you.
There was such nobility in the way he spoke, although she knew he wouldn’t think so. How did she ever deserve such a man? He had spent centuries hunting vampires, defending his people, probably everyone else around him—and searching for her.
Bind us together, lifemate, so we can restore your soul. Once that is done, we can find out exactly what these demons, vampires and whoever else want with us and our people.She was very decisive. They’d had him too long. They’d had her brother too long. As far as she was concerned, they had been on her land far too long.
You have no doubts? Once I do this, my lady, I cannot take it back.
You see into my mind and feel what’s in my heart. I have waited for you. I’m nervous, yes, but only because I do not yet know all of you. I do know the most important things. Your heart and soul. Your honor. Those are the traitsI hold in high esteem. We will come to know each other on the journey we take together.
I am honored that you were chosen to be my lifemate.
He was very soft-spoken, his voice like a velvet brush stroking along the walls of her mind, embedding his claim there with each exchange. She wasn’t certain he needed ritual words to bind them.
When next he spoke, he did so in his own language, and she felt the power of the words imprinted on him long before his birth.
Te avio päläfertiilam. Éntölam kuulua, avio päläfertiilam.Vasilisa had learned quite a bit of the Carpathian language from Sorina over the years. She interpreted the words as Afanasiv spoke them:
You are my lifemate. I claim you as my lifemate.
Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed. Élidamet andam. Pesämet andam. Uskolfertiilamet andam.
I belong to you.I offer my life for you. I give you my protection. I give you my allegiance.
Sívamet andam. Sielamet andam. Ainamet andam. Sívamet kuuluak kaik että a ted.
I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I give you my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours.
Ainaak olenszal sívambin. Te élidet ainaak pide minan. Te avio päläfertiilam. Ainaak sívamet jutta oleny. Ainaak terád vigyázak.
Your life will be cherished by me for all time. Your life will be placed above mine for all time. You are my lifemate. You are bound to me for all eternity. You are always in my care.
She felt the difference as he uttered the powerful ritual words in his soft-spoken way. She would never be the same, but she didn’t want to be. Tears burned in her eyes, but she lifted her chin, feeling dazzled and privileged at the knowledge that she was his lifemate—that destiny had chosen her for him. She believed him to be extraordinary.