Dark Lycan (Carpathian)

Gregori nodded. “We’ve enlisted the aid of our ancestors as well. This night no harm will come to these children.”


Fen frowned. The temperature in the labyrinth of sacred caves was far too much for a human child. “What of Falcon’s children?”

Gregori suddenly smiled and it transformed his face completely. He looked younger and more relaxed. “A word of advice, Fen. With your soft heart you’d better never have daughters.”

Fen scowled at him. “I don’t have a soft heart.”

“You’d be a complete pushover.”

Mikhail had quietly come up behind him. “He says that kind of thing to all of us to make himself look better. Everyone knows his twins rule his life.” His laughter was very genuine. He nudged Gregori. “Poor man. Brought down by babies.”

Gregori gave Mikhail his deepest, forbidding scowl. “I’m very firm with those girls. They know better than to mess with me.”

Fen couldn’t help but join in Mikhail’s laughter. Clearly Gregori didn’t care if he was firm with his daughters or not, they were everything to him.

“Gregori even told my adorable granddaughters to call him Is?nt? out of sheer desperation.” Mikhail continued to give Gregori a hard time.

“Master of the house,” Fen translated. “And did they?”

“It might have worked,” Gregori said, “if Savannah hadn’t laughed hysterically every time they called me master.”

Tatijana’s laughter joined the men’s. “I’m sorry, Gregori. What a blow. Your little girls are adorable, and quite frankly, I’d probably give them anything they wanted and Fen would be even worse. Don’t deny it, Fen, you would.”

Fen had to admit she was right. “Your daughters are just too beautiful, Gregori, with their sassy attitudes and their adventurous streaks. I’d be lost.”

Gregori smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if finally giving up. “Her mother doesn’t know it, but Anya has already tried shapeshifting. I caught her two risings ago. Took a hundred years off my life. Forbidding her isn’t going to work. And what she does, Anastashia does. I’m going to have to start working with them. I promised Anya I would, but only if she promised not to try on her own.”

“Savannah is going to kill you.” Mikhail made it a statement.

“I know. I haven’t figured out how to tell her. There isn’t any stopping Anya,” Gregori said, running a hand through his hair in the first sign of agitation Fen had ever seen him make.

“She’s a miniature you,” Mikhail pointed out. “You were just like that as a boy.”

“I can’t believe I started this early. She’s barely two,” Gregori said.

“I was your friend, you maniac,” Mikhail told him. “We got in so much trouble together, and you were always the instigator. Even at two.”

“Don’t believe him,” Gregori said. “He’s never followed anyone in his life. Especially when any advice given was for his own good.”

The deep affection and easy friendship Gregori and Mikhail had for one another was very clear. Fen believed Gregori. Mikhail definitely was born to lead. He listened to those around him, but in the end, he made his own decisions. He’d most likely been that way since birth, and his son probably was a great deal like him. Little Anya would have just as difficult a time trying to protect young Alexandru as her father had with Mikhail.

“The children are tucked away for the night,” Jacques announced. “Shea’s going to join us for a short time.” His voice lightened when he uttered his lifemate’s name. “We’ve got to get the food right. Fen, that’s your department. You know more about the Lycans than any of us.”

“You’re going to serve food?” Food certainly wasn’t the forte of Carpathians.

“We want them to feel as at home with us as possible,” Mikhail said. “The more they see us as they are, the better chance we have of their council coming here for a summit meeting. I also want to start the process of subtly changing their view of a Guardian versus the Sange rau.”

Fen nodded. He could see how Mikhail’s plan was a good one. The elite hunters, especially Zev, had the ear of the council. If they could be persuaded, they would be advocates for an alliance with the Carpathians.

“I’ll handle the food,” he agreed. “Everyone here has to view me as a Lycan. That’s how Zev knows me. If he suspects any different, there will be trouble.” He pulled on thin, almost invisible gloves.

Mikhail raised his eyebrow.

Fen shrugged. “No Lycan ever goes anywhere without his gloves or his silver. Zev’s weapons are amazing, but most just have stakes. Silver can’t touch their skin either, so they have to protect themselves. They’ll be wearing their gloves, or they’ll have them, and they’ll definitely notice if I don’t.”