Tariq knew Val didn’t feel anything sexual for his lifemate, it was impossible, but he would protect her with the very last breath in his body. He wouldn’t leave her for long and that meant Tariq had another elite hunter to help guard the compound and his family.

“She’s ours,” Charlotte murmured. “She may eventually belong to Val, but for these next few years, she’s ours. Call the others to aid us. You convert her, Tariq. Between us, we can keep her safe.”

Tariq nodded. He was weary from the fight and the wounds he’d sustained. He’d cleaned himself up and stopped the bleeding from all injuries, but he needed to heal them. All the Carpathians would be exhausted. Most had injuries, but if Liv needed this now, then it would be done. “I have to hunt, sielamet. I will tell all of them to do the same and then return here. When Val is done, you take Liv while he hunts. All of us need to make certain we’re in the best of condition.”

“What about Danny and Amelia? Should they be here?” Charlotte asked.

“They have the right to be. Danny kept his family together after their parents died, and they believe what happens to one happens to them all. They should be here, but I don’t want them to witness the conversion should anything go wrong. The other hunters would be uneasy with them there. I’ll explain it to them and how it is best if everyone is focused on Liv and not on them.”

“They’ll understand.” Charlotte touched his lips with gentle fingers. “I think I like him, although he scares me a little.” She nodded toward Val.

Tariq caught her hand and brought her fingers to his mouth. “I am so proud of you, Charlotte. I know you were scared, but you fought like a pro. Facing those hounds isn’t easy for a Carpathian hunter, let alone a newly converted human.”

“I didn’t have time to think about it or I would have fainted,” Charlotte admitted with a small laugh. “You got the worst of it killing that horrible Fridrick. You never hesitated, not even when the hound began to tear into you.”

She couldn’t believe him – covered in the oil, venomous teeth tearing into him, the vampire’s acid blood burning through his skin, he’d just calmly kept withdrawing the heart no matter what happened to him. “Did you get all the poison out?”

He nodded. “I did the moment I got that thing off my back. A hellhound’s venom is nasty stuff.” He leaned in to kiss her. His Charlotte. He hadn’t really had time to tell her how much he appreciated her, how much he loved her. How scary it had been for him to know she was facing the hounds – and yet she’d done it and kept them, for the most part, off his back. Had she not been there for him, Fridrick might have won that battle.

“Go, honey,” she said softly. “The faster you get back, the quicker we can help Liv.”

Tariq took the time to kiss her once more. She was pale, and needed blood as well. She wasn’t aware yet that when you expended that much energy you always hunted after to regain it.

It took him only half an hour to meet with Matt, feed, and then go to Danny and Amelia and explain what had happened. Genevieve took Bella and Lourdes into the play yard to be with their dragons while he took the two older children with him. He was grateful that Donald and Mary joined Genevieve with the two little girls, trying to give them as many normal experiences as possible when their lives would never be normal. Danny and Amelia waited for him in their home, afraid they wouldn’t be able to pretend in front of the girls.

The Carpathians gathered once again on the deck above the mineral-rich soil, and this time, the tension was tangible. Tariq felt as if he were being crushed under a weight of responsibility. If anything went wrong and Liv died, he would never get over the loss – and he would live a very long time. The memory of the anxiety, hope and trust he saw on Danny’s and Amelia’s faces would be forever etched into his mind. They would never get over it, either, and possibly, they’d never forgive him. Converting a child? He searched his memory. He was centuries old and he couldn’t remember it ever being done. He knew it had been – but the children weren’t his.

Charlotte threaded her fingers through his and looked up at him with eyes filled with trust and belief. With solidarity. It’s my decision, too, she whispered into his mind, filling him with her. We make this decision together. All of us. It has to be done, Tariq; everyone knows she won’t survive otherwise. This is her one chance.

At once a bit of the weight lifted. He wasn’t alone in this decision or even the doing of it. They floated down to the center of the rich bed of soil, where Val cradled Liv in his lap. He continued to stroke her hair back, his fingers gentle as he murmured reassurances to the child.

Tariq reached for her, and Val instantly shifted Liv’s slight weight to him. Her eyes had been closed but when Tariq’s arms went around her, her eyelashes fluttered and then lifted. His heart stuttered. His little Liv was nearly gone. Val and Charlotte were both right: if they didn’t take this chance, they would lose her.

Is this what you want, Liv? To come into our world fully? To be our daughter? When I complete the conversion, you will be ours. Charlotte’s and mine.

Her nod was barely perceptible, but it was there. Her gaze shifted to Charlotte. Charlotte smiled at her. “Come here, baby,” she whispered. “I’ll hold you. Tariq and Val will be right here to keep you safe, and you’ll feel all the others just as I did. They’ll take away the pain. You’ll feel a part of them all.”

Liv’s lips parted. She took a breath. “I’m not afraid.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Charlotte said. “You know Emme would be here, but she has a concussion, a very bad one, and she can’t get up.”

Liv nodded and curled into Charlotte. Tariq bent his head to Liv’s little neck and took her blood without waiting. She lived in a nightmare world and there was no getting her out of it. It was far safer for her to be where he could protect her at all times. He made the exchange and then opened the earth. Just as he had with Charlotte, he shielded Liv’s body from the others as he floated Charlotte and Liv into it, covering all but their heads. He stayed at her head and Val took the other side of her where he could hold her hand.

Her body was small and she was already more than halfway into their world. It didn’t take long for the process to begin. For Liv, it was as if she had a bad flu. For Tariq and Charlotte it was terrifying, painful and seemed to last forever. Val shouldered as much of the pain as possible, and the other Carpathians took on the burden as well. Still, Liv felt every wave of pain, cried out when her body expelled the toxins and began to reshape her organs.