Tariq kissed her gently and rolled, taking her with him so she was on top. “I need you soon, Charlotte,” he said, confirming he was still in her mind and could read her thoughts.

“I know. I want that, too, but I have to make certain I have everything in place for Lourdes and Genevieve. I’m Genevieve’s only family now.”

He shook his head and tucked hair behind her ear. “I’ll be her family as well. So will Danny, Amelia, Liv and Bella. She’s already fitting in, taking care of Lourdes the way she does.”

“I want to take care of Lourdes myself,” Charlotte said, pressing her face into his neck. He felt strong and warm. Definitely an anchor in a chaotic world. “How am I going to do that if I’m up all night and she is up during the day? I know right now you’re pushing her to sleep during daylight, but that can’t go on forever.”

“Lourdes can’t stay a human child. None of the children can,” Tariq explained, his voice gentle. “They’re known psychics. The vampires are hunting psychics, even children. We’ve got Josef, one of our technology experts, coming to try to get information off of the smashed computers, and he’s young. By young, I mean in Carpathian years. He won’t be considered an adult until he’s fifty, and he’s nowhere near that. He’ll be good for Danny to know. We haven’t thought much about converting men because there are so few women. Converting males is more difficult. They have to be accepted by the ancients. Once Danny is converted, I’ll have to take him to Romania, to the Carpathian Mountains and the cave of the warriors. If they don’t accept him…” He broke off, shaking his head.

She lifted her head. “What does that mean?”

“It means there are a lot of questions I don’t have the answers for. I’m consulting everyone I know who could possibly give me the odds of a child converting without too much distress. I know it can be done, but there’s pain involved. I can minimize it, but I can’t take it away. I’ve explained that to Amelia and Danny and they understand. They’re both a little hesitant because they don’t want Liv to suffer anymore, and of course they’re afraid for Bella, just as I am.” He sighed. “And now Lourdes. Before I convert the children, I have to have those answers.”

She liked that it mattered to him. More and more she was discovering Tariq didn’t jump into anything. He studied a problem from every angle and found solutions before he made a move.

“I don’t want Lourdes or Bella to suffer. They’re only three.”

He nodded. “So young for this to be happening. We could try to wait, but every day that we do, Vadim could be planning something. We can’t keep them prisoners here on the property forever. Sooner or later all of them will want to go places.”

“If we find and kill Vadim, won’t that solve the issue?”

He stroked caresses down the back of her head, his fingers threading through her hair. “I’ve hunted vampires for centuries, sielamet. There is always another one. Always. Now, with their ability to band together and use modern technology, the threat is larger than ever.”

His hand moved in lazy circles down her back until his fingers found the indentations of the dimples in the cheeks of her buttocks. “There’s something very enticing about your bottom, Charlie. I love when I’m behind you and watching you walk away from me.”

She raised her head to look at him. His smile was all Tariq. Charm. Sweetness. All for her.

“Then again, I like the front of you very much as well. I can’t say which is better. Your breasts or your butt. I’ve given it a lot of contemplation.”

She couldn’t help herself. She laughed softly and settled her face back into his shoulder. His voice was as lazy as the touch of his fingers on her skin. “You’ve had such a lot of time for contemplation lately.”

He smacked her bottom sharply. “Watch it, woman,” he admonished.

His hand resumed its leisurely patterns as heat spread through her, and she had to press her face against his skin to muffle her laughter. Still, that heat went deep, igniting nerve endings she hadn’t known existed. The intimate touch of his fingers sliding over that heat only added to the need suddenly, without warning, coiling inside of her.

“You know I have to get up and take care of Lourdes. Genevieve has been so great about it, but Lourdes is mine and she’s in a new place. She needs to know this is home and I’m going to be her mom.” She rubbed her chin on his chest, her hands moving over the places where wounds should have been on his shoulder and neck – but weren’t. There was no sign of any laceration or burn.

Charlotte took a breath and decided to ignore the fact that a man could be healed overnight. She needed normal. “Lourdes has had enough trauma to last a lifetime, and she’s only three. I can’t imagine what Bella and Liv and the others are trying to deal with.” Her eyes met his. “You know I have absolutely no experience dealing with children. I restore art, Tariq; I don’t do counseling. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Carpathians can read minds. You will be able to see their worst fears and you’ll know what to say. We are polite and respectful and don’t, as a rule, invade, not unless safety or health is at stake or we feed and have to remove the memory, but in dealing with these children – our children – I don’t think we have a choice.”

She sighed and went to roll off of him, but his arm tightened like a steel band across her back and the hand on her bottom slid down to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing strokes along the seam between her cheek and her thigh.

“Not yet, sielamet. I will know when the children awaken. Right now we have private moments and I need them with you. We face a long war. Vadim will not be easy to find, let alone kill.”

“It worked last night. We drove him off the ship. If I can hear him, and you say he can use me to see what’s happening around me…”

“Not here. As long as you’re on this property, the safeguards we’ve woven together will hold. Emeline and Liv both need them.”

“Still, if he can ‘see’ me, then I should be able to see him.”

“We’re removing that splinter tonight. It’s too dangerous to play around with anything like that. That splinter wields power. Legend has it the carousel was cursed. The horses, the chariots. All of it. Owners and their children died and no one knew why, or they were brutally murdered with throats ripped and blood gone. We now know why. Vadim did something to that carousel, and it has to be destroyed.”