“It is time,” Gary announced.

Dragomir nodded. He caught Emeline’s chin in his hand and turned her head toward him. She’d been burrowing into him, her thin body shivering. At least Vadim wasn’t aware of what they were doing or he would have been fighting them, using her pain and suffering against them. Emeline’s eyes were wide with shock. With fear. With all the negative emotions a man never wanted to see on his woman’s face.

He brushed his mouth over hers. Lightly. Needing to reassure her. His emotions were still a little overwhelming being so new and intense, but with Emeline, he was grateful he felt them. He didn’t want her to ever feel the way she was feeling in that moment. He tightened his arms around her and lifted her back up onto the couch.

“It is going to be all right, Emeline. Blaze has accepted the child. So has her lifemate.”

“He has reservations,” she clarified.

“We are losing the night,” Gary said.

Dragomir sent him a warning look. He knew they weren’t going to remove all the parasites this night. They would have to face Vadim’s wrath the next rising – unless he was injured so badly that he remained asleep. He was going to take the time to reassure his woman.

“It doesn’t matter if he had reservations,” he said, keeping his voice gentle but firm. “She will be loved and protected.”

Gary sighed as if even explaining was difficult. “Ivory Malinov is one of the bravest, strongest women I have ever met. She holds all the light of the world in her soul. She shines brightly and is one of the greatest treasures of the Carpathian people. A fierce warrior and a gentle woman. Ivory is Vadim’s sister.”

The relief on Emeline’s face made Dragomir want to thank the other man, but Gary shed his body fast, leaving just a shell behind, his speed reminding them all that they were racing the dawn. Dragomir followed him, leaving behind his shell, his spirit moving freely, white-hot energy flowing through Emeline’s body.

He could see that the healer couldn’t possibly remove all the parasites. Vadim had made certain Emeline was flooded with them. He wasn’t taking any chances on losing her. Do you have a plan? He began burning the wiggling creatures with the intense heat of his spirit. Most fled in front of the light, or tried to hide in cells or along her bones.

We can trap them between us. It won’t get all of them in the time we have, but if you find a good place to sleep and heal, tomorrow we can use you as a filter.

Dragomir wasn’t certain what that meant. I’m listening. His light moved into position opposite the healer’s so they could prevent the parasites from escaping.

You will remove her blood. All of it. While you remove it, we will supply her with our blood. The parasites will go into you and you will destroy them by pushing them out of your pores. We’ll burn them as they come out. It’s a nasty, ugly business and will look like something out of a horror movie. It would be best if you put your woman to sleep. She isn’t going to want to see.

Dragomir would wait to talk to Emeline before he made that decision. I am not certain she is so easy to put to sleep without her consent. If that were the case, the sleeping spell would have worked on her.

They burned several of the parasites and then moved over a few inches. The creatures had tried to embed themselves in her ribs to keep from being seen or removed.

Vadim is a master vampire, Gary pointed out. Not just a master vampire, but one that is ancient and has schemed and battled his way to the top of the food chain. In other words, he is extremely powerful. For your woman to resist his compulsions and continue to fight him, she must be very strong. Once ancient blood flows in her veins and she is fully Carpathian, she will be even more so.

Dragomir waited to hear what Gary meant. Of course Emeline would grow in power. Her gifts would be stronger. She would be stronger. Where was the ancient healer going with his observations?

She will be turned when we take her blood and give her ancient blood. So much of it. You must do the initial exchanges. It will not be easy on the child, but as your lifemate grows in power, so will her daughter, Gary said.

There is a child here, Liv, a ten-year-old who Tariq was forced to turn. All Carpathians gathered and they did so joined together beneath the main house where Tariq has brought in rich soil. By all of them joining together, they were able to minimize the girl’s pain. It would be best if we do the healing and turning there. We can ask others to aid us.

They had to spend a long time just in that small area. Are they reproducing? Dragomir asked.

I believe so. At a rapid rate, too. Vadim took measures to ensure that your woman wouldn’t escape him. He wants her, Dragomir, for more than a vessel to carry a child.

He was prepared to kill the baby, Dragomir mused. Her heart was clogged with the parasites. He would have ordered them away from that organ. There were a few in her brain. If he was monitoring the child as well as Emeline, it is possible Vadim realized it was female and he was planning on retaliating because Emeline managed to outsmart him.

She did more than that. She ruined his plans. Just for that alone, he should want to kill her. Anyone else would have been dead. You wouldn’t have gotten to her in time. Vadim has handicapped himself by letting all of us know he wants your woman alive.

Dragomir didn’t like the sound of that, or the speculation in Gary’s mind. What are you planning?

I am not a strategist, but it occurs to me we have something Vadim wants very, very badly.

Dragomir considered what it would take to end the healer’s life. It would happen if he deliberately endangered Emeline to lure Vadim in. That means he will come at us with everything he has.

Better to convert her immediately. Her and her daughter.

My daughter. Our daughter. I will saturate the child with my blood.

That is admirable, but you know her brain is already developing and she will always have the ability to think like a Malinov.

The Malinov line is known for intelligence and fierceness in battle – and that includes their women, Dragomir pointed out. You said so yourself.

He had grown much weaker. The battle wounds as well as exhaustion were catching up with him. He needed blood and the healing earth. That would leave Emeline unprotected all during the daylight hours. By now, the compound would probably know she was pregnant with Vadim’s child. Tariq would be arriving home any moment and he wouldn’t be too happy with anyone. His time alone with Charlotte had been important to him. Tariq and Charlotte would have to be underground, but what was to stop him from utilizing his human security force?

We are too close to the dawn. I must get to ground. There was no inflection in Gary’s voice, but Dragomir felt the regret.

They had worked steadily, but the more of Vadim’s taint they destroyed with their combined light, the more the parasites seemed to reproduce. Dragomir left Emeline’s body and went back to his own. To his relief, Andor, Ferro and Sandu were waiting. Maksim was already gone to help Blaze with Amelia.

Andor stepped back away from Gary, his odd, rust-colored eyes assessing the healer. Sandu’s eyes burned a deep red through the relentless black. He stepped closer to Gary, a clear threat. Obviously the ancients recognized him from the healer’s encounter with Aleksei, a member of their brotherhood.

“Give him blood,” Dragomir said, once more collapsing on the floor beside Emeline’s couch. “He more than earned it, and he’ll work even harder on the next rising.”

He betrayed Aleksei, tried to take his lifemate.

There is more to that story than meets the eye. Aleksei is happy. We can ask questions later. The important thing is, I need this man to help me keep Vadim from destroying my lifemate from the inside out. Dragomir pushed memories of the battle and everything that had transpired after, including how Gary had come to his aid, into the minds of the three ancients.

With some reluctance, Sandu extended his wrist. Gary gave him a faint smile, his strange eyes wary, his body, exhausted as he was, on alert. Dragomir couldn’t help but admire the man. He was surrounded by four very powerful ancients, but he was ready and willing to take them on if they pushed it.

Dragomir laid his head back against the couch just as Emeline slid to the floor, drawing up her knees, leaning against him. She felt soft and warm, while he was cold, his temperature telling him he’d been out of his body too long. He reached with one hand to clasp hers, enveloping her small hand in his and bringing it against his chest.