“Even if he wasn’t, he would go through her memories, but when he is active, there is a taint of evil. She had it,” Dragomir explained. “You do not.”

“He directed Amelia,” she said. “He directed her to hurt others.”

“His body was safe somewhere when he orchestrated that attack. He would never have gone that long outside his body without being safe,” Dragomir assured. “We have to know. I’m going to keep you safe. Let the healer move through you and search. I will do the same. Sandu will protect Carisma.” He nuzzled her hair, slid his nose down hers and found her mouth.

She was very aware of the men in the room with them and she didn’t kiss him back, but she clung to him.

“Emeline?” If she wasn’t convinced, he would take more time.

She nodded and closed her eyes, burying her face in his chest. He sank onto the couch, pulling her down with him. He kept his arms around her, even as he shed his body to become pure healing spirit. Gary was just as fast and the two entered her a split second before Sandu.

Dragomir and Gary moved through her body, streaming straight to her brain. Vadim had a pattern he repeated because it worked for him. That gave the healers an idea where to search. The splinter in Amelia had been found hiding in a crevice in the cerebrum. Vadim had chosen the cerebrum because the neurons there initiated movement, coordination, hearing, vision, judgment and everything else Vadim needed to control the host.

Once they reached Emeline’s cerebrum, the two healers split off and began to carefully examine Emeline’s brain. Dragomir knew Sandu was doing the same to the baby. He hadn’t lied to Emeline. Had she asked, he would have told her the ancient would have to clear their child. The splinter had to be found. Getting rid of it might be easy if Vadim wasn’t aware. He would feel the heat of their spirits and he might not be able to resist checking to see what was happening, especially if thought he was in danger of being discovered.

Your woman is very confused. I lived a human life, Dragomir. You think only in terms of Carpathians and Carpathian women. She knows nothing of our culture. She doesn’t understand the lifemate bond.

Dragomir heard a warning in Gary’s voice. Tell me what you want to say.

She lived a life on the streets. Homeless. Thrown away by her family. Like these children Tariq has taken as his own, she doesn’t feel as if anyone can want her. Or love her. That’s ingrained in her. The fact that she was pregnant with Vadim’s child…

My child.

Yes, she is wholly your child now, but she was Malinov’s and part of her will always be Malinov. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ivory Malinov is a great warrior and a wonderful woman. The point is, Emeline believes she entered the compound under false circumstances. She carried Vadim’s child and was host to his parasites. That alone, having those creatures in her bloodstream, made her feel filthy. She looked on them as a sexually transmitted disease.

That’s ludicrous.

That’s human thinking.

Dragomir detested that for Emeline. He didn’t want her thinking she was less than him. Less than anyone.

Now, we tell her that she has a piece of Vadim in her somewhere. That he can control her actions through that little sliver. He can force her to betray you and everyone in the compound.

She was resistant to his compulsions.

She doesn’t see that. She sees that time and again, she isn’t good enough. She will want to run. For your good. For the good of the Carpathian people. For the children.

Dragomir nearly lost his ability to stay pure spirit. The thought of his woman wanting to leave him shook him. Lifemates cannot be apart.

She is not Carpathian and does not understand that concept. You must remember she thinks like an abandoned human. She will convince herself it is for your good.

Dragomir let his spirit spread light through Emeline, bathing her brain in warmth and love. He wanted her to know how he felt about her. How the others felt about her. Didn’t she realize that ancients like Sandu would never have actively sought her out to aid her if they didn’t respect her? If they didn’t see her as part of their community?

Here it is. Vadim has hidden himself very well, but I can see the darkness against her light. He cannot stamp out her light. I had hoped, for her sake, he was not here.

Dragomir hadn’t realized how much he had also wanted Vadim’s splinter to be found in someone else. He would have taken it from her if he could. Gary was right in that Emeline was already thinking herself unworthy. He had to find a way to counteract that feeling, to show her that the Carpathian community embraced her. Welcomed her and the baby. The baby… It hit him then, the real problem wasn’t just the way Emeline felt about herself – she didn’t think Carpathians would accept her daughter, not even with Dragomir’s blood flowing in the child’s veins. That was something he could combat. He knew exactly what to do. Reaching out to the prince and other Carpathians wasn’t something he was comfortable with since he hadn’t yet sworn allegiance to the prince, but for Emeline, he would do it.

16

Emeline stared out the window. Dragomir and the others had gathered together to figure out the best way to get rid of the splinter Vadim had left in her. Her heart was so heavy she thought it might just shatter into a million pieces. There was no going back from this. It was the last straw. The very last. She’d done everything she knew how to do to make things right with Dragomir and the others, but no matter what she did, there was always more.

“Emeline.”

She closed her eyes. She was certain Tariq had sent Charlotte and Blaze to assure her everything would be all right – but it wouldn’t. She would always be that girl from the streets. She could change species, but she couldn’t shed who she was inside. That girl.

She touched her fingers to her face and was shocked to find bloodred tears tracking down her cheeks. She stared for a moment at the blood smearing the pads of her fingers, not comprehending. Her tears were blood? She sat there feeling frozen inside. She didn’t answer the door. She just couldn’t bear to see their faces, Charlotte’s and Blaze’s, looking at her with pity.

She was that girl who got food from a Dumpster. The one carrying the child of a vampire. The one with a vampire controlling her through a splinter of himself he’d put inside her. In her brain. Where she thought. Reasoned. Where she shared her dreams with Dragomir.

She lifted her face to stare out the window again at him – her man. He was the most perfect man in the world, and he deserved better. So much better. She watched him, her heart pounding, love swamping her. He protected her. He watched over her. He treated her as if she were a queen.

He turned and looked at her, his gaze mesmerizing even through the glass. Love hurt. It hurt so much. She’d always tried to be a decent person. Even when she was dancing on a pole, it was to help Blaze get to the men who had murdered her father. She hadn’t told Dragomir about dancing in a strip club.

I want to see this dancing you do. Privately. Just for me.

She would like that, but it wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t saddle him with a woman so tainted. He was too good a man.

Answer your door.

His voice. So gentle. Even commanding it was gentle. She shook her head and found drops of blood on the windowsill. She had to stop crying. She wasn’t even a good Carpathian. They could will themselves to do things, but she couldn’t even stop the tears from flowing.

Sívamet. You are my life. Answer the door and allow your friends to talk with you, or I will be forced to leave the warriors circle and come to you.

He would. He would leave the other men in a heartbeat and come to her. The others would know what a needy baby she was. Dragomir wouldn’t care, but she didn’t want them to think he was lifemate to someone so weak he had to leave an important meeting. A meeting they had to hold away from her. Just in case Vadim decided to listen in on what the Carpathians were planning. And they were planning something big.

“Emeline.” The voice was Blaze’s this time. Of course they’d asked Blaze to come. Blaze had been her only friend through the years. “Please open the door and invite me in. You know how stubborn I am. I’m not going away. Charlotte is with me. We just want to talk to you.”