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.Josef yelled as he came through, Paul slung over his shoulder.Splashes of red dotted both bodies.Dimitri put his lifemate on the ground, his fingers looking for a pulse.She was bleeding from halfa dozen wounds, any one of which would kill her.Finding not even a faint heartbeat, he threw his headback and roared his rage and grief.9ikhail Dubrinsky, prince of the Carpathian people, sat across from the four members of theLycan council who had come to negotiate an alliance with him.They had brought a fullMregiment of guards to protect them.He couldn t blame them for that he d called in his warriors aswell.It made for an interesting combination.Gregori Daratrazanoff liked none of it, but then he was tasked with Mikhail s personal protection,and he basically glued himself to Mikhail s side.The main topic on the table, and the biggest bone ofcontention between the two species, was the subject of mixed blood.The Lycans had avoided theCarpathians for centuries, to ensure such a mix between their two species would not occur.The Lycans referred to any mix between Lycan and Carpathian as Sange rau bad blood.Theybelieved anyone who had such a mixture must be hunted down and killed.Since it didn t happen veryoften, none of their hunters were well versed in killing one of such a mixture.Mikhail had seen the Sange rau in action and he could well understand the danger, not only to theLycans, but to all species.They were almost unstoppable unless you had another of mixed blood tobring them to justice.That was the key in this meeting.He had to convince the Lycan council thatthere was a difference between a wolf/vampire cross and a Lycan/Carpathian cross.The wolf/vampiremurdered everything and everyone without discrimination, sometimes simply for the joy of killingjust as a vampire would do.The Lycan/Carpathian was called Hän ku pesäk kaikak Guardian of all.Carpathians had given that name to the mixed blood because it was true: they fought for all speciesagainst the Sange rau.He liked all four of the council members.They were each quite different.Lyall was soft-spoken,listened attentively and appeared extremely intelligent.Randall was a bear of a man, shaggy andbulky, with a booming voice, a grip like a vise, yet he was definitely the most reasonable.He weighedwhat he said thoughtfully.Arno had the best sense of humor, was more open and friendly than theothers, but he was also the one most outspoken on the Sange rau.Rolf rarely spoke, but when he did,the other Lycans immediately fell silent and listened to every word.If there was a single alpha amongthe council members and Mikhail was certain there was Rolf would be the leader.Francesca Daratrazanoff moved gracefully over by the tables.Lycans ate food, and she laid out themeals the local inn had delivered for them.She was an asset with her gentle, calming ways, and morethan once, when the debate between Lycan and Carpathians became heated, she chose her moment toinsert some small comment in her soft voice, bringing them all back under control.Still, the level of tension was extremely high in the room, given that the De La Cruz brothers werepresent.All had brought their lifemates to Romania, although none of the women were at the meeting,which didn t surprise Mikhail at all.Manolito De La Cruz and his lifemate, MaryAnn, would beconsidered Sange rau by the Lycans as they had mixed blood.Fortunately, the Lycans could onlydetect such a thing during a full moon, so they had no idea, but keeping the very lethal brothers fromwanting to leap up and slay the Lycans each time they insisted the Sange rau must be killed wasdefinitely becoming a problem.Lucian and Gabriel Daratrazanoff said little.Neither joined in the arguments, but stayed in thebackground watching the proceeds of the meetings with interest.Gabriel s daughter, Skyler, waslifemate to Dimitri, and the Lycans held Dimitri captive.Mikhail had been assured by the councilmembers that Dimitri was safe and would remain that way until the summit between the two speciescame to a decision.Mikhail rubbed the back of his neck.His people would never accept the Lycans view of mixedblood and neither would he.All the discussions and heated arguing were really a waste of time.Hewould never change his position on the subject, or agree to pass a death sentence on innocent men juston the off chance that they might turn criminal.Mikhail stood up, a fixed smile on his face, calling a halt to the meeting as the debate was onceagain becoming extremely heated. I m certain you re all hungry, and Francesca is signaling yourfood has arrived.She has made it very clear to me that you must eat it while it s hot.Shall we adjournand give this subject a rest?Give it a rest?He glanced across the room to Gregori.Their eyes met.Amusement showed in Gregori s eyesbriefly, although he hadn t changed expression.Zacarias hasn t said a word, but the women aren t here this evening.Marguarita, Colby, Juliette,Lara and MaryAnn have all been tucked away somewhere safe, Mikhail pointed out.This meeting isgoing to deteriorate fast if we don t think of some way to get the Lycans to understand the differencebetween vampire and Carpathian.Manolito and Rafael are total hotheads.Does that surprise you? Something really catastrophic would have to happen to trigger Zacariasto make any kind of move without your permission, Gregori assured.The Lycan council members rose and drifted toward the tables.Their guards fell into step behindthem, flanking them, a solid wall of large men.Mikhail was very aware of how fast the Lycans movedin battle.All were armed, just as his men were.Somewhere, in the distance, he heard a woman cry out.Colby De La Cruz, Rafael s lifemate.Thesound was high, keening, a wail of fear and sorrow.Nicolas De La Cruz leapt to his feet, his brothersfollowing suit.There was instant silence in the room, the Lycans swinging around to face whatappeared to be a very lethal threat.Mikhail stepped between the two factions, holding up his hand, facing the brothers.Francescascreamed, covered her face with both hands and would have fallen to the floor had Gabriel not caughther around her waist and held her, pressing her face to his shoulder, his eyes cold and hard as he, too,stared with lethal intent at the Lycans.There was no way to stop the instantaneous ripple of knowledge, of treachery [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]