Shea could not prevent the gasp that escaped her. She lifted her chin defiantly. She was not going to be intimidated by these powerful creatures. Her eyes flashed from one to the other. “I spent several years of my life gathering that data,” she said hotly.
Raven caught her hand and squeezed it in warning. She tugged Shea away from Jacques and right up to the door of the cabin. “All right, Shea, we’ll talk about it.”
“You are to leave this place and go to safety if the hour becomes too late or you receive warning from us,” Mikhail cautioned his lifemate. “No playing the heroine. On this I will have your word.”
Raven smiled into his eyes, an intimate, tender acknowledgment. She nodded. “I would never endanger our child, my love.”
Mikhail reached out and touched Raven’s face, trailing his fingertips tenderly down her skin even as his form wavered, contorted, began to snap and pop. Fur shimmered along his arms, his back. His powerful frame bent, and he leapt away, landed running, a large black wolf.
Shea’s eyes widened, astonished at the quick change. Seeing the man become a wolf was incredible. Her heart was slamming so loudly she was afraid it might burst. She was uncertain whether it was from excitement and awe or from sheer terror. Jacques!
It is all right, my love. To calm her he leaned close, brushed her forehead with his mouth. It is the way of our people to utilize the animals around us. It is natural for us. And it helps to protect our skin and eyes from the sun.
I’m fine now, wild man. It was a shock. Shea breathed deeply to overcome her trembling. She found she was clinging to Raven’s hand and self-consciously dropped it.
Jacques dropped another kiss on her forehead before he deliberately walked off the porch and into the dense forest, making sure he was out of her sight before his body began to change.
Gregori’s silver eyes moved over both women, then settled on Shea. “The child must be protected. It is no use appealing to Raven for logic, as she has none, and Mikhail is so besotted with her that he does not see his first duty, so it is up to you. For the sake of all of us, you must protect this child. Do you understand?”
Shea felt ensnared by those molten eyes. She might not fully comprehend his reasons, but she felt his genuine urgency. She nodded. “I’ll watch over her, healer.”
“It is not for my sake only, but for humans and Carpathians alike. This child must live, Shea,” he reiterated. “She must.”
Shea clearly felt the warning, the plea from his otherwise damned soul. This child was his only hope. For the first time she believed he was not the vampire, that his fear of turning was great, the child his only chance of survival. She nodded, meeting his eyes steadily so that he could see she comprehended the dangers.
Out of respect for her, Gregori, too, walked into the forest out of Shea’s sight before shape-shifting and loping away toward the ruins of Jacques’ old home.
Raven opened the door to the cabin and stepped out of the storm into the shelter of the room. “You’ll get used to it. When I first met Mikhail, I didn’t have a clue what he was. I thought he was a psychic like me. Believe me, it was a real shock when I found out. I had no idea such a species even existed.”
Shea managed a small smile. To be back in her cabin was comforting, with all her familiar things around her. “I’m still not certain I believe any of this. I keep expecting to wake up in my office back in the States.” Snagging a towel, she tossed it to Raven and caught up another for herself. Her hair was dripping wet. It was soothing to her to do something so mundane as towel it dry.
“We live relatively normal lives, Shea. Mikhail and I have a beautiful home in this breathtaking land. Mikhail has several businesses. We have friends, good friends. We travel. What happened to Jacques was a terrible tragedy for all of us. I’m glad he has you now, all of us are.” Raven curled up in a chair. Daylight was taking its toll on her pregnant body.