Final Chapter, please savor and review. Thanks for enduring with me!


Dark Storm

Chapter 7

The earth trembled as 5 ancient Carpathians readied for battle. Josef closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Rocks flew out of the soil to orbit him like tiny satellites. Lightning flashed down from the clouds, arching between the crystals revealed in the rocks, and enveloped Josef in a sphere of light. He was like the center of a giant plasma ball. Stinging sleet and hale rained from the storm onto the ancients even as they dissolved to avoid the missiles.

Josef left his body protected by the arching lightning and used his power to churn up the winds. In mist form, wind was their one vulnerability. Josef felt the vibrations of four of them in the air. Lucien he could not track and he could not distinguish between Mikhail and Gregori or between Jacques or Byron, but he sensed their approximate locations in the air. They were hesitant to strike at him with their full force—he was only a youth after all. Josef consoled himself that they were probably much stronger than he, even individually, so his odds of actually harming them en mas were remote.

Gale force winds blew the ancients back from Josef's impressive display of lightning mastery. Four of the ancients dropped out of the air and into wolf form. Josef shifted the balance inside the storm so that instead of rain or hale, snow fell like a thick wool blanket over the landscape. In moments, what had once been dark green and brown was bright white and reflecting the blinding light of his lightning ball, turning the world into stark black and white shapes. Josef used the snow to raise a pack of snow wolves. The white creatures attacked the ancients with icy teeth, only to dissolve into the blizzard when the ancients bit back. Josef focused most of his power on the wind keeping it howling, the hollow sound echoing the call of the beast inside him.

Byron pushed the gusts of air back with cross winds while Jacques directed long barbs of ice at Josef's ball of energy in an effort to short it out. The missiles sizzled as they encountered the sparking ball of pure energy. Gregori peeled away the earth from around Josef's pedestal. Josef's body was unshaken, a slim tower of rock impervious to Gregori's efforts. Mikhail called the river to fill the chasm and wear away at the column of rock Josef was holding onto. The earth under Josef rose up, pushing him high into the sky and closer to the lightening. The ball glowed brighter.

Drawing strength from the beast inside him, Josef redoubled his attack, his essence flitting out in a hundred directions to direct the elements while his body sat passive and protected, acting as bait for the ancients. Josef called winds from the upper reaches of the storm, bitter cold and powerful, to combat those that Byron pushed. He convinced the lightning that the rocks orbiting him were the most delicious conductors in the area, and then drew from the crystals raw energy to fuel the winds. He had essentially created a storm generator, which his body at its core.

Even with the extra energy from the lightning, Josef was wearing out quickly. Even as he fought four foes, he looked frantically for the fifth. Lucien, he knew, could destroy him in a moment.

Josef! HELP! cried Rayne.

What's wrong? he demanded, snapping back to his body. The lightning crackled around him wildly.

It's the Caravan. They've come for me! Her voice was panicked, and he sensed that she was frantically looking for a way out, trying to escape the Carpathian woman as much as the Gypsies.

Maybe if you go with them, we can meet somewhere else, Josef suggested.

NO! They won't allow it. I'm Gram's successor, remember? They'll bind me to the Caravan and I'll never, ever be able to leave. I can't step one foot on a wagon or I'll never see you again, she cried in fear.

I'll find you, he vowed.

Not if they find me first, she replied. He could feel her terror clawing at him. They use old magics, absolute magics, passed down for centuries. You can't unweave them. They have no loopholes. I'd rather die than be bound apart from you.

I'm coming!

Josef recalled all his extended powers and flew, still within the ball of lightning, streaking like a comet towards Rayne. His intent was to break free of the ancient attackers and race towards his lifemate. He only managed a few feet before he hit an invisible barrier. Somehow the wall sucked the lightning into it, and with it all his power. Josef crumpled and fell 50 feet to the ground. He lay momentarily in agony and despair, his body bruised, his energy gone, the love of his life beyond his reach.

A hand gripped his shoulder. The animal in Josef reacted and he bit it, sinking his teeth deep into the flesh.

Drink, young one, Lucien said calmly, serenely. There is much to do and little time to do it in if we are going to save your lifemate.

Josef almost choked on the rich, powerful blood, but to refuse such an offering would be gravely insulting. You believe me? he asked, his mental voice sounding harsh and desperate compared to Lucien's hypnotically pure tones.

The beast in you is strong, stronger than it should be at your age, yet you retain your colors and emotions. I can feel Rayne holding you to the light. No fantasy can do that. I, of all the ancients, would know that best, he replied.

Josef gratefully drank enough for an exchange, his veins roaring with the raw power of the eldest's blood. Then he respectfully closed the puncture marks. He stood slowly, then hesitantly held out his own wrist. It was redundant, since Lucien could track anyone with or without a blood bond, but Josef didn't know what other gesture he could offer to thank the Ancient for his faith. Lucien politely sank his fangs into it, but took only a tiny amount.

Your mental barriers are remarkable. In all my countless centuries, I have not seen the like, Lucien complimented him as they finished the exchange.

They're computer programs, Josef admitted a little sheepishly. Modified binary code.

"Lucien," Mikhail interjected warningly. "You would support Josef's pursuit of Raviv?"

"She is his lifemate," Lucien declared in clear and ringing tones.

"Why would one so young find his mate when other ancient hunters languish in darkness?" Gregori demanded. "He is too young to even be familiar with the darkness. I doubt he has even met a vampire."

"They haunt the internet, you know," Josef piped up meekly. All eyes turned with interest to him. "Not just the internet but the closed defense networks. Last month, one tried to nuke the entire mountain range. I…um…I stopped him."

"How?" Mikhail wanted to know, his voice low and powerful.

"I incinerated him using the electrical system of the building he was in," Josef replied. "The vampires have been trying to destroy Carpathian mountains for a while—surface to air missiles, falling space junk, economic collapse—the nuke was just the most desperate attempt so far. And before that, I stopped shipments of biological weapons to vampires and terrorist groups alike, fowled attempts to destroy the world banking system, and corrected some of the formulas for genetically manipulating wheat. The original formulas would have decimated world crops with an incurable fungus."

The ancients looked at one another in shock, then looked at Lucien.

"He speaks the truth," Lucien stated simply.

"How did you gain this knowledge?" Gregori demanded, suspicious.

"How much time do you spend online?" Josef responded. "Two, maybe three hours a day? I spent almost a solid year online, and before that I was programming games and consoles with my mind. I lived and breathed computer programming, from the most complex protocol to essential binary code. Just like you can change your physical form into molecules of mist, I can bend my mind into code and jump between different systems and lines. I can read digital code faster than you can read an ancient book. I know almost everything on the internet and on international defense systems."

"He can shed his body with remarkable ease," Lucien remarked. "During the battle, he was not actually in his physical form. I sensed him reaching out with remarkable scope. This young one feels the weight of darkness before his time, and yet honorably finds ways to defend and protect his people. Do not let his age fool you. His knowledge is extensive."

Josef wanted to blush, but he was filled with anxiety for Rayne. He could feel her fear reverberating through him.

"Is there anything you are not accomplished at?" Gregroi asked a little sarcastically.

"Absolutely," Josef replied. "Tons of stuff. I'll be more than happy to list all my faults, flaws, and shortcomings if we can get to Rayne before the gypsies take her away forever."

"She is safe in my home," Jacques insisted. "No one can get through the wards I have placed on it."

"What if someone invites a harmless old lady inside for a cup of tea and to see her granddaughter?" Josef replied coldly.

Jacque's eyes narrowed. "We should go. Now."

All five ancients shifted into mist and streaked away. Josef sighed. He'd never mastered shifting to mist, and now one of his many shortcomings was evident. He sensed that Lucien was willing to help him achieve the transformation, but Josef decided to do things his own way. He sped on foot through the forests towards Jacque's house. His spirit reached out ahead of his body and reached the house before the ancients.

He felt Rayne's terror as Gram Yagmur reached one bony hand towards her. Working through his connection with Rayne, Josef called the electricity out of the wall sockets. A flash of light arched through the air to intercept Gram's gnarled claw. With a hiss of pain, she recoiled. Josef snapped back into his body, only moments from the door.

Rayne looked aghast at Gram's shocked hand, but she knew it was Josef protecting her. She felt him inside her mind and somehow more powerful than before.

"Come, child. Ve are leaving," Gram growled, shaking her numb hand.

"No, Gram," Rayne denied. "I'm not going back. I've been grounded."

"Zat is impossible. You are my heir, my successor. No-zing can ground you. You are ze caravan, my dear, its very soul. Ve cannot go on wizout you," Gram reminded her.

"You'll have to find another heir," Rayne insisted. "I'm not leaving."

Gram turned to Shea. "I tot you said she vas troo viz dis Yosef boy," she grumbled. "But it appears he still holds power over her."

"I said she was doing better," Shea replied carefully. Raven stood behind her, dark and disapproving, Antoinette to one side, also suspicious. All three women sensed the power in the old crone, as well as something shady, and were hesitant to cross her unnecessarily.

"She is welcome to stay as long as she wants," Raven interjected tartly.

"She cannot stay," Gram insisted. "She haz responsibilitiez elze-vere."

"Responsibilities I never wanted!" Rayne cried. She could feel Josef getting closer and closer. Soon, his arms would wrap around her and she'd be safe. She just had to stay out of Gram's reach that long. "You just assumed I'd take them on."

"Ze caravan must have a strong psychic for its matriarch," Gram snapped. "You are ze only one ve have found zese many years."

"Find yourself another," Rayne retorted hotly. "If a bunch of cavemen-Carpathians can manage to find two or three women a year, you can find one measly little psychic to read your bones when you die."

"I was always curious what sort of bones she read," Byron commented smoothly as he entered the room. Jacques and Mikhail were at his side, Lucien and Gregori behind him.

Rayne looked frantically around for Josef but couldn't see him. Her heart sank to her toes.

I am here, you simply cannot see me, Josef assured her. The prince wishes to know more about the Caravan's needs and abilities before we make them an eternal enemy.

Gram scowled at the entorage of powerful men. Where she could intimidate the women, the men would not hesitate to confront her. "Ze bones are very peculiar about who zey chooze to read zem. You, my dear girl, have the blood of six continents and the ocean of the world in you. Ze bones also come from zese places. You match. Zere is no ozer like you in ze entire world—ve have looked."

"When you say six continents and an ocean, what do you mean exactly?" Gregori asked, his voice melodious and dark.

"She means I have all the races in my parentage," Rayne said sourly. "I'm a Heinz-57 variety of human, lycan, jaguar, merfolk, and Carpathian."

Stunned silence greeted this announcement. Every Carpathian in the room was trying to quickly trace her heritage.

"Are you one of Razvan's children?" Jacques wondered out loud, speaking for all of them.

"How should I know?" Rayne demanded. "Whoever fathered one of my grandmothers did it a long time ago and didn't leave a calling card."

"If you were of Razvan's line, you would have a dragon shaped birthmark over your left ovary," Shea replied softly.

"Then, nope, I'm not," Rayne replied, jerking up her shirt to reveal her hip, void of any mark.

"Then who else could have…" Raven wondered.

"Rand?" Shea suggested, excitement in her voice. "Could he have fathered yet another child?"

"No," Mikhail replied gently. "We searched out every woman your father ever slept with in hopes of finding some other child to bring into our fold, but we found nothing."

Shea's face fell.

"The first time I read the bones," Rayne volunteered hesitantly, "They told me that my biological great-grandfather was a dark bard."

"A Dark Troubadour, perhaps?" Gregori offered, his voice carefully neutral.

"Maybe. I don't care," Rayne insisted. "I'm not giving up Josef to spend my life fortunetelling."

"You know zat is not all ve do," Gram snarled at her heir.

"Oh, right, we foretell everything and nothing, and then we watch the world's fate unfold as if it was a Saturday-Night-Live skit," Rayne snapped back. "You know I hate watching them suffer. Yet you ask me to do it over and over."

"It is not your place to interfere!" Gram berated her.

"Then it isn't my place to know," Rayne retorted. "Knowledge without action is dead, and I refuse to live like that."

Gram Yagmur was getting obviously perturbed. She puffed herself up to her full five feet, her jewelry jangling irritably. "You also must protect ze Caravan. Vizout you, zey are vulnerable—"

"I don't give a selkie's arse!" Rayne screamed. "The Caravan did quite well without me before you discovered my stealth skills. And let's not forget that those skills are much coveted between you and the Pirates and the Desert Nomads and every other group of wanders who don't want the modern world finding out about them."

"Child," Gram snapped.

"I'm not a child to be ordered around! I'm 28 for pity's sake," she almost screamed.

Gram patted the air in front of her, trying to sooth Rayne and bring down the volume of the fight. "Ve shood not be talking about ze buizness of ze Caravan in front of zes strangers."

"They're not strangers," Rayne said defiantly. "Some of them are my family!"

"Ze Caravan is your family!" Gram shrieked.

"That is my Uncle Byron and Aunt Toni," Rayne declared, pointing. "There is my doctor. That is my prince—the only one besides my lifemate who can command anything of me."

"Vhere vere vey when you were born?" Gram demanded. "Ve took you in when your mother died—"

"—Giving birth to me in a rainstorm," Rayne finished. "You've told me that a hundred times. And hundred times I've repaid your kindness by helping you slip in and out of the guarded corners of the world, by protecting you from greedy eyes, by reading the bones and warning you about the danger. I've cloaked and glamoured my way through life taking on a hundred names and a hundred faces—from beggars in Paris to royalty in Thailand to scientists for the Morrison foundation to mythical sirens on the beaches of Greece—all for the sake of the Caravan! I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Why can't you just let me go in peace?"

"You are my heir," Gram cried. "I am near ze end und you must soon take your rightful place in ze Caravan." The woman lunged for Rayne. Suddenly Josef was in front of her, stoically baring the old woman's progress. With a shriek of rage, she slapped him for his impertinence, her long nails clawing 4 red streaks across his face.

Josef stood impassively, staring the woman in the eye. He let her contemplate what she had done to him in the presence of so many ancients. The room hummed with disapproval, and Josef took no small amount of pleasure in the fact that it wasn't aimed at him.

"Get out ov my vay!" Gram ordered, trying to regain her dignity.

"Rayne is mine," Josef declared for all to hear. "She came to me of her own free will. We are married."

Gram hissed in annoyance. She turned to the prince. "Are you going to allow him to take my heir from me? A fledgling barely out of his diapers?"

"There is no taking," Mikhail said simply. "And his age has nothing to do with this."

Gram's eyes narrowed as her gaze swung back to Josef and Rayne, who was peeping over his shoulder with triumph in her eyes. "Zen you owe me," she growled.

"You wish to trade for Rayne?" Josef asked softly, lifting one eyebrow sarcastically. "I was not aware gypsies still traded in human flesh."

"You take my heir, you owe me a new vone," Gram stated logically. "Your first born should do nizely—a strong psychic to guard our Caravan."

Suddenly darkness filled the room. Every Carpathian male seemed larger, more menacing. They surrounded Gram Yagmur with red flames burning in their eyes. For the first time, the old woman quailed in fear.

"You go too far, old hag. We do not give up our children," Mikhail decreed. "Not for anyone or anything. You have no say in Rayne's life. She is of age to make her own choice. Accept that and leave."

The woman hunched into herself, as if to make herself smaller, and fled out the door.

"My hero!" Rayne cried joyfully as she flung her arms around Josef. She kissed his cheek and his winced.

"You were impressive," Antonietta compliment him as she came out from behind Byron. "But your face—let me take care of that."

"Aunt Toni," Josef moaned as Antonietta gently took his face between her hands and licked the first welt left by Gram Yagmur's claws. Her saliva instantly soothed the burning and healed the skin.

"Are we Carpathian or aren't we?" she demanded and licked the second welt.

"I'd rather have it scar," Josef muttered rebelliously. Byron shook his head, smiling to himself. That was the Josef he remembered. Still, Byron couldn't help but be impressed with his nephew's discipline and restraint when Gram Yagmur attacked him. Byron doubted he could have been so calm if it was Antonietta the hag had wanted to whisk away.

I wish I could do that for you, Rayne whispered in his mind.

I wish you could too. This is just embarrassing, Josef confessed.

Then will you convert me? Rayne asked.

Josef sighed, his heart aching. Is it truly what you want?

Yes. Gram will come back unless my link with the Caravan is completely severed—unless I'm of no use to her, Rayne explained. The bones won't work for me if I'm pure Carpathian.

I will ask the prince's permission, Josef replied. He and some of the other ancients may need to help, as my blood may not be strong enough to convert you.

Then I guess we gotta do what we gotta do, she said.

"Josef, will you come with me?" Mikhail asked, inviting him to an adjoining room. Josef squeezed Rayne's hand one last time before following his prince. In the next room, Mikhail sealed the door and windows against prying ears. Josef's ears rang with the lack of outside sound. Mikhail turned to him and eyed him appraisingly. "Lucien has informed me about your circumstances. It appears that you have truly found your lifemate at a very young age. It would be cruel of me to insist on your separation until the proper age. And as my wife has pointed out, we have made a habit of accepting young females as lifemates, where our males are usually centuries older. However, I want you to understand the position this puts me in. There have been times when young Carpathian males have fixated on a human who was not their lifemate, and the consequences were disastrous."

Josef felt the memories projected from Mikhail's mind; fledgling Carpathians who didn't know what they were doing turned genuinely good and pure human women into vile vampiresses. Families were decimated, both human and Carpathian. Communities were overrun with fear and superstition.

"I can see why you were concerned," Josef said, humbly. "Truthfully, I knew that it would be difficult to convince you that I hadn't broken our laws by taking her blood, and so I restrained myself."

"You behaved admirably. Even when you fought us for your lifemate, it was a show of power, not a malicious attack. It was impressive for one so young," Mikhail said. "But now that we know that Raviv—or, as you call her, Rayne—is truly your lifemate, we do not want your union to set a bad precedent."

"I beg your pardon, but wouldn't it be encouraging to our young males to know that it is possible to find a lifemate so early?" Josef interrupted. "I know many of the youths feel like only the ancients have earned lifemates—some of them through trickery or black magic. They fear waiting through unknown centuries of darkness before they too have the knowledge and power to obtain a woman."

Mikhail considered this. "I can see your point. We have been losing young males to the darkness even though we are discovering more lifemates. I thought perhaps the hope from the elders' examples would make a difference, but it seems to have had the opposite effect."

"I've read some vampire propaganda on the internet," Josef admitted. "They claim that the human lifemates are your greatest deception, that you turn our own laws on their heads to try to preserve the race through false hope. One claimed that the Carpathian race is doomed, no matter how many women you turn, and the 'new' Carpathian race is one that lives wholly in darkness."

"Where do you find this knowledge?" Mikhail wondered.

"Same place I find everything else," Josef shrugged. "The internet. I can show you if you like." Mikhail nodded. Josef went over to the laptop that Mikhail had been using since Byron had put his fist through the computer monitor. Without him touching it, the laptop turned on and started flitting through encoded web pages.

Mikhail watched in awe as Josef stood unmoving, his mind deep in the bowels of the internet. "Remark—"

Josef held up one finger for silence, his eyes glazed as his spirit was concentrating on something distant. "Let me just cancel that and turn it around and…there!" He brought up an image on the computer. "Yesterday, a vampire going by the screen name RasputinTheFourth put a 10 million Euro bounty on your head, with specific instructions that killing any women near you would get a 4 million Euro bonus."

"WHAT?" Mikhail raged.

"I took care of it," Josef quickly assured him. "RasputinTheFourth is now the most wanted man on the internet, and I have mini-bounties for just tracking his whereabouts."

"You did this all in a few seconds?" Mikhail asked, unbelieving.

"Yes," Josef replied, blushing. "But really, it the networks I work with that do most of the leg work. Even though I spend most of my time online, the internet is a big place—and vampires have an uncanny way of hiding in the strangest spots, although most prefer porn sights."

"Porn sights?" Mikhail repeated, unbelieving.

"You have no idea how many subliminal messages are in porn," Josef replied, disgusted. "They prey on simple carnality and slowly twist the minds of innocent young men until they think all the citizens of the world are their playthings."

Mikhail shook his head. "I am relieved we have you on our side, hopefully for many centuries to come."

"About that," Josef hedged. "I was wondering if…you could help me—that is help Rayne—"

"She must be converted for her own safety," Mikhail nodded. "And she is willing?"

"Yes."

"Then we can begin this evening. I believe Lucien would like to provide the first exchange. It seems you have done something to impress him," he said.

Josef turned pink for the second time in a few minutes.

"Come, there is much to do this night," Mikhail gestured out of the room.


Josef woke deep in the earth with Rayne in his arms. He was still trembling from the force of her conversion. Over the course of three days, Lucien, Byron and Mikhail had all exchanged blood with Rayne. The pain that had overtaken Rayne's entire system had been far worse than anything Josef had been prepared for. Rayne persevered, holding on to him physically and mentally while the convulsions shook her body.

Now she lay in his arms, as still as death, her olive skin nearly translucent. Josef rose from the soil with Rayne held close to his heart. He gently placed her on the bed provided by his uncle. The small cabin sanctuary all belonged to Byron, and he had generously let the couple use it while they recovered from the conversion. Josef carefully cleared away every speck of dirt before waking her.

She moaned and it nearly broke his heart. Then she stretched and opened her eyes. She smiled. "So," she sighed. "This is what it feels like to be immortal."

Relief flooded Josef's heart and made his legs weak. He kissed her. He couldn't help himself. She was the most beautiful, wonderful woman in the entire world. They made love, for the first time exchanging blood in the process. She tasted wild and exotic and sweet, far better and more addictive than anything he could have imagined. She tasted him for the first time, taking sustenance as a true Carpathian lifemate. The beauty of this first true mating brought tears to both their eyes.

They were spent and glowing with endorphins when there was a polite knock on the door. Josef and Rayne looked at each other and exchanged a slightly guilty smile. Then they quickly dressed, using some of the garments Byron had stocked the cabin with. When they opened the door, Barak and Syndil stood, looking grave and serious.

"May we come in?" Barak asked, his voice harsh.

"Yes, please," Josef waved them into the cabin.

Barak caught sight of Rayne and looked down. Syndil's lips tightened into a thin line.

"What's the matter?" Rayne asked in her soft, sweet voice.

"Mikhail told me that—Well, since you were part Carpathian—I mean now that you're wholly Carpathian—It's just that—" Barak struggled to speak.

"The prince informed us that Barak might be your biological great grandfather," Syndil curtly informed them. Josef and Rayne exchanged a look. Syndil continued, "You see, he was something of a playboy in the centuries before he claimed me. It was confusing for all of us—he didn't even realize we were meant to be together until 60 years ago, and I didn't catch on until about 9 years ago."

Rayne looked at Barak critically. She could see the pain in his heart, that his unknowing betrayals of Syndil in the years before they were mated had somehow resulted in a child—the one thing he wanted with her but had not yet achieved. He also felt guilty at the idea of leaving a child of his loins to grow up without a father.

"You're not related to me," Rayne declared. "When I read the bones, I was looking for some lasting member of my biological family. The bones told me he was a dark bard that had been lost. They also said that my grandmother's conception had been an act of jealousy, that there had been no love in the union."

It was Barak and Syndil's turn to exchange a knowing glance. "Savon," Syndil whispered, her voice made harsh with remembered pain.

"Perhaps," agreed Rayne. "But quite honestly, it could have been any musically talented Carpathian who since turned vampire. That's the thing about the bones—they're very rarely truly specific. I mean, you'd think conceived without love, sired by a dark bard who fell to darkness would narrow it down a bit, but it's my great-grandmother we're talking about. I didn't even know my biological mom, much less anyone else who comes from a gene pool remotely similar to mine. From what I've seen of Carpathian men so far, they all have dark hair and fair-to-olive skin. I think the only people you can rule out as my genetic predecessors are the dark twins—because they were in the ground at the time, the dragonseekers—because I don't bear their mark, and the golden twins Aiden and Julian—because, well, they're blond and I'm totally not."

Barak looked increasingly relieved as Rayne spoke. Even Syndil seemed more at peace as Rayne explained the lack of certainty. It would have been difficult for both of them if Barak was somehow a forefather, and it would have haunted Syndil if her rapist of old had somehow left progeny in the world. Rayne's calm logic soothed their fears, even if it didn't totally extinguish them.

"Any way you slice it," Rayne concluded. "There's no way to know and I honestly don't care. I have a family and I'm quite happy with it. I'd love to be friends with you—I've always admired the Troubadour's music. Maybe we could have a jam session or something."

Josef smiled. "My wife is quite talented on the mandolin."

"That would be fun," Syndil agreed, looking cheerful and hugging Barak's arm close.

"We'll need to do it soon, because Josef and I are going back to North Korea," Rayne reminded her.

"Why do you like that forsaken corner of the world?" Barak asked. Syndil smacked his arm for his rudeness.

"The people there need us," Rayne said simply, grinning from ear to ear. "And it's nice to be needed—not demanded."

"Besides, we're going to be invited to a wedding as soon as we get back," Josef interjected.

"Really?" Rayne clapped her hands excitedly. "Is it Lieu? Is she marrying the guy I donated blood too?"

"That is the plan," Josef replied. "And I need to get back in time to give her a wedding dress for White Day."

"But White Day was yesterday!" Rayne cried in dismay.

"Lieu will forgive me," Josef said confidantly. "I'm her baby's godfather—which makes you a godmother now!"

"You certainly have your hands full," Syndil laughed. "Let's get out of your hair so you can get some work done." With a wink, she dragged Barak out of the small cabin leaving the young lovers alone.

"So, are you ready to go see the prince as a full carpathian?" Josef asked.

"Maybe," Rayne said, looking longingly at the door.

"What's wrong?" Josef asked. Even though they had exchanged blood and could slip in and out of each other's minds at will, know each other secret thoughts, he still liked to ask and receive her comments as a treasured gift.

"I kinda wish he was my great grandpa," Rayne sighed. "It would have been nice, I think. Just to have someone who felt a bit paternally responsible for me."

"What, is my dad not good enough for you?" he teased. "What about my mom? Or your new brother-in-law? You have a huge family, and I can't think of a single Carpathian who wouldn't want to be close friends with you."

"You're right," Rayne sighed happily. "I love our family."