Dark Lycan (36 page)

“Anya.” Gregori used his sternest voice. “I told you to stop trying to jump from the top of the slide to the playhouse.”

Fen pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. The slide was no more than two feet off the ground and the playhouse roof wasn’t much taller. Little Anya didn’t seem intimidated by her father at all, not even when he was holding her high off of the ground, his silver eyes glaring directly into hers. Her dark, curly hair bounced around her head like a halo, framing her little pixie face. Her eyes, as light as her father’s, grew stormy. She lifted her chin defiantly.

“I’m not a baby like Sandu. I can do it.”

Mikhail lowered his voice. “The girls call Alexandru, Sandu.” He said it just loud enough that Gregori could hear and know they were watching. Amusement was uppermost in the prince’s tone. “The twins are only a couple of weeks older than he is, but they like to think they’re years ahead. He’s bigger than both of them.”

“Isä,”
the second little girl said. “If we can’t jump, can we float? You know we’re really good at floating.”

Gregori cast a glare over his shoulder at Mikhail, turned back to his daughter and sighed. He reached down and picked her up. “Anastashia, I thought we talked about this. You need adult supervision when you’re trying things, even floating. It’s dangerous.”

“How can they talk already?” Tatijana asked. “Isn’t that advanced even for our children?”

“They were born very gifted,” Raven admitted. “They speak ancient Carpathian as well as several other languages. Well . . . I should clarify. They understand the languages and know many words and use sentences. As far as what they can do at such a young age, they’re giving us gray hair.”

Mikhail tugged on Raven’s hair. “I don’t see any gray.”

She laughed softly. “Lucky for me I’m Carpathian and I don’t turn gray, although with those two little girls I just might anyway.” She gestured toward the twins. “They were born early and were in separate incubators. Barely alive, they floated from one to the other, determined to stay together. In the end, there was nothing we could do so we let them stay together. Gregori’s had his hands full ever since.”

“That Anya, she’s a little daredevil,” Tatijana said.

Fen could tell she was proud of the little girl. He imagined Tatijana would have been like Anya, wanting to try everything.

Raven nodded. “If she was a boy, Gregori wouldn’t have any problem allowing her to try to jump from the slide to the playhouse roof, but he has this thing about his girls.”

“How’s that working out for him?” Mikhail asked, nuzzling the top of Raven’s head.

“You aren’t going to find it so funny when our son starts defying you to do dangerous things,” Raven pointed out, but she laughed softly when she said it and rubbed her head along his chest affectionately. “Little Miss Anya is far too adventurous. I think she’d try shapeshifting if anyone gave her half a chance.”

“She probably already has,” Mikhail pointed out.

“Bite your tongue,” Raven said.

Fen found himself genuinely laughing at Gregori’s predicament. He was tall, broad-shouldered and much respected in the Carpathian world. When he spoke everyone listened. Next to Mikhail, Gregori’s word was law, yet his twin girls, barely two, defied him. With them, he was patient and gentle, although firm, not that it seemed to do him any good with little Anya. She was obviously adventurous.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Tatijana asked.

“Terrifying, though,” Fen said. “If we have children,
sívamet
, let’s try for boys. If the girls turn out like you, I’ll definitely have a heart attack before they’re grown.”

Tatijana laughed, turning to Raven. “Men. They’re such babies when it comes to children. What’s your Alexandru like? You’ve given him a fine name. It means defender of all mankind, doesn’t it?”

Raven nodded. “It’s a lot for a little boy to live up to.”

Fen was curious about the prince’s son as well. His gaze continually went to the four little ones, Gregori and Savannah’s twin daughters who were planting kisses all over their father’s face, the curly-headed boy slightly older and the little boy with big eyes the color of his mother’s and midnight black hair just like his father’s. Fen noticed that even though both girls were in Gregori’s arms, the twins kept an eye on the prince’s son, as did the curly-headed boy. “The twins are very interested in Alexandru,” he observed aloud.

Raven nodded. “They’ve already established a bond. Gregori’s a little worried about it. It isn’t a normal child’s bond, but the Daratrazanoff/Dubrinsky bond. As far as we know, no woman has ever been second to the prince. Anastashia has already shown very early signs of being a natural healer like Gregori. If anyone gets so much as a bump she rushes over and takes care of it. Even the older children go to her. Anya is Gregori all over again. She’s exactly like him right down to her fierce protectiveness of Alexandru. Anastashia actually is equally protective but in a far gentler way.

“Alexandru is already thoughtful, like Mikhail. He seems to think problems through before he makes a move,” Raven said. “He’s serious most of the time.”

“And who is the little boy who looks so much like him?” Fen asked.

“That’s Jacques and Shea’s son, Stefan. He’s only about nine months older but he definitely thinks he has to watch out for the others. He’s a little jokester, although he takes his job of protecting the twins and Alexandru seriously,” Mikhail said. “He’s like Jacques was when he was young. I suspect he’ll be playing pranks on all of us in a couple of years. No one will be safe.”

Raven laughed. “He’ll definitely enlist the aid of the twins and they’ll be happy to help.”

A small, curvy woman who looked a lot like Raven approached them. Mikhail held out his hand to her and pulled her to his side. “This is my daughter, Savannah. I don’t know if you had the chance to meet Tatijana yet, but she is Dragonseeker, Razvan and Natalya’s aunt.”

“It’s such an honor to finally meet you,” Savannah said instantly, taking Tatijana’s outstretched hand. “Gregori and my father think so highly of you.”

“She saved several of our warriors nasty wounds with her quick thinking,” Mikhail said.

“I think everyone was helping out,” Tatijana said.

“And this is Fenris Dalka, Dimitri’s older brother,” Mikhail continued with the introductions. “No doubt Gregori has spoken of him as well.” His tone turned droll.

Fen couldn’t help but laugh. “No doubt.”

Savannah joined in Fen’s laughter. “Actually he has spoken of you at great length,” she admitted, “but it was all good. My father replayed the entire battle for him and Gregori was very impressed with your skills. I’m so glad you’re here. Sara and Falcon’s children”—she indicated the small group of older children gathered together to listen to the storyteller—“are all human with psychic abilities. They were living in sewers when Sara found them. They’d already banded together and formed a family, working together for survival before she found them and brought them here.”

“Who takes care of them during the daylight hours?” Fen asked. “How would something like that work?”

“Gabriel and Francesca also adopted a human child,” Mikhail pointed out. “Young Skyler, and they’ve done quite well.”

“Aidan and Alexandria are raising Alexandria’s younger brother, Josh,” Savannah added.

“Colby and Rafael De La Cruz have Paul and Ginny,” Raven said. “It can be done with a little help and being creative about the hours you spend with them. Sara and Falcon rise as early as possible and the children sleep in and start their day later so they can stay up later.”

“Who watches them?” Fen persisted. More than once he’d run across a child he would have liked to help, but it was necessary to go to ground. Who would ensure their protection when he was immersed in the soil as if dead?

Tatijana brushed his mind with love.
You are so compassionate, Fen. Few men think of taking in a child when they live a lifestyle like yours.

Sadly, vampires, rogue packs and the
Sange rau
leave behind a number of orphans.
He looked down at her.
If we can’t have our own children, would you consider a family such as Sara’s?

Even if we have biological children, I would love to incorporate other children who need us into our family,
she assured.

Even if they are human or Lycan?

I would expect that they would be human or Lycan as Carpathians have so few children.

Tatijana’s voice was so loving it took discipline not to lean down and kiss her. Instead, he brushed a kiss over her mouth in his mind.

“Sara and Falcon have a few people who help them out during the daylight hours when they can’t be there. There’s Maria, who is their full-time nanny. Slavica and her daughter both help as well. Slavica and her husband, Mirko, own the local inn and she’s very busy as a rule, but when there’s need, she comes. If there’s trouble during the afternoons, we have Jubal and Gary and Slavica’s husband to guard them,” Savannah explained.

“The oldest boy, Travis, is eleven now. He’s the oldest of the seven,” Mikhail said. “He’s Falcon’s shadow and he’s already learning how to fight. Falcon and the other adults work with all the children. They have to know our enemies, just as all of us were taught. Travis looks out for the others. The little girl he has his arm around is Emma. She’s the youngest girl.”

Fen could see the boy was older beyond his years. Even while he seemed to be taking in every detail of the story, he was watching his siblings. When two of the boys began punching each other and then knocked into one of the girls, he pinned them with a very adult look and both stopped their antics immediately. One whispered an apology to the girl seated beside him.

He indicated the byplay with his chin. “He definitely has their attention.”

“That’s Peter and Lucas. They’re both ten and a handful. Jase, the youngest boy, is sitting very close to him and keeps scooting closer,” Raven told them with a little laugh.

As the story progressed, Fen could see the littlest boy with a mop of blond hair inch closer and closer to Travis. “Chrissy is the one Lucas bumped into and Blythe is sitting beside her. They’re all human, but the psychic talents they possess are extraordinary.”

“Where in the world did Sara find them?” Tatijana asked.

“She read an article in a magazine about children living in the sewers because they had nowhere else to go. These children are all throwaways. They had to scavenge for food. There were much older children who also lived in family units or gangs, whatever you prefer to call it, and they robbed this group often. It was Travis who protected them and stole most of the food for them,” Savannah explained. “They’re extremely loyal to him.”

“Travis is still a little shy around me,” Mikhail admitted. “A couple of years ago, he was used by a vampire to spy on us.”

“Worse,” Raven said, “he was possessed. The vampire used him to try to kill Mikhail. He blamed himself when there was nothing he could have done.”

“That’s why he works so hard to learn everything he can about the vampire and how to fight him,” Mikhail continued. “It’s hard to convince him it wasn’t his fault.”

“How sad,” Tatijana said. “He’s just a little boy. He shouldn’t have to contend with monsters at his age.”

“Unfortunately,” Mikhail said, “None of us have a choice. This is our world. It would do no good for Travis and the rest of the children to be kept in the dark about the existence of vampires. They come under attack every time we do. When they’re older, we’ll give them a choice to convert, but for now, it’s better to train them how to fight.”

“I agree,” Tatijana admitted, “but it’s still sad.”

Savannah smiled up at her. “Don’t be sad tonight. Those children are happy and are very loved. We help raise them as a community and they know they can come to any of us if they’re in trouble or upset about anything.”

“They’re beautiful,” Tatijana said. “How’s Sara’s pregnancy coming along this time?”

“So far, she’s hanging in there. We’re hoping she makes it to full term, although Gregori says it’s doubtful. Nevertheless, he says the baby is strong and has a good chance of survival. She’s taking it one rising at a time,” Raven added.

“Are the children excited about the baby?” Fen asked.

Mikhail nodded. “We’re a society that believes every single child born is a gift and they believe that as well. So far even Jase hasn’t shown any anxiety, just excitement.”

Fen noticed how all the Carpathians, men and women alike stopped by the storytelling circle, dropping a hand on a child’s shoulder or affectionately ruffling their hair. The gestures brought back long forgotten memories of his own childhood and the fire circles with the elders telling the stories and the warriors and lifemates assuring the young children by those silent gestures that they were safe and surrounded by those who loved them.

Time might have marched on. Centuries had gone by and tremendous strides had been made in technology. Huge changes had taken place in the world. Still, he found it comforting that his people held certain things close to their hearts. The trappings around them may have changed, but the love for their children remained.

Raven and Mikhail were called away by another couple and Savannah laughingly rushed to go to the aid of her lifemate as the twins, the prince’s son and nephew all tried to topple him so they could use him as a jungle gym.

“Tatijana.” Natalya rushed up to them. “I’m sorry I’m so late. We were trying to locate Razvan and Ivory. I know they’d want to see you.” She looked around her, disappointment showing for a moment in her eyes. “Branislava didn’t come with you?”

“She may come a little later,” Tatijana said. “I’d love to see your brother and his lifemate,” she added to take the attention away from her sister. “I’ve missed Razvan, and there’s so much we have to talk about.”

Natalya glanced around at the crowd laughing and talking together. Many conversations were taking place in small groups. “Would it bother you if I asked you a couple of questions about Xavier and Razvan? It would mean a lot to me.”