Branislava nodded. She held her hands out in front of her as if she could protect herself from the truth. “I believe that’s what happened. It makes sense. Xavier wanted Dark Blood more than anything else, but he never found what he was looking for. Tatijana and I thought it was a type of blood that could harm others, not a lineage.”
“Could Xaviero have had anything to do with the first Sange rau?” Zev asked. “The one responsible for killing so many?”
“I doubt it,” Mikhail said. “But certainly Xaviero would have thought he’d stumbled across a gold mine. The very thing he needed to bring down Carpathians and Lycans alike. His problem was the sacred code was written by the council, and Lycans avoided Carpathians. He didn’t have an opportunity to access Carpathian blood.”
“Until my grandmother grew up and someone reported to him something they found suspicious about her,” Zev ventured.
Branislava nodded. “They were so good at gathering information. They used animals, humans, every species available, and they got results. If she made a mistake, believe me when I say Xaviero would have been informed.”
“She was raised Lycan,” Gregori pointed out. “She probably didn’t even know she was Carpathian. When others shifted, she did as well, not realizing she wasn’t shifting the same way. She was a Dark Blood and she would have hunted and fought alongside her husband. She probably was given Lycan blood when she was wounded, and eventually she became a mixed blood.”
“So he watched her.” Mikhail pieced more of the puzzle together. “Xaviero watched her closely and he realized what she had to be. He wanted her blood and he couldn’t chance that she was faster, stronger, and more intelligent and would defeat him. He whipped up a mob against her, probably to have her brought before the council, but they murdered her. He must have taken her blood to his lab and kept it to experiment with.”
“Her husband took their child and ran,” Zev said. “He would have gone far away and joined a different pack, probably in another country. He would have changed his name. That’s what I would have done to protect my daughter.”
“Did you meet your grandfather? Know him at all?” Mikhail asked.
Zev nodded. “He was very quiet and he spent most of his time hunting. I was pretty young. My mother died in childbirth, and my father said her father rarely came around after that. I saw him a couple of times and then one day he never came back.”
“When you say ‘hunting,’” Fen asked, “who or what was he hunting?”
Zev shrugged. “My father said he hunted down the men who killed his wife, one by one, at least that’s what he thought my grandfather was doing.” I would understand if he did, he added to Branislava.
Because it’s something you would have done.
Branislava made certain she used the past tense. Zev was mixed blood, both Lycan and Carpathian. He might still think like a Lycan, but if his lifemate was to be killed, he would be a danger to everyone if he was caught in the deadly Carpathian madness—the thrall that took hold of males if they didn’t immediately follow their lifemates.
His eyes met hers and her heart leapt. There was love there. Possession. Belonging. No matter what happened, she had this time, this unexpected passionate love that transcended her.
Once I knew my child was gone, I would have moved heaven and earth to find her mother’s killers. Now, I go where you go. Always.
Branislava swallowed hard to clear the choking lump in her throat that had arisen from nowhere. I think I’m quite mad about you, Wolfie.
You’re quite mad. And don’t even whisper that name in these caves. We’re surrounded by ancient warriors and Wolfie just isn’t manly enough.
In spite of the fact that her worst fears had come true, Zev could make her laugh. Feeling her sister’s gaze on her, she looked up, and Tatijana smiled at her. They were so close. This is what Tatijana had with Fen—this wonderful feeling of belonging, of being loved. She returned her sister’s smile and found Skyler with her gaze.
Young Skyler, whose soul seemed older than all of them, wielded power so easily without even recognizing how extraordinary she was. Dimitri sat close to her, partially shielding her body from the others. It was clear she, too, was wrapped in love. They were lucky, the Dragonseeker women. All three had been very lucky.
“Would the bond between Zev’s grandmother and Zev’s grandfather be that strong? So strong that long after she was dead, he needed to find her killers?” Branislava asked. “She was Carpathian, and then mixed blood, but he was . . .” She trailed off. “Wouldn’t he have been mixed blood as well? And the blood he had in his system would be Dark Blood.”
“He couldn’t have claimed her as a lifemate,” Gregori said. “Not without the ancients bringing him fully into our world, but certainly their love could create a strong enough bond.”
“Lycans love passionately, with everything in them, when they find their true mate,” Zev said. He leaned forward, his gaze on the prince. “Would this mage keep a mixed blood alive in order to have a fresh blood supply? Because all along I’ve wondered how he would preserve my grandmother’s blood. We have ways now, but centuries ago?”
Fen nodded. “Zev’s got a point.”
“Xaviero was used to living in an ice world. He could preserve the blood there,” Tatijana pointed out.
“But he wouldn’t share,” Branislava said. “You know he wouldn’t, Tatijana. They tried to outdo one another. That’s why it was so easy to believe Xaviero and Xayvion were dead. That, and we wanted to believe it. If Xaviero had acquired the Dark Blood the three of them sought, he would have hidden it from the others and felt smug and superior.”
Tatijana nodded her head. “Just talking about them makes me feel sick inside.” She turned her face against Fen’s shoulder. He immediately responded, rubbing his hands down her back and then up to the nape of her neck, fingers easing the tension from her stiff body.
“We must assume that both brothers still live and we face a very powerful enemy,” Mikhail said. “This man Damon is a problem.” His dark, penetrating gaze swung to Zev. “I presume he is a good man or you wouldn’t have spared his life.”
Zev nodded. “We’ve been friends a long time. Daciana and Damon are family to me.”
Mikhail glanced at Gregori. “How do we help Damon without tipping off Xaviero that we know he’s behind this mess? If you remove the shadow—” He broke off. “Is it even possible? You were upset at the thought that Branislava might have tried.”