perfect, is it, Gregori? If I feel the need to stand by my lifemate and help to bring him home safe, you bet it is about my rights."
Gregori leaned close, his silver eyes slashing at Jaxon. "Why would you think, for one moment, that your presence does anything but jeopardize your lifemate's ability to fight? He is our greatest warrior. No one compares to him in battle. He has fought a thousand years, has more experience than any other, yet you, a female, once human, with so few years you are considered a child in our species, you think that he is not divided when he now battles? That his risk is lessened by your presence? It is more than doubled. He has to have one eye on you at all times. He has to keep his mind merged with yours in order to ensure your safety. Even directing you, he is divided, not wholly focused on the kill."
"Gregori," Lucian warned, his gaze going flat and cold.
Jaxon held up her hand. "No, this is why were here, isn't it? To hear both sides of this argument. I want to hear why Gregori and so many others are opposed to the women fighting the vampire. If I don't understand why he is opposed, I will never have a chance to agree with him."
Then be very careful, little brother, how you address my lifemate.
I speak the truth to her and you know it. You have a thousand times the risk when she is along. She has to understand that.
Lucian's cool gaze swept over his brother.Perhaps, but it is my risk to take .
I disagree. We cannot lose you, nor can we afford the loss of your lifemate. You have too long lived in a solitary world, going your own way and making your decisions based not on saving a dying species, but on Vlad's directive to seek and destroy the vampire. We have a new prince and a new threat that must be addressed.
You are very close to getting your ass kicked, little brother.
You are more than welcome to try.
Jaxon glanced from her lifemate's cold gaze to Gregori's slashing one. "I know the two of you are arguing over this, but I really want to hear what Gregori has to say. Lucian, please."
She slipped a restraining hand up his arm in a loving gesture that made Nicolas turn his head away and long for Lara's touch. Again he tried to reach out to her but only heard the sounds of the long-forgotten Carpathian lullaby. He turned his attention back to the discussion raging around him, but this time, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something wasn't right.
Lucian slipped his arm around Jaxon's waist, but nodded his head toward Gregori.
Gregori folded his arms across his chest. "Look at your lifemate in this moment. There is no threat to you, yet he is protective, ready to come at me if I say a word out of place to you. It is our nature, ingrained in us from before our birth, to protect our lifemate. Words and circumstance cannot change that, nor would we want it to change. Do you think this is less so in battle? Before you, he had only strategy and his own life to think about, now he must divide his attention and watch out for you. Even with the knowledge he shares with you of battles, even with his vast experience for you to draw on, you cannot be nearly fast enough."
"Every warrior has to start somewhere," Destiny countered. "You have young men practicing. We can do the same."
"Why would you want to?" Nicolas demanded. "Why would you want to face such a monster and risk your life when it is so precious to so many?"
"I cannot stop," Destiny answered truthfully. "Perhaps if Nicolae no longer hunted, I would be able to lay it down, but in truth, I am not certain I can."
Jaxon shrugged. "I've spent my entire life hunting monsters. I don't know what else I'd do."
"If you had a child?" Mikhail's voice as always was low, but swept through the room.
The crystals hummed low, the sound more melodic and soothing as if trying to bring the two women peace.
Andre and another tall Carpathian once again made their way through the ranks of warriors. Nicolas recognized the lone warrior, Tariq Asenguard, beside Andre. Vlad had sent him out centuries before. Even then he had stayed to himself, losing his ability to see color and feel emotion quite