Dark Curse Page 0,126

her escape.

Worthless, pathetic creature. You killed your mother. It is no wonder your father wants you dead. I should let him drink you dry.

Wide shoulders filled the doorway and silver eyes glittered and raked over her face. The scream echoed through her mind, built and built until it was a giant tsunami, bursting out of her, growing and expanding as energy exploded outward.

Nicolas threw Gregori aside and took the brunt of the assault, the powerful energy waves slamming him backward and down. Both he and Gregori shifted into mist as they moved. The force of the blow shook the chamber. Several sconces exploded, showering the cavern with wax and flame. Gregori materialized, his body blocking Savannah and Raven from falling debris.

Lara pulled herself into a standing position and staggered toward Nicolas, remorse adding to her feelings of humiliation and self loathing. He was there instantly, sweeping her up into his arms and glaring at the women. She buried her face against his chest, clinging, wanting to disappear. She felt fractured, fragile, raw and exposed.

"I trusted you with her." Fury burned through Nicolas, his strong body vibrating with power as rage took hold. He knew Lara's emotions were cutting into his self control, but it mattered little. She had come here already in a fragile state and instead of being bolstered by the women, they had torn her to shreds. He wanted to annihilate them. To maintain control, he stepped back toward the entrance.

Gregori spread his arms wide in a gesture of challenge and there was real anger breaking through the usual cold-stone demeanor. "Take your woman and go. Mage-born, daughter of Razvan, great-granddaughter of Xavier, what do we really know of her? It is bad enough that she endangered our prince with her lack of control, but she has placed every woman in this room in danger."

Nicolas dragged in his breath, the rage in the pit of his stomach coming to a boil. "You dare to imply that she is a spy in our camp?"

Power shimmered throughout the cavern and the walls undulated. The ground beneath them rolled.

"Stop!" Raven cried out.

"Gregori, you don't understand," Francesca intervened.

"What is going on?" Mikhail appeared, standing squarely between the two Carpathian males. "You are in a sacred place."

"She's done a great service, Gregori," Francesca said. "She found and brought to the surface the parasite threatening Raven with miscarriage. We thought the baby lost to us. She's exhausted and needs blood."

It was more than that. Merged as he was with Lara, Nicolas felt the press of Xavier's torment. He whirled around with Lara in his arms and took two steps, but Savannah cried out, pushing past everyone to block the entrance to the chamber.

"She can't leave. She can't." Tears swam in her eyes. "I'm sorry for what Gregori said, but shehas to get this thing out of me. It's trying to kill my children."

Gregori put a gentle hand on her shoulder, ignoring Nicolas who was still shaking with fury. "I can get rid of it, Savannah, now that I know what to look for."

Natalya shook her head. "It hides from men. Xavier was very clever. He knew every male scans his lifemate's body to ensure her health. Lara detected it because she lived for years with Xavier's taint all around her. She was able to go on a soul journey to find it dwelling within Raven. She used herself as bait to bring the entity to the surface, and allow Natalya to destroy it."

Lara slipped her arms tighter around Nicolas's neck and buried her face against his throat. Nicolas nuzzled the top of her head with his chin and then looked at Gregori, dark anger rolling like thunder in his eyes. "Too bad you have condemned my lifemate to banishment as a spy from the camp of the enemy."

He stepped around Savannah only to find his way blocked by Gregori's solid body. "You will not condemn my children to death because you are angry with me." His body crackled with electricity, tiny sparks snapping around him.

"Get the hell out of my way," Nicolas snapped, not in the least intimidated.

When Gregori didn't move, Nicolas placed Lara carefully on the ground well clear of a possible fight zone and stepped up, chest to chest, staring straight into Gregori's eyes, two dangerous predators not yielding an inch. "Do you really want to do this with me?" The anger faded from his eyes so they went flat and cold and a killer stood where a man had been.

"If I