Dark Curse Page 0,37

us."

The flutter of wings heralded two more Carpathians. Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and his lifemate, Natalya, shifted together. Nicolas clasped Vikirnoff's arms, a little taken aback that Natalya had answered the summons to the warrior's counsel. It had not occurred to him that Vikirnoff, an ancient warrior of tremendous prowess, would allow his woman to place herself in harm's way.

He glanced at her. The woman had bright red hair and eyes that changed from brilliant green to blue. She had the mark of the Dragonseeker stamped all over her, the classic looks, the brightness illuminating her skin, the bands of color in her hair. She was known to be a fighter-and also the sister of Razvan, Lara's father. He stepped away from Vikirnoff, afraid he would be unable to maintain silence on the subject of women fighting when Natalya would be such a prize to Xavier should she be captured.

Nicolas shook his head and then caught Gregori watching him with his piercing silver gaze. He knew exactly what Nicolas was thinking.

"And I agree," Gregori said, as he walked past Nicolas to position himself beside Mikhail.

"Agree with what?" Mikhail asked, turning away from where he'd been talking with Darius. "And with whom? It is not all that often you agree with anything."

"I think one of the topics we need to place under discussion is the welfare of our women and children- allof them-including the women who believe they have the need to fight vampires."

Mikhail bared white teeth. "O jela peje terad. Sun scorch you, Gregori, you are not getting me in trouble with my lifemate and daughter. I am not doing your dirty work for you..." He included Nicolas in his glare. "Either of you."

Gregori shrugged. "Swear all you want, it is an issue you have to face."

"Me? Oh no, you don't. I refuse to take all the heat on this. If we are getting into it, all of you are voicing your opinions loud and clear. The women would rise up like my worst nightmare."

"I am serious," Gregori insisted. "If we are going to bring in the full counsel, then we should address all issues."

Mikhail nodded his head. "I know it must be discussed, Gregori, but you and I both know the old ways are long gone. Even then we had a few women warriors."

"Not lifemates," Nicolas interjected. "Never women who could bear us children, or that when lost would take their mate with them."

Mikhail shrugged. "In the old days very few lifemates were warriors. Times are different. Our species is on the brink of extinction."

"All the more reason to protect the few women we have," Nicolas said. "Sometimes old ways are good, Mikhail. Our women did not take up arms just to show they could."

"These women did not start out as Carpathians. Our specieslooks human and when we bind a human woman to us, although she is converted by blood, she thinks like a human. Through the centuries human women have had to fight for their rights..."

"That is a weak argument," Gregori broke in. "What do we do here in this chamber? We swear our loyalty to our people. We swear to serve them, whatever the sacrifice calls for. Our lifemates have never done that. They do not understand that in order to save our species from extinction, they must sacrifice, too. We have a handful of couples, less than thirty, Mikhail. Our children do not mature for a good fifty years. Do you really believe that we can afford to lose one woman? One pair?"

"No, but I also know that we are in a war with enemies surrounding us from all sides. We cannot afford to be divided either."

"We are not divided," Gregori said. "No man wants his woman fighting."

Mikhail shook his head, a slow smile touching his mouth. "So you think we should tell our women to be quiet and let us make decisions for them? It is not the men who will be divided, it is our women. From us. Free will. Have you forgotten that small little detail? We take that away when we bind them to us, do we continue to do so after they are our lifemates? I suppose we can reduce them to little more than puppets who do our bidding at our will. But I know both Raven and Savannah would walk into the sun before submitting to such enslavement."

"O jela peje terad. Sun scorch you, Mikhail," Gregori growled. "You have become modern and liberal in your old age."

Nicolas turned away from