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merging into his skins as tattoos. For one moment she found herself a little upset. The pack had never been divided. They were her family.

"The pack is not divided," Razvan said. "We are a family."

He was back to his usual calm. Matter-of-fact. Or maybe he always had been. Even saying an adamant no to her, he had not raised his voice or sounded upset, just implacable.

She nodded in agreement. "Yes, we are. It is a good thing for both of us to carry the wolves. They will guard our backs."

He flashed a small, tentative grin, removing the years from his face until he looked almost boyish. "It is amazing to be so accepted by them."

She felt that peculiar wrenching in the vicinity of her heart that he often produced in her. His simple pleasure touched her. "Where are we going?"

"I want to go to the place where you found the soil for our bedchamber."

"The cave of gems."

He nodded. "The soil is pure, so we know that Xavier has not had a chance to spread his poison everywhere. I would like to find how far the infection has spread, how large of an area there actually is. I cannot believe this would be the only place. Once we know how to look, we can send word to other Carpathians to check their soil."

"You believe we can cleanse it?"

"I absolutely believe you can," he said.

She tried not to feel a ridiculous glow, but there it was, a silly ember that spread through her body like heat. It truly was frightening how she reacted to him. Embarrassed, she held her arms out and allowed the remainder of the pack to merge with her skin before scanning above them to ensure there was no way anyone could observe them leaving their lair.

They went out into the night, streaking fast through the dark, clear sky. Stars glittered high overhead, spreading a fantasy blanket over them, wrapping them in beauty that never failed to move Razvan. Ivory felt it through him. The wonder. The majesty. The miracle.

She had never looked at her surroundings that way, but with Razvan, she saw everything through new eyes. He felt as if he was sailing across the moon, sliding down a comet, playing hide-and-seek through the constellations. He raced through the scattered bits of vapor rising off the ribbon of a river and she experienced all of it with him. She had flown as an owl thousands of times, but never once had it been so fun or exhilarating.

The owls glided on silent wings over the snow-covered ground as they crossed above a meadow, the female moving into the lead, dropping low to gain the protection of the forest for as long as possible. They flew fast, banking sharply around the trees and through the branches, so soundless the rodents still scurried below, unaware of the danger above them.

They broke from the forest just as the floor dropped away to a valley running between two long mountain ranges, far from the ice caves of Xavier and miles away from the Carpathian village. The owls changed color to make it more difficult to be seen. Razvan went snowy white, while Ivory was darker white with a few dusky spots on her wings, indicating a female.

Let the owl guide your thoughts, Ivory cautioned. Anyone scanning might find one of us within the owl's body if we are not careful.

She had been careful every day of her life since the moment she had clawed her way out of the earth a century after the brutal attack on her. He didn't respond, although he wanted to. He found the warrior in her sexy. Instead he brushed her with warmth and then simply let go of his self, merging deeply within the owl so, should an enemy be seeking them, their adversary would never suspect anything but owls winging their way across the valley.

The moment he allowed the owl completely to the forefront, he was astonished at the bird's ability to hear and see. The thick white plumage, soft and dense, extended to his toes, covering and insulating his body. Soft fringe on the flight feathers muffled the sound, allowing him to soar ghostlike across the sky.

Ivory dropped low, skimming close to the ground now, and Razvan followed, enjoying every second of the silent flight, watching the wind ruffle his mate's feathers as she glided along mere feet above the ground, making them smaller targets. She suddenly rose sharply, wings beating powerfully to bring her