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had. I have tried to be responsible about it. They stay with me at all times, hunt with me and are given only my blood. They do not have litters, although Raja indicated that should I have a baby, they would be able to provide a pack for my child." Again she found herself blushing, her gaze dropping from his. "As I did not think that would ever be possible, I did not give the idea much heed."

"So all six have been with you . . ."

"Centuries. They live here in the lair, hunt with me and fight with me."

Razvan nodded. "And I have come along and disrupted the peace of the pack."

"It is always difficult integrating a new member, but not impossible. Raja must accept you." Again she looked at him, her gaze steady. "You are my lifemate, whether we claim each other or not."

He didn't point out to her that the male of their species alone had the ritual binding words imprinted upon him before birth. He had been born Carpathian and human, but the words were there, should he choose to bind them together, with or without her consent. He believed the binding was given to the male because his half of the soul was darkness without his lifemate. Once his aunts managed to turn him fully, he had known he must find his lifemate to alleviate the darkness spreading with the passing years. The driving instincts of the Carpathian male were in him, urging him to stake his claim, where the man who was driven to protect those he cared about refused to take a chance with her life.

"Tell me what you think will aid Raja in accepting me." Should the alpha welcome him, then the others would as well.

"I have shared my blood with you repeatedly and called you my mate. We will feed the pack together. You offer your blood to Raja first. If he does not take it, no one will be fed this day."

"Perhaps I could reason with him rather than punish." He had been tortured and deprived of food until he was starving. He could not do that to another living thing.

Ivory padded barefoot into the midst of the pack, scratching ears and rubbing fur, her fingers massaging necks with affectionate familiarity. "The pack leader respects strength."

"Fighting or punishing is not always strength," Razvan said. "Xavier was the cruelest man I have known. Warriors came and went from every species. He defeated them all. Every one of them, yet I will never respect him, nor will I be like him."

There was quiet determination in his voice. Ivory sighed. Razvan hadn't survived imprisonment and torture by being faint of heart. He was stubborn, unswerving and relentless. She had been in his Dragonseeker mind and knew just how unwavering he could be.

"Raja knows I respect you." She pinned the pack alpha with a steely gaze. "I am certain he will accept you." Because if the wolf didn't, she might have a few private words with him.

Raja snorted and then gave her a wolfish grin, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as if he might be laughing. Razvan smiled. With a casual tear of his teeth, he sliced open his wrist and offered it to the big male wolf without hesitation.

Ivory tensed. Raja leaned his head toward the welling blood and sniffed before giving a tentative lick. His mouth clamped on the wrist unexpectedly, teeth sinking deep.

She murmured the binding words softly in the ancient language.

No me elidaban, no me kalmaban-As we are in life we are in death.

Elid elided-Life to life.

Siel sieled-Soul to soul.

Me juttaak, me kureak-Life to life.

Me juttaak, me kureak-We are bound together as one.

Triumph swept through Razvan. He was part of something. He belonged. Ivory's acceptance of him was far more reluctant than the alpha wolf's. The wolf respected her mate. Had fought in battle with him, saw no hesitation and that he was quick to shield and protect Ivory. Ivory might accept Razvan as a warrior-at least one to train-but as her mate, that was something altogether different.

Razvan hid a smile as Ivory turned away from them, frowning a little as she fed the females. She kept her back to Razvan, shutting him out as she talked to the wolves, allowing him to reach for the mind of the wolves himself. He found Raja to be very intelligent, a strong strategist and capable leader. His second in command, Blaez, was a very serious wolf. He liked Blaez's personality