Jacques nodded slowly. "Much better. Thank you."

"You need to feed. Your woman is still pale and worn. She should be resting. If you like, I could heal her bruises." Gregori made the offer in his casual, indifferent way. His voice was so compelling, so beautiful, it was nearly impossible to deny him anything. There was a purity in his voice, a whisper of black velvet. He never raised his tone or appeared anything but calm and unruffled.

Shea's heart gave a leap, then settled into a hard, rhythmic pounding. She found herself listening intently, wanting him to go on speaking, wanting to do whatever he asked. Mentally, she shook her head. Gregori's abilities intrigued her, but he was far too powerful. He had not used any kind of mental enhancement, no compulsion, no hypnotic suggestions. His voice was a weapon in itself.

She sensed he was the most dangerous Carpathian in the room. She had not been in such close proximity with so many people in a very long time. She needed to be alone with Jacques, to give herself time to adjust.

"We thank you for the offer, healer, but Shea is unused to our ways." Jacques couldn't remember most of them himself. He was as uneasy in the presence of the Carpathians as Shea. His black eyes glittered like ice, caught and trapped the reflection of a lightning whip as it sizzled across the dark sky. "The other male is not with you.""Byron," Mikhail supplied. "He has been a good friend to you for centuries. He is aware that you completed the ritual and this woman is your true lifemate. Search your mind, Jacques. Remember how difficult this time is on our unattached males."

Shea's face went crimson under the unearthly paleness. The reference to the ritual had to mean they were aware Jacques had made love to her. The lack of privacy disturbed her immensely. She went to move around Jacques, strongly objecting to the this woman label. She did have a name.

She was a person. She had a feeling they all thought her the hysterical type. She certainly hadn't managed to show them her normal calm self.

Jacques stepped backward and his arm swept behind him to pin her against the wall. He never took his eyes from the trio before them. He knew he was unstable, still fighting to hold on to reason when his every instinct was to attack. He trusted none of them and would not allow Shea to be put in any danger.

Shea retaliated with a hard pinch. She was not going to cower behind her wild man like some seventeenth-century heroine fainting with the vapors. So she was surrounded by a few vampires.

Big deal.

Carpathians. Jacques sounded amused.

If you laugh at me, Jacques, I might find another wooden stake and come after you myself, she warned him silently. "Well, for heaven's sake." Shea sounded exasperated as she addressed the group. "We're all civilized, aren't we?" She shoved at Jacques' broad back. "Aren't we?"

"Absolutely." Raven stepped forward, ignoring Mikhail's restraining hand. "At least the women are.

The men around here haven't quite graduated from the swinging-through-trees stage yet."

"I owe you an apology for last night, Miss O'Halloran," Mikhail said with far too much Old World charm. "When I saw you crouched over my brother, I thought..."

Raven snorted. "He didn't think, he reacted. He really is a great man, but overprotective with the people he loves." There was a wealth of love in her teasing tone. "Honestly, Jacques, you can't keep her prisoner, locked up like some nun in a convent."

Shea was mortified. Jacques, move! You're embarrassing me.

With great reluctance Jacques stepped aside. Shea could feel the instant tension in the room, the red haze building in Jacques' mind. To reassure him, she took his hand, kept her mind firmly linked to his. The moment she was exposed to the others, she could feel their eyes examining every inch of her.

Raven glanced at Gregori, clearly worried.

Self-consciously, Shea shoved at her hair. She hadn't even looked at herself in the mirror. Jacques tightened his hold on her hand. Do not! You are beautiful as you are. They have no right to judge you in any way.

"Jacques," Gregori said softly, "your woman needs to feed, to heal. You must allow me to help her."

Shea's chin went up, eyes flashing green fire. "I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions.

He doesn't allow me to do or not do anything. Thanks for the offer, but I'll heal with time."

"You'll get used to them," Raven said hastily. "They're really big on women's health. It would help you, Shea-may I call you Shea?" Raven smiled when Shea nodded. "We'd be happy to answer any of your questions. It would be nice to get to know you. After all, we are in-laws of sorts," she pointed out.

The rush of fear-based adrenaline in Shea's body at that simple observation of her commitment to Jacques triggered an aggressive reaction in Jacques. Lightning slashed across the sky, sizzled and danced, hit the ground in thunderous fury. The wind hurtled through the cabin, lashed at the windows and walls. A low, ominous growl rumbled in Jacques' throat. Shea felt the beast in him rising, felt him welcome it, reach for it with murderous intent. She whirled to face him, slammed her palms flat on his chest, and shoved him as hard as she could, walking him backward toward a far comer.

You will not do this, Jacques. I need you sane right now. I'm doing my best to hold it together, but if there's a fight, I'll go crazy, I swear it. Please help me now. Please. There were tears in her mind, a vulnerability Jacques had never seen in her.

Jacques' arms swept around her, cradling her close as he struggled to regain control. Her distress seemed to give him added strength. He lifted his head, black eyes moving warily over the two males. Mikhail and Gregori looked perfectly at ease, yet Jacques sensed their alertness. He forced himself to smile, then shrug casually. "I am afraid my mind has not healed as my body has. You will have to have patience with me. Please enter our home as our guests." The formal words came out of nowhere.

Mikhail swung the door closed. "Thank you, Jacques. We want only to help you and your lifemate."

He deliberately seated himself, placing himself in a vulnerable position. Raven perched comfortably on the arm of his chair. Gregori moved across the room with a deceptively lazy stride. He walked with fluid grace, an animal sensuality, but Jacques was well aware that the healer was subtly placing his body between the couple and Jacques.

Gregori. The ancient one. The dark one. The words shimmered in his mind. Gregori was a very dangerous man. "I remember little of my past," he admitted softly. "Perhaps it would be better for all of us if Shea and I kept to ourselves. I am well aware I am unstable, and I would not want anyone to get hurt."

Shea turned in his arms to face the Carpathians. "We appreciate your help. It's just that this is all so new to both of us."

Gregori's silver eyes studied her pale face, seeming to look right through her into her soul. "You are a doctor?"

Shea shivered. The healer's voice was incredibly compelling. The man had far too much power.

"Yes, I'm a surgeon."

A smile curved the healer's sensual mouth. He was charismatic, but Shea was well aware that his silver eyes had not warmed in the least. They were cool and watchful. "You are very good.

Carpathians do not respond well to human healing. Jacques was healing despite the odds against it. We are all indebted to you."

"You were able to do in an hour what several days of my care could not accomplish." In spite of herself there was a note of admiration in her voice.

"How is it you found Jacques when we could not?" Again Gregori's voice was casual, but she sensed the question was a trap.

Her chin lifted, her green eyes defiant. "Seven years ago, while studying, I was overcome with pain.

Pain there was no medical explanation for. The agony lasted for hours. From that night on, I had dreams of a man tortured, in pain, calling to me."

"Where were you?" Gregori questioned.

"In the United States." Shea swept her fingers through her hair, found her hand was trembling, and put it behind her back. Those glittering pale eyes were disconcerting. They seemed to see right into her soul, see every mistake she had ever made. "I know it sounds bizarre, but it's true. I had no idea there really was a man, that he was suffering." Guilt washed over her. "I should have found him sooner, but I didn't believe..." She trailed off, tears welling up.

Do not do this, my love, Jacques commanded, his arms tightening protectively. They have no right to judge you. None of them came for me. You did, across an ocean. And I did not treat you gently. He touched the warmth of his mouth to her bruised throat. "Yet you returned to me in spite of the way I attacked you." He said the last aloud deliberately, a warning to the Carpathians to back off from questioning her.

"You must have been terrified," Raven said softly.

Shea nodded and sent Jacques a small smile. "He was definitely something I had never encountered in my practice." She was striving for normalcy in a world that was turned upside down.

"You are young to be a doctor," Mikhail observed.

Shea made herself really look at him for the first time. Jacques and Mikhail shared the same powerful build, the thick mane of hair, the ice-black eyes. They both carried the hard edge of authority, self-confidence, and the trace of arrogance that came with it. Jacques' finely chiseled features were more worn from his ordeal. "You look young to be centuries old," she countered, remembering the feel of his fingers on her throat.

Mikhail acknowledged her with a slight grin and a nod.

Beside her, Jacques fought down the snarling beast the memory of Mikhail's attack triggered. Shea ignored him. "A woman named Noelle had a child, a son, with a man named Rand. Do you know where the boy is? He would be twenty-six now," she asked.

Mikhail's features stilled, became a mask. A slow hiss escaped, and Jacques instinctively edged around Shea so that she was behind him.

Be very careful, Mikhail, Gregori warned.

"Noelle was our sister," Mikhail stated softly, "murdered just weeks after the child was born."

Shea nodded. The information confirmed what Jacques had already told her. "And the child?"

I do not like this, Gregori. Why would she wish to know of Noelle's child? Humans murdered her.

They have a network with far-reaching tentacles. Perhaps she is a part of it after all. Mikhail's voice shimmered in Gregori's mind.

Jacques would know. Gregori was certain.

Maybe not. His mind is shattered.

He would know. She could not hide it. You fear for your brother. You do not look at her with your eyes and mind open. There is much sorrow, tragedy in her eyes. She is tied to a man she does not know, a man who is extremely dangerous, one who has hurt her on more than one occasion. She is highly intelligent, Mikhail; she knows what she has become, and she is struggling to accept it. This woman is no assassin.

Mikhail inclined his head at his oldest friend's assessment. "Noelle's son was murdered seven years ago, probably by the same assassins who tortured my brother."

If it was possible for Shea to grow any paler, she did. Her body swayed slightly; and Jacques gathered her close. The boy had been his nephew, but Jacques had no memory of the child or the man, so the pain he felt was Shea's. Her half-brother, her only chance at a family.

I am your family, Jacques comforted her gently, his chin rubbing lovingly over the top of her head.He was the young man in the second photograph Wallace and Smith showed me. I know he was.

Shea laid her head wearily against his chest. I felt such wrenching pain when I saw the photograph.

I am sorry, Shea. So much has happened. You need time to absorb all this.

Puzzled by her obvious distress, Mikhail glanced at Gregori, who shrugged his broad shoulders rather elegantly.

"What of Rand, his father?" Jacques voiced the question for Shea, although the name sent pain splintering through his head, evoked a black, empty hole where memory should have been.

"Rand went to ground for a quarter of a century. He rose last year, but he keeps to himself. He sleeps most of the time," Mikhail answered.

Shea's fingers curled in Jacques'. "He did not raise his own son?"

When Mikhail shook his head, Shea swallowed the hard knot of protest blocking her throat and glanced accusingly at Jacques. Children and the women who live with them seem to be left alone rather easily by your race.

We are not Rand and Maggie. Jacques stated it firmly.

Shea bit her lip as she studied Mikhail. "What does 'go to ground' mean?"

"Carpathians rejuvenate in the soil," Gregori explained, watching her closely. "The human sleep does not allow quick healing or real rest. We may go through human practices-showering, dressing, all the little habits to protect what we are, although there is no real need-but we sleep the sleep of Carpathians. The earth heals and protects us during our most vulnerable hours when the sun is high."

Shea was shaking her head in denial, a hand going to her throat in a curiously defenseless gesture. Her eyes met Jacques in helpless fear. I cannot. You know I cannot.

It is all right. Neither would I welcome another burial. And it was true. Jacques had begun to suffocate, to associate the deep earth with pain and torment. I would not force such a decision on you.

Raven settled against Mikhail's shoulder. "I sleep above ground in a very comfortable bed. Well, the bedroom is situated below ground, but it's a beautiful room. You'll have to come see it sometime. I don't like to sleep in the ground. I was human, Shea, like you. If feels too much like being buried alive."

"Rand is my father," Shea admitted suddenly.

There was a stark silence in the room. Even the wind stopped, as if nature itself was holding its breath. Mikhail moved then, seemed to flow from the chair, his power unmistakable. His black eyes covered every inch of her. Gregori?

If this is true, Mikhail, Rand has done what was thought impossible. Unless...

Mikhail caught the thought. Gregori suspected that Shea's mother was Rand's true lifemate. "What you are saying is of tremendous importance to our race, Shea. Your mother is human?"

"Was. My mother committed suicide eight years ago. She couldn't face life without Rand." Her chin lifted defiantly. "She was so obsessed with him, she didn't have anything left over for her child."

She said it matter-of-factly, as if she hadn't suffered, hadn't been alone all her life.

"Did he convert her?" Mikhail asked, furious at the unknown woman for neglecting her child, a female child at that. At the very least the woman should have brought the baby to the Carpathians to raise. "Was she Carpathian?"

"No, she wasn't like you, not even like me. She was definitely human. She was beautiful, Irish, and completely withdrawn from the real world most of the time. I knew about Rand and Noelle through my mother's diary."

"Did your mother have any psychic talent?" Gregori asked thoughtfully.

Raven glanced up at Mikhail. She had psychic ability. Shea's answer was extremely important to the future of their race. She would provide the proof of what they had long suspected, long hoped.

Shea's teeth bit at her lip. "She knew things before they happened. She would know the phone was going to ring or that someone was about to stop by. You have to understand, though, she rarely spoke. She would forget about me for days, even weeks at a time, so I didn't know much about her. She didn't exactly share lots of information with me."

"But you are certain Rand is your father?" Mikhail persisted.

"When I was born, my blood caused quite a stir in the medical community. In my mother's diary she wrote that Rand was my father and that he had a strange blood disorder. She thought I had inherited it. She took me to Ireland, hid me, because the doctors and scientists frightened her with their persistent questions. She was certain Rand was dead."

Mikhail and Gregori exchanged a look. Their race was dying out. The last female child to be born had been Noelle some five hundred years earlier. The men were choosing to end their existence or turning vampire without a lifemate. Mikhail and Gregori had long suspected that a handful of human women, those with true psychic talent, had the ability to become a lifemate as Raven had.

There had never before been an instance of a child born half-human, half-Carpathian. The only explanation possible was that Shea's mother had been Rand's true lifemate. Everyone had known he did not have real feelings for Noelle. Yet Rand had not turned Shea's mother. No Carpathian woman would have allowed her child to grow up alone as Shea's mother had. Why hadn't Rand said anything? Their people would have cherished a child.

Rand did not mention suicide when he awakened, Gregori mused. He stays to himself, but that is not unusual.

"Is it possible for us to see this diary?" Mikhail asked Shea gently.

Shea shook her head sadly. "I was being hunted. I had to destroy it."

"Your life must have been difficult, with no one to guide you," Gregori said quietly. "You are not without your own unique capability. You are a true healer."

"I studied many years." She sent him a small smile. "I had plenty of time to apply myself."

"You were born a healer," he corrected. "It is a rare gift." Gregori's silver eyes dwelt on her slender figure. "Jacques." His voice dropped even lower so that the sound seemed to seep into one's bloodstream and warm it like a good brandy. "She is growing weaker. Her body trembles. I know that you do not fully understand her importance to our entire race, but I know your instincts are strong and intact. You are her lifemate, sworn to her protection and care."

Shea's hand gripped Jacques' tightly. "Don't listen to him. What we choose to do has nothing to do with any of them."

"Trust me, love, I would never allow him to harm you," Jacques said softly in reassurance. "He is only concerned that you are so weak."

"I am a healer, like you, Shea." Gregori seemed to glide forward. His body flowed without a hint of movement or threat. He was just suddenly closer. "I would never hurt a woman. I am Carpathian. A male seeks only to protect and care for our women." His hand reached out to her neck. The touch of his fingers was astonishing. Light. Heat. A tingling sensation. "You must feed, Shea." The voice was around her, in her, working at her will. "Jacques needs you strong to see him through what lies ahead. Our people need you. My blood is ancient and powerful. It will serve you, heal you, strengthen both of you."

"No! Jacques, no. Tell him no." For some reason she was alarmed at the idea.

"I will feed her," Jacques objected quietly, his voice all the more menacing because of its hush.