Desari went into his arms, tears swimming in her dark eyes. “I am honored to meet you at last.”
“The honor is mine.” Gregori hugged her long and hard before handing her back to the tall, golden warrior waiting to greet him. Gregori reached for his lifemate, bringing her in front of him, his arms securely around her. “May I present my lifemate, Savannah. My sister Desari and my brother Darius.” There was pride in his voice.
“And you must know Julian.” Desari clasped hands with her handsome lifemate. “He knows much of you.”
Savannah laughed at Gregori’s expression. “I can see I will have to insist we talk together, Julian.” She kissed Desari’s cheek and laughed again when Gregori firmly removed her from Julian’s reach.
“You can stay away from him.” Gregori pinned his brother with a steely eye. “How did you come to allow our sister to associate with this barbarian?”
Darius’s eyebrow shot up. “Yes, I was meaning to take you to task over your lack of judgment. Whatever possessed you to send him to us? Your lack of foresight amazes me. He took advantage of the situation, as you can well see. I hold you responsible.”
Julian smirked at the brothers. “It was fortunate I was around to guard the women of our race while the two of you were off chasing vampires, trying to hone your skills. In the end, I had no choice but to stay and guard what our race holds dear. I might point out that my relationship with Desari has officially made me your brother.” He grinned complacently at them.
“I had hoped you might whip him into shape,” Gregori confided with a deep sigh. “But I see it is impossible. He never obeyed a single law.”
“You sent him to me to be rid of him.” Darius feigned a scowl. He had come to respect Julian for his independent ways and welcomed him into his family.
Gregori reached out to clasp Julian’s arms in a warrior’s greeting of respect. “I thank you for all you have done for my family. I am indeed grateful that it is you looking after my sister.”
Julian grinned at him. “I am most grateful for the job.”
“I trust your brother Aidan is well and knows why you have chosen to be apart from him.” There was a subtle edge to Gregori’s voice. “Had you spoken with Mikhail or me, we would have aided you in your battle with the vampire. You were a child, Julian, with a child’s perception of guilt and responsibility. Mikhail and I are proud of the choices you have made to safeguard your people and your brother. You did talk with Aidan.” It was more of a statement than a question.
Julian grinned sheepishly. “I took Desari to meet Aidan and his lifemate Alexandria. He had much to say about my protection of him. He obviously spent more time with you than I had first realized. He is well, as is his lifemate.”
“This is Tempest,” Darius said, drawing his redheaded lifemate to him. “She has not been long in our world.”
Desari immediately shifted to stand close to the shorter woman. Julian glided closer as if protecting her, the family closing ranks to ease the newest member’s fears. “Tempest has great courage. Without her, we would not have Darius. Our family owes much to her.”
“Welcome to our family, little sister,” Gregori said. “I thank you for my brother’s life. It would not do to lose one so valuable.”
Tempest smiled shyly, grateful for the support of Desari and Julian. She leaned into Darius as she tried not to be intimidated by the sheer power emanating from Gregori or his peculiar, soul-seeing eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet the rest of Darius’s family. We’ve spoken of you often and looked forward to your visit with us.”
Savannah leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I know all this must be new to you and perhaps a little frightening, but I can see you are well loved.”
“Desari and Syndil have welcomed me as a sister, and Dayan, Barack and Julian are protective elder brothers.” Tempest smiled lovingly at Darius. “And Darius makes it all worthwhile. I’m not afraid, just a little overwhelmed. And I do want children someday, so I’m putting my faith in you, Gregori, to solve the tremendous problems we all face.”
“I promise to do my best.” Gregori inclined his head. “With so many working, we hope to find answers much more quickly. Gary Jansen has been doing research into the different lineages, trying to ascertain how often a child was usually born to Carpathian couples. It appears, with the exception of a few lines, most children were born fifty to one hundred years apart. Savannah’s line is an exception through her grandmother’s side of the family. Sarantha, Mikhail’s mother, had four children quite close, three males and one female. And my mother also had the two of you, Desari and Darius, close together. Yet Desari is the only female child who survives in our lineage.” Gregori smiled at his brother. “Thanks to you, Darius. We owe you much.”
“There are so few of us,” Desari said sadly.
“But our ranks are growing as we discover that ancients are scattered throughout the world,” Gregori replied gently. “Gabriel and Lucian still live. They live and have found their lifemates. Gabriel’s lifemate, Francesca, has sent one of her healing quilts for Corinne. We would have liked to visit longer with them before returning to the Carpathian Mountains.”
Desari reached out to link her hand with her lifemate.
“Julian told me the sad story of such heroes. It was a privilege to meet them at the wedding.”
“They are true ancients. Mikhail is hoping they will be able to aid Shea and Gary in their research into the high mortality rate of our infants,” Gregori said. “I have long sought the answer to this problem, but have not yet succeeded in defeating our worst enemy.”
“The fact that we do not have female children,” Savannah sighed. “And the difficulty of keeping our children alive the first year. You will solve the mystery. You are no longer alone, Gregori. You have Shea and Gary and now Francesca. You will find the answer, and we will have the children you wish for.”
“Twins,” Julian supplied. “Two little girls to run wild, with their father chasing after them.” He looked well pleased with the idea.
Gregori bared white teeth at Julian across the table. “I see you are having much fun at my expense, Julian, but remember, I have known you many, many years. Desari, my young sister, there is much we have to speak of.”
Julian laughed. “I wish you would speak to her, Gregori. She has surprising gifts, as Darius and I have found out.” He kissed his wife. “I do not suppose you would want to sing your brother into a tree trunk for me.”
Gregori’s eyebrow shot up, a habit he shared with Darius despite the long separation between them. “Desari can use her voice in such a manner?”
Desari laughed, blushing a soft rose color. “Of course not. He is exaggerating. I use my voice to soothe and heal others, to bring them joy.”
“Or reprimand elder brothers and lifemates when they do things she does not agree with,” Darius offered helpfully.
When Gregori’s silver gaze rested on her thoughtfully, Desari sighed. “All right, it is true I once used a net to entrap them.” She smiled conspiratorially at the other women. “As you age, your gifts will come to you, and they will be useful in ways you did not imagine.”
Gregori hauled Savannah closer. “I am taking you back to our country, where you will never hear this kind of feminine nonsense.”
She rose on her toes to kiss him firmly on the hard edge of his mouth. “My mother lives there, and as I recall, you said my father allowed her to run amok, creating chaos and havoc in her wake.”
“I would like to meet your mother,” Desari said. She caught her brother’s arm. “Let’s plan a tour of Europe. We can go home to the mountains. It would be such fun. Barack and Syndil wanted so much to stay there and visit, and I’m certain Dayan would want to bring his Corinne to meet everyone.”