Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
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Benedek Kovak knew the men traveling with him were good, solid fighters. He’d known them for centuries. He had spent time in the monastery in the Carpathian Mountains. Nicu Dalca had been one of the residents off and on. If Benedek could claim to be close to anyone, it would be Nicu. The man was solid and steady, could always be counted on. They’d traveled together often, hunted vampires and destroyed demons and hellhounds.
Nicu had gray eyes that gave nothing away. His black hair was worn pulled back in the way many of the ancients preferred. He was grim-faced, worn from centuries of battling the vampire, killing friends and even family when it was necessary. He was lightning fast in battle and had a special affinity with animals. The beasts in forests and mountains guarded him, spied for him, always calling to him. Something in Nicu answered, and no matter how feral the animal, they became part of his pack.
If Benedek trusted anyone, it would be Nicu. He was a tremendous asset in any battle. On the journey to find his lifemate, Benedek was grateful to have someone so dependable. More, they had fought so many battles together, each was able to predict what the other would do. They also were able to speak telepathically on their own conduit developed from their time in the monastery. All Carpathians spoke telepathically on a common wavelength, but that meant vampires who were former Carpathians could hear what was said. The ability to speak freely with one another gave them an advantage when they were orchestrating a battle with several vampires.
The other three men traveling with them were familiar to him. Lojos, Mataias and Tomas Smolnycki were triplets and had traveled together for centuries. They wore their chestnut-colored hair long, in keeping with the ancients. Hair provided extrasensory information for Carpathians, much like the whiskers on animals. Ancients were particularly sensitive. The triplets’ hair color was at odds with their brilliant aquamarine-colored eyes. They could disappear into mist as fully formed Carpathians, impossible to see. They moved together in complete synchronization as one person. When fighting vampires, they were utterly silent, eerily frightening and scary intelligent, a formidable combination.
Tomas was distinctive in that he had tear-shaped scarring on the right side of his face from his hairline to his jaw. It was one of the many scars acquired in the centuries of battling the vampire. A web of scarring from Lojos’ left shoulder, down his arm and to his hand, declared that, over the centuries, he too had been in battles that should have killed him, yet he had survived. Mataias showed evidence of vampires trying to extract his heart from his chest by the scars on his back and chest. He had also lived. Carpathians rarely scarred, so it was saying something to all who met them—they had survived mortal wounds when most would have succumbed.
Benedek respected the triplets for their fighting skills and their loyalty to one another. Above all else, for him, he considered loyalty the premier trait that should be in a man’s or woman’s character. He knew his brethren believed their hearts would follow when they bound their souls to their lifemate. Benedek was no longer certain he had a heart. When he bound his lifemate, it would be to get his soul back.
Benedek had no idea what he would be offering a lifemate, but he knew she would restore colors and emotion to him. That wasn’t as necessary to him as ensuring he would have her complete allegiance. Just because a woman was his lifemate didn’t necessarily mean she couldn’t betray him. That was another hard lesson he’d learned over the centuries.
Women weren’t to be trusted any more than most men. Even if you did them a service, saved them time and again, they could turn on you for their own selfish reasons. Believing they would get favors from others if they gave you up when you were injured. Becoming jealous because they thought you were going to be the man for them but realizing you had no interest in them. Granted, most of the women he’d encountered were human, but Fawn had been Carpathian. He knew there were other Carpathian women born with the same madness.
He had a deep distrust of others, men and women, human, Carpathian, Lycan or Jaguar. The fact was that his tarot reading had cautioned him to trust in his instincts, his brethren and only those he knew to be friends. All else were to be considered potential enemies. That didn’t bode well when he knew he was facing a war with Lilith’s army. He’d encountered her demons and those she had recruited on more than one occasion. It was never easy. From the urgent demand in him to hurry, he was certain this war would be extremely one-sided, and if his lifemate was going to survive, he would have to get to her fast.