Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Luiz nodded. “They have a good relationship. I have spoken to Dimitri often and am learning from him how best to keep my lifemate safe when enemies would target her should they know. Valentin Zhestokly has a young lifemate as well. She is protected by several Carpathians, but he stays close. It happens, and we have to take extra precautions. I am grateful for her existence and take her safety and well-being very seriously.”
Sarika felt her cousin’s heavy burden. She had thought it would be a good thing to know one’s lifemate was close and in a few years could be claimed, but apparently that knowledge could increase the stress on the male. She understood he would be aware his lifemate was in even more jeopardy than most.
She knew the cost to the male wasn’t sexual. She had been concerned by Solange’s initial reaction that a male might develop those feelings for his lifemate, but it was an impossibility. She didn’t quite understand it, but she was aware through Luiz that he didn’t have those kinds of feelings. He had been a jaguar shifter with the urges of that species, yet once he had been converted to Carpathian, despite vague memories, he had no interest in sex.
Trying to understand Carpathian customs was going to be hard enough, but to understand who and what they were fundamentally was going to be much more difficult. How did one navigate through such things quickly?
“So, the answer to the balloons,” Tomas said, taking the spotlight from Luiz, “is a resounding no. I think ‘not good for the planet’ is a good reason to use.”
“That makes sense,” Dominic said, backing him up. “Out of the eight hundred things on your list, we managed to resolve one. That’s good news.” He tipped up Solange’s face toward his with two fingers under her chin. “See how easy that was? The logic of males.”
Solange and Sarika both burst out laughing. That felt so good, to see and hear Solange’s genuine laugh.
“So, Solange,” Lojos said. “We have a pointless party so you can get things from people for your baby that you and Dominic can make yourselves anytime you want, but you’ve got a list of problems you have to take care of before this party takes place. Have I about covered it?”
Immediately, Sarika felt the distress rushing through Solange at the reminder of what she was supposed to be doing. Before the woman could answer, Sarika did it for her. “It’s a celebration of life, Lojos. You have so much to learn. I have no idea if I have the time to educate you, not only about women but about life, in the time before you find your lifemate. Seriously, Tomas, your brother has been very poorly educated.”
She heaved a long-suffering sigh and exchanged a long-suffering look with Solange. “You have one man to deal with; I have four. Two of the four seem to have zero knowledge of women. Zero. Can you believe that? I thought I’d be happily learning about Carpathians and customs, but I fear I will be needed to educate Lojos and Luiz in the ways of women.”
Solange sent her a small smile, but it was clear that tension in her was rising just at the mention of solving other problems for the party. Sarika became aware of the child growing in Solange. She was further along than she looked, but the more upset she was, the more distressed the child was. The two beings were locked together, highly sensitive, and both unable to cope with the amount of stress.
Faintly, far away, Sarika heard a chant, the voice feminine, but it began to swell in volume. She hastily ensured she was cut off from the male Carpathians. Now she was highly stressed, as if she were one and the same with Solange and the unborn child. The more agitated Solange became, the more that emotion flooded Sarika until she was nearly shaking with the knowledge that she had to de-escalate the situation or Solange would lose the child. The knowledge was there, also that she had the ability to prevent the loss and aid Solange in coping. She just didn’t know how yet.
It was there inside her. Deep. Unexplored. But she knew there was an untapped well of something unnamed that only she could provide. Not for the Carpathian in Solange. For the female jaguar. That was the side of Solange unable to cope with anything feminine. She’d had to reject that side of herself in order to fight her father’s cruel regime. In doing so, she had perfected the warrior at the expense of her female jaguar shifter. Her shifter would never allow her to carry a child to full term—especially a female child.
Sarika had the knowledge, but she didn’t have a clue what to do with it. Solange would be mortified if those in the room knew her secrets. She didn’t have a clue that her female jaguar was working against her. Dominic didn’t know, either. They both put her rising stress down to her reluctance to show her feminine side to the world.