Dark Celebration by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online Page B

does Jennifer."
    "And while we go to ground, another has to watch over our children. Does that make sense to you? Why can't our children go to ground as they should? Even if the soil contains some toxins, shouldn't they be able to tolerate the very thing they will come to need?"
    Jacques stroked back her hair, sensing the rising fear in her. The persistent ache in her back told her birth was near—was inevitable. She couldn't protect their son much longer. "Our people have gathered in joy for this occasion, Shea." He kissed her soft skin, his hands tender as he continued to tangle his fingers in her brightly colored hair. "Each Carpathian, near and far, has one true purpose at this time—to see to the life of our son. He will survive. The blood of the ancient line runs in his veins."
    She rubbed her face over Jacques's heart. "I know. Every day I think about how you survived those seven years—trapped so close to the earth that would have saved you, starving and tortured and so alone—but you refused to succumb." She lifted her chin to look into his dark, tormented eyes. "He has your blood, my beloved wild man. And your iron will. I'm so grateful that you're my lifemate, Jacques. If anything keeps our son alive, it will be because you are his father." She rolled onto her side and framed his face with her hands. "I feel you in him."
    He groaned softly, a small smile flirting with his mouth. "Then God help us when he is a teenager, Shea. Have you ever been introduced to Josef?"
    "Byron's nephew? The young rapper?"
    "That would be the one. I fear we have been given a brief glimpse of our future."
    Shea laughed, the worry fading from her eyes. "Oh, dear. I believe Josef has been practicing to perform tonight."
    "It will be almost as good watching Mikhail's face when Josef does his rap tonight as it will be watching Mikhail break it to Gregori that he is expected to play the part of Raven's Santa Claus."
    Shea shook her head, her green eyes dancing. "You're a very bad man, Jacques."
    "I keep telling you that, but you persist in thinking I am cute and cuddly."
    The desire and hunger in his eyes took the breath from her lungs, and Shea circled his neck with her arms. She pressed kisses along the corner of his mouth. "I'll pretend around the others, Jacques, if that makes you feel better, but when we're alone, you'll just have to put up with my thinking you're extraordinarily cute and cuddly."
    He heaved a sigh, amusement creeping into the depths of his eyes. "I have no idea how I ever existed before you came into my life."
    Her answering smile lit up her face. "I feel the same way about you, Jacques." She laid her head against his chest over his heart. "I wouldn't be able to get through this without you. I've never been so afraid, but you steady me."
    He stroked a caress over her shiny ribbon of hair. "And all this time I thought it was the other way around." Above her head, the smile faded from his face, leaving the lines deep and his eyes once more dark with worry. "This woman we are meeting tonight, Shea…" He hesitated, trying to choose his words carefully. "You must be very, very careful. We cannot have her suspecting even for a moment that you are anything but a human."
    Shea rolled away from him in a small spurt of temper. "You know, Jacques, not all humans are monsters. Look at Slavica and Gary and Jubal. Why should she be suspicious that I am anything but human? Do you think most people go around thinking there are vampires and Carpathians in the world? I thought I had a rare blood disorder for years and I'm a doctor."
    His fingers shaped the nape of her neck. "Do not be upset, Shea. I have a duty to protect our people."
    "You mean Mikhail didn't like me contacting her."
    "I mean I didn't like it. Maybe I have had you to myself these years and the idea of sharing you with an outsider sets my teeth on edge."
    She turned her head in time to see his white teeth snap together, very reminiscent of a wolf. She began to laugh