Dark Promises (Dark #29) by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online

Carpathians—“they don’t even try to get to know me. I do research and I keep to myself. I don’t mean anything at all to them. But you . . . you see me. I matter. I exist.” She shook her head, tears swimming in her eyes again. “You can’t take that away from me, Gary. What will I have left?”
    He took a breath. “All right, honey. I want you to take some time and think about this realistically. If in a week you still feel like we can make a go of it, we’ll revisit the issue, but you need to really think about what could happen if I lose my emotions so abruptly and have all the past history of hundreds of years of loneliness poured into me all at once. That could be dangerous to us.”
    â€œYou’re a man of honor, Gary. You would tell me what was happening and we’d face it together. You know that’s what you’d do.” She was absolutely certain.
    He crushed her to him again, knowing he would have to give her up, that she wasn’t his. She believed that much in him. He was the one who didn’t have a family anymore. He’d given up being in the human world in order to try to help Gregori. He admired him. At first he’d been intrigued by the Carpathians, but then it became a compulsion, a need to aid them. The species was in danger of extinction in spite of their longevity. With no women and their inability to conceive or carry children, something had to be done, and Gary had been determined to do it. He’d led the research projects, with Gabrielle and Shea, a doctor, to aid him. In a short time, they’d come a long way.
    He was in the middle of working on how to permanently remove all the mage-mutated microbes spreading throughout the soil. Xavier, a mage the Carpathian people had believed was their friend, had plotted to bring the entire species down and had nearly done so.
    Carpathians were diligent about cleaning the soil where they slept, and about removing any of the microbes they found in their bodies that would kill the unborn children or the babies in their first year. Gary was certain, if Xavier could mutate the microbes to do his bidding, they could reverse the process. He was close, too. He felt it. He always felt something before a major breakthrough.
    Gary had never once regretted his decision to help the Carpathian people. Never. He was fully committed to them. Until now. This moment.Giving up Gabrielle was nearly impossible. He took a deep breath and brushed his mouth over the top of her head, savoring the feeling of her in his arms. He wanted to commit this moment to memory. The scent of the flowers. The night sky. The way she looked in her gown. Her hair done so intricately, flowers woven through the silken strands. Even the bracelet, burning red-gold flames captured in the links, circling her delicate wrist.
    â€œI know what you’re doing,” Gabrielle whispered. “I’m doing the same thing. I won’t change my mind, Gary. I choose you. Every time, I choose you. It will always be you.”
    He didn’t answer. He was a Daratrazanoff and he felt the heavy responsibility of his bloodline. He had a duty to the prince, to his people. He was a shield now. A protector of his people. He had all the power and skills, but he also had the brain he’d been born with. He knew he was a huge resource to the Carpathians, and Mikhail and Gregori recognized him as such.
    Gabrielle was correct when she said the prince and Gregori would discourage any romance between them. Still, he also knew, when he dropped from vivid, real emotion to absolute nothing at all, they would try to cushion that fall. It would be brutal. He was intelligent enough to know why the Carpathians’ emotions faded over time and why, when they were restored and their lifemate was taken from them, that abrupt nothingness sent them into a dangerous killing frenzy known as the thrall.
    He wouldn’t endanger Gabrielle. He had