Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(70)
Author: Christine Feehan

"I’m so glad you came," Mikhail greeted them. He had his arm around a short woman with clouds of dark hair and unusual, almost violet eyes. "This is Raven, my lifemate. My son, Alexandru, is over there." He gestured toward the toddler playground. "Raven, you remember Tatijana, of course, and this is Fenris Dalka, Dimitri’s older brother."

"Tatijana," Raven exclaimed, holding out both hands. She also wore a long gown that swirled around her curvy figure. "You look lovely tonight."

"She’s hoping for dancing," Fen said.

"So am I," Raven admitted.

"Thank you, Raven," Tatijana answered. "I’m so glad you thought of this. I love the entire idea of the community coming together for a party."

"I thought we all could use a little fun after . . ." She trailed off and looked at Mikhail.

He shrugged. "You can say it, we got our butts kicked."

"You’ve been saying it often enough to Gregori," Raven teased. "He so loves to tweak our son-in-law."

"It’s good for him," Mikhail was unrepentant.

Raven just laughed, her hand sliding down Mikhail’s arm to his wrist in an intimate gesture. She turned to Fen. "I wanted to thank you for tracking the rogue pack. We would have been in far worse shape if it wasn’t for you."

"I’m glad I ran across them," Fen said honestly. He looked at Tatijana. "I might have missed meeting my lifemate."

Raven laughed. "I honestly think if it’s meant to happen, it does. Fate or destiny must put us on the right path. When I came out here all those years ago on my own, just to get away, I never dreamed I’d meet a man like Mikhail. He was very intimidating to a woman who knew nothing about Carpathians."

Tatijana joined in her laughter. "He can still be intimidating when he wants."

"Not so much to me anymore," Raven said. "Come meet our daughter, Savannah. She’s lifemate to Gregori. Our two adorable granddaughters are right over there, and they definitely have their daddy wrapped around those little fingers of theirs."

The love and affection for her family was obvious in her expression, her tone of voice and the tenderness in her eyes when she looked at them. Fen turned to see Gregori scoop up a little girl just as she made a daring leap from a slide to the top of the playhouse.

"Isa"-father. She scowled at him, yet somehow managed to pout at the same time. "I coulda made it."

"Anya." Gregori used his sternest voice. "I told you to stop trying to jump from the top of the slide to the playhouse."

Fen pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. The slide was no more than two feet off the ground and the playhouse roof wasn’t much taller. Little Anya didn’t seem intimidated by her father at all, not even when he was holding her high off of the ground, his silver eyes glaring directly into hers. Her dark, curly hair bounced around her head like a halo, framing her little pixie face. Her eyes, as light as her father’s, grew stormy. She lifted her chin defiantly.

"I’m not a baby like Sandu. I can do it."

Mikhail lowered his voice. "The girls call Alexandru, Sandu." He said it just loud enough that Gregori could hear and know they were watching. Amusement was uppermost in the prince’s tone. "The twins are only a couple of weeks older than he is, but they like to think they’re years ahead. He’s bigger than both of them."

"Isa," the second little girl said. "If we can’t jump, can we float? You know we’re really good at floating."

Gregori cast a glare over his shoulder at Mikhail, turned back to his daughter and sighed. He reached down and picked her up. "Anastashia, I thought we talked about this. You need adult supervision when you’re trying things, even floating. It’s dangerous."

"How can they talk already?" Tatijana asked. "Isn’t that advanced even for our children?"

"They were born very gifted," Raven admitted. "They speak ancient Carpathian as well as several other languages. Well . . . I should clarify. They understand the languages and know many words and use sentences. As far as what they can do at such a young age, they’re giving us gray hair."

Mikhail tugged on Raven’s hair. "I don’t see any gray."

She laughed softly. "Lucky for me I’m Carpathian and I don’t turn gray, although with those two little girls I just might anyway." She gestured toward the twins. "They were born early and were in separate incubators. Barely alive, they floated from one to the other, determined to stay together. In the end, there was nothing we could do so we let them stay together. Gregori’s had his hands full ever since."

"That Anya, she’s a little daredevil," Tatijana said.

Fen could tell she was proud of the little girl. He imagined Tatijana would have been like Anya, wanting to try everything.

Raven nodded. "If she was a boy, Gregori wouldn’t have any problem allowing her to try to jump from the slide to the playhouse roof, but he has this thing about his girls."

"How’s that working out for him?" Mikhail asked, nuzzling the top of Raven’s head.

"You aren’t going to find it so funny when our son starts defying you to do dangerous things," Raven pointed out, but she laughed softly when she said it and rubbed her head along his chest affectionately. "Little Miss Anya is far too adventurous. I think she’d try shapeshifting if anyone gave her half a chance."

"She probably already has," Mikhail pointed out.

"Bite your tongue," Raven said.

Fen found himself genuinely laughing at Gregori’s predicament. He was tall, broad-shouldered and much respected in the Carpathian world. When he spoke everyone listened. Next to Mikhail, Gregori’s word was law, yet his twin girls, barely two, defied him. With them, he was patient and gentle, although firm, not that it seemed to do him any good with little Anya. She was obviously adventurous.

"Aren’t they beautiful?" Tatijana asked.

"Terrifying, though," Fen said. "If we have children, sivamet, let’s try for boys. If the girls turn out like you, I’ll definitely have a heart attack before they’re grown."

Tatijana laughed, turning to Raven. "Men. They’re such babies when it comes to children. What’s your Alexandru like? You’ve given him a fine name. It means defender of all mankind, doesn’t it?"

Raven nodded. "It’s a lot for a little boy to live up to."

Fen was curious about the prince’s son as well. His gaze continually went to the four little ones, Gregori and Savannah’s twin daughters who were planting kisses all over their father’s face, the curly-headed boy slightly older and the little boy with big eyes the color of his mother’s and midnight black hair just like his father’s. Fen noticed that even though both girls were in Gregori’s arms, the twins kept an eye on the prince’s son, as did the curly-headed boy. "The twins are very interested in Alexandru," he observed aloud.