“What is wrong with her?” Corinne asked anxiously.
“I want her immune system to be stronger. She has had a hard go of it and needs a little more time. Do you have a name picked out for her? Dayan thought you might want to call her Jennifer after John and Lisa’s mother.”
Corinne nodded, unable to take her eyes off her daughter. “She’s so beautiful. Little Jennifer, at last we meet.”
Shea lifted the baby carefully from the enclosure, placed the tiny body into Corinne’s waiting arms. Merged as he was with Corinne, Dayan shared the instant bonding between mother and child, the unbreakable tie, the exchange of love and tribute. It flooded all three of them. The acceptance. The love. Dayan felt tears burning in his eyes. This was his family for all time. Eternity.
We have it all, my love, I cannot believe our good fortune.
Corinne crooned softly to the baby, rocking her gently back and forth while Dayan surrounded them both with his arms. “Look how tiny her fingers and toes are,” he marveled. “She has everything, like a real person.” He was almost afraid to touch the tiny infant; his finger looked very big as the infant clutched her fist around it.
Corinne laughed softly. “You’ve never been around a baby before, have you?”
He grinned at her, nuzzled her neck so that unexpected sparks seem to jump back and forth between them. “Does it show?”
“Absolutely. Do you want to hold her?”
Dayan looked like he might faint on the spot, and both women laughed openly at him. It was Corinne who sobered first. “I’m so sorry, Shea. Savannah told me you are expecting a child, and you had to make such a long journey to be here. I don’t know how we can ever repay your kindness. Is your baby okay?”
Shea placed both hands on her stomach, holding her baby protectively, feeling her lifemate’s breath on the nape of her neck even although he wasn’t in the chamber with them. “It is difficult sometimes for our people to carry to full term. The baby is fine, but we had to travel cautiously to prevent complications.”
“Dayan told me there’s concern that Carpathian babies often don’t survive the first year of life.” Corinne looked anxiously at Shea.
Shea sighed and pushed her hand through her long wine-red hair. “That is true, Corinne. There have been problems for many centuries. Gregori has done much research on this, and I joined him a few years ago. We discovered that the problems have been occurring longer than we originally thought. It was assumed that during the fourteenth century when most of our adults and children were destroyed, many, many lifemates were lost to us. It was believed fairly universally that Carpathian women had some chemical makeup that made it possible for only the male fetus to implant successfully.”
Shea leaned over and smiled at the sleeping baby. “I think it is much more than that. I believe it has something to do with the plague.”
Corinne’s head snapped up, and she clasped the baby protectively to her. “What do you mean?”
Shea laughed softly. “Jennifer doesn’t have the plague, don’t panic. The plague has been around for much longer than most people realize. We know of instances in China in 224b.c. There was an outbreak in Rome around 262a.d. that killed five thousand people a day. The crusaders carried the plague to Europe. It swept through the continent in the 1300s and early 1400s.”
“How could our people have been affected? Human illnesses do not have
any
effect on us. Their drugs and alcohol do not either,” Dayan pointed out.
Shea shook her head. “That’s what is believed, but it is not necessarily true. Drugs and alcohol are pushed through our systems, so we do not feel the effects. The same happens with human diseases. It doesn’t necessarily mean there are no traces left in our systems.”
“Has there ever been a case of a Carpathian falling ill from such a thing?” Dayan could scarcely believe what Shea was saying. “I have lived hundreds of years — how is it possible that I would not have contracted an illness?”
Shea laughed again. “You Carpathian males. You have egos the size of the continent. I read your thoughts as easily as you read mine. Yes, my mother was human and my father was Carpathian. I am a researcher, Dayan. I am merely looking at a hypothesis. I don’t much care whether you think I’m capable of understanding the makeup of a Carpathian or not. What matters to me is finding an answer to this puzzle. If it is found, we can save our children. In doing so, there is a chance we can save our race from extinction.”
Dayan bowed courteously, elegantly, a courtly gesture. “I ask forgiveness for my thoughts, Shea. I have never seen a Carpathian with a human disease.”
“Traces still might be left behind,” Shea pointed out patiently. “The human descendants of the survivors of the plague carry a mutated gene. That gene seems to be responsible for giving them protection from the HIV virus. Our people must have at times been forced to use those who were ill for sustenance during that time. With as many as five thousand people coming down with the plague daily, they might have had no choice. It was during that time that we began to lose our babies on a regular basis. It might mean nothing at all, might be merely a coincidence, but it is an interesting fact.”
“How does all that affect Jennifer?” Corinne asked fearfully.
“I don’t honestly know,” Shea said. “I’ll work closely with you to see that she thrives on the mixture of nutrients we give her. So far she is doing well on it. Another week or so and she will be able to be with you all the time. For now, she needs to be in her little incubator.” She grinned at Corinne. “I suggest you and Dayan take some time to be alone together. Enjoy yourself — you’ve earned it. Gregori, Darius, Gary and I will be watching over Jennifer. Look at it as if she had to stay in the hospital. She will sleep for long hours. You will know when she awakens; her mind will reach for yours.”
Reluctantly Corinne allowed Shea to take the tiny infant from her arms. “She seems so small and helpless.”
“She is growing,” Shea assured her. “Both of you are extremely pale. Go away for a while, doctor’s orders,” she added firmly.
Corinne watched Shea place the sleeping baby carefully into the transparent enclosure. Dayan wrapped his arms around Corinne’s waist. “Do not be sad, honey,” he whispered against her satin skin. “We will know when she awakens and we can be here immediately. Let us go and explore your new world.” There was a raw ache in his body, in his mind.
She heard it in his voice. Dayan never tried to hide his needs, his vulnerability, from her. Something deep within her responded to him, heating and melting, so that she was pliant and soft with wanting him. Her hand crept around his neck, her fingertips gently massaging the tense muscles. She leaned close to him, wanting to feel the warmth of his mouth against her skin.
I can’t wait much longer to be with you.
There was a breathless catch in her voice that he found incredibly sexy. He caught her up in his arms and moved through the chamber to stream through the tunnels up toward the stormy night sky.
Corinne lay in his arms, cradled against his chest. She looked up at his face, worn from worry, seeing lines etched there that she had never seen before. For her. The wind rushed at them, cold and biting, but Dayan immediately showed her how to regulate her body temperature so she felt perfectly warm. A cool mist sprayed her skin as they moved through the air toward some destination unknown to her. Below them were acres of treetops, swaying and dancing in the wind. It was strange how the leaves looked silvery in the blackness of the night. It was then that Corinne realized she could see the ground clearly, even as fast as they were traveling. She could see everything, down to the smallest mouse scurrying in the pine needles to get out of the rain.
The drops of rain glittered like gems in the night. Dayan’s body was hot and hard, and flying through the sky was totally exhilarating. She turned her face into his throat, nuzzled him, her blood thick, a molten lava moving through her body. She just let it happen, wanted it to happen. He had become her whole world. The way he talked, the way he turned his head. His slow, sexy grin. The way his eyes burned over her.