Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

that way .
    I looked at you that way.
    I'm a grown woman and in any case, Paul is with Josef. You know her brother would never allow anything improper.
    I'm going to go show my teeth to that young man. If he knows what's good for him, he'll go home . Rafael stalked from the room, his face set in harsh lines, his jaw stubborn. "And wear your hair down tonight for this thing. I like it that way."
    Colby rolled her eyes at Ginny. "That man has way too much testosterone. He's going to scare Josef."
    "Why?"
    "Because Josef might look at you wrong. Lord help you when you get old enough to date, Ginny. I think he'll have ten bodyguards—all female—surrounding you."
    "All my friends are afraid of him," Ginny conceded, "but he's always sweet to me. And Paul spends most of his time with Rafael."
    "I know, baby, he's really great, but he does love to order us all around."
    "Not like his brothers. Well, except for Uncle Riordan. He's nice, but the rest of them are scary."
    The half smile faded from Colby's face. "Scary how? None of them are mean to you, are they? They are sworn to protect you and Paul. Rafael promised me." It was difficult to integrate her human family with her Carpathian one, but Colby thought they were working things out fairly well. Unfortunately, Rafael had four brothers and only Riordan had found his lifemate. And that meant the other three brothers were extremely dangerous. Manolito was close by. Zacharias and Nicholas were in Brazil overseeing the ranch near the rainforest. Colby was certain neither trusted themselves around so many others. They were too close to turning.
    "They aren't mean to me," Ginny denied hastily. "I just don't like to be around them very much. They're just scary. It was kind of nice coming here because they didn't come with us.
    They're always watching me."
    Colby sank into a chair at the kitchen table. "Baby, you know if you're unhappy, all you have to do is say the word and we go home to our ranch in the United States."

    "No! I love living in Brazil. I can even speak the language—a little. Paul's helping me and so are my uncles. I love the ranch and the rainforest and all the animals. I don't want to go back—really."
    "Hey chick-a-dee." Paul strode in and pulled his sister's braid. "Why are you hiding in here with Colby? Everyone came over so we could all get to know each other."
    "Are they having a good time?" Colby asked.
    Paul grinned at her. "Well, we are now that Rafael came in to scare the heck out of Josef.
    He's sharpening a knife, but Josef isn't paying attention and all the kids think it's funny."
    "Oh, dear."
    "I'm going to go see," Ginny said cheerfully, and skipped out of the room.
    Paul sat opposite Colby. She studied his face. Some of the lines that shouldn't have been there were smooth again, but he still looked too old for his seventeen years. "What is it, hon?"
    "You know how Mom was always so smart? I mean really smart. Not ranch smart, but book smart? Chemistry, physics, that kind of smart?"
    "Which you have clearly inherited."
    "What do you know about her family? There's a man here with the same last name as our mother and he looks like her. Well, she's prettier, but they really do look alike and they say he's really smart. He's human, Colby, like me."
    "Does it bother you that I'm Carpathian and you're not? Rafael allowed you to keep all your memories because that's what you wanted, but if it makes you feel too different…"
    She trailed off. There was no way for Paul to become Carpathian. As far as she knew, he had no psychic ability whatsoever. Ginny hadn't displayed any either. Colby had a different father and one who had come from a direct line to the Carpathians.
    Razvan. She didn't want to think about him, didn't want to ever admit that he had been her birth father. Razvan was grandson of the dark mage Xavier, mortal enemy to all Carpathians. Long ago, Xavier, the most powerful mage, had taken on a gifted Carpathian student, Rhiannon. He murdered her lifemate, kidnapped and impregnated her, igniting a terrible war. Triplets were born, Soren, and his two sisters now lost. Razvan and Natalya were Soren's children. Razvan had betrayed his Carpathian blood, blood of the famed Dragonseekers no less, betrayed his twin sister, succumbed to the lure of black magic, joined with the vampires and led them in a plot to assassinate the prince. It shamed her to think she carried Razvan's genetics, especially now that she had come to the Carpathian mountains