Dark Lycan (Carpathian)

Zev nodded. “It’s large. The largest I’ve ever run across. I’ve been tracking them for months.”

“Dimitri counted thirteen, and that was just with a single pass.”

“It’s more like fifty to seventy. I’ve identified that many individual tracks, and I’m not certain that’s all of them. They tend to divide, each unit hunting separately and then coming back together.”

“That’s why they’ve been able to do so much damage,” Fen said.

Zev shot him a quick glance. “You’ve been tracking them?”

Fen nodded. He wasn’t about to admit that he thought Zev was wrong, or at least partially wrong. He was fairly certain the rogue pack killed often, but a vampire either trailed them, doing far more of the brutal destruction than the pack had done, or traveled with them as a Lycan. The vampire was intelligent. He covered his tracks well, making certain the pack took the blame for his work. Of course, that was conjecture, Fen had no real proof.

“I ran across their kills a few weeks back and trailed after them,” Fen admitted. Dimitri, they’re coming at you from your left. Three of them. Tatijana, go to mist or take to the skies. You’ve got two targeting you. They’ll rush you from opposite sides and they’re unbelievably fast.

Mist swirled, a thick gray fog. The wind rushed through the trees and the rogues were on them, tall wolves running at them on their hind legs, each leap crossing thirty feet or more with blurring speed. The wolves poured into the circle from every direction, a silent, eerie attack made all the worse by their red glowing eyes, shining through the mist.

The three wolves leapt at Dimitri before he could move, or dissolve, all three sinking their teeth deep, ripping through muscle right down to the bone. Claws dug at his belly, trying to slash him open.

Claws raked Tatijana from her shoulder to her hip, even as she tried to turn to mist. They got to her far faster than she ever conceived possible. Fen rushed past the ones coming at him from every direction, his speed and momentum allowing him to knock over the one directly blocking his path to Tatijana. As he passed the werewolf, he slammed the silver stake deep into the chest wall. The sound of the rogue’s heart was his beacon. The werewolf went down, and he kept going, blowing past the other three as they tried to close in on him.

He reached Tatijana, pulling one werewolf off her, spinning him around and staking him through his heart so hard he nearly drove the silver dagger all the way through the man. Tatijana punched the second werewolf hard in his throat as he drove teeth, dripping with saliva, at her face. She used the enormous force of the Carpathian hunter, staggering the werewolf. As he stumbled back, she dissolved into mist and tried to take to the sky.

Droplets of blood mingling with the mist led another werewolf straight to her. He leapt high and hooked claws into her dissolving ankle, yanking her down to the ground. Fen caught the movement out of the corner of his eye as two others tried tackling him. He felt the burn of teeth snapping down, the bite pressure, an enormous tearing at his calf and thigh. He ripped both wolves off of him, knocking their heads together with tremendous force, just needing a few seconds to get to Tatijana.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Zev, in the form of a huge Lycan, half man, half wolf, whirling in the midst of several werewolves, his body torn and bloody, but he moved with grace and precision, ducking attacks, coming up under one of the werewolves to plunge a silver stake in his heart and whirling away again.

Fen caught the werewolf who had his claws in Tatijana’s ankle, snapping his neck and yanking Tatijana back up to her feet in one smooth motion.

Go, he hissed. Take to the air.

A werewolf landed on Fen’s back, sinking teeth into the nape of his neck. Tatijana put on a burst of speed, darting into the skies, shifting as she did so, taking the shape of a blue dragon. Fen shifted into the shape of a Lycan, using the strength and muscular form to throw off the werewolf ripping at his body.

The second wave of the pack rushed in. Fen spun around toward the new threat, saw them engulfing Dimitri and Zev, who were back to back. He moved fast, using the double speed of the Carpathian/Lycan blood flowing in his veins. He plunged a silver spike deep into one werewolf’s heart and rushed past just as an enormous werewolf came out of the mist.

Instantly, Fen knew. This was no ordinary werewolf. This was the vampire masking his presence in the midst of a rogue pack, no, not just a vampire, this was far more. “Zev, Dimitri,” he shouted the warning. “Behind you. Sange rau.”

He was already leaping across the werewolves, trying to get to his brother before the newcomer did. His burst of speed put him directly in the vampire’s path. Eyes glowed red, settling on him. The wolf/vampire charged him. They came together with terrible force, shaking the ground around them. The impact was so hard, Fen felt his very bones rattle. He felt as if a freight train had hit him, but if he felt that way, he knew his adversary did as well. He punched through the chest wall, his last silver stake in his fist, driving for the heart. To kill a Sange rau was far more difficult than killing either a Lycan or a vampire. He’d had a lot of experience on what didn’t work.

Around him, the battle waged, Zev and Dimitri fighting off the werewolves, while up above them, the dragon came in low, breathing fire on the wolves she could without harming Fen, Dimitri or Zev.

“I see you,” the Sange rau hissed, his voice low. “I know you.”

Fen knew him, too. He’d been in a pack for a few months a century or so ago and this Lycan had been the pack alpha. His name was Bardolf and he’d been particularly mean, ruling his pack with an iron hand. He’d disappeared on a hunt, and when they’d tracked him, there had been a bloody battle between him and what Fen had been certain had been the undead. Neither were anywhere to be found, nor were there bodies. Now, Fen knew what had happened. The Lycan had torn into the vampire, gulping his blood, and he’d consumed enough to transform himself.

“I see you, too,” Fen said, ducking under the wolf/vampire’s reaching arm to come in close to slam his fist hard into Bardolf’s chest.

He had no more silver stakes. To kill Bardolf he would need the silver spike as well as to remove the heart from the chest and destroy it with fire. Few knew how to kill one such as Bardolf, but Fen had plenty of experience in trial and error when he’d tracked the Sange rau centuries before. He knew destroying the monster would be very difficult.

He plunged his fist deep, twisting his body to avoid the muzzle full of teeth rushing toward his throat. The teeth grazed him, ripping through flesh. He felt the flash of pain an instant before he blocked it, his fist moving deep in the chest of the undead, fingers seeking the withered heart. He couldn’t kill the beast, but he could slow it down, giving Tatijana time to destroy a number of the rogue pack from the sky.

Bardolf wrenched his body backward, pushing himself off of Fen with tremendous force so that Fen was flung backward as well, his fist pulling free of the vampire’s chest. Bardolf, instead of following up his advantage while Fen staggered, trying to recover his footing, leapt for the air, for the small dragon skillfully wielding flame.

“Fen!” Zev yelled. “Catch.”

Dimitri and Zev took the brunt of the attack on the next wave of werewolves as Bardolf clearly directed his rogues toward Fen. The two hunters, Carpathian and Lycan, quickly leapt between Fen and the oncoming assault.

Fen had his hand in the air almost before he turned around. A silver sword spiraled toward him. Fen caught the glittering handle and leapt into the air as a Lycan would, almost in one motion, slicing cleanly through Bardolf’s body just as the undead werewolf reached for the dragon’s spiked tail. Bardolf’s scream shook the trees below him, the discordant note an assault on every ear.

The werewolves set up a terrible cacophony of howls. The brush shivered. Leaves withered and tree branches shifted away from the body of the Sange rau as it dropped like a stone in two pieces to the ground with an ugly splat. Acid fell like rain, burning everything in its path.

Fen raced toward the head and chest. A large werewolf intercepted him. Fen swung the sword as another werewolf leapt on his back. The sword sliced through sinew and bone, cutting off an arm. The scent of blood and burned flesh made the werewolves nearly crazed so that they renewed their attacks in a mad frenzy, rushing at Dimitri and Zev, and dragging them to the ground.

Tatijana! Circle back.

Fen had no choice but to go to his brother’s aid. He turned away from the severed body of the undead, leapt over a fallen werewolf and landed in the middle of the frenzied pack. He picked up a large werewolf who ripped open Dimitri’s belly with his teeth and clawed at his insides in triumph. Fen snapped the werewolf’s neck and threw him into another one so that they both went crashing down, one on top of the other. He waded through more of the werewolves, it seemed a wall of them, trying to get to his brother and Zev.

Tatijana burst overhead, fire raining down, a long sweep of flames so that fur blackened, singed and then curled into ashes. Werewolves screamed in panic and pain. Fen took advantage of the assault from the sky, breaking through the mass of wolves to yank Dimitri up and away from the frenzied mob. Blood sprayed into and over the thrashing wolves.

Dimitri staggered back, pain etched into his face. He righted himself and the pain was wiped from his expression. He held up his hand for the silver sword. Fen tossed it to him and went back for Zev.

Fen spared a quick glance toward the two halves of Bardolf’s body. Already the hands and legs were dragging the pieces closer together, digging in the dirt to reach each half.

Tatijana, flame the Sange rau cut in half. Burn that carcass before it’s too late.

Even as he told her, the two severed halves merged and instantly disappeared into the mist. Cursing in his native tongue, Fen snapped another neck. Dimitri charged the thrashing werewolves, one hand holding his belly together, the other slashing through bodies with the silver sword.

A sharp call from the sky had the werewolves retreating, fighting their way past Dimitri while Fen fought off any of them trying to finish off Zev. The pack was gone into the mist almost instantly and silently. Only those with the silver stakes in them lay on the ground.

Dimitri folded in half, went to his knees and sank into the dirt a distance from Fen. Fen caught up the silver sword and cut the heads off the staked werewolves before turning to his brother.

Zev half sat, blood running down his face and chest in steady streams. Fen shifted back to completely human form as he bent over Dimitri. His brother was in bad shape. He’d had the brunt of the attack, the pack pouring out of the forest straight at Fen. Fen had gone after the Sange rau while Dimitri and Zev had drawn the others to him to give Fen his chance at destroying the ultimate threat.

Tatijana. See to Zev. Dimitri is close to passing.

He would save his brother first, no matter how valiant the Lycan had been. He had told Dimitri of his fear that there was such a powerful predator closing in on their homeland, and it was Dimitri who had paid the price because he believed his brother’s suspicion in spite of the lack of proof.

Tatijana might have healing skills, but he couldn’t take the chance. Better that she practice on the Lycan than Dimitri.

Hang on, ek?m—my brother, Fen whispered telepathically. He had to maintain his link with Dimitri at all times so that the light of life would not leave his body. Tatijana, I have need of you now. Shield us from Zev’s sight. He cannot see what I do.

There was so much blood lost. Far too much. He felt her presence almost immediately. Tatijana. His own private miracle. She brushed her hand along his shoulders as she moved toward Zev.

Mist stands between you and the Lycan.

Thank you, my lady.

Fen didn’t hesitate, but plunged his hands into the jagged opening of Dimitri’s belly, searching for the main source of the blood pumping from his brother’s body.

I will not be aware of my surroundings. You are our only protection, he warned Tatijana.

I’ve got your back.

Believing her, he didn’t wait for her reply. He didn’t have time. He had to trust that she would be alert for the return of the pack. He doubted if the rogues would return, their alpha was nursing his own wounds and would need to heal himself before he could kill again, but it was always possible.

He shed his body fast, becoming healing light, pure spirit to sink into his brother. I am with you. My soul calls to yours, he whispered.

He traveled through Dimitri’s body to the mass of destruction in his belly. The werewolves had clawed and bitten, tearing great chunks from his body. The first thing he had to do was repair the damage to arteries and veins and stop the flow of blood. It seemed Dimitri’s entire belly was filled with blood and nothing else.

Ot ek?m ainajanak hany, jama—My brother’s body is a lump of earth, close to death.

It had been long since he’d used the great healing chant, but this was no small wound. If he was to succeed he would need time, patience and blood. Powerful blood.

That light in Dimitri was very dim, moving down the tree of life, far away from Fen. Fen redoubled his efforts. Time was running out fast. He found the places where teeth had bitten through the lifelines in Dimitri’s body—so many places—the damage far worse than he’d seen in centuries. Dimitri had given much to give him the time to keep Tatijana from the Sange rau.

He resisted the urge to hurry, taking his time to repair each severed or torn artery or major organ with great care. As he performed the task he continued to chant softly in his mind.

“We, the clan of my brother encircle him with care and compassion. Our healing energies, ancient words of magic and healing herbs bless my brother’s body, keep it alive.”

When he was certain he had done enough of the repairs that Dimitri’s body would hold blood, he tore at his own wrist with his teeth and pressed the wound to Dimitri’s mouth. Dimitri made no attempt, even when Fen dripped the blood into his mouth, to take it in. Often times, a warrior so badly wounded, when he’d lived long centuries holding darkness at bay, preferred to slip away, but Dimitri had someone to live for. He’d told Fen of his lifemate, too young to claim, surviving a horrendous childhood. Fen had no compunctions against using the information Dimitri had confided.

Drink for your life and the life of the girl you told me about. Young Skyler who has suffered so much and deserves happiness. Do not let that happiness end here, my brother.

The light had retreated so far Fen feared he was too late. You are strong, my brother. Think only of your unclaimed lifemate. She will live out her days sad and lonely without you. Come back.

The dim light halted. Faltered. Stayed still. He felt the smallest movement at his wrist and instantly aided his brother in swallowing the liquid of life. Even as Dimitri took in blood, Fen knew it wouldn’t be enough. He was weak himself from blood loss. Healing took tremendous energy. He would have to feed quickly and return to draw his brother’s life light back. He gave Dimitri as much blood as he dared before returning to his own body.

The act of being in two places at one time, feeding his brother and healing him, aiding him in sending the blood through his body took a tremendous toll. Normally, with a wound so grievous, there were many Carpathians participating in the healing ritual. Fen had to remain a Lycan in Zev’s eyes. There was no controlling Zev’s mind. Tatijana could shield them using the mist, but at all times, Zev had to believe that Fen was Lycan, not a mixture of wolf and Carpathian.

He rose quickly, staggered, regained his footing and, after making certain the mist remained thick enough to hide his actions, took to the trees where the two drunken humans were cocooned in the shield Tatijana had provided for them. Before using them to replenish the blood he’d given his brother, he drove as much alcohol from their systems as possible through their pores. As a rule, Carpathians rarely touched tainted blood, but this was an emergency and he’d take anything he could get.

He took even more than he needed, knowing Dimitri would need much more. Tatijana, how long before you can aid me?

I put him into a healing sleep with his permission, but he won’t be in it long.

Bring down the lightning and burn the bodies. Make certain you get every last bit of fur and hair. Do not remove the silver spikes from their hearts otherwise they can regenerate. Let the fire burn everything and we’ll recover the stakes after that. Once that’s done, come help me. I need to find my brother in the other world and guide him back. He’s stuck between two places.

He caught Tatijana’s shocked gasp. Both knew it was difficult to bring someone back when they were so close to death. The only thing that had stopped Dimitri was knowing what his unclaimed lifemate would suffer without him.

Fen hurried back to his brother and knelt down, this time mixing his saliva with dirt, rich with Lycan blood, and packing it into the worst of Dimitri’s wounds. He took a deep breath and once more left his body behind to become pure light.

He took up the great healing chant of his people from centuries earlier. He spoke in his native tongue, using his most charismatic, commanding, persuasive voice.

“My brother’s soul is only half. His other half wanders in the netherworld. My great deed is this: I travel to find my brother’s other half.”

Tatijana sank down beside him. “We dance. We chant.” She pulled the words of the mystical song from his mind. “We dream ecstatically.”

“To call my spirit bird and to open the door to the other world,” Fen continued.

He felt the cold of that other place. He’d been there more than once after a battle, but Dimitri had traveled farther than he ever had to the other side.

“I mount my spirit bird and we begin to move. We are underway.” He suited action to words. He was going down that long tree into the dark and cold to find Dimitri and bring him back whole. “Following the trunk of the Great Tree, we fall into the netherworld.”

His very breath felt like ice. “It is very, very cold.” Worse than cold. He’d never been this far into the other world before. He could hear wailing in the dark. Teeth gnashing. He continued, unmoved by what might be stalking him in a place he had no business being in.

He was connected to Dimitri. They were brothers and their minds were tuned to one another. “My brother and I are linked in mind, heart and soul. My brother’s soul calls to me. I hear and follow his track.”

As he approached that dim light he knew to be Dimitri’s, another approached as well. Something dark and terrible. Something familiar. Something also calling softly, sweetly to Dimitri. “Encounter, I, the demon who is devouring my brother’s soul.”

Fen knew that sweet, deceiving voice all too well. He would recognize it anywhere. Fen was oldest, Dimitri youngest, but in between there had been Demyan and almost from the beginning, Demyan had shirked duty. He’d been a man of little honor, and it was no surprise to Fen when he had, early on, chosen the path of the undead. Still, it was difficult to discover that his own brother had chosen to give up his soul and become the undead.

After that, Fen had checked on Dimitri often. Over the long centuries, he’d learned that his youngest brother was a force to be reckoned with and he never swerved from his duty, no matter how difficult. It had been Dimitri he had turned to when he realized he was both Lycan and Carpathian, and it had been Dimitri who had provided a sanctuary where he could go when he needed rest and healing. Fen had been the reason Dimitri had chosen brotherhood with the wolves in the wild by setting up sanctuaries for them.

Demyan called to Dimitri’s weary soul, promising him rest. Peace. No pain. Demyan was so busy focusing on ensnaring Dimitri’s light that he never saw Fen coming at him through the darkness. He never suspected Fen would travel so far after his brother.

Anger swept through Fen. Shook him. To think that Demyan had waited all this time, crouched in the darkness, still refusing to accept his responsibilities, waiting for one of his brothers to come in death, angered Fen more than he ever thought possible. Dimitri had fought long with honor in the world, and now, when he was at his most vulnerable, the light in him slowly fading, his own brother planned to steal that honor.

Furious, Fen struck out of the darkness, just as Demyan reached for Dimitri’s flickering light. Dimitri must have sensed danger, even so near death. The spirit light jerked inches from Demyan’s outstretched greedy fingers. Fen caught at his disgraced brother, and wrenched him backward. Demyan felt insubstantial, yet he cried out, a long wail of terror when he spun around and saw his oldest brother Fen ready to do battle.

Nen?m ; o kuly torodak.—In anger, I fight the demon.

He whispered the words into Dimitri’s mind. Into the mind of Demyan. He spoke the greater healing chant in the language of the ancients.

O kuly pél engem.—He is afraid of me.

He stared into Demyan’s eyes. You should fear me. How dare you think to steal our brother’s soul.

Tatijana, call down the lightning, give it to me, Fen whispered into her mind. He felt her immediate reaction, the hot energy sizzling through her.

Staring into Demyan’s eyes he repeated the next line of the healing chant. Lejkkadak o salamaval.—I strike his throat with a lightning bolt.

Demyan tried to run but it was too late—the lightning bolt followed Fen down the tree of life and struck with precision at Demyan. For a moment the world below lit up and Fen could see the other shadowy beings, red greed-filled eyes, watching nightly as pure souls of light passed beyond their reach. They waited, as Demyan had, for one who would recognize their voice and was not yet into the next realm, one so near death, but not yet dead.

The creatures had drawn close—too close—drawn not by Dimitri’s waning light, as they could not call to him, but pulled by the scent of Fen’s blood. He had open wounds he had not yet cared for. How bad the wounds were he didn’t know, nor at that moment did he care.

The spear of lightning sizzled through the darkness and Demyan fell back as did the other hungry creatures, blinded by the shocking white sword of pure electrical energy cutting through absolute blackness.

Fen caught the paperlike form of Demyan in his powerful hands. With the force of both Lycan and Carpathian, Fen held his disgraced brother still, face-to-face, looking into his eyes. “I break his body with my bare hands.”

Demyan shook his head, knowing what came next in the healing chant, but no sound escaped. There would be no mercy. Fen had none for him.

“He is bent over and falls apart.” As Fen chanted the words, he wrenched the paper figure in two, tore him into shreds and let the pieces fall. “He runs away.” He whispered the words into darkness as Demyan shrieked and wailed, trying to recover the pieces and shrink away before the creatures hovering close turned on him with all their greedy hunger.

Fen turned back to Dimitri’s waning light. The life force was almost gone. “I rescue my brother’s soul,” he said, continuing the healing chant.

As he neared his brother’s life-light, surrounding him with his own much brighter, stronger light, he heard a soft female voice, not Tatijana’s, whispering to Dimitri.

Don’t leave me. Stay. Stay with me. I know you’re weary. I know you’re hurting. I know I’m asking for so much, but don’t go without me. Dimitri. My love. My everything. Stay.

The soft plea was so intimate, Fen felt guilty hearing her. Skyler. Dimitri’s young lifemate, fighting for him across the continent. How strong was she that she could reach so far? Very few Carpathians could reach such a distance. A human. A child by the terms of Carpathian society. Yet she fought for her lifemate as courageously as any fully grown Carpathian would do.

The light grew a bit stronger, as if for her, Dimitri made a valiant effort.

Skyler must have sensed Fen’s presence. He felt her suddenly go still, studying him. Assessing him. She didn’t feel like a child to him, she felt like a woman. A warrior. One prepared to do battle should it be necessary. She clearly weighed him, friend? Foe? He actually felt her ready herself to do battle, and her strength was enormous and unexpected.

I will bring him back from this dark place. I am Fenris Dalka, Dimitri’s eldest brother. I will not leave him in this place of darkness. I have fought long and hard for him. He will not die this night.

She was silent a moment, assessing not his words, but the feel of him. She was indeed, strong. He liked her. She was a fitting lifemate to a warrior who had survived centuries hunting the undead and keeping darkness at bay.

Thank you, Skyler said simply.

He felt her move through Dimitri’s mind, brushing up against that fading light, stroking caresses, giving strength to him. She faded away, the distance too far to maintain for long.

“I lift my brother’s soul in the hollow of my hand,” he whispered, holding Dimitri’s life close to him. “I lift him onto my spirit bird. Following up the Great Tree, we return to the land of the living.”

Fen came back into his own body, swaying with weariness. He looked around him. Time had passed and he hadn’t known. He shivered. The ice of that place, even for a Carpathian, got into one’s bones and stayed. Tatijana had held the mist. He could hear Zev calling out to her. His voice sounded stronger.

“Give me another minute. We’re trying to save Dimitri,” Tatijana said. “The rogues have not returned. I’m aiding Fen in closing these wounds.”

She waited for Fen to turn his head and look at her. Immediately she knelt beside him and put her hands on his shoulder, leaning in close to expose the beautiful line of her throat to him. His heart clenched. Even there, under such dire circumstances, Tatijana was calm, thought ahead, and provided for him.

Fen didn’t hesitate. He enfolded her close to him, stroked his tongue once over that pulse calling so strongly to him and then he sank his teeth deep and drank. He had used up precious energy in his fight to save Dimitri, to bring him back from the brink of death. He needed to give Dimitri more blood and continue to heal his wounds before putting him in the welcoming earth.

Tatijana cradled his head as he drank. Stroked his hair. Her fingers caressed his temples. She tasted like heaven. Like a miracle. He had never considered taste before. She lingered on his tongue and filled every vein with a rush. He felt her spreading through his body claiming every part of him, organs, bone, tissue. All of him. Strength burst through him at the influx of ancient Carpathian blood. She was from a strong linage and she gave to him freely. He was careful to close the small wound on her throat, to heal it so that Zev’s sharp eyes wouldn’t discover his secret.

“You have many wounds of your own, Fen,” she said, kneeling beside Dimitri. She closed her eyes and put her hands over the lesser lacerations while Fen concentrated once again on his brother’s open belly.

“As do you, my lady,” Fen said, looking her over with sharp eyes.

“I healed most of them while I was in the air,” she said. “Have no worries about me. Keep Dimitri alive.”

Fen leaned over Dimitri, one hand hovering over the open gashes while he fed his brother more blood from his other wrist. Drink freely, my brother. And then you can rest.

Warmth burst from Tatijana’s hands. She spread it over Dimitri’s body while Fen concentrated healing light over his belly. When Dimitri had taken enough blood from him to satisfy Fen, Fen took his time packing each separate wound on his brother’s body with Lycan blood-stained soil and his own saliva.

Keep Zev occupied while I find a resting place for my brother, he instructed Tatijana and lifted Dimitri’s body into his arms.

Tatijana nodded. She looked a little tired and very pale. She hadn’t fed and yet she’d fought a battle, was wounded as well and she’d worked to save Zev.

I will return swiftly to see to you, my lady. Forgive me for not putting you first.

I would have liked you less had you done so, she replied. She raised her voice. “Zev, I’ll be right there. I’m sorry this has taken so long.”

Mist swirled thickly around them. He felt Tatijana’s feminine hand in the renewed veil of fog.

Fen took to the air. It had been long since he had used his Carpathian abilities. Staying in Lycan form, thinking like a Lycan, living as one had allowed him to keep the ever-present darkness at bay. Now he needed his Carpathian skills. He searched for a safe resting place where his brother could remain. He would return and give him blood when needed, but it could not be a place another might rest. No cave.

He found a field rich with life and knew the soil was extraordinary. A dog barked near the small dilapidated house and he silenced it automatically. Fen opened the earth for his brother. He went deep, weaving safeguard upon safeguard. Dimitri would be vulnerable should any enemy find him. He floated down with his brother in his arms, placing him carefully in the rich soil. Almost at once, he felt her presence again, that young-old soul that was Dimitri’s lifemate. He waited while she moved through Dimitri’s mind, assuring herself he was still alive, although still so close to death.

He won’t die, she declared. Will you, Dimitri?

When Dimitri stirred as if he might answer, she painted brushstrokes, small caresses over the cracks and fissures where the darkness had seeped into his mind. Be still. I will come to you soon, when you are healed and strong again. For now, rest. Take my love with you and wrap yourself in it while you sleep, just as I did yours for so many troubling nights.

There was such a simplistic honesty in her voice. A directness. And love. He heard it. She felt the emotion deeply for his brother. The connection between Dimitri and Skyler was strong. They were already intertwined although so far apart.

Mother Earth, I call to you. Skyler’s voice once more slipped into his mind through her connection to Dimitri. This is Dimitri, my lifemate. The other half of my soul. I ask a favor for your daughter. Hold him close in your arms. Heal him of every wound. He is a great warrior and has served his people well. Protect him from all things evil while you hold him close. I ask this humbly.

Fen actually felt the small shift of the earth around them. Richer soil pushed up from beneath him, to form a bed for Dimitri to lie in. Sleep well, my brother. I thank you for your aid this night. Without your intervention, I might not have gotten to Bardolf in time to save Tatijana.

He waited until the earth was filled in and the field was exactly back as it had been before he returned to the battlefield in the forest.
Chapter 4

“Great battle,” Zev greeted as Fen came out of the thinning mist toward him. Zev half sat, half laid on the ground, his back against a tree.

“You look a little worse for wear,” Fen said.

Zev was covered in wounds from teeth ripping at him and claws tearing him open. He was obviously in pain, but stoic about it.

“You might want to take a look in the mirror yourself,” Zev suggested with a show of his white teeth.

By the way he didn’t move, Fen knew Zev was in bad shape. Like Dimitri, he had taken the brunt of that last attack in order to give Fen time to save Tatijana from the Sange rau.

“Honestly, I’d rather not. Tatijana dealt with the carcasses. I still have to get those two home.” Fen jerked his head toward Enre and Gellert still shielded in the tree. “I have to admit, I’m tired.” He sank down, his legs a little rubbery. He’d given a great deal of blood to Dimitri and he hadn’t attended his wounds.

“You knew he was here, didn’t you? The abomination? You tracked him here.”

Fen shrugged. He didn’t mind Bardolf being called an abomination. The undead had chosen to give up their soul, but he knew that Zev would think Fen was Sange rau—bad blood as well, if the Lycan knew the truth about Fen’s own mixed blood. Fen respected Zev, so it was just a little disconcerting. “I suspected. I came across the rogue pack and thought I’d better try to do damage control, pick them off one by one if possible. But then I saw the destruction, and even for a rogue pack, it seemed too brutal.”

“I didn’t know,” Zev admitted. He sounded disgusted with himself. “I should have suspected. You called him by name.”

“My pack was destroyed by the Sange rau, years ago, and I went to a neighboring pack,” Fen explained. “Bardolf was the alpha. He was . . . brutal with the younger members. I had a hard time with him and knew I wouldn’t be able to stay long.”

Zev looked a little amused. “I can imagine. You’re pure alpha. One would think you would have a pack of your own.” There was a mixture of speculation in his voice as well as the laughter.

“A few months after my pack was destroyed, Bardolf’s pack was attacked by the same Sange rau that had killed most of my pack. The demon wreaked havoc, killing everyone in his path. He targeted the women and children first and then began killing the men. Bardolf’s mate and his children were killed in the first attack. Bardolf went a little crazy and went hunting on his own while we were burning the dead. No one noticed at first that he was missing. We tracked him to a cave deep in the mountains.”

Fen leaned his head back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes as Tatijana knelt beside him. Rather than the battle with blood and death, she smelled of the forest, fresh rain and wild honey, that elusive scent he found enticing. She passed her hands over his face. At once a soothing calm came over him. He looked at her face, so beautiful, her skin flawless, her lashes long and feathery. She smiled at him, lighting up her glittering emerald eyes.

“You need healing, Fen,” she said gently.

“So do you, my lady,” he answered, his fingers finding the wound on her shoulder.

The wind ripped through the trees, sending a shower of leaves and swirling fog rushing between Zev and Fen, hiding the glow of warmth and Fen’s mouth moving over the wound with healing saliva.

“It’s nothing,” Tatijana said aloud for Zev’s benefit. “Let me see to your wounds. They’re far worse. I will have to go to ground soon and any injury will heal fast.”

Fen couldn’t help but be proud of her. She never missed a cue. As far as Zev was concerned, Fen was Lycan. Tatijana had gone a long way to keep his secret safe. She bent over his wounds, her body partially hiding her actions from Zev, but Fen wasn’t too concerned. Carpathians were known for their healing abilities.

Her tongue stroked over the wound. His body clenched, reacted unexpectedly. Her eyes had closed, and she looked so incredibly sensual she took his breath away. He’d never thought in terms of sensuality, that was a new experience for him, and he was a little shocked at how intense his reaction to her was.

For me as well.

Her voice was soft, brushing along the walls of his mind, almost with the same sensuality as her tongue. She didn’t attempt to hide her wonder or her need from him.

“You said you’d tracked Bardolf to a cave in the mountains,” Zev prompted.

Fen couldn’t help himself. He touched Tatijana’s face with gentle fingers. She smiled, but she didn’t stop her work. She took soil from between them, where Zev had no chances of seeing what she was doing, and mixed it with saliva to press into the worst of the bite marks and lacerations.

“What was left of his pack went with me to find him—to aid him. There weren’t very many of us, and we had wounded along so we couldn’t go as fast as we would have liked. We didn’t dare leave them alone, not with the Sange rau so close, and none of us wanted to take the chance of Bardolf finding him and taking him on alone. I couldn’t leave them to go ahead. I knew none of them had the skills to deal with a monster like we would be confronting. That gave Bardolf a good head start on us.”

Fen was tired. Much more exhausted than he had been in a long, long while. Fighting in the other world, without his body and only using his mind and spirit, had been draining. Tatijana seemed to know, her hands moving over him with sureness, taking on some of the burden. Zev shifted position and groaned softly. It occurred to Fen that Tatijana had performed the same healing rituals on the Lycan.

Not the same, she denied. Her breath was warm against his skin as she knelt up and pushed the hair from his face to find a particularly nasty claw rake.

His body tightened unexpectedly. No, it’s not the same, my lady, he agreed, filling her mind with his warmth. It was the only thing he could give her without betraying who he was.

He glanced at Zev before he could help himself, afraid to put Tatijana in any more danger. He was tired and it would be easy enough to make mistakes.

Zev’s eyes were closed. Lines were etched into his face. He looked every bit as exhausted as Fen felt.

Fen laughed softly. “We’re in great shape, Zev. I’m not looking forward to another dance with this bunch, at least not tonight. Aside from getting our two drunken friends home safely, there’s a body in the forest the rogues killed. Tatijana and I found it on our way to the village. That’s what brought us running back.”

Zev stirred as though he might rise. Tatijana whirled around and held up her hand to stop him. He groaned and subsided.

“I don’t know what the healing rate is for Lycans,” Tatijana said, “but it isn’t this fast. If you don’t want those wounds to open again, give yourself a few minutes. I’ll get you back to the inn so you can rest. Let me take care of Fen first. But don’t you dare move.”

Zev laughed. “Are all Carpathians as bossy as you?”

Tatijana gave a little sniff, her eyes alight with amusement. “Only the women. We have to be. Our men are difficult, you know. We have no choice.” She turned her emerald eyes back on Fen. Laughter made the green facets glitter. She looked more beautiful than ever.

“If your men don’t treat you right, they don’t have brains in their heads,” Zev said. “You’re a beautiful woman, Tatijana, and hell on wheels in a fight. You didn’t even flinch.”

Fen felt himself go still. He looked around Tatijana to Zev. The man clearly wasn’t flirting, just stating a fact. Everything in him settled, when two seconds before, he’d been coiled and ready.

Tatijana nudged him. “Pay attention, wolf boy.”

Zev snickered. “That’s a good one. You fight like the elite.”

It was a probing question delivered in a casual tone.

Fen forced a smile, showing strong white teeth. He’d lived as a Lycan so long it was second nature to him now. He wouldn’t make a mistake, not unless Tatijana was in danger. He thought like a Lycan. Zev was cunning, intelligent and fierce, a very skilled fighter. He had walked into their circle and told them to leave, and had they, he would have fought the entire rogue pack alone.

“I’ve been around and without a pack, I tend to hunt more than most,” Fen admitted carefully. “Once I suspected Bardolf was running the rogue pack, I’ve spent most of my time tracking them, trying to pick them off one at a time.” He shot Zev a grin. “They’ve turned on me a couple of times and I got my butt handed to me.”

Zev studied him, eyes too old—too shrewd. “I doubt that. But you’ve seen your share of battles. You’re every bit as skilled as I am, maybe more, and that’s saying a lot.”

He hadn’t hid as much from Zev as he would have liked. Zev was one of the elite, and they were few. They were born that much faster, that much stronger and that much more intelligent than the rest of the Lycans. They regenerated at much more rapid rates. When a pack discovered a child with such attributes, he or she was sent to a special school for education.

“You must not have been very old when your pack was destroyed,” Zev ventured.

Tatijana sank back on her heels. “There you go, gentlemen. Both of you should live, although next time I suggest you move just a little faster. If you notice, I have very few bites on me.” She flashed a saucy grin at them both.

You healed them, my lady, and that is unfair, he teased her privately.

The Lycans looked at one another and then both of them laughed. The tension between them seemed to evaporate with Tatijana’s observation.

“Finish telling me about Bardolf and the cave,” Zev prompted again. “If you really think that he’s the alpha for this pack, I need to know everything about him.”

“We found massive amounts of blood. Scorch marks. A sign of a terrible battle. No bodies, but we knew Bardolf had met up with the Sange rau. All of us believed Bardolf had been killed by him, but there was no body.”

There was a small silence. Zev shook his head. “The others believed Bardolf died that day. You knew he was still alive.” He made it a statement.

“Bardolf did die that day, whether he appears to be intact or not. He tangled with the Sange rau and somehow he became just like the one he fought. I wasn’t certain, but the more I studied the battlefield, the more it looked wrong to me. Staged. The burn marks, the withered plant life, blood everywhere, but no body. Something wasn’t right.”

Very slowly, Fen could feel his strength returning. Tatijana’s powerful blood and healing magic was already working miracles and soon, his Lycan blood would kick in to aid in even faster healing.

“Where are you staying, Zev?” Tatijana asked. “I can take you there. Have you ever ridden on a dragon?”

“I can’t say that I have,” Zev admitted. “I’ve been around a few Carpathians over the long years, but only to hunt with them and not once was any of them polite enough to offer me a ride home.” He flashed a tired grin. “Of course, they weren’t nearly as beautiful as you are, and I might have had to object to them insinuating I couldn’t make it home on my own.”

“Of course you could,” Tatijana said. “But I’m not turning down an escort.”

You are amazing, Fen said. Zev has a lot of pride.

He’s hurt pretty bad. Even with his blood, and mine, it will take him several days to heal.

Alarm spread. Is he aware you gave him blood?

Centuries ago, the Lycans didn’t know what caused the combination of Lycan/Carpathian. Or for that matter, Lycan/Vampire. Clearly the Lycans didn’t distinguish between the two. They saw both as a powerful threat. So few crosses had been made that maybe the Lycan council still was unsure, but they must have guessed. They had access to laboratories and they studied and researched. Most likely they had to suspect a mixture of blood in this century.

I was careful, Tatijana soothed. Rest until I return. And be watchful. Don’t go to sleep on the job.

Fen found himself laughing. She was one smart woman. He had explained the danger he was in and she was going to be able to tell him exactly where Zev stayed. She’d taken Zev’s blood as well as given him blood. She could monitor him even from a distance.

“How do you both manage to wield silver?” Tatijana asked curiously. “Wouldn’t it harm you the same way it does the rogues?”

“We get used to using gloves,” Zev answered. “Or we coat our hands and arms with sealant. That wears off fairly quickly. I prefer gloves, and clearly Fen does as well.” He nodded toward Fen’s protected hands.

Fen had lived so long as a Lycan it was second nature to him to don gloves and he was grateful he’d done so the moment they had been threatened by the rogue pack.

“Are you strong enough to hold on by yourself?” Tatijana asked Zev.

Fen winced. That would hurt Zev’s ego. A hunter of rogue packs? A skilled warrior? To be asked by a woman if he could hold on all by himself? He nearly groaned out loud. He didn’t dare look at Zev’s face.

“I think I can manage. What about you, Fen? Are you safe here until she returns for you?”

Fen looked around the battlefield. There were several silver stakes lying on the ground in the ashes of the burned carcasses. He had enough energy to draw them to him after they left. He lifted one eyebrow. “You can leave me that silver sword. I covet that.”

“I made it,” Zev said. “It comes in very handy in tight situations.”

“What other weapons have you made?” Fen asked curiously.

Zev hunted with an elite pack. He’d been chosen, above all other hunters in his elite pack, to be the scout. He went ahead, investigating rumors and sifting through evidence before calling in his pack to clean up. Scouting put him in continual danger. Rogue packs could be as few as three but as many as thirty. The fact that he was still alive was a testimony to his skills.

“I’ll have to show you. Have you considered being trained?” Zev asked.