Dark Lycan (Carpathian)

18

Fen wrapped his arm around Tatijana. Branislava was safely beneath the earth, well fed and ready for sleep. Dimitri’s wound had been attended to. He’d been given blood and he, too, was in the ground rejuvenating. Tatijana and Fen walked through the forest—their favorite place—and just breathed in the crisp air. He knew she’d been traumatized all over again entering the ice caves and he didn’t want her to go to ground until they had talked it out.

He stirred her toward a spot where a series of natural pools had developed. The sound of water was calming and he knew the night sky would help to make her feel less claustrophobic. Going to a place of such natural beauty with waterfalls and pools, so entirely different than her prison had been, he hoped would ease the tension from her. He knew she was drawn by the sound and feel of water. He wanted to turn the rest of the night into something beautiful to erase what had come before.

“You were amazing,” he said, meaning it. “I know you were frightened.”

“Anyone would be afraid, knowing the traps and the hideous creatures locked away in that mountain,” Tatijana said, “but more, I was sickened. I couldn’t believe how nauseated I was. My stomach was in knots and a couple of times the smell actually made me gag. I locked away most of those memories so I could survive.”

“I’m sorry our fight with Bardolf led us to the ice caves,” he said as gently as he could. He tightened his arm around her shoulders. “I know I’ve got a lot of rough edges, Tatijana. You deserve a man who is gentle and always considerate, but know that I love you above all else and I will do anything to make you happy.” He regretted that he hadn’t figured out a way to keep her out of Xavier’s labyrinth of evil. He’d brought all those terrible memories crashing down on her. Where Branislava took to the ground, allowing the healing soil to keep the trauma at bay, Tatijana embraced the night, needing the freedom of the open air.

Tatijana frowned up at him. She lifted one hand to trace the lines in his face. “Why would you think I would want any other? Your words are sweet enough when I need to hear them. I feel surrounded by your love, enveloped in it and I need no one else. I chose to go back to that cave with you. It was my choice, and I appreciate that you understood it had to be my choice. More than anything, Fen, I fell in love with that trait in you. You let me be me.”

He took her deeper into the forest, listening for every sound. He wanted them safe and after the hunt for the werewolves, he was certain they would be. Branislava had found another unit of sixteen and Zev and the others had wiped them out. Abel was slowly losing his army. He would be much more wary of sacrificing his pawns until he had a concrete plan to carry out his mission.

More and more, Fen feared that Abel was working with someone else—someone far away. It would be rare for a master vampire to take orders from another, and in spite of being the Sange rau that Abel was.

“Where are we going?” Tatijana asked as he lifted her over a fallen tree trunk covered in moss. “I’ve never been out this way.”

“I’m glad. I wanted to surprise you.”

Already the sound of the falls was beginning to be heard. She turned her head toward it. “A waterfall? I had no idea.”

He felt the lightness in her heart lift away some of the shadows pressing down on her. “A series of waterfalls. They fall into natural pools. Two of the pools are fed from underground springs that are hot. The others are very cold.”

“Temperature matters little to a Carpathian,” she said.

He grinned at her. “Unless your lifemate can surprise you and toss you into a cold pool before you can regulate.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she said, her emerald eyes beginning to sparkle.

“Probably not,” he soothed, “but you never know. I am a wolf man, after all, and they do like their pranks.”

The sound of the falls grew louder, water cascading down the mountainside and dropping several meters into the pools formed below by rock. Over time the pounding water had smoothed the boulders and bottom of the pools until they were polished and even.

“Strange that I didn’t notice that jokester trait in the Lycans,” Tatijana said. “They looked like a sober lot to me.” She sent him a warning from under her lashes, but her eyes couldn’t contain her amusement.

He pushed aside fronds from a fern as tall as he was so she could get her first look at the waterfall and pools. They were hidden from view by a grove of old-growth trees whose trunks were as wide and thick as a small car. He watched her face as he held the lacy leaves back. Her entire face lit up. Her hair actually streaked with deeper shades of red. Her emerald eyes deepened in color until they were nearly the same as the deepest pool.