Dark Lycan (Carpathian)

“What are you going to tell him about Dimitri?” Gregori asked, clearly to distract her.

Tatijana forced herself to respond. Distraction was exactly what she needed. Still, she put her hand on Fen’s chest, right over his heart. “Even young Skyler has been unable to reach Dimitri, and their connection is unbelievably strong. I don’t know how to tell him that Dimitri was taken by the Lycans, and no one, not me, not his lifemate or any of you can reach him.”

She swept back her hair, although there was really no need. No stray strands had escaped, but she felt shaky and in need of covering it. “I feel as if I failed him. The moment we knew Dimitri was missing—that Vikirnoff found evidence he’d been taken by the Lycans, both Bronnie and I took to the sky, but even with dragon vision we couldn’t find him. I was so worried about Fen, I felt so desperate to save him, that I just didn’t take my dragon up fast enough.”

“Our best and fastest hunters raced after them,” Gregori pointed out. “Nothing has ever escaped so many hunters, and yet they came up empty, Tatijana. Dimitri’s disappearance is not your fault.”

“Zev told Mikhail that two of his elite hunters had taken him,” Tatijana said, shaking her head. “Do they want to start a war? Don’t they realize Fen will never stop until he gets Dimitri back? Never, Gregori, he’ll be relentless in his pursuit.”

Gregori nodded. “I’m well aware of that and so is the prince. Zev has given Mikhail reassurances that Dimitri will be safe for the time being. The Lycan council has sent word that they will come to a meeting with Mikhail. The Lycans don’t want a war with us. Neither species will win. We all know that. They won’t harm Dimitri while this summit takes place.”

“Why can’t we reach him? Why can’t Skyler?” With her hand still over Fen’s chest, for a moment, she thought she felt his heart flutter, and her heart jumped for joy, but when she looked down at him, he hadn’t moved.

“She’s little more than a child,” Gregori said dismissively. “You say they have a particularly strong connection, but look at you and Fen. He’s right here, close to you and yet he doesn’t awaken at your request. Sometimes the spirit travels on its own while the body heals.”

“Are you saying you suspect Dimitri is so hurt that he can’t respond?” Tatijana asked. “Because if that’s the case, time is of the essence and we need to go after them. Zev must know where the Lycans would take him.”

“I’m certain he does. Dimitri is probably on his way to their council. He is H?n ku pes?k kaikak—Guardian of all to us, but Sange rau to them and they fear the Sange rau more than anything else,” Gregori answered.

“Do they fear the Sange rau more than they fear war with us?” Tatijana asked.

Gregori sighed. “I wish I knew the answer to that, but Mikhail has called in all Carpathians for this summit. We’ve made it very clear to the Lycans the summit doesn’t happen if they kill Dimitri. They’re still coming, which they’d be insane to do if he wasn’t alive.”

“He’s alive,” Tatijana said. She was tired of explaining to both Mikhail and Gregori that she knew he was alive because Skyler knew. They insisted on viewing Dimitri’s lifemate as a child and didn’t really give credence to her abilities.

“Mikhail has quietly begun putting together some of our best hunters. Once you wake him and we know he’s strong enough, the hunters trying to track Dimitri will slip away with Fen leading them. We know that a couple of the Lycan hunters are nearby, watching to see that we don’t launch an attack on their people or try to retaliate, so we have to do this under their noses without getting caught.”

Tatijana couldn’t imagine Fen caring one way or the other that the Lycans knew that he was coming for his brother, Dimitri. He probably would want them to know. He would be absolutely merciless, implacable and maybe the Lycans needed to see that.

Gregori must have caught her thoughts. He leaned forward and shook his head. “You can’t let him go off after his brother without thinking of the consequences. If they know we’re coming for him, they very well could kill Dimitri. We don’t know where he is. They’ve found some way to silence him.”

“That’s more frightening than anything else,” Tatijana admitted.

Again there was that strange fluttering beneath her hand. She leaned over Fen and brushed a kiss over his mouth. Come back to me, my love. I need to know you’re alive.

“I believed Zev when he said he had no part in taking Dimitri, but more importantly, Mikhail believed him. He knows when people speak the truth. Zev didn’t give the order to take Dimitri prisoner, he didn’t even know he was of mixed blood,” Gregori said. “I suspect the two Lycans observed Dimitri in the battle and he gave himself away out of necessity.”