Dark Lycan (Carpathian)

Zev moved with astonishing speed, so efficient and skilled at killing the rogues, Tatijana from above couldn’t help but watch him. He flowed through the yard, making his way toward Destiny and Gary, even as he cut down numerous wolves. Those wolves rolling to put the flames out were in danger from both Zev and Jubal. Jubal wasn’t waiting for the stakes—he sliced through bodies and then staked them as he went.

Tatijana’s dragon had turned the tide in the front yard. She circled back for another view of the furious fighting in the backyard. The wounds were severe. The largest group of wolves had attacked the backyard, probably because there was more cover, trees, brush and even a fence the wolves could use as springboards.

Zev, Gary and Jubal had taken on the entire pack in the front, while most of the Lycan elite hunters were defending the back. Destiny clearly floated between, lending her skills to either side, depending on who needed her the most.

Tatijana studied the scene below her, trying to find where she could come to the aid of the Lycans. The Carpathian woman was small, but she was a powerhouse, mixing it up with wolves, blood streaking her body. Some of the blood belonged to the enemy, but clearly she’d been bitten several times and those claws tore open great lacerations.

Tatijana couldn’t communicate with the Lycans, but she could with the Carpathian woman. This was Joie Trigovise, Traian’s lifemate and Jubal’s sister. Several times it had been Joie who had given blood to both Tatijana and Branislava as they healed their minds and bodies in the rich soil of the Carpathian Mountains.

Joie had a cap of thick glossy dark brown hair. Her features were strikingly beautiful, yet at times she blended in with her surroundings, so, like now, it was difficult to keep an eye on her.

If there is a way to get all the Lycans under shelter, I could flame the werewolves, Tatijana offered. It certainly turned the tide in the front.

Joie didn’t answer right away. She rolled beneath a wolf, slashing at the back of his knees as she gained the back porch, where it looked as if six or seven werewolves were tearing at the back door.

Tatijana heard a child scream, a high-pitched frightened sound and then another younger one began to cry. The pitch of the roof over the back porch prevented her from seeing exactly what was going on or how close the wolves were to breaking into the house, but the cries of the children made her heart pound and spurred her into action.

The female Lycan leapt the wooden railing of the house. “Over there.” She indicated the corner of the porch where three more of the rogues were rushing to gain access.

Her name is Daciana. She’s a heck of a fighter, Joie informed Tatijana as she angled her approach to intercept the three wolves hoping to break into the house with their other pack members.

Are they into the house already? If they were, it was time to let her dragon form go and get into the fray with Joie, Daciana and the other Lycans. The werewolf pack couldn’t be allowed to breach the house and get to the children.

Tatijana knew Shea, Jacques’s lifemate, was inside. She was a doctor, a healer, not a fighter, but she would defend the children. Joie’s sister Gabrielle was in the house as well. She was a researcher, not someone who engaged in battles, but she would fight fiercely to protect the children. Sara had to be inside, Falcon’s lifemate. They had adopted these children and Sara was pregnant with a child. She’d miscarried her first pregnancy and was on bed rest with this one, but no doubt she would fight with the others in spite of everything.

Stay in the sky, Joie said, clearly reading her concerns. “Daciana, we’ve got a dragon on our side. If we can drive these wolves back into the open and get our people under shelter, Tatijana will flame them.”

Daciana glanced upward toward the dragon circling above them. As she did, one of the werewolves leapt from the railing of the porch up to the roof and launched himself skyward at the exposed underbelly of the dragon.

Oh no you don’t. Tatijana hissed the words in her mind.

She’d had her belly ripped open once and wasn’t about to have it happen again. As the wolf rose, his claws outstretched, she swung her neck around, using her wedged-shaped head as a bat to knock him away from her. He sailed end over end into the canopy of the trees several yards away from the house. He landed hard, snarling, raging and grasping at the branches to keep from falling.

He yelled threats at her, shook his fist and began climbing down fast as she swooped over his head. Tatijana knew it was reckless of her, but even inside the dragon’s body, she felt the rush of adrenaline. The little scream of a child, the sound of crying, had gotten to her as the blood and wounds hadn’t.