Dark Lycan (9 page)

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.

4

“G
reat 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.”