Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(15)
Author: Christine Feehan

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.