Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(21)
Author: Christine Feehan

I see. You think it necessary to impress me. She listened to the rhythm. That sound is one Xavier used to ensnare his victims. It’s hypnotic on a subtle level. Whoever is using it was once trained by the mages. It is not natural.

What is going on here? A rogue pack has entered Carpathian territory with Bardolf, a wolf/vampire combination. And now another enemy? This makes no sense.

Perhaps it does, Fen, Tatijana mused. The prince’s lifemate, Raven, has a son. His daughter, Savannah, has twin girls. She is lifemated to the prince’s second-in-command. These children will grow into great power. Would it be so farfetched to think that enemies of the Carpathian people would be drawn here?

Fen circled the torn body. The werewolves had nearly pulled the man apart in their initial attack. Rogue packs enjoyed torturing and killing their victims and often fed on them even while their victims were still alive. The elite hunters, much like Carpathian hunters, had no choice but to destroy them. This body had been left as bait. It wasn’t an unusual tactic. Humans, as a rule, went looking for their lost loved ones.

Fen made it a point not to look above him at the clacking branches. An attack could come from any direction. Was it possible Bardolf had lesser vampires under his control? That had become more and more of a popular thing for master vampires to do. They took newly turned vampires and used them as pawns, sometimes building a formidable army.

I saw no evidence of vampires massing here, Fen told Tatijana, but get word to the prince this night that there might be a problem.

Tatijana sighed. If I let the prince know what is happening, instead of waiting for them to find out, they’ll know I’ve been out on my own. There was regret in her voice. The tapping is growing faster. You’ll have to be careful, Fen, and block the sound. As the rhythm changes, the hypnotic affects really take hold.

I don’t feel it all. He was more than Carpathian and more than Lycan. Things that worked against other species didn’t work on him-which was why the Lycans had outlawed his kind.

Please be careful. Don’t get all cocky. I’m on my way.

He read the growing anxiety in her voice. She had more experience with mage traps than he did and she clearly was worried.

Chapter 5

Tatijana approached the house built into the side of the mountain cautiously. She was under surveillance. She could feel eyes on her, and when she scanned, allowing her senses to flair out, she knew she wasn’t alone outside the home of the prince. She had no idea of protocol and how one approached him, or even if he was accessible. She’d met him briefly, but both she and Branislava had been so weak and injured they barely knew what was happening to them.

She stopped a few hundred meters before she reached the large verandah. She had plenty of room to defend herself if need be. Spreading her arms out away from her body to show she had come in peace, she waited while Mikhail Dubrinsky’s second-in-command, and protector, looked her over.

"Tatijana of the Dragonseeker clan," Gregori Daratrazanoff strode out of what appeared to be thin air. He looked impressive with his wide shoulders and glittering silver eyes. "To what do we owe this honor? We had no idea you had risen."

There was no censure in his tone, but she knew he wasn’t pleased she was unescorted. He was a great believer in their women being protected at all times. She’d gleaned that much about him before she’d gone to ground to heal. He was an excellent man to protect the prince, but he was not her keeper.

"I’ve stumbled across something I think is important for you to know, if you don’t already. I actually hoped to see you rather than disturbing the prince, so I’m grateful you were close. There is a rogue pack of werewolves hunting in this area and they answer to an alpha by the name of Bardolf. He is a mixture of both wolf and vampire blood and very difficult to kill. Lycans refer to such a mix as the Sange rau."

"Bad blood," Gregori translated.

Tatijana nodded. She was aware of time passing. Fen was on his own and wounded. She didn’t like leaving him so long. "Not only does his heart have to be removed from his body, but the silver stake must be inserted completely through the heart and then both body and heart burned. He can regenerate very quickly. It’s possible, but I don’t know, that he’s traveling with lesser vampires as well as the rogue pack."

She turned to go, but then turned back. "An elite Lycan hunter by the name of Zev is staying at the inn. He fought them this night and was badly injured. I did my best to see to his wounds. I was forced to give him blood, although I didn’t allow him to know. MaryAnn and Manolito De La Cruz could be in danger."

She hesitated. She had no idea what the Carpathians thought of mixing the blood of a Lycan and Carpathian. For all she knew they could consider it just as taboo as the Lycans. She had been told by Lara, her niece-kin, during one of the times Lara had given her blood while she was still healing, but that didn’t mean it was common knowledge that MaryAnn and Manolito were both Lycan and Carpathian.

"Why would they be in danger?" Gregori prompted.

She shrugged. "I only know that they are. I trust that you will warn them." Tatijana turned around and began to walk away, holding her breath, afraid he would stop her. She nearly ran into him, trying to listen for him behind her. She had to stop abruptly, almost bouncing off his chest. He had moved unbelievably fast-and silently-and had blocked her way.

"Where did you get this information?" His voice remained pleasant, matter-of-fact even, but she could tell he was used to intimidating those he questioned and that he expected an answer. Those piercing, intelligent eyes moved over her, dwelling on the streaks of blood she’d forgotten to clean when she was so busy trying to heal both Zev and Fen.

"I ran across the pack. They killed a man who had been drinking earlier in a tavern I’d visited. We found his body in the forest as I was returning."

He didn’t take his eyes from her face. "As you can see, we have heightened security around the prince, but it was more that I had a feeling and the fact that Raven and Mikhail’s son has survived his first two years than any real knowledge of a threat to the prince and his family. Lycans are extremely difficult to sense."

"These are not Lycan," Tatijana reiterated. "They’re considered a rogue pack, and the Lycan elite hunters have been called in to exterminate them. It would be a grave error to mistake the two."

His eyebrow shot up. "I suppose it would. Who is ‘we’? Who was with you when you ran across this dead body?"

"That’s not relevant." Because she was uncertain of how Carpathians reacted to the mixed blood between Lycans and Carpathians she had to protect Fen at all costs. She didn’t want to make an enemy of Gregori, but Fen was her lifemate. "I told you what I know because I felt as the protector of the prince you should be aware of the rogue werewolf pack. I’m still very uncomfortable in the presence of others. I need to leave."