Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(50)
Author: Christine Feehan

"Go, go, keep going," Jubal called out. "I’ll cover you."

The wolves leapt on Zev, tearing at him, biting great chunks of flesh from him. One very aggressive rogue went for the kill, going for Zev’s throat, while the others seemed determined to eat him alive. Zev fought back, using silver stakes and a shorter knife, but the rogues quickly pinned him with their numbers and weight.

A wolf managed to claw Gary’s arm as he raced past, leaving four long bloody furrows. Gary didn’t slow down or falter. He ran through the double line of wolves determined to get to Zev before the rogues killed him. The wolf got a second hold on him, spinning him around. Gary stabbed an arrow deep into the wolf’s thigh and broke free, jumping over a downed werewolf and putting on a burst of speed.

He’d broken through the double circle of rogues surrounding the elite hunter and now they were between him and the house.

Jubal let loose with the weapon on his wrist, a strange spinning very sharp tool. The edges of each of the four blades must have been tipped with silver because as the spinning blades struck a wolf, cutting through his arm, the veins in his body seemed to grow rigid and turn color on his skin.

Gary fired off two more arrows, downing two of the wolves in a fighting frenzy over Zev. "Can you get up?" he yelled.

Zev slammed a silver stake into the leg of the wolf pinning him down while the second rogue tore at his belly, determined to rip it open and yank out the insides. Zev threw himself away from the wolf, rather than covering his belly, sacrificing his body by giving the rogue time to rip him open, but giving himself the room to swing his sword, lopping off the wolf’s head.

Blood spurted from Zev’s belly and the wolves behind them seemed to go into a frenzy the moment they scented the weakness in the elite hunter. The headless wolf fell across Zev in a deliberate attempt to pin him to the ground as well as to protect his own heart from being staked.

Gary yanked the body away from Zev, slamming a patch over the deep laceration in Zev’s belly. Clearly the Carpathians were more prepared this time for the way the rogues fought. He followed the body of the headless wolf down to the ground, driving an arrow through the heart, using sheer strength fed by adrenaline.

The moment he bent over to punch the arrow deep, a rogue slammed into Gary’s back, driving him away from Zev and deeper into the front yard. The circle of wolves howled their approval and rushed the two men cutting them off from the house. Now that the three men were separated it would be easier to pick them off.

Zev staggered to his feet, found his sword still in his hand and was already in motion, flowing through the yard toward Gary, while Jubal fought with his strange weapon as well as a silver machete.

Tatijana saw Gary go down under the weight of several wolves and she dove fast, the dragon streaking down out of the sky, her touch delicate in spite of her size and speed. She blew a steady stream of flame across the werewolves’ backs as they bent, ripping, biting and tearing at Gary’s body. Zev swore-she heard him over the howling growls and screams of the burned rogues-as he fought his way toward Gary.

The rogues whose backs had been burned by Tatijana leapt away from the downed man, looking to the sky, more angry than hurt. She tried to pull up fast, knowing the giant leaps they were capable of. One leapt from ground to fence and then was nearly on her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tatijana saw the dark-haired woman run with long, confident strides over the rooftop and leap to intercept the rogue in midair. She held a knife in one hand and a silver stake in the other. The werewolf and woman slammed into one another hard, the momentum helping to bury the stake deep in the chest of the wolf. He howled, falling, reaching for her, and the woman simply dissolved in the air.

Who are you? Tatijana asked as her dragon streaked for the clouds. And thanks, I’ve had my belly ripped open already by one. It’s no fun. I’m Tatijana.

Of course. Clearly she’d heard of Tatijana and Branislava. I’m Destiny, lifemate to Nicolae Von Shrieder.

Tatijana had met Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and his lifemate, Natalya. Natalya was related to Tatijana-she was Razvan’s sister and a Dragonseeker as well. She guessed Vikirnoff and Nicolae were brothers. Where one was, the other probably wasn’t far behind. She was grateful to see a woman like Destiny joining aggressively in the battle. Tatijana wasn’t a woman to stand by and let others do the fighting if it was necessary. She didn’t know a lot about the policies of the Carpathian people, but it had been impossible over the last two years when others brought blood to Branislava and to her not to become familiar with a few of them.

Can you tell how bad Gary is? From her vantage point, Tatijana’s dragon could usually see far better than any human or Carpathian, but there were so many wolves fighting around him, she couldn’t get a clear look at him.

I’m trying to get to him now, Destiny confirmed. These things are fast. If the Lycans hadn’t joined the fight, we’d be in real trouble. We only had a couple of men here to help defend the children. They hit us only a few minutes ago, but the casualties are high. If it wasn’t for the Lycans, especially the one they call Zev, we’d have a few losses.

They hit the farm at the same time and they targeted Gregori, Tatijana informed her.

Her dragon made another circle high above the combat zone. The fighting was furious in the front, with only Destiny, Zev, Gary and Jubal trying to combat the number of wolves. In the back, there were six Lycans battling a larger force of rogues.

Is Mikhail’s son in the house? Gregori’s daughters? Tatijana was worried the sheer number of rogues would overrun the small defenses they had.

No. Sara’s children. Sara is on bed rest and Gabrielle is there with her. Gabrielle and Shea are in the house to be the last line of defense for the children.

Vikirnoff and Natalya? They had to be somewhere close and yet they weren’t in the middle of the fray. Tatijana couldn’t imagine either of them sitting out a battle.

Destiny ducked under one of the beasts, slipped past another and got to Gary. She plunged a silver stake through the back of the wolf tearing at Gary’s insides. Crouching, she got an arm around his back. He was a mess, his belly ripped open and great chunks of flesh removed from his chest. Once the wolves got a victim down, they tore him apart. Gary made an effort to rise, but he had to clamp both hands over his open belly, and he’d lost so much blood so fast that he was weak. The blood made him slippery and trying to lift him was impossible. The patch didn’t begin to cover the mess.

"Come on," Destiny hissed. "We’re not out of trouble here."

They were ringed by snarling wolves. She was bleeding in dozens of places. Zev was in nearly as bad a shape as Gary, and Jubal couldn’t get past the wall of werewolves to get to them.