Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(58)
Author: Christine Feehan

He walked right up to the sheet of amber that prevented him from reaching the prince, and slammed his fist against the plate. The mountain shook. Dirt and rock fell from the ceiling. Mikhail didn’t so much as blink. He stood straight and tall, his dark eyes staring straight into Abel’s. He appeared totally confident.

Vikirnoff and Natalya stepped up to the amber, as expressionless as their prince. Neither flinched when Abel began the complicated process of unraveling the safeguards. He did so with astonishing speed, proving he could see the coding. He made short work of the intricate guards that would have stopped even a master vampire. Next he began systematically tearing at the thick amber sheet. The amber stuck to his claws and muzzle when he leaned in to tear at it with his teeth. Still, he made steady progress.

Dimitri saw his brother materialize directly behind Abel, plunging his fist once more into the Sange rau’s back. Clearly Abel had been so focused on tearing down the amber guard that he hadn’t detected Fen’s approach. His mouth opened wide in a silent scream, blood trickled from his mouth. He shifted immediately, his body jerking and twisting as he did so, trying to dislodge the stake.

Fen streaked after him as Abel abandoned the tunnel and emerged out into the early morning sunlight. His high-pitched shrieks reverberated through the cavern, shaking loose more crystal, dirt and rocks. The debris fell on Fen, smashing him to the tunnel floor. Several larger boulders crashed down around him. He was pinned for just one moment before he dissolved the rocks and was up and after Abel. The scent of burning flesh was unmistakable. Abel had pushed his limit of being outside in the sun.

He’s gone, Fen, Mikhail said. You need blood and care. Dimitri needs the earth.

Both still live. Fen was deeply disappointed that he hadn’t killed at least one of them.

We’ve learned more than we ever could have expected. You and Dimitri took them both on and yet you still are alive. They are not invincible. Come back and let us attend your wounds. The sun rises and soon we’ll need to go to ground.

Fen sighed. He could feel Dimitri’s exhaustion and weakness. Dimitri’s lifemate Skyler was going to get angry with him soon if he didn’t take better care of his brother. Mikhail was correct, they both needed to go to ground and allow Mother Earth to heal them. He would gladly take ancient Carpathian blood to help heal his wounds. And he intended to give Dimitri more of his mixed blood. The Lycan would repair him at a much faster rate.

He frowned up at the sky for a few moments and then turned back to join the others.

Chapter 12

The cave of warriors was the most sacred place the Carpathian people had. Fen had come here only a few times in his youth, and the power of the caves had been felt deeply then, but even more now. He walked with Dimitri on one side and Tatijana on the other, through a series of smaller caves, each descending deeper into the earth. Each time they moved into the lower tunnels, that great labyrinth of caverns and chambers, he felt the absolute majesty of the place.

Few could take the heat in the lower caves. Carpathians could control body temperature so they were immune to the searing heat, but few other species found their way into the environment. The cave they moved through had crystalline flows draping the high ceilings. Overhead the formations appeared as great chandeliers, some with long white fringe hanging from nature’s masterpieces.

Fen hadn’t been in many cathedrals, but in his travels, he’d seen a few, and the series of subterranean chambers he moved through, undisturbed, untouched, the natural artistry of nature itself, seemed just as much or more places of worship.

Great columns, sculpted and beautiful, stalactites and stalagmites, grouped together in various shades of color formed a jungle as they went deeper.

Tatijana stumbled a few times on the uneven surface, busy looking in awe at her surroundings. "I lived in ice caves and didn’t think anything could be more beautiful, but this is amazing," she whispered.

Fen found it interesting that when speaking, all of them, even the warriors during a meeting, tended to lower their voices out of respect for raw nature.

"As we go lower, it’s even more beautiful," he confided.

They made their way through another long chamber, nearly four hundred feet long and almost as wide filled with more towering columns draped with various colors and shimmering shallow pools that reflected back the startling crystalline flows overhead and the sculptures surrounding them.

Fen knew part of the mystique of the cave of warriors was this long walk to gain entrance. The deeper into the earth one went, the more they felt at home. They were creatures of the night. Places like this massive maze of caverns felt like part of them.

They traveled farther down into heat. At first, Tatijana forgot to regulate her breathing and body temperature she was so busy staring in awe at the curtains and draperies, all different colors, some translucent and some dark with impurities, constructed out of calcite. Long fringe gave the illusion of shawls carefully woven, while other sculptures appeared to be capes or scarves. Overhead and dropping near the wall like great coverings were long, wide sculptures of breathtaking flowing stone, so that the entire chamber looked like a theater with thick, intricate drapes.

"How could you not come here every day just to look at this?" Tatijana asked. "My form is a blue dragon, so I need the cooler water, but Branislava would totally love this. Not that I don’t. It’s so beautiful, but I have to keep remembering to keep my temperature regulated."

Fen brought their joined hands to his face and rubbed the back of her hand against his jaw. "Your skin is always so cool, sivamet. No matter how hot it gets in these caves your outside temperature remains quite cool. I find that . . ." He waited until her eyes met his. Sexy.

Tatijana laughed softly. "You’re such a flirt, wolf man."

Dimitri groaned. "Enough of that. My woman is too far away for me to hear this kind of talk from you two."

That distracted Tatijana immediately. "She’s so powerful! I couldn’t believe her strength. I’ve never actually experienced that kind of healing power from a distance by anyone else. And she’s so young. A child really."

"In Carpathian years, a child, yes," Dimitri said. "In terms of human years and what she’s been through, she’s years ahead."

"Whatever the case, she’s amazing. I can’t wait to meet her." Tatijana narrowed her eyes. "Which means you can’t go near the Sange rau again, not for any reason. It took all of us to heal you the first time, along with Mother Earth. I think Fen nearly drained every drop of blood out of his body replacing yours. And now this time. Three days in the ground and more blood . . ."