Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(82)
Author: Christine Feehan

I lived in a cave my entire life, wolf man. I know insects. And what I don’t know I can imagine, Tatijana added with a little laugh.

The wind drifted over them, a soft, gentle touch that sent a ripple through the leaves around them. Above them, the clouds changed shapes as they lazily floated across the dark sky. A slapping sound suddenly disrupted the silence of the night. Inside the cave, a muffled yell, quickly silenced, was heard.

Suddenly at the entrance, men in various stages of shifting began pouring out of the cave, nearly falling over one another, slapping at their clothes and fur. Two stumbled and fell, creating chaos for those still inside. The two downed werewolves were trampled as those inside, desperate to vacate, simply ran over them. Swarms of red ants covered their bodies so that they looked as if their clothes and skin were alive and moving.

That woman is a terror, Zev observed, hardly able to contain his laughter. We may as well go home and let her handle this.

Fen couldn’t help but find the situation amusing. His lady did have a scary imagination, sending revved-up fire ants swarming over the werewolves. Make certain none of us get bit, he warned her.

Don’t be such a baby. She gave a little sniff of disdain, but he felt her laughter. She did have a nasty little sense of humor.

I believe in retaliation, he warned, although his threat was an empty one and they both knew it.

Tatijana laughed softly and he felt her fingers brush down the side of his face.

I brought them out of there, now it’s your turn. And check on your brother, after. Something’s not right.

What does that mean?

If I knew I wouldn’t have said to check on him. Again there was that soft laughter.

Fen shook his head, but he did locate his brother. Dimitri appeared to be like the rest of them, waiting for Zev’s signal to move in on the werewolves. He touched Dimitri’s mind, just to assure himself. Dimitri blocked a merge with him, shocking him, but he turned his head toward Fen and gave him a thumbs-up.

Fen sighed. He couldn’t worry about Dimitri in the middle of a battle with rogues. Fen counted fourteen werewolves exiting the cave. If the Sange rau were breaking the larger pack into smaller units, their numbers were definitely depleted. The units before had been much bigger, twenty-five or thirty.

Zev signaled the hunters forward. They had formed a loose semicircle around the entrance and they went at the werewolves, springing out of the brush to attack. Fen moved fast, using the silver stakes as quickly as possible, wanting to get it over with. It felt like a massacre, the screams and blood and smell of death.

He’d had several lifetimes of hunting and destroying those preying on others. He knew it was the only thing they could do, but it still was difficult at times. The rogues were caught unawares and only a handful managed to fight back. The elite hunters used silver swords to remove the heads before the bodies were gathered and burned. The scent of burning fur and flesh made him feel sick.

Tatijana, did you find any trace of Abel or Bardolf? he asked to distract himself.

Well . . . she hesitated, clearly unsure. When I was flying around the mountain of mist, I felt a sudden shiver, an awareness of danger. It was there for just a moment, but it occurred to me that one of them, or both, could be holed up there. The mountain is above the one where the prince resides and it is possible someone could spy on him from up there. But, Fen, honestly, I don’t know, it was just a weird, scary feeling.

"Zev, Tatijana is going to land and pick me up. She may have found the lair of the Sange rau. I’d like to take Dimitri and check it out," Fen said.

Zev looked up at that sky. He could see the blue dragon circling above them. "I’ll never get used to that sight. It’s amazing. Dragons." For a moment he searched the sky, and Fen was fairly certain he was looking for the fiery red dragon. Zev sighed. "I can’t stop you, Fen, but you and I both know, even two of you have little chance of killing one of them. If they’re together . . ."

"I doubt they’ll be together. Vampires don’t trust one another that much. It just doesn’t seem to me like they’d share resting quarters."

"You’ve got the best instincts I’ve ever seen for hunting them," Zev said, "and you certainly know more than I do about fighting one. You’ve clearly had more experience, just don’t get yourself killed."

Fen nodded. "Good luck hunting the other packs. I’ll join you if nothing comes of this."

Dimitri, let’s go hunting. I’ve had enough of these rogues and their masters invading our homeland.

I was just waiting for you.

Shift to a dragon and I’ll go up with you. Once we’re out of sight, I can stop this pretense. We have to find them, Dimitri. I have a sense of urgency growing in me. I can feel a real battle coming.

Dimitri made his way to a small clearing and shifted without preamble, changing to the form of a dragon, politely extending his wing to his brother. Fen climbed up to the dragon’s back, settling himself before giving the go-ahead. Dimitri was never showy. His dragon was brown, but the spikes were razor-sharp. Beside the red and blue dragons, he looked drab and could be easily overlooked.

Fen knew that was Dimitri’s way. He was nearly always quiet, rarely putting in his opinion, but he was lethal and his dragon would be as well.

Tell me what’s going on with you, Dimitri.

Dimitri’s dragon stayed close to Tatijana as they winged their way through the night sky. Fen, the wolf is present. He’s strong. Very strong. He’s been with me a long time now. He spoke abruptly, without any warning, dropping the bombshell into Fen’s mind.

Fen let out his breath in a little rush. He’d known all along that his brother was well on his way to becoming what he was. Still, the wolf’s presence was undeniable.

He’ll protect you. The more you work with him, the faster you’ll merge, Dimitri.

Long before we came here, I had already felt him rising. Now, though, he’s different, as if we’re becoming one. All those years we hunted together. You giving me blood. Me using some of the Lycans for a food source when we were hunting with a pack. It never bothered me. I wasn’t afraid of the Lycans hunting me. I figured I could go to ground the way you do.

But now you realize it might not be such a good thing. Fen had realized the same thing some time ago, but he’d suspected it was too late for his brother. A male who spent lifetimes killing and living in darkness was extremely susceptible to the pull of the Sange rau, more so he thought than the Carpathian to the vampire.

There’s Skyler.

There it was. Fen had wrestled with that very problem. Did one have the right to expose his lifemate to such a thing when there was no data on a Carpathian/Lycan cross? The more questions that had been brought up, the less of an answer he had. He’d been selfish giving in to Tatijana’s demands. He had wanted to be persuaded, and he’d let her seduce him into it.