Dark Lycan (Dark #24)(98)
Author: Christine Feehan

"Let’s see what’s inside a hunter, my pets," Abel said. Smiling, exposing his brown-stained teeth, he reached down in slow motion and deliberately ripped open Fen’s belly. The vampire/wolf took his time, wanting Fen to feel the pain as he eviscerated him. The bats uncovered the raw flesh where his missing skin should have been and tore into him.

"Eating people alive is what they do best and I so enjoy watching," Abel taunted. "You weren’t quite as good as you thought, now were you?"

Fen felt a burst of pain that was not his own. That agony galvanized him into action as nothing else could. He was Carpathian before all else and he could shut off the pain from battle wounds. He’d done so for centuries. The silver was a different matter, but he could endure until something could be done.

"What happened to her, Abel?" Fen asked, forcing himself to lie quietly beneath the assault on his body. He stayed absolutely relaxed so Abel unintentionally relaxed as well. "Your lifemate? What happened to her?"

Abel went still. For one moment the malevolent lines disappeared from his face and he looked like the hunter Fen had known so long ago. The change in the Sange rau was fleeting, but it gave Fen that split second that he needed.

He slammed his empty fist into Abel’s chest wall with the incredible strength of a Guardian. He drove straight through with astonishing speed, his fist wrapping around the heart and extracting it before Abel even realized Fen had attacked him. As he extracted the heart, Fen rolled right over some of the bats, uncaring that they still bit at his flesh. All that mattered was destroying Abel.

A roar thundered through the lodge, shaking apart the structure that was left above them so that logs and debris rolled into the lake. Holes sprang in the walls. Fen palmed a silver stake with one hand, the heart in the other. Abel went insane, thrashing and screaming, his terrible claws reaching into Fen’s belly, pulling and tearing through everything he could grasp. His face contorted at the same time and he bit down on Fen’s shoulder and neck, tearing out chunks of flesh and wolfing them down whole.

"Get it, take it from him, my pets," Abel screamed. "My heart!"

Fen didn’t dare drop the heart on the floor. Already Abel’s bats had begun biting at his clenched fist to try to retrieve what the Sange rau had lost. He palmed a silver stake with his other hand, opened his fist and slammed the dagger home, driving it all the way through the heart, his own hand and into the floor.

Abel’s wail rose to a screech. He slapped both hands over the hole in his chest, shock and horror on his face.

"Go to her, Abel. Seek her forgiveness," Fen said. With his other hand, he used a downward motion, slicing through Abel’s neck with the silver knife he carried. He was forced to use the strength of the Guardian to remove the head.

There was so much blood. His. Abel’s. He was tired. So very tired. He expected the bats to leap upon him and tear him to shreds, but as Abel toppled to the floor, more water poured into the lodge, faster now, rising quickly and the bats retreated. With his last effort, he looked up at the sky through the holes in the roof. Lightning continued to edge the clouds. He called it down, directing it over Abel’s body and head, watching it burn in spite of the rising water. It seemed to take a long time and a tremendous amount of effort to finish burning the body, but finally, there was nothing left but ashes.

Fen looked around him, a little astonished that it was over. The water was more red than brown. He closed his eyes. Tatijana, my lady. I may not be able to keep my promise to you, but know that I love you with all my heart.

Chapter 20

Fen, you have to open your eyes. Wake for me. Tatijana called to her lifemate for the seventh straight rising.

In all honesty, he slept as one dead, and his wounds had been so horrific had not Gregori found him when he had, Fen would have died within another few minutes. It had taken everyone to save him, all Carpathians, participating in the healing chant. The people had come together providing strength and much needed blood, while Gregori, Tatijana, Branislava and Mother Earth fought for his life.

"I don’t understand why he doesn’t wake up." Tatijana looked to Gregori, her eyes welling with tears.

Gregori reached over and covered her hand gently in a rare gesture of compassion. "He’s alive. He’s rejuvenating far faster than I expected. I will tell you now, Tatijana, I did not expect him to survive at all. You must have patience. His spirit seems far away, but he hangs on."

"I can touch him sometimes, but then he slips away again," she said. "I just need him to let me in, just for a moment, and then I’ll feel like I can breathe."

"That is simply a reaction of lifemates," he advised matter-of-factly. "When you’re separated too long, the effects can be damaging. You know he lives. You know he will come back to you."

She knew he was giving her a warning. It was difficult to keep her mind steady and focused when she feared Fen had already slipped too far away from her. She’d made a promise to him though, and she would keep it. No matter how much sorrow weighed on her, she would find a way to hang on as he was doing.

The cave of healing was a peaceful place. The soil was dark and rich with minerals. Fen had been brought directly there by Gregori and the Carpathians had hastily gathered to try to save him. Tatijana had been horrified when she saw him. His skin had been peeled from his body in numerous places and he had chunks of flesh missing along the long raw patches. Larger chunks of flesh were missing from his shoulder and up close to his neck. The worst was his belly. Gregori had to keep his insides from falling out as he transported him back to the cave.

"Tatijana," Gregori said sharply, and then gentled his voice. "He grows stronger with each passing rising."

"Then why isn’t his spirit where I can touch it?"

"I don’t know. Perhaps he is traveling on his own while he heals. Look at his body. He rejuvenated far faster than I expected."

She nodded her head. "You’re right. I know you’re right." It was just that she wanted to hold Fen in her arms close to her body, feel his heart beating the same rhythm as hers. Just for a moment and then she knew she could breathe easier. Right now, it felt as though she couldn’t draw a full breath into her lungs.

"What are you going to tell him about Dimitri?" Gregori asked, clearly to distract her.

Tatijana forced herself to respond. Distraction was exactly what she needed. Still, she put her hand on Fen’s chest, right over his heart. "Even young Skyler has been unable to reach Dimitri, and their connection is unbelievably strong. I don’t know how to tell him that Dimitri was taken by the Lycans, and no one, not me, not his lifemate or any of you can reach him."