She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm Dragonseeker. The one thing for certain Tatijana and I learned in the ice caves was how to fight in a battle. Xavier tortured many warriors of all species and all of them shared information with us in the hopes that we could find a way to escape. Sometimes that was all we had to hold on to, the two of us planning battles and talking mythical scenarios to keep our minds active. I don't yet know many things, but I know how to fight if it's needed."
She looked so beautiful to him, there in the scattered moonbeams. Her hair fell around her, looking like living silk, long waves that emphasized her small, tucked-in waist. She moved with grace and he could imagine her as a dancer, but the idea of her in combat, especially against a wolf in Lycan form, half-man, half-wolf, was a little terrifying to him. She was almost dainty with her small bone structure and soft curves, far too feminine for him to think of her wielding a sword or a knife.
"I have excellent skills with most weapons. The modern ones are a little more difficult, because Xavier rarely brought in humans. They didn't last long or amuse him much when he tortured them. Their blood didn't help his ultimate goal, which was to be immortal."
Branislava wrapped her arm around one of the stone columns at the edge of the verandah and stared out into the dark of the trees. Zev noticed her hand trembled as the memories of her childhood and life settled over her. He pushed himself out of the chair, testing his strength. It was definitely coming back to him. He was far more tired than feeling as if he had been wounded or was ill.
He moved behind her and instantly felt the heat he equated with her. She seemed so cool when one talked to her. Low key. Quiet. But he was beginning to know her. Merged as he was so often with her, their spirits tied together, it was impossible not to see glimpses of who she really was--that person she kept safe from those around her.
Her reasons were all tactical. The realization swept over him, stunning him. She truly was a warrior. That fiery, passionate woman who she kept hidden was ready for warfare, for combat, just as he was always prepared for it. In a secret part of his mind, he hoped, when she was prepared to come to him, that she'd always be just as ready for their lovemaking.
He wrapped his arms around her from behind, locking his hands at her waist and drawing her back against his body. "Have you ever felt safe?"
She didn't pull away, but rather relaxed into him, keeping her gaze on the night. "In the ground after we were rescued. I could feel Mother Earth surrounding me, holding me in her arms, all that wonderful heat after that icy cold. I felt safe there. I stayed much longer than I should have and it made me feel as if I were a coward."
She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes meeting his. "I'm not."
"I can't imagine that you would be."
"I've never really interacted with people. We spoke to the prisoners in the ice caves telepathically. Sometimes we had to build a bridge for them, but we didn't really have conversations like this one. Both Tatijana and I have gaps in our knowledge. We try to learn as fast as possible, but reading information or taking it from memories is not always interpreted the way the event actually happened."
A wolf called, this time closer to the house. The night carried the mournful note. Zev frowned. "Did you hear that?"
Branislava nodded. "That wasn't one of Skyler and Dimitri's wolves. Or Ivory and Razvan's pack."
"It wasn't one of the local packs either," Zev said, putting her gently aside and slightly behind him. He stepped up to the very edge of the verandah. "But he's hunting and he's calling to his partner."
He reached for Dimitri. Did you hear? That is no neighbor of ours.
We heard. Dimitri's voice was grim.
"Fen, Dimitri and Skyler as well as I were put on a hit list by the Lycans. They have sent assassins to hunt us down and kill us." He turned to look at her over his shoulder.
Branislava was no longer in her elegant dress. She wore trousers and boots, and a soft shirt under a leather vest. Her belt was slung low on her hips, holstering an array of weapons. She was ready for war.
He had never hunted with her on the ground before, and he was a little reluctant when he didn't know her skills. In the air, with her dragon, she was precise and had mad skills, but hand-to-hand combat was altogether different.
She sent him a look from under her long lashes. "Try me."
It was the voice rather than her look that convinced him. Her tone vibrated with determination and even a hint of eagerness. She was a predator beneath all that cool beauty and her fiery nature demanded action.
"I'll follow your lead," she added.
"Let's do it then." He stepped off the porch. For the first time he used his Carpathian abilities to acquire his weapons. His long coat swirled around his ankles, the entire inside decorated with weapons, most of his own making. His belt held more weapons, as did his boots. A silver sword hung at his waist. He pulled on thin gloves to keep the silver from touching his skin. He was mixed blood, both Lycan and Carpathian, and silver burned when he touched it.
We're coming to you, Dimitri, from the south. That's where I pinpointed the wolf's position. We'll make a sweep and see what turns up. Let your wolves know we're hunting with them.
He isn't alone, Dimitri warned. He was calling to a partner.
Yeah. I got that. Is Skyler in your line of sight? He was mostly worried about Dimitri's young lifemate. She had amazing skills and the Lycans belonging to a mysterious group who wanted war between the species had particularly targeted her for death.
He tried to keep the note of worry from his voice. The Carpathians were fairly new in their dealings with the Lycans and they tended to underestimate them. Because of an order centuries earlier by their council, Lycans avoided Carpathians as much as possible and the two species hadn't interacted.
They'll be military trained with weapons, most likely guns, he warned, including Branislava in the circle of information. Don't forget, they're fast and strong and they hunt in packs. This one could have more than one partner. The one you see is not the one to worry about.
He gave the advice to Dimitri, but he was more concerned with imparting the information to the two women, although both had fought Lycans before. Still, he was worried. Dimitri had fought with packs and against them at various times throughout the centuries. Dimitri knew wolves and he would know how best to fight them. He was also a mixed blood, a Han ku pesak kaikak, guardian of all, which meant he could utilize both Lycan and Carpathian gifts. He was fast and intelligent and enormously strong.
Lycans can leap great distances, never assume you're safe if you take to the air, he added, unable to stop himself from reminding Branislava, although she'd done battle with the rogue packs before.
Branislava moved in silence, staying directly behind him. He realized she was following exactly in his footsteps, choosing the same path. There wasn't so much as a whisper of her clothing brushing against the leaves. Not a single twig or leaf snapped or crackled beneath the soles of her boots. She might as well have been a ghost floating through the night toward her destination.
Zev was Lycan raised and Lycan in his mind. He knew forests and how to travel through them in silence, but she astounded him.
You gave me the knowledge, she said. I'm in your mind and your ways are ingrained in you. I simply have to absorb that vast collection and I'll be up to speed. I refuse to be a liability to you when we hunt.
He felt pride in her. Her confidence level as a hunter was far stronger than when she was in a social setting. He understood why. As a prisoner, she had never really had a chance to learn the niceties that most learned as children growing up. She had learned battle tactics from prisoners, but not how to interact socially.
Her behavior made sense. She remained quiet, absorbing the knowledge of those around her, learning quickly. She appeared to be no threat whatsoever to anyone. All the while she was honing her skills for combat. In that time, she was also trying to learn how to behave in social situations.
Unfortunatel
y, she had met--and recognized--her lifemate. He had been mortally wounded, and all her plans of slowly absorbing the culture and society of Carpathians and humans alike had gone out the window in her efforts to save him.
His every sense was on full alert. He could hear the slightest movement, the mice scurrying in the vegetation, the various creatures that made their home in the underbrush. The insects continued to drone but he expected that. Wolves didn't disturb the natural order of the night. Still, he was uneasy and certain they were closing in on their quarry. He slowed his pace even more, inching his way through the brush, his gaze continually sweeping his surroundings, examining above, below and to both sides of them as well as in front of them.
He took two more steps and a frond attached to a very large fern moved slightly, a small jiggle. The wind was above them in the canopy, not moving through the forest around the large trunks. There was no legitimate reason for the branch to move as it had.
He stopped abruptly, but she didn't run into him. When he glanced at her over his shoulder, her gaze was fixed on the same branch. Pride welled up. Branislava knew what she was doing. She knew what to look for.
Zev held up his fist without thinking, sinking low in the brush. She obeyed the silent signal to halt, crouching even lower almost simultaneously with him. There was no sound, no whisper of movement. She was very good and he found himself giving her the respect he would a fellow woodsman.
Lycans feel the energy of Carpathians when they use any of their gifts, he cautioned her.
He was mixed blood and could contain his energy. Skyler was the only full Carpathian he had seen able to do it. Lycans couldn't sense her presence, not even after her conversion, and she wasn't yet a mixed blood like Dimitri.
He studied the ground around the fern. The forest floor was uneven. Roots ran along the surface like veins. Downed tree trunks, rotted and hollow were scattered around as if flung by a capricious hand. Leaves and pine needles were inches deep, undisturbed for hundreds of years--until now.
Zev spotted the twisted, bruised shoots at the root of the fern. Four large bushes intersected with the ferns springing up everywhere around them, nearly choking them. He could barely make out the sole of a heel of a boot, peeking out of the undergrowth. He touched Branislava's shoulder and indicated the telltale sign. She nodded.
Stay here. I'm going to move in on him, but be alert to any sound, any sway of a branch or ripple in the earth. If they know we're hunting them, this could be a setup. I'm relying on you to watch my back.
He turned his head to look into her brilliant eyes. She didn't look afraid. In fact, she looked calmer than he'd ever seen her. She felt calmer. She was definitely confident in her abilities and that gave him confidence in her.
He was just a little shocked at his reluctance to leave her. Many of the Lycan women fought off the rogues if their villages or homes were attacked. Many served in their countries' military, no matter where their packs were located. In his own elite pack, Daciana hunted with him, and he'd never doubted her or felt hesitant to leave her alone.
He didn't like Branislava out of his sight. That was the truth of it. He loathed to leave her side when danger lurked so close. He was fairly certain his unwillingness was due to his being her lifemate and not at all that he was afraid she couldn't handle whatever happened there in the forest.
A wolf called and by the timbre of the voice, he knew it was an animal. He recognized the pitch of Shadow, Dimitri's alpha. Another answered. That was the little female, Moonglow. Shadow howled a second time and Sonnet answered.
What are they saying? Branislava asked. One note doesn't mean anything.
She had taken him at his word and her telepathy was on a very narrow path, each word spaced and thin so the energy was dispersed almost before he could catch the words pushed into his mind.
It's a count. They've spotted four assassins creeping around in our forest. They must be looking for someone, and I would have to guess it is Dimitri's Skyler.
They'll get a shock if they get anywhere close to her. Satisfaction edged her tone.
We've got one close to us, so my guess is, they're hunting in pairs. There has to be at least one more.
He dropped to his belly and crawled through the brush toward the Lycan positioned between three heavy berry bushes. Hundreds of ferns had pushed up all around the bushes so that the fronds intertwined with the leaves of the plants, forming a natural shelter. The Lycan--and Zev recognized him as Rollo--was in a pack subordinate to the council member Randall's main pack. Randall's main pack was one of the larger that Zev knew of. The larger pack commanded three other packs subordinate to it.
Zev had often spoken to Rollo. He knew the man had a mate but no children, which wasn't uncommon. Few Lycans were able to have children other than the alpha pair. This was another man he'd liked. He was a good hunter. He'd served in the United States Marine Corps. He often ran with another man by the name of Ivaylo. Zev would bet his life Ivaylo was somewhere close by protecting Rollo's back.
He smelled the Lycan assassin now, the aggression, the mixture of trepidation and excitement that often came with waiting for combat to actually start. Adrenaline always kicked in when lying in wait to ambush someone.
Zev could hear Rollo's heart pumping like mad, a pounding beat that beckoned to him. He heard the blood flowing like water through his veins. His Dark Blood lineage--and he recognized it for what it was--had been called to the forefront. Mixed with Lycan and Carpathian, his senses were so acute it was almost overwhelming. He lay still, inches from his prey, letting his senses fan outward, seeking Ivaylo, the Lycan he was certain was Rollo's partner.
He knew they had served in the military together. The two men were fond of saying they'd joined together, left together and married their wives on the same day in a double ceremony. He stayed very still, waiting for the sign he knew would come eventually, revealing the second Lycan's position. Hunting was all about patience, and he had it in abundance. He hoped Branislava did as well.
Tension coiled. A tiny shrew ran over his hand, stopped and started four times before disappearing into the small field of ferns. Rollo sighed, the sound muffled as if his mouth was covered by his arm.
An owl dropped down fast, talons extended, making for the tiny shrew. The shrew made a high-pitched sound of distress. As the claws raked over it, the shrew dove into the crack between two small rocks. The owl missed its prey and with a small cry of disappointment, lifted itself back into the air with straining wings. The bird made for the tree several meters across from the ferns, flew toward a high branch and veered off sharply.
Zev followed the owl's line of sight. Sure enough, just as he expected, Ivaylo was lying up in the tree, covering his buddy.
Do you see him?
I was aware of him the moment the owl chose not to land. She was silent a moment, gave a soft sigh and then admitted the truth. I saw the owl dive for the shrew, but when it veered off, your conclusion was in your mind before I had the chance to actually get there myself. But I would have.
If we're going to make our way to Dimitri and Skyler to help them out, we can't have these two alive and hunting behind us, you know that, don't you?
Hunting was not the same as killing. Branislava was no soldier.
A wolf poked his head through the brush just a few meters from Rollo. Branislava inhaled sharply. This wasn't one of Skyler and Dimitri's pack, she could tell by the markings, but there were wolves local to the area and this one was too curious.
Zev swore softly under his breath. He knew exactly what they were doing now. The Lycans were aware that Dimitri was fond of wolves. They knew his reputation. These two are lying in wait for the others to drive the wolves this way. In doing so, they plan on drawing out Dimitri and Skyler.
A shot rang out. The wolf yipped and leapt into the air. Panting, eyes rolling in pain, it hit the ground hard. Several times it tried to rise, only to fall back again. When the wolf realized it was unable to walk, it tried to pull
its body along the ground to the relative safety of the heavier brush.
A cold anger formed into hard knots in his belly. That's sacrilegious, Zev hissed. No Lycan deliberately wounds a wolf. They're our brethren.
These two don't seem to mind in the least. Remember, they're hunting Dimitri and Skyler, probably you and Fen as well. I think I can make my way to the wolf and try to stop the bleeding.
Branislava sounded confident. He couldn't fault her courage. She waited for him to decide. If she went to help the wolf, and that in itself was dangerous as the wolf was wild and now injured, he would have to take out Ivaylo in the tree to protect her. That would leave Rollo only a few meters from her, armed and eager to kill.
I can do this, Zev. I want to do this, she insisted. Your great-grandmother hunted beside her lifemate and I intend to do the same. I have to start somewhere.
He nodded his head slowly and signaled her to go. She didn't make the mistake of using Carpathian skills to shift into something small in order to make her way across the ground to the brush where the wolf was hiding. She remembered the two Lycans would be able to feel that energy immediately. Instead, Branislava used her toes and elbows to push herself backward, deeper into cover, into a narrow rabbit's trail.
Not a single leaf, vine or branch moved as she made her way inch by inch through the tunnel toward the wolf. She was small, but he was shocked that she could use that passage without revealing herself to the enemy who was definitely poised and ready for anyone to show their face.
Zev didn't particularly give a damn whether or not Ivaylo saw him coming. The man had a rifle in his hands and Branislava was approaching a wounded wolf. She would come face-to-face with the animal any moment and all hell could break lose.
Zev used his mixed blood speed, a blurring, impossible-to-see quickness, as he raced to the bottom of the tree and leapt high, his claws slashing the rifle out of the Lycan's hands and tearing him out of the tree simultaneously.
As they both fell toward the ground, Zev twisted in midair, using Ivaylo's body as a shield to keep his buddy from shooting at him. He knew Rollo's attention would be on the desperate fight between Zev and Ivaylo and not Branislava and the wolf. They hit the ground together, Zev landing on his feet in a crouch and Ivaylo on his back in the dirt.