He was weak from loss of blood. I gave him blood, but was careful it wasn't so much that he would know. He was in and out of consciousness for a few minutes until I got enough blood in him.
I could kiss you for making it easy on his pride, Fen told her.
There are much better reasons for kissing, Fenris Dalka. Perhaps you might consider one or two in my absence.
Tatijana floated Zev up to her back and waited until he was seated comfortably.
And wolf man . . .
Her voice had turned dark. Sensual. The blue dragon turned that wedge-shaped head, lowered her neck until her multifaceted emerald eyes were on the same level as his. His breath felt trapped in his lungs. His heart stuttered. Every muscle in his body tensed.
You haven't seen just how hot I can burn yet.
Fen nearly choked. He watched the dragon maneuver its long body through the trees until the mist swallowed them up. He let himself sway, one hand on a tree for support, just for a moment until the world stopped spinning. He kept pain at bay, even though that also cost in strength, uncertain whether or not Tatijana would touch his mind.
He still had the dead body to take care of, and he needed to find a warm body to provide enough blood to sustain and heal him. He would provide sustenance for Dimitri. It would take his brother a longer time to heal due to the extent of his injuries.
Fen had always, always stayed as a Lycan, thinking and acting as one, which helped him to keep the darkness at bay until this last century or so when his mixed blood began to add to the pull of darkness. Now he needed to go back to being Carpathian, at least until this night was over. He was going hunting, wounds or no. That was what Carpathian hunters did.
He took to the air, a long trail of mist streaking through the denser fog.
What do you think you're doing? Tatijana's voice was deceptively mild.
He wasn't buying it. My lady, I have duties to perform this night. As do you. Make certain your prince is aware of what is happening in his homeland.
Tatijana's amusement burst through him like sparkling fireworks. Our prince, Fenris. You can change your name to anything you want, your blood may be different, but you were born Carpathian and you will always be Carpathian. You may have left your homeland when another prince was ruler, but you have returned and you owe your allegiance to Mikhail, just as we all do.
She had a point. He had been alone so long he had forgotten there was an entire society attempting to rebuild itself. He had long ago resigned himself to being completely on his own. He'd never even heard of Mikhail or his second-in-command, Gregori, until Dimitri had filled him in on the news of the past few centuries there in the Carpathian Mountains.
It is so, my lady.
Wait for me. I'll only be a few more minutes.
She was tenacious-and worried about him. While it warmed his heart and made him feel alive and exhilarated, it was also a very bad combination.
Tatijana, what I do is dangerous. I can't do this and worry that you will be harmed.
Again she surprised him. There was no petulant woman, upset with him for brushing her aside when she'd aided him in battle and was still aiding him. She stroked a gentle caress through his mind. You do not know your lifemate. I absorb everyone's knowledge when I come into contact with them. Enemy and friend. It is a habit I acquired from my childhood when I had no other life than an intellectual one.
I hunt rogue and the Sange rau this night. Bardolf will not expect it and he will be weak, trying to repair himself.
And that is why your lifemate will be an asset to you on the hunt, she replied complacently. I am Dragonseeker. No vampire could hide from me, which essentially, that's what he is. He can sink into the wolf and I would still know he was there. I made a mistake tonight. I felt his presence and dove to protect you. I would have flamed him but you were too close. You were his target, Fen.
He had heard, down through the long centuries, that Dragonseekers could ferret out vampires when no others could. They were the only lineage in the history of the Carpathian people who had never had a single family member turn. Tatijana was Dragonseeker. More, she had been honed in the fires of hell, more precisely, in the glacier ice of the mage world. He couldn't discount what she said.
Fen had come across the rogue pack's trail of destruction and he'd begun to suspect that a monster, the combination of wolf and vampire, traveled with them or at least near them, but he hadn't known until Bardolf had come to kill him. If Tatijana said she had known immediately Bardolf was vampire and not werewolf, he believed her. It was difficult to tell an untruth to one's lifemate when you often shared the same mind.
Her laughter was soft and warm. So now you are thinking I just may come in handy on this hunt of yours after all, aren't you?
The difficulty as he saw it, would be letting her go. She was already deeply entrenched in his mind. He had been so alone for so long in a shadow world of violence and darkness, and with just one evening in her company she had brought laughter, emotion and companionship into his life. He hadn't even realized he'd missed such things. He could barely remember having them. He was under a death sentence and it was only a matter of time-this century or the next-but it would happen. He would be hunted down and killed.
He couldn't give Tatijana the most basic thing between lifemates-the blood of life. His blood was no longer pure Carpathian. He would never have given Dimitri his blood had there been an alternative, and in any case, Dimitri and he had shared so much blood over the centuries his brother was already well on his way to becoming a mixed blood.
That is not your choice, Fen, Tatijana reminded. I am no young child as Dimitri's lifemate is. I am centuries old and no one will ever make my decisions for me again. If my choice is you, then I will share all things a lifemate does, including exchanging blood. I am a woman. A warrior in my own right. I am an asset to you on the hunt and I refuse to be relegated to the role of a child with you making decisions for me.
There was no defiance, only implacability. Tatijana was not a woman to be pushed around and he found he admired her all the more for that. She was a fitting partner for him, which made it all the more difficult to protect her from his life-and herself.
She gave an inelegant snort of pure disdain. If I choose to be claimed by you, then I will share your blood with open eyes. This is not your decision alone, Fen. It is a mutual decision. My lifemate is my partner, not my keeper.