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once the small clearing was ringed with the pack, the wolves pacing, eyes glowing, answering his snarls with agitation and aggression to match his own. Fire burned in his mind, his heart, raged in his soul and was reflected in his eyes, now a fiery red.

Skyler tried to push past him, but he caught her arm, his grip like steel. "Who is this man to you?"

"My friend. Don't you dare hurt him." She would fight for Josef when she couldn't fight for herself.

The wolf pack bared teeth, edged closer, narrowing the circle. Skyler could make out the large shaggy animals, all in good health, all focused on Josef.

"You do not need to have male friends," Dimitri bit out, his strong white teeth flashing, showing a hint of his lengthened canines as well as incisors. His muscles rippled beneath his skin, crackling and popping as he fought off the change.

Frightened, Skyler began to back away from him again, sensing the wild rage rising, the animal taking over. But something, maybe desperation, pain, sorrow, something gave her pause. She touched him, her palm flat on his chest, looking up into his eyes. Even in the guise of a wolf, his eyes were always going to be blue, and right now they were turbulent and stormy. "Dimitri. He's a friend. Not a boyfriend." She shouldn't have to make excuses, but she couldn't stop wanting to soothe him. The need was every bit as urgent and strong as the desire to run.

He caught her hand, carried it to her lips and waved his hand to the slavering wolves. The circle opened reluctantly. "Go. Go now," he bit out, "while I'm still in control."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Skyler and Josef ran, careful not to touch each other, Skyler with a heavy heart and guilt clawing at her. She ran with tears streaming down her face wondering where they came from, feeling inadequate and a coward. She ran from Dimitri's pain and her own fears. Was there never going to be a safe refuge for her?

Chapter 10

Music filled the small confines of the room, spilled out into the hallways and drifted outside. Antonietta Scarletti-Justicano turned her head toward the sound. Two pairs of footsteps approaching. She sniffed the air, easily distinguishing the familiar scent of Josef and the unfamiliar scent of his companion. Female... young... and very distraught. It took a second to get past the girl's radiating fear to feel Josef's matching alarm. She lifted her fingers from the ivory keys and turned toward them.

"Josef? What's wrong?"

Skyler realized instantly Antonietta couldn't really see them. It was almost unheard of for a Carpathian to be anything but perfect physically. She tried to recall what she knew of Josef's aunt. She'd been a famous pianist before Byron had claimed and converted her and she'd been blind most of her life. Skyler moved closer to her in an attempt to make it easier for her. "I'm Skyler Daratrazanoff, Francesca and Gabriel's daughter." She didn't make the claim often, but she loved saying it out loud.

"It's lovely to meet you, cara," Antonietta said, her voice as musical as her fingers. "Please tell me what is upsetting you both."

"A vampire attacked Skyler," Josef burst out.

Antonietta reached out toward her. Instinctively, before she could stop herself, Skyler stepped back.

"I'm all right. Dimitri killed it."

"And then he touched her. Licked her." There was disgust in Josefs voice. "We barely got out of there alive. He had a wolf pack with him and the wolves would have killed us."

Byron! Antonietta summoned her lifemate immediately. "Josef, are either of you hurt in any way? Have you called Gabriel?"

"No!" Skyler protested. "Please don't do that. Neither of us is hurt. Vampire blood splashed over my hands and burned through my gloves. Dimitri was healing the burns when Josef saw him. Josef misunderstood."

"I didn't misunderstand him baring his teeth at me, Skyler," Josef snapped. "You didn't see him. There was death in his eyes when he looked at me."

"He saved my life," Skyler declared.

"Your heart is pounding very fast and loud," Antonietta pointed out. "I think you were far more frightened than you wish to admit."

"Of the vampire," Skyler insisted.

A tall handsome man strode into the room. "Vampire?" He glanced from his nephew to

his lifemate, and circled Antonietta's waist with his arm.

At once Antonietta could see the others in the room. Most of the time, when she wasn't tired, she could see shadows on her own, enough with her other heightened senses to know who and