16
“E
ither we have to keep a Carpathian with us at all times so the women can communicate from the air, or one or all of you has to be brave enough to allow them to exchange blood with you,” Fen explained for the third time.
It was one thing to eat and be merry with the Carpathians, but a blood exchange was repugnant to every Lycan. They gave one another blood in battle, but to them, that was entirely different than what Fen was asking of them.
“Fine,” he said with a small sigh. “I’ll have to be the one to do all the communicating with our squads in the air. I’ll ask Tatijana to exchange blood with me.” They’d done so just this rising when he’d made passionate love to her, but he wouldn’t mind the rush before they set off to try to pick off the pack one small unit at a time.
“The woman will take your blood?” Zev asked, his gaze shifting to where Branislava and her sister were laughing together beneath the forest canopy.
“Her name is Tatijana,” Fen said, beginning to feel annoyance that he had to continue the charade of being fully Lycan. They were wasting time while the pack could be moving into position to attack.
The women were going up into the air because their energy output was far less than the men’s in any shape they chose. Tatijana, Branislava, Destiny and Natalya were all going, each taking a different direction. It could be dangerous if the
Sange rau
detected them and chose to defend their pack. Fen would be undetectable by any of them, yet he had to keep up appearances. It was frustrating to know Tatijana might encounter trouble.
“Would Branislava be the one taking my blood?” Zev asked.
Silence fell on the pack. His pack mates looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. Convel shook his head, his expression grave. “You can’t, Zev. We don’t know what could happen.”
“What will happen,” Fen said, gritting his teeth, “is we can get to work. We have four riders and four groups of hunters. I’m volunteering, but just in case we have another pack discovered, we need someone else able to hear. Destiny and Natalya are communicating with the Carpathian hunters.”
Zev didn’t continue to argue. He crossed the ground between Branislava and him, hoping she wasn’t as mesmerizing as she had been the night before. He could feel the gaze of his pack mates boring holes into his back. The weight of their disproval was heavy in the air. Still, his feet kept moving, striding now, covering the ground faster.
She turned and watched his approach, her emerald eyes a deeper green than he remembered, nearly glowing. And then she smiled and the very air left his lungs in a rush. He couldn’t decide if it was her hair, all that fiery red contained now in a fancy braid as thick as his arm, or her amazing eyes that sometimes, like now, appeared to be multifaceted, or her mouth with her full, inviting lips, that drew his gaze the most.
She let him come all the way to her. He was aware Fen had followed him and Tatijana had gone to meet him. They had stepped into the shadows and were shielded from sight by a large tree. Branislava simply stood motionless, waiting for him.
“My dancer,” he said, wishing he had some elegance to him, “I was told it was possible to communicate telepathically with you if you took my blood and I gave you mine. Would you be willing to exchange blood with me?”
“Yes, of course,” Branislava said. “Telepathy is the easiest form of communication. You can rest assured that I would never pry into your mind. I will simply relay information.”
“You could do that? See things in my mind?”
“Perhaps,” she answered, “but there is no need for such a thing, and you are Lycan. Lycans have different brain patterns and most of us can’t read your thoughts easily. I would think you have a rather good shield.”
He didn’t want to think too much about the consequences. “Let’s do it then. Tell me what to do.”
She took his hand and led him deeper inside the trees where the shadows would keep them safe from prying eyes. “Would you prefer not to feel anything at all? Or taste anything at all?”
“I’ve tasted blood. I’m a Lycan. I want to know what’s going on at all times,” Zev said firmly. He wouldn’t mind tasting her blood. Everything about her intrigued him.
She stepped close to him. So close. There wasn’t more than a scant inch between them. Her scent wrapped him up in velvet and left him reeling just as it had the night before. She put her arm around his neck and drew his head down to her. Her mouth moved over his skin, featherlight, but oh, so sensually. His entire body reacted, going hard with urgent need, blood surging hotly, every nerve ending alive and aware of her.
“You’ll feel the bite. A sting of pain but it will be gone quickly,” she whispered in his ear. “Trust me, I would never do anything to harm you.”
He didn’t even care. His every sense was fixated on her mouth and the way it moved over his pounding pulse so seductively. Her lips touched his neck and his gut clenched into knots of anticipation. His cock jerked strong, hard and alert. Her teeth sank deep and pain added to the intensity of his desire, and then it eased, giving way to pure pleasure. The way she took his blood was the most erotic thing he’d ever experienced.
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him, feeling his blood pounding hotly in his veins. His pulse thundered in his ears. He didn’t want her to stop. He wanted more, so much more. His hands moved beneath her shirt to find bare, satin skin. He slid his palms up her rib cage to cup the weight of her breasts, thumbs seeking her taut nipples beneath her shirt. He was so inflamed he would have taken her right there, in the deep shadows of the trees, but she lifted her head, closing the pinpricks with her tongue.
Their eyes met. The amazing green emeralds pressed into her face looked glazed, as if she’d just been made love to. She also looked a little confused.
“Sir, I believe you are trespassing into areas we never discussed in our negotiations.”
Shocked, Zev slid his hands from beneath her shirt. Her skin had been so hot to the touch that he actually felt the cold of the night on his fingers.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Every time you take someone’s blood do they feel like I do?” If so, he was just a little bit jealous, although he wasn’t familiar with that particular emotion and was guessing at it.
She shook her head. “No. It’s never been like that before.”
“Good.” He wanted to be her first. Maybe she’d remember him the way he knew he’d always remember her. “Do I get to bite your neck?”
She laughed, breaking the slight tension between them. “I think it would be safer if we just use my wrist.”
“Safer, but not as much fun,” Zev pointed out.
She bit into her wrist and offered it to him. Bright drops of blood seeped along the laceration. He took the proffered wrist and raised it to his mouth. Even her wrist gave off that beckoning scent of wild honey and citrus that he’d come to identify as Branislava. He licked at the ruby droplets. She tasted as good as she looked—better even. She could be addicting, and that was dangerous for his species. Hot, fresh blood this good was a temptation none of them dared have.
Lycans always had to be cautious ingesting blood. They were predators. Feral. Civilization had come to them, but deep in their hearts, they would always be wild. Blood sang to them. Called to them. Whispered and cajoled. Her blood was exceptional—the taste exquisite.
Branislava put her other hand on his shoulder, her eyes meeting his. The feeling was nearly as erotic as it had been earlier when she’d taken his blood. He let himself fall into her unusual eyes, let himself feel that moment fully. He would never again have a chance to be this intimate with her—and it was intimate.
Fen had said she couldn’t fall in love with anyone else but her lifemate, but she felt that same magnetic pull toward him as he did to her. He saw it in her eyes and felt it in her mind. Her blood was rich and hot. So hot. So good. It energized him.
“Enough,” Branislava cautioned. “I can’t be weak when I’m in the air.” She tugged at her wrist.
Zev let go immediately. He was rough and crass compared to her, but still, she didn’t take her gaze from his and she closed the wound in her wrist with her tongue.
“It’s done then?” he asked. “You can talk to me telepathically?”
Yes.
Her soft voice whispering so intimately in his mind was shocking. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to allow her to take his blood. He could barely breathe and he damned well couldn’t walk.
You try it. Talk to me.
There’s not much I can say without making a fool of myself. My attraction to you has been unexpected.
“Are you all right, Zev?” Convel called, anger edging his voice.
He should have known his pack would be worried. The moment Branislava had led him into the privacy of the trees, his pack mates must have become anxious that the Carpathians might be ambushing them in some way.
“I’m fine. We were just making certain it worked,” Zev called back. He smiled at Branislava. “Thank you, Miss Branislava, I think we’ll be able to hunt together.”
“I think we will, too,” she said. “My friends and family call me Bronnie.”
He gave her a little salute and strode out of the trees to meet his fellow elite hunters.
Tatijana and Fen joined Branislava the moment he left.
Fen took her hands. “You’re certain you’re up for this, Bronnie? Tatijana and I both gave you every memory we could of the
Sange rau
and how they fight, how fast they are. Any werewolf will go for your belly every time, and don’t underestimate how high they can leap.”
“I think I’ve been hibernating a long time and I need to jump right into the fray. Right now, I can be of use and I need that, Fen, to help push me to start living. Being a prisoner for so long and trapped in the ice can make one long for what’s familiar to them and certainly that isn’t the best thing for me.”
“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” Fen said. “Nothing can happen to either of you. I can be in the air in seconds and I travel fast. Just call for me.”
“Don’t you dare give yourself away to the Lycans,” Tatijana said. “I mean it, Fen. They’ll turn on you so fast. Mikhail gave Zev something to think about, but not the others. And you can’t count on him for protection. We’ll be fine. We know what to do.”
“Is everything all right?” Zev asked, coming up behind them. “We’re all ready.”
“I’m just making certain they know how the rogue packs work,” Fen said. “I don’t want them to take any chances with their lives.”
“You’re just giving us information,” Zev cautioned the women, adding to Fen’s warnings. “That’s all, just find them and tell us. The Carpathians will transport us if it’s a great distance.”
“We need the field,” Tatijana said. “Move your pack back into the trees.”
Zev nodded, glanced at Branislava, shook his head and walked away. Fen wrapped his palm around the nape of Tatijana’s neck and pulled her in close to him.
“He might look back, wolf man,” she hissed, but she didn’t pull away.
“I could care less,” he said, and kissed her. “Don’t you dare get hurt. Not a single hair. Do you understand me?”
“I understand you,” she said, and kissed him back. “I love it when you go all wolfie on me.”
Branislava burst out laughing. “Come on, Tatijana, let’s show them what Dragonseekers can do.”
The two women walked out of the trees, into the open. Both looked elegant in spite of their jeans, shirts and boots. They came out holding hands, but in the middle of the field they embraced and each turned and walked into the center of their quadrant.
“What are they doing?” Zev asked.
“Shifting,” Fen said. “And they need room.”
The two shifted almost simultaneously, their small curvy figures shimmering one moment and becoming something else altogether. Fen was used to Tatijana’s blue dragon. She was beautiful to him, with her long, spiked tail and wedge-shaped head. She could dive into water and swim beneath the surface for long periods of time. In her human form, after centuries in dragon form, her skin was always cool.
Branislava was just the opposite. She was a fire dragon, her crimson scales nearly glowing. She looked as if her dragon had been born in a live volcano, a part of the fiery blast, all red and orange. When she expanded her wings Fen heard gasps from several members of the pack.
She stood on her hind legs and flapped her wings, creating a windstorm. Tatijana followed suit. Fen looked around him. There was shock and awe on the faces of the pack as the two dragons took to the sky.
“You saw her in battle,” Fen reminded them.
“She was in the sky mostly,” Arnou defended. “I was looking out for my skin, killing as many of the werewolves as possible. I guess I didn’t think too much about it, but seeing them up close like that after seeing the women as they really are . . . it’s just . . .” he trailed off. “I have no words.”
“Amazing,” Daciana seconded. “I wouldn’t mind being able to shift shape.”
The pack burst out laughing. “You can, Daciana,” Zev reminded. “You’re Lycan. You feel like being a wolf, just shift.”
She shrugged. “It’s not the same. I’ve always been a wolf.”
“Tatijana and Branislava were born into the Dragonseeker lineage, a very ancient and honored line. They were actually in the form of dragons for several centuries and it’s far more familiar to them than their natural human form.”
He reached for Tatijana.
How’s it going up there?
It’s been two minutes, Fen. I couldn’t possibly get into trouble that fast.
Her laughter teased at his body, soft and intimate.
The night is fairly clear and that will help. We’re flying high though and using the existing clouds to mask what we are. From below, we just look like clouds in strange shapes.
Good idea, my lady.
I do have them occasionally, but I can’t take credit for that one. Bronnie thought of it.
It’s her first flight in a very long while, Tatijana. Are you certain she’s strong enough for this?
Branislava was family now. They were bound by Tatijana. More than that, he liked and respected her. He’d seen the glimpses of her courage when Tatijana inadvertently opened the door on her past and he couldn’t help but admire her.