Dark Wolf

13

The sound of muted weeping filled his mind. Dimitri’s eyes snapped open. He looked down at the woman in his arms. Skyler lay curled into him, looking smaller than ever. Tangled vines, bright in color, had wrapped them up in a cocooning blanket of living flora. Beneath the cover, both of them were naked, needing the soil to heal every wound. He caught glimpses of her body, white porcelain, marred now by several bullets tearing into her flesh.

Skyler’s hand moved against his neck, the smallest of gestures, a mere brushing of her fingers, back and forth, betraying nerves.

Immediately he waved his hand and commanded the soil to open, to allow in air and the night. A cool breeze instantly fanned their faces. Overhead stars glittered and the moon glowed a soft yellow behind lazy clouds. He shielded them carefully from any eyes or ears, wrapping them in a warm cocoon of privacy.

He brushed back the hair from her face, removing all residue from both of them, while allowing the living blanket to remain. He wanted her to be comfortable with him, not aware both were naked beneath that twisting layer of vines.

“What is it, Skyler? Are you afraid?”

Her long lashes lifted and she looked up at him. The moment their eyes met, his heart leapt in his chest. She had always been stunningly beautiful to him. As she’d grown into a woman, her Dragonseeker blood became much more apparent. The heritage ran strong in her, giving her ever-changing eyes, dark now, with the tips of her lashes wet.

“I can’t be afraid with your arms around me, Dimitri,” she answered. She turned her face up into his neck, rubbing like a cat over his skin.

There was a little hitch to her voice that caught at him. “What then?” He lifted her chin with one finger and bent his head to kiss away the path of tears. “Why are you crying?” He trailed more kisses, featherlight, to the corner of her mouth.

He felt her tremble, the smallest of shivers, but she didn’t pull away from him, rather she turned her face subtly so his next kiss brushed across her lips. “Csitri, we’re safe now.” He kissed her gently, demanding nothing. Asking for nothing. Simply telling her he loved her and holding her close were all that mattered in that moment.

Her lips curved into a faint smile beneath his. “We’re safe as long as we stay here in the ground, my love. I believe my father and uncle are somewhere close.”

“You have nothing to fear from your family, Skyler,” Dimitri assured. “Without you, I would be dead. As my lifemate, you had every right to do what you did.”

“I see. So if our daughter ever . . .”

“She would be locked in her room for the rest of her life,” he interrupted. “Our child will be timid and want to cling to her parents.”

She laughed, turning her face back up to his throat. Her soft lips brushed kisses over the three loops of burns circling around his throat and neck. Her tongue stroked caresses there, following the path of those silver chains. He knew why she’d awakened weeping. For him. Not for herself. She wept for him and the suffering he’d gone through.

He slid his hand into her hair, bunching the thick silken strands into his fist. “Beloved. It is done. We’re both safe and together. Paul and Josef are alive and will heal nicely. Both will be heralded as heroes . . . well, after their families and Gabriel give them lectures and try to put the fear of death into them. Which won’t work because they’ve already faced real death.”

She laughed softly. “That’s so true. Josef said he’d have to go to ground for a hundred years. But they came with me. Both of them. I have amazing friends.” Her lips went back to feathering kisses in between the silken stroking of her tongue.

A rush of heat sent small flames flickering through his bloodstream. Every muscle tightened, became aware of the woman in his arms. His woman. With every movement, her bare skin brushed his intimately. He caught enticing glimpses of her breasts, the rose-tipped peaks and the rounded, very feminine curves.

They were bound now, soul to soul, and even a man as strong-willed as her legendary father could never separate them again. He didn’t try to hide his body’s reaction from her. He respected Skyler too much to pretend anything.

She lifted her head to look down at him, her dark eyes shimmering with ever-changing color. “I want you to want me, Dimitri.”

He gave her a faint smile. “That’s a good thing, Skyler,” he assured her. “Because I do. It’s natural to want to make love to the woman you’re in love with.”

“You’ll need to be patient with me. I want you to teach me.”

He framed her face with both hands. “It’s okay to be afraid and to tell me when you are.”

She nodded her head. “I know. I know you now. I know I’m safe with you.” She leaned closer to him. “I missed you so much all the times you were gone. I have no idea when I began to really know I love you, but it’s been a very long while now and growing stronger every moment.”

“Thank you for coming to rescue me,” he said simply, meaning it. She’d saved them both, giving them a chance at a life together. “You saved my life.”

“I discovered, when I couldn’t touch your mind with mine, that there was no Skyler without Dimitri.” Her eyes went soft, that dove gray that he was especially fond of. “I suppose it was more of a selfish act than a heroic one, tracking you down.”

He laughed softly. “Only you would think that.”

The amusement faded from her eyes. “We need to find a place where we can be alone, Dimitri. I know I can do a better job of healing you, both inside and out, but not here. Not with the Lycans surrounding us and a mob of Carpathian hunters watching our every move.”

“No one is watching us now, sívamet,” he assured. “We’re deep underground. Even should the Lycans crawl on the roof of the shelter above us and look down, they could not see us lying here. I have created a shield that no eyes can penetrate.”

She collapsed against him, as if that small spurt of energy had gone and she was exhausted again. “I am trying not to blame all Lycans, Dimitri. Intellectually, I understand it was a few individuals, but I still want to kick them all.”

Her confession made him laugh. “Kick them all?” he repeated. “You’re priceless, csitri, you really are. I had something much more lethal in mind.”

“Dimitri!” She turned her head up to look at him again. “How perfectly wonderful. You are capable of wanting revenge. I felt a bit guilty that I’m not a better person.”

“I don’t think you ever have to worry that you need to live up to me,” he assured her. “I’ve got plenty of faults.”

“Like?” she prompted.

He leaned in to kiss her. This time his mouth was firmer, a little more insistent. He stroked his tongue along the seam of her mouth and then traced her soft, full lips.

“I’m not telling you. You have to find those things out for yourself.”

Skyler pressed her mouth to his, a soft little teasing kiss, brushing her lips back and forth over his, as if she was testing the sensation. Her tongue stroked over his lips, following his lead, tasting him a little tentatively, but growing bolder as she deepened the kiss.

His hand tightened in her hair, holding her still. She startled, a deer caught in a poacher’s light, but she didn’t pull away from him. Her eyes widened, went soft. That beautiful shade of gray, indicating she was relaxed and happy.

Loving with such intensity was terrifying—wonderful—but terrifying. He would never be the same. He would never have that perfect control of the emotionless warrior. He would forever need this small woman who held his life in the palm of her hand.

He took possession of that perfect mouth, so warm and soft and inviting. His fist bunched in the thick silky strands of her hair, anchoring her to him, his first aggressive, controlling move, his first demand. He waited a heartbeat, giving her the chance to pull away, but she remained motionless, a small bird with a fluttering heart, holding still, waiting.

His mouth coaxed hers to open for him, more of a claim then he’d ever made on her before, more insistent. He counted his heartbeats this time, afraid she’d panic and pull away, but her trust in him overcame any fears she had and she opened her mouth to him. He took control, sweeping inside to claim her as a woman, a lover.

The rush was hot and instant, an electrical charge sizzling through his veins, snapping along his every nerve ending. Love for her encompassed him, infused into his very muscle and bone, so that his need of her, rising like a tidal wave, melded with desire. There would never be a way to separate the two emotions, that devastating urgent hunger for her, and the overwhelming love.

His brain threatened to short out. His heart raced, nearly burst in his chest. Every muscle hardened as blood rushed hotly to his groin. Her mouth was sweet, tangy and hot, a haven of pleasure he wanted to visit over and over. He tasted passion, not just his, but hers as well.

Her need met his. Rose with his. Matched his. Her mouth was untutored, and that made it all the sweeter for him. She wasn’t hesitant, but maybe a little shy. Nevertheless, she followed his lead willingly, and when he touched her mind, there was no fear, only the need to give him the same pleasure he was giving her.

He kissed her over and over, allowing himself to drown in her passion, stealing her breath, giving her his. This soft, seemingly fragile woman had saved him with the core of steel running through her and the incredible feminine power she wielded. She had given him life once, a reason to live, and then a second time, when there was only agony and no reason to hope, she had come for him.

He lifted his head to look down at her, drawing air into his aching lungs. Skyler pulled back, looking at him with her enormous eyes, her lashes fluttering down to cover her expression, but not before he caught the stunned, dazed look. “Kissing is so amazing,” she admitted, settling into his arms again. “I think I could get addicted to it quite easily.”

“I am already addicted to kissing you,” he said, his tone low. “So let’s clarify, just in case we run into one of those not so nice things about my character. Kissing me is amazing. It would be very deadly for anyone else.”

A little shiver went down Skyler’s spine at his tone. He looked as calm and as familiar as ever—her perfect Dimitri—but there was something in the timbre of his voice and in his eyes that told her he was very serious.

“Silly man, who else would I be kissing?” Before he could answer, she laughed softly. “Except Paul and Josef and my family. They don’t count.”

Paul and Josef were her family. He’d accepted that a long time ago—and it hadn’t been easy. Once he’d looked into her mind and really sorted out her emotions regarding both boys—no—men now, the relationship between them had never bothered him again. In fact, he’d grown quite fond of both, regarding them as she did—siblings more than friends.

“We need to feed,” Dimitri said. “We’re both weak.”

She shuddered. “I don’t think I could just creep up on someone and sink my teeth into their neck, Dimitri. It’s not that I haven’t thought about it a lot, and Josef gave me his blood several times, but to just take someone’s blood that I don’t know . . .”

“That’s my job right now, not yours,” Dimitri said. “I believe your father and uncle are waiting for you to rise so they can make certain you’re alive and well. They’ll give us blood. They’re ancients and their blood is powerful. It will aid in healing. We’ll both need to be strong in order to get out of here. The Lycans really do have us surrounded. I’ve scanned the forest and they’re out there, waiting for all us to make a move.”

Skyler stroked her fingers over the blanket of vines. “We’re very lucky to have such help when we need it. Both of us were pretty banged up.”

His heart contracted. He never wanted to relive those first few moments when she had flung her body in front of his to prevent the silver bullets from hitting him. His arms tightened around her, nearly crushing her, but she didn’t struggle, just accepted his need to hold her close.

“Don’t ever do that again, Skyler. Can you imagine what it was like for me thinking you were dead?”

She turned her head to look up at him. “Yes, Dimitri.” Her voice was very firm. “I can imagine, seeing as how I did think it was possible you were dead.”

“I’m sorry, csitri.” He brushed another kiss over the top of her head. “I didn’t want you to connect with me because I knew you’d feel my pain.”

“Rather that than believe you were dead,” she said very soberly. She waved her hand and the blanket over them retreated. “I know I have to face my father and his disappointment in me for lying to them. I’d rather just get it over with.”

“You know I planned a wedding for you. A human one. The kind you talked about with your friends, with Gabriel walking you down the aisle. I wanted to bind you to me in front of them, and make that ritual special for you,” Dimtri reiterated. “It was important to you to include your family and I did want that for you.”

She got to her knees, wincing, as her body protested, telling her she wasn’t anywhere near healed. Kneeling up beside him, she leaned over him, framing his face, her hair falling around her like a silken cape. “Our ritual was special to me. I asked you, Dimitri. It was important to me that we be bound together. You didn’t dismiss me as a child. You listened to what I had to say. You told me your concerns and trusted me to listen to you. In the end, in spite of your reluctance, you did as I asked. That made our binding special for me.”

He frowned at her. “Has it been difficult to have so many people telling you that you’re too young for everything?”

She bent her head to his, brushing her mouth carefully over the chain loops burned into his forehead. “You have no idea how annoying it can be. Actually, it was Josef who made it easier for me. He finds it amusing that everyone around him dismisses him as a child. I developed a sense of humor about it—most of the time.”

She frowned, studying the perfect image of a chain burned so deep into his skin. She brushed a fingertip over it, tracing the chain completely around his head in a circle. She could feel where the chain had burned into his skull.

I call to you, Mother, bring forth your might,

As I seal these paths that would bring pain and blight.

I call to aloe, so green and cool,

Bring forth your life’s blood again to heal.

Each line I trace, may it fade day to day,

Taking all that causes pain away.

Her soft voice faded and she leaned forward to trail more kisses around the chain loops, and use the healing saliva as she traced the link with the tip of her tongue.

Dimitri found her ministrations not only soothing, and extremely intimate, but sexy as well. She had actually straddled his body, kneeling up, his hips between her thighs, her breasts pressed close to his face as she administered to him.

He brought his hands up to gently cup the soft weight of her breasts in his hands. He felt her quick intake of breath. She went still, but she didn’t move. Her heart fluttered beneath his hand. She leaned in again, pressing her breasts deeper into his palms as she kissed his eyes and down his nose.

She took her time to find his mouth, using a tantalizing roundabout path that included his ears and his jaw before moving back to his lips. He brushed his thumb over her nipple. Featherlight. Immediately he felt her reaction, the shiver, the heat, the flush of her body, her startled eyes jumping to meet his gaze.

“Kiss me, sívamet. I want to get to know your body. I’m not asking anything of you, this is not the time or the place,” he whispered, “but you are mine. This beautiful body is in my keeping. I need to see every wound. I need to know every curve. Everything that makes you gasp with pleasure and wince with fear.”

Her eyes searched his for what seemed an eternity, although she hadn’t stiffened or gone tense. She slowly linked her fingers at the nape of his neck and leaned forward to take possession of his mouth.

He kissed her deeply while sensations poured into him, igniting a flash fire in his every nerve ending. Kissing her over and over, wanting her lost in those same sensations, he began to explore her body with his hands. He mapped out every inch of her gently, the pads of his fingers going over her skin as if he was reading braille. The long line of her back. Her small rib cage. That tucked-in waist and those flaring hips. Her firm bottom that seemed to fit perfectly in his hands. Her thighs, and calves. Even her feet.

Dimitri took his time, exploring her body, careful not to make a single demand, simply familiarizing himself with her. Her breasts were very sensitive. She gasped each time he tugged or rolled her nipples. He licked at them, using a broad flat stroke of his tongue, as his hand slipped up her thigh to the growing heat between her legs.

She made a small sound that was somewhere between fear and excitement. He lifted his head to look into her eyes, keeping his hand pressed tight against her mound.

“Kiss me again,” he whispered. “Just let yourself feel. I’m not going to do anything but learn your body.”

She obeyed him instantly, finding his mouth again, kissing him a little frantically. He kept his hand still as he kissed her over and over waiting for her to relax into him again.

That’s my girl, he whispered into her mind. I meant what I said about taking your body into my keeping. You’ll always be safe with me. Just let yourself feel, not think. You’re with me, and I’ll cherish and protect you for all time.

He felt her settle, her body warm against his. The junction between her legs had grown hot and gone damp. He moved one finger in a slow, lazy circle, kissing her mouth and then her chin, down her throat, back to that soft swell of her breast. Every movement he made was gentle and nonthreatening, but designed to heighten her senses.

His tongue teased her left nipple, stroked and licked. His teeth grazed her and then he drew her nipple into the heat of his mouth. She gasped, arched, pushed deeper into him. At the same time, he pushed his finger into her tight, scorching hot sheath. Her muscles clamped down tightly around him, as if she grasped him with a tight fist. He nearly groaned aloud at the feel of her body’s reaction to his small invasion.

You’re all right. Just feel how good it feels when you’re with someone who really loves you. You’re my world. My everything. For me, you’ll always be the most beautiful, desirable woman in the world. I love you and I love your body. I want to make you feel like this, but more.

I’m not certain I can take more. She sounded frightened.

What is it?

I feel a little out of control.

That’s exactly what you should be feeling. When we do make love, csitri, we both will be a little out of control, but we’ll be safe with each other.

Slowly, reluctantly, he withdrew his finger, took another gentle pull on her breast and then lifted his head. She was wide-eyed, a little dazed, her breathing just a bit ragged, and her body was totally flushed. He kissed her again, this time long and slow.

“You’re so beautiful, Skyler. Just like this. I don’t think there will ever come a day that I’ll be able to resist you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close to her. “You surprise me all the time, Dimitri. You always seem to know exactly what to do. You make me feel beautiful and special.” She paused, squirming a little.

“What is it, sívamet?” Dimitri coaxed gently. “We’ve always been able to tell each other everything.”

“It’s a little harder, face-to-face with no clothes on,” she admitted. She pulled back just enough so their eyes could meet, blushing a deep shade of red. “I really wanted you. I was afraid, but I didn’t want you to stop.”

“I didn’t want to stop either,” he confessed, “but even though no one can see or hear us, I don’t want half the Carpathian population around either.”

“You even made me forget about them,” Skyler acknowledged. “My mind took off and went somewhere else.”

Dimitri laughed softly. “Lie back and let me take a look at these bullet holes. They’re still pretty raw looking. Do you hurt?”

“A little,” she conceded.

His hands were on her body, a little possessively, forcing her to lie back while he inspected the damage done to her. “These injuries are going to take some time to heal. Between getting shot and the conversion, I think your body needs to spend some time in the ground.”

“But not here,” Skyler said. “I don’t know how long this shelter will last. I’ve never tried such a thing before. Tatijana might be able to tell us.” She smoothed back his hair with loving fingers. “I’m not the only one who needs a lot more time to heal.”

He brought her hand to the warmth of his mouth, kissing her knuckles tenderly. “I’m just fine. A little blood and I’ll be up and running.”

She rolled her eyes. “I see. That manly man thing you’ve mentioned in the past. I guess I just haven’t gotten the concept. Worse, Paul and Josef now say the same thing.”

He grinned. “See? Even they know.”

Skyler shook her head. “I hate to burst your manly bubble, but they say it about themselves.”

Dimitri did his best to look deflated, just to get a smile out of her. Tension was beginning to wear on her—the thought of facing her father and uncle. She was worried about her mother and younger sister as well.

“Let’s go face the music and see if anyone has any ideas on where we can go and how we’re going to get there,” he suggested.

Skyler pressed her lips together and gave a small nod. “I’ll need clothes.”

“Have no worries, sívamet, I’ll make certain everything is taken care of.”

Dimitri clothed her in comfortable jeans and a soft, long-sleeved shirt. She kept shivering, although she could control her body’s temperature. He took his time, braiding her hair by hand, giving her a little extra time to sort out in her mind what she was going to say to her father.

“I’ll be right beside you,” Dimitri assured her. “You know I would never allow anyone to get ugly with you.”

“Gabriel isn’t like that,” Skyler said. “He’ll be disappointed . . . not angry. I hated lying to my parents. They didn’t deserve it, but I knew they would have tried to stop me.” She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him as he tugged at her hair. “Nothing, no one could have stopped me, Dimitri.”

He stroked his hand down her braid. “I know. Not even me. That’s just one of the million reasons why I love you. You scare me to death with your courage, Skyler, you really do.”

She smiled at him. “I told you, it wasn’t courage, it was selfishness. I wasn’t about to live without you.”

She could turn him inside out without trying. His heart had gone into some ridiculous meltdown. She took the breath from his lungs, made his blood surge hotly and found a way to make him feel the most intense, overwhelming love he hadn’t even known could exist.

There was nothing he could say to her, no words to express how, over the last three years, she had changed his life so completely. She’d given him purpose. Love. A reason to exist. She made every dark day he’d suffered over the centuries disappear. She made every brutal, ugly kill worthwhile.

Skyler. There was no other woman like her. A lump in his throat threatened to choke him. He forced air through his lungs. “Let’s do this.” His emotions were too raw, too intense. At moments like this one, he didn’t trust himself to be alone with her. He wanted her to come to him gradually, to see that a physical relationship was simply another aspect of sharing their lives together. Body. Mind. Heart. Soul.

He hadn’t considered that his gentle initiation would throw him into a firestorm of need or that every moment in her company would increase his love for her and only add fuel to that fire.

“You’ll need clothes, too, my love,” she pointed out gently, stroking her hand down his bare chest. “And don’t think I’m not going to spend a very long time on these wounds of yours the moment we’re alone and in a safer place.”

The intimacy in her voice, that soft, almost husky note sent fingers of desire teasing down his spine, testing his control to his limits. He knew she would use her mouth on him, on each of those chain links from his neck to his ankles. His body shuddered with pleasure at the thought.

Dimitri waved his hand to don his own clothes, making certain both of them were immaculate as he wrapped his arm around her and floated them toward the opening above them.

He wasn’t looking forward to facing her father either, but he wanted to see Fen. Fen had tried to be polite and not touch his mind, not interrupt his time with Skyler, but they’d always looked out for one another and Fen needed to see that Dimitri was alive and well.

Of course, he wasn’t all that well. His insides felt raw and sore. He was far weaker than he’d imagined he’d be or he would have given Skyler blood. They both needed the safe haven she’d spoken of, a place to heal and be alone.

Gabriel and Lucian stood shoulder to shoulder some distance from where Skyler and Dimitri had rested in the ground. They seemed to be studying the western side of the forest carefully, but the moment the couple surfaced, they swung around, sensing their presence.

Gabriel immediately strode toward them, Lucian a step behind. Skyler started to run to her father, but it was impossible, she was too weak. She had to stand, waiting, Dimitri’s arms holding her upright, for her father to reach her.

The moment he did, Skyler went into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Gabriel,” she whispered. “I would never have put you and Francesca through such an ordeal if I felt I had any other choice.”

Dimitri found her choice of words intriguing. He found himself admiring her all the more. He knew she was genuinely sorry for what her parents had gone through, thinking she was dead, but she was also taking a stand, signaling to her father that she was grown up and making her own decisions.

Gabriel’s hard hold on her had to hurt, but she didn’t wince or try to pull away. Her father kissed the top of her head. “We thought you were dead, Skyler. All of us. Everyone. Finding you alive is a miracle.”

Lucian removed her gently from her father’s grasp. “You scared the hell out of us, girl,” he reprimanded. “Meaning no one can possibly get angry with you now that you’re alive.”

Skyler hugged her uncle. “That’s a relief. I was worried I might be locked in my room for a millennium.”

“Gabriel couldn’t lock you in your room for an hour let alone a millennium,” Lucian pointed out.

Even as her uncle teased her, the legendary warriors had their gaze on Dimitri. He didn’t flinch. He’d never been a man to be intimidated, but he suddenly wished he was in a little better shape. He felt Fen come up on his right side. Big brother playing the badass. Fen could look intimidating when he wanted, and right now he was staring the twins down.

Skyler extracted herself from Lucian’s arms and leaned into Dimitri, deliberately, he was certain. She kept her smile as she wrapped on arm around Dimitri’s waist. He felt the slight trembling in her body.

“I asked Dimitri to claim me before I rescued him. I was afraid if I wasn’t successful, he would die. I would have chosen to follow him and I would have been terrified without our souls being bound together.” She looked her father in the eye when she told him.

Gabriel began to shake his head as she spoke.

Lucian put a hand on his shoulder. “It is done, brother. There is nothing to be done for it now. She’s taken the matter out of all of our hands.”

“He could have refused her.” There was a warning in Gabriel’s tone.

“Would you refuse your lifemate?” Lucian asked softly. “She was right to do as she did. Dimitri was in trouble and she went to him. She’s his true lifemate, there’s no denying it.”

“There was every chance I wouldn’t get to him in time,” Skyler said. She reached out a hand to her father. “I can’t live without him. You know what that’s like. If something happened to Francesca . . .”

Gabriel shook his head again. “Don’t say it. Don’t think it.”

“Daddy,” Skyler said, for the first time sounding like a lost child. “I had no choice. You have to see that and understand.”

Dimitri stirred, every protective instinct rising fast. His heart actually ached for her. Skyler needed reassurance from Gabriel. She had done the right thing. All of them knew it, but her father didn’t want to concede that she was old enough to make her own decisions. He didn’t want to let the child go and acknowledge that she was a woman.

Dimitri gathered her closer into his arms, sheltering her body against his. Going openly against Gabriel ran the danger of putting Skyler in the position of defending her father. Still . . . he wasn’t about to allow anyone, even her father, to make her feel so terrible and guilty. Skyler had chosen to save her lifemate. She had been mortally wounded in the process and had undergone the conversion. She desperately needed her father to understand.

“No one else could find him,” Fen said before Dimitri could speak. “Not even me. Whatever they have together is something very special.”

It took a great deal of discipline for Dimitri to stand there silently and allow others to plead their case to Gabriel. He respected the legendary warrior, but he wasn’t afraid of him, and he didn’t feel he owed him an explanation. More, he wanted to lash out and tell the man to see Skyler for who she was, not the frightened child Gabriel had taken in, loved and nurtured.

The walls around them suddenly shimmered, nearly folding in themselves. The ground shivered under their feet and above them, the ceiling seemed to fall and then recoil back into place.

“We don’t have much time,” Tatijana said. “We have to leave tonight—soon.”

Don’t leave your daughter hurting when you know she did the right thing, Lucian advised his brother. You should be proud of her. She did what no other could do.

She’s my baby. Our baby. Francesca’s and mine. Our first. You know what her life was like. There was true pain in Gabriel’s voice. First I give Francesca the news that she lives, and I promised to bring her home, and now I must tell her she’s gone for all time. We had so little time with her. I feel cheated.

You feel fear for her. You cannot control her world or keep her out of harm’s way. That’s your fear, Gabriel. Every father must face it. Look at Dimitri. Really see him. You haven’t even looked at him. What he went through—for her. To stay alive for her. What other man would suffer such a thing?

For the first time, Gabriel allowed himself to look at his son-in-law. His kin. Dimitri’s forehead and neck had the links of chains burned into his skin, nearly to the bone. He could see one layer that had been wrapped around the forehead and three loops around his neck.

His entire body bears these marks. Tatijana and Fen told me that inside his body, every organ and bone was burned as well. He was starved for over two weeks—hung on meat hooks and swung from a tree. He stayed alive—for her. She would have followed him and he knew it, Lucian persisted. This is an ancient hunter of exceptional skill. All know his reputation. Now you see not only his strength and determination, but his love for your daughter forever burned into his body for all to see.

Gabriel brushed his hand over his face. He shook his head. He knew he was being unreasonable. Skyler was in good hands. Dimitri obviously loved her, it was there on his face. He might not be ready for Skyler to grow up, but somewhere along the line she’d done so, maturing into her own woman, gaining confidence and making her own decisions. He couldn’t fault her for that. He knew, as a parent, it was the very thing he wanted for her.

He stepped up to the couple and clasped Dimitri’s forearms, Skyler in between them. “Welcome, son. And thank you for saving her life. Few could have accomplished such a thing. Her spirit was so far from us, neither her mother nor I could find her.”

Gabriel looked down at his daughter. “You made us very proud, Skyler. No one would ever have conceived that you, Paul and Josef could accomplish what all of us failed to do. Mikhail sent out search parties, but no one was able to find a hint of the trail.”

Skyler circled his waist with her arms and laid her head on her father’s chest, the tension slowly draining away. “I’m grateful you understand that I had to find him.”

Gabriel kissed the top of her head. “I do.” He glanced over his shoulder at the silent couple standing behind him. “I think there are others who wish to greet you and make certain you’re alive and safe. They’ve gone hunting this morning and can provide both of you with blood.”

Behind him, Skyler’s birth father Razvan stood tall and straight. He’d been the most hated man besides his grandfather Xavier, before it came out that he was imprisoned as well and Xavier had used his body to commit unspeakable crimes. He was her father, yet he didn’t know her. Razvan’s blood, both Dragonseeker and mage, ran in her veins.

Skyler had inherited her concentrated power from this man. The woman beside him was Ivory, his lifemate, keeper of wolves. She stood beside Razvan, close to him, yet able to move easily and quickly should there be need to fight. Her wolves traveled like tattoos on her body, watching her back, and now half the pack guarded Razvan as well.

The two were considered skilled, dangerous fighters. They rarely were around other Carpathians, but hunted vampires relentlessly.

Skyler’s hands tightened around Dimitri’s. She’d always pushed aside this part of her life, unwilling to face it, subconsciously viewing Razvan as a participant in the evil Xavier had done. She’d been sold to a man, both her mother and she, by the high mage. That man had sold her to others for money.

“You don’t have to,” Dimitri said.

“No.” She lifted her chin. “I do.”