Even worse than that was her growing fear. It was silly and very unlike her, but sometimes she found herself looking into shadows, her heart lurching with dread. It had to be the nightmares, the revulsion she felt whenever she remembered the feel of the vampire’s touch, the way his tongue felt rasping on her skin and the pain of his teeth as he tore at her neck. She pressed her hand to the spot burning in her throat. He was dead. Aidan had killed him and he would never be coming back. Not for Josh—and not for her. So why was her throat throbbing in the exact spot the vampire had torn open?
Alexandria shook her head to clear her mind. This was Christmas and they were going to have a beautiful one. She didn’t get snow in San Francisco and Joshua was thrilled with being in the Carpathian Mountains. He’d met so many of the men online and couldn’t wait to see them in person. She wasn’t going to ruin it for everyone because of silly nightmares.
Determined, she pushed the too-vivid memories away and began to walk along the faint path leading to the prince’s home. She knew the way, had seen it a hundred times in Aidan’s head and had memorized every step. He had wanted her to feel comfortable in his homeland and he had shared every memory with her, giving her a virtual map so that she could move around with ease.
The wind touched her face with gentle fingers, flakes coating her hair. She should have drawn up her hood, but she felt free, excited to be walking in the night surrounded by the thick expanse of forest, breathing in fresh, crisp air, peace stealing into her at last.
Skyler was waiting impatiently on the porch. “I think it’s ridiculous that Gabriel and Lucian don’t want me walking around by myself,” she said. “I managed to make it over here all by myself, before anyone noticed I was gone. No one makes Josef wait for an escort.” She wrapped her scarf around her neck and tossed the ends over her shoulders with a small dramatic sniff. “I am so not ever going to have someone telling me what to do all the time. Gabriel and Lucian are the worst.”
Alexandria frowned. “Josef contacted you and teased you about this, didn’t he?”
“He called me a baby. I walked over here by myself and I certainly can walk back by myself.” She dashed her hand across her eyes.
“Josef can be most annoying, can’t he? I think you should make it a priority to ask him to show you how he turns into an owl.”
Skyler regarded Alexandria with a suddenly thoughtful gaze. “Really? You think I’d enjoy that?”
Alexandria nodded. “I think it will make your day.”
A slow smile lit up Skyler’s face. “Thanks for the tip. Raven says hello. I think her turkey gravy wasn’t coming out the way she wanted.”
“Neither did my mashed potatoes. At the moment, the prince is wearing them.”
Skyler halted abruptly and blinked up at Alexandria. “Wearing them? The potatoes? Did you throw them at him?” A slow smile transformed her face. “I wish I could have been there.”
“I wish I hadn’t been there. Josh ran to me frightened and I turned around, forgetting I had a high-speed mixer in my hand, a mixer Josh and Josef had revved up for me. The potatoes splattered all over Mikhail.”
She met Skyler’s gaze and they both burst into laughter. The sound drifted through the forest, rising upward to meet the floating snowflakes. Somewhere an owl hooted, the sound lonely. A wolf answered, the howl long and drawn out, as if he might be calling to a long-gone pack.
“Alexandria,” Skyler said, and abruptly fell silent.
Something in her voice caught Alexandria’s immediate attention. “What is it?”
Skyler shrugged, attempting to look casual. “A silly question really. Do you ever hear the earth screaming?”
“Screaming? The earth?” Alexandria echoed.
“I know it sounds crazy. I shouldn’t have said anything, but sometimes”—she wasn’t about to admit how often since she’d been in the Carpathian Mountains—“I hear screaming.”
Alexandria shook her head. “I’ve never experienced that. Have you talked to Francesca about it?”
Skyler shrugged. “I’m probably being silly. I do that a lot, sort of a leftover childhood thing.”
The wolf howled again, and this time another answered it. It sounded like a challenge. Alexandria glanced into the darkened forest interior, a small shiver running down her spine. She began to walk faster.
“I played your new video game,” Skyler said. “It was awesome. Josh and Josef and I play late at night online. Some of the men join in too. I’m just as fast as Josef. Gabriel thinks it’s because he and Francesca gave me their blood, but I think it’s because I can focus so well. I have the ability to just go into my mind and it’s like I’m in the game. Josh told me you were working on something special for us. Is it finished yet?”
Alexandria pressed a hand to her burning throat. The non ex is tent wound throbbed as if it was still raw and the cold affected it. “Almost. I was hoping to give it to Josh for Christmas, but I wanted to tweak it a little bit. The graphics are almost too real. I think I may tone them down a bit. Do you play with others beside Carpathians on the internet?” She knew Joshua wanted to, but she didn’t allow him the contact with anyone on the internet other than the Carpathians Aidan knew.
“Josef does. He plays all sorts of games with people from all over the world. He has a really high ranking. He’s really good on a computer too. He can hack into anything—at least he says he can. Once he hacked into some Russian site he swore was a message center for a group of assassins for hire.”
Alexandria frowned. “Is he telling these stories to Josh?”
“Probably. Josh really looks up to him because he’s so good at video games.”
“Great. That’s my fault.”
Leaves rustled and branches hit together with a muff ed clack. The sound sent a shiver down Alexandria’s spine. The path to the house where Gabriel and Francesca were staying was little used and much more overgrown than the trail leading to the home of the prince. Alexandria tried to watch the forest, but there were rocks and long stems from wild bushes making the ground uneven and treacherous. If Skyler hadn’t been with her, she would have taken to the air and returned home.
“Josef is going to get himself into trouble. Hackers can be traced.”
“I told him that.” Skyler deliberately stepped on several small puddles so that the thin ice crunched beneath her feet and cracks veined out toward the expanse of snow-covered ground. For good mea sure she jumped onto the next one, splattering ice and dirt out onto the snow. “He thinks because he’s Carpathian he’s invincible.”
“Well, he isn’t.” Alexandria tried not to look at the spreading mud over the pristine snow. It looked too much like the long shadowed arm reaching for her—reaching for victims—in her nightmares. She took a deep breath, trying to push down the familiar dread building. Movement caught her eye and she glanced once more toward the forest. She was sure she saw a large wolf slinking along parallel to them.
“What is it?” Skyler asked. She had gone suddenly silent as well, her gaze sweeping the forest as if she too sensed an enemy.
“I don’t know, honey, but take my hand.”
Skyler swallowed hard, staring at the gloved hand. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I never touch people. I feel everything they’re feeling and I overload.”
Alexandria dropped her arm to her side. “I’m the one who is sorry. Don’t look so distressed. I should have remembered that about you. Just stay closer to me. Has Gabriel or Francesca ever flown with you before?”
“Of course. I’m not afraid of it. I like to fly. Did you see something?”
“I’m not certain, but if I did, I want to be able to get into the air fast.”
Skyler took a careful look around. “I don’t see anything.”
“Neither do I—now.” Aidan. I’m a little uneasy. I thought I saw a wolf, but I don’t know for certain. I’m going to get Skyler to safety, but meet me at Gabriel’s house. I don’t want to come home alone.
I will be there. Aidan�
�s voice was warm, reassuring. Do not take chances, Alexandria. Gabriel or Lucian will be coming to meet you.
I don’t know them. She sent her preternatural senses out into the region around her, trying to ferret out anything that might be the scent of an enemy. Wolves were abundant in the forest, but stayed away from the Carpathians. Many of the men had a preference for shifting into wolves. Seeing one shouldn’t be enough to trigger her alarm system, but it was shrieking at her.
“We challenged the males to a paintball game,” Skyler said, continuing walking toward the cabin. “It was Josef’s idea and should be fun, but Josh and I can’t shapeshift and neither can the other children. I told Francesca we need rules. Like no shifting and no communication between the males; otherwise, they have too big of an advantage, don’t you think so?”
Leaves rustled again, just a whisper of sound. A twig broke. Alexandria turned her head toward the sound. “There’s no wind. Something or someone is moving in the trees just to our left, Skyler. I think we should take to the air. I thought I glimpsed a wolf again through the trees. He was quite large, and moving at our pace, but it could have been my imagination.”
“Well, then, we’re both imagining the same thing,” Skyler said, moving closer to Alexandria. “I sometimes can feel things near. Let me just…”
“No!” Alexandria said sharply. “You have no way of knowing if it is a friend—or monster. If you open your mind, you might lead him right back to you. I’ve called Aidan to us and he is sending Gabriel as well.” She spoke as Skyler stepped into another ice-covered puddle. The crunch was loud in spite of the snowflakes, and muddy water spurted out in a long spray.
A shadow fell across the snow, a dark stain looking all too familiar to Alexandria. An arm reaching—stretching obscenely—growing as if made of rubber. Insubstantial—shadow only—yet she could see it reaching toward Skyler, slithering over the rocks and through the shrubbery like a snake. If it hadn’t been snowing she would never have seen, but with the white background, the fingers of the hand appeared bony and gnarled, an old hand with talons for fingernails.
To her horror, the dirty water from the puddle moved as well, ringing a tall tree like a dark noose, cutting into the trunk as if it were a garrote.
“Skyler!” Alexandria leapt forward even as Skyler instinctively jumped back. The tree splintered and cracked, the earth rocking beneath them. Alexandria could have dissolved into vapor, but she refused to leave the teenager exposed. She hurtled herself at the girl, intending to use her blurring speed to sweep them both to safety, but the shifting ground split, taking Skyler from her grasp. The best she could do was shove Skyler as far from her as possible, hoping to keep her from being smashed by the tree toppling down.
Even as the tree trunk groaned and splintered and the earth rolled, there was a terrible sound as the tree broke in half, knocking the top from the tree and driving the large, heavy branches straight down on them. Alexandria felt the blow to her head, the branch that picked her up and swept her down with alarming force. For one moment she thought she heard voices murmuring in a foreign language quite close, but she couldn’t make out what they said. She tried to turn her head, to see where Skyler was, but the movement brought on pain, a haze of stars that faded away to leave a black, yawning void.
“Alexandria?” Skyler tried valiantly to control the tremble in her voice. Gabriel! Francesca! She called her family to her, a shattering cry that swept across the night. They’re coming. She was pinned down under a heavy branch, her legs trapped, one hurting so much she had to fight back nausea.
Baby. We are coming. Hold on. That was Gabriel, his voice strong and vibrant, a rock to lean on.
You’re hurt. Francesca’s tone was gentle and soothing. Tell me how bad.
They were trying to reassure her, distract her, but Skyler felt danger surrounding her, pressing in on her with a suffocating presence. Her leg was bleeding, spilling bright red blood across the snow. If she moved, bones rubbed together with excruciating pain, radiating through her entire body until she broke out in a sweat.
Something moved in the bushes quite close to her. She couldn’t turn around to see what was creeping up on her. Hot breath exploded on the back of her neck and she cried out, trying to fling herself out of reach. Fur brushed her face as a huge wolf pushed through the maze of branches to inspect her wound.
Skyler froze, held her breath as the animal turned to look at her. The eyes were a brilliant ice-blue, startling in the midst of thick black fur. “I know you,” she whispered aloud, her heart in her throat. “I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?”
The wolf shifted. The heavily muscled, furred body gave way to a tall, broad-shouldered man with shining black hair streaming down his back. His face was harshly sensual, a carving of stone with lines etched deep and a strong jaw and masculine mouth. His eyes were so blue they seemed to burn over her.
“Why would they allow you to come out alone?” he asked. “It was foolish of them. If they do not guard you better, I will no longer allow you to stay with them.”
As he spoke, his gaze held hers, but she could see he had separated himself from his body, becoming a strong dominant spirit. She felt his presence the instant he entered her body. She wanted to scream, to fight, to evade his spirit. He moved through her with speed and purpose, repairing the damage to the nick in her artery, the bone, and lastly the flesh. All the while she shared his mind. Knew his memories, his implacable resolve.
Dimitri. Relentless hunter of the vampire. Protector of wolves and lifemate—to Skyler.
“No!” She shook her head vigorously in denial. She wouldn’t be anyone’s lifemate, least of all this man with his burning eyes and his dominant nature. She couldn’t conceive of being with a man so hard, so utterly certain of himself. Emotions poured into her, colors vivid and bright, so bright she feared she might go blind—or maybe it was his fear, his colors, his emotions. She couldn’t separate herself, as if by entering her body to heal her, he had wrapped himself around her insides, burrowing deep to find her soul.
His mind opened to hers, a dark place of haunting sorrow and hundreds of years of dealing death without remorse. He acted swiftly, violently—with absolute resolve. If those deaths were a part of his aching loneliness and terrible sorrow, she couldn’t tell. This was not a man to be swayed from his path. He followed his enemies with tenacity and ruthless, unrelenting persistence. Violence was his world and she would never—never—go back to that kind of life. She wouldn’t survive. As it was, just brushing his mind and finding the darkness, the coiled demon waiting—and willing—to strike, was so terrifying she wanted to retreat to that safe place inside her where no one else could go.
“You will not.” He made it a decree, pulling out of her body and back into his own. “You need blood.”
She shook her head. “Gabriel and Francesca will give it to me.”
He turned his ice-blue eyes on her, his look so cold it burned her skin. Skyler shivered, unable to look away from him, so frightened—of what—she wasn’t certain. That this man would change her life for all time. That he would consume her, swallow her whole. That he was harsh and unyielding, a man without compromise. Skyler had fought hard to belong, to come back to life when she had retreated so far. Dimitri wasn’t evil, not like her father, but he was a man of violence, of strong emotions and passions, yet capable of turning it all off so that he felt nothing at all.
She shrank away from him when he reached for her mind. Skyler felt the steady, relentless pressure and tried to build a wall, thick and made of steel, impenetrable, but he was too focused and too strong. She raised her arms up defensively as he reached to draw her close to him, a small sound of fear escaping before she succumbed to his control.
Dimitri drew her into his arms, allowing plea sure to burst through him, comfort—even peace. In hundreds of years he had never expected to find her. Necessity had made him cold—brutal even, but the warmth of her body, the sound of her voice, the softness of her skin bro
ught hope where there had been none. He could barely see with the colors so bright—barely think with emotions he hadn’t experienced in centuries.
He bared his chest and whispered a command. His blood would replace that which had been lost and it would encourage rapid healing. He sensed the others coming with all speed, but he closed his eyes and gave himself up to the ecstasy of her mouth moving over his skin, taking what he offered her, forging an even stronger bond between them. Because he had so little time, he bent his head to her neck and took what was rightfully his—not enough to convert—enough only to always find her, always be able to reach into her mind.
He raised his head and looked into the eyes of Gabriel Daratrazanoff. Legend. Swift, merciless killer.
4
Gabriel let out a long, slow hiss of anger. “How dare you touch her. She is a child and under my protection.”
Dimitri slowly shifted the weight of his body, whispering a command to stop his blood from flowing into Skyler. He rose to his full height, his lifemate in his arms. “She is no child, or she would be unable to restore colors and emotions. She is my lifemate and subject to the laws of our people.”
“She is human—a teenager, barely sixteen,” said Francesca. “It is true they mature faster than our children, but she is too young.” Francesca brushed aside Gabriel’s restraining hand and held out her arms. “Give her to me before you bring her out from under your enthrallment. I don’t want her to wake frightened.”
Gabriel stepped forward, his black eyes glittering with lethal menace. “I remember you, a boy who ran from us many long years ago.”
Dimitri turned his head to look at the legendary twin, blue eyes clashing with black like sharpened rapiers. “I am no longer a boy nor do I run from anything—or anyone.”
The earth shuddered, rolled slightly. “Have a care, Gabriel,” Mikhail snapped materializing with Aidan beside him. “Alexandria is trapped beneath these branches.” He searched frantically through the branches of the fallen tree for a glimpse of Alexandria.