Dark Wolf(23)

Once we met, my love, we both knew our connection could never be undone.  I want this with all my heart. I want you with all my heart. I know I'm  ready. I would follow you anywhere, Dimitri. I would walk on fire to  get to you.

How can you be so certain?

Skyler crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at the branches  above her head. The forest was preparing for nightfall and the birds  were returning to their roosts. She was fully prepared to take the next  step in her life-her biggest step.

Today I met a stranger in the forest. I was alone with a man I didn't  know. He was big and strong and looked very tough. Before I actually saw  him, I felt his presence and knew he watched me. For a moment, I was  that terrified child again, helpless and hopeless and wanting to slip  deep into my mind where no one could harm me.

Sívamet, I am so sorry. Dimitri wanted to shake down the very trees  holding him prisoner to get to her. His Skyler. She deserved to always  feel safe.

No, it was a good thing. I knew who I was. I'm Skyler, lifemate to  Dimitri. I knew then that I could brave anything-even my past-in order  to get to you. I am your lifemate, and I will be all things you need as  you already are to me.

She knew she was committing to a physical relationship with him-that was  part of being a lifemate. She meant what she said, she would brave  anything for him, learn anything for him. He was already part of her.  She had found on this journey of awakening that she was beginning to  know the signs of physical attraction.

When he spoke to her, his voice was like thick molasses moving slowly  through her body, touching nerve endings she'd never known she had. That  attraction had been building over time. Sometimes she found she just  waited for that one note in his voice her entire body reacted to.

Dimitri turned her argument over and over in is mind. Everything she  said was true. They were already connected. No other pair of Carpathians  could span the distances they could. They already needed to touch one  another's minds continually. He tried to block out the pain, to think  clearly, so in this, he could do the right thing. Explain everything to  her. Let her see the truth of what their life together could be before  she made the ultimate decision.

You have to be certain, and before you make up your mind, there are  other things you need to know, reasons the Lycans have condemned me.  Those reasons will affect you as my lifemate. I am no longer Carpathian.  I have become more. Something different.

Whatever you are, I will be.

That is your loyalty to me as well as your youth talking. You need to  know the consequences. You need to have all the facts before you make up  your mind. Please. Listen to me and then really give it thought.

Skyler watched a leaf floating to the ground. A journey. The leaf had  lived out its existence one way and now was free-falling, trusting the  next journey would be the right one. I am listening, my love, with an  open mind. Please keep your mind open as well.

The Lycans call what I am the Sange rau. The literal translation is "bad  blood." One such as me is very difficult to stop-or kill. The thing  about this transition, Skyler, is that it continues to mutate. I don't  know what will happen if I try to convert you. I doubt I will take that  chance. Someone else may have to bring you fully into my world.

Skyler frowned, her fingers idly drumming on her thigh as she turned the  information he'd given her over and over in her mind. She could see why  Dimitri would be reluctant. He had no idea of the future or what he was  offering her. Male Carpathians didn't like other males around their  women much, but their relationship was different and had been different  almost from the beginning. Dimitri accepted her friends, Josef and Paul,  treating them as younger brothers. He knew how she felt about them; she  held nothing away from him when she opened her mind to his.                       
       
           



       

I know many Carpathians, Dimitri. I've been given two blood exchanges.  One more will be enough for a conversion. Gabriel and Francesca feared,  because our presence drew the vampire, that I would need to be saved in  an emergency. I'm not afraid of the conversion, she assured him with  absolute confidence.

Lifemates exchange blood. It is part of our physical relationship and  one we cannot deny. Eventually, over time, you would become as I am.

Do you really think that frightens me?

No, because you do not yet know what can happen. The Lycans all believe  that the Sange rau must be destroyed. They very well could be planning a  war right now over this issue. You will be hunted and hated. The  Carpathians call us Hän ku pesäk kaikak. The actual translation is  "Guardian of all." That distinguishes the Carpathian/Lycan from the  vampire/wolf. The Lycans refuse to acknowledge a difference. They  believe that no chances should be taken and anyone with mixed blood  should be destroyed.

Why?

A single Sange rau nearly wiped out their entire species, centuries ago.

Skyler studied the leaf as the wind gusted, taking it first one  direction and then spinning it in a different one. The leaf appeared to  be dancing. She lifted her hand idly and began to direct the dance  rather absently, the sound of the breeze playing through the leaves  creating music.

Xavier, the most hated and yet powerful of all mages, nearly did the  same to the Carpathian species, she reminded him. And yet, do you know  what I found out, Dimitri? I feared that side of me. I often tried to  deny that he was related to me in any way. In fact, so much so that I  have avoided any real relationship with my birth father, Razvan, because  I couldn't bear the knowledge that mage blood ran in my veins. But I  found, through this entire event, that being mage is a good thing.  Having those gifts to be used for good is a gift. What you are is a gift  to the entire world.

It is my Lycan blood that allows them to torture me.

It is your mixed blood that has kept you alive when no one else could  have possibly survived this long. They expected you to die long ago,  Dimitri, you know that's the truth. They would have done better to kill  you outright. What you are is a testimony to what can be used for good.

There is uncertainty of the future.

Skyler laughed softly, sharing her amusement with him. The leaf still  continued on its journey, its brief dance only delaying the  inevitable-as Dimitri was simply delaying the inevitable.

The future is always uncertain, my love. Especially now. I want this,  Dimitri, now, before whatever happens tonight, whether we succeed or  not. I will follow you wherever you go. We cannot be undone. Please make  me yours. She meant every single word. She was certain. Absolutely  certain that this was the right time for her-for him. And if they were  killed in this rescue attempt, their souls would be bound.

Dimitri had envisioned an entirely different scenario. He would have  held her in his arms, in front of her parents and best friends. He  wanted a celebration for her, a moment in her life that transcended  every traumatic event. He wanted elegant clothes and her favorite  flowers, a party of dancing and laughter, their joy shared with their  families. It was more of the human tradition, but she talked of such  things with her school friends.

He didn't want to be hanging in some tree like a criminal, his body torn  and starved. God only knew what he looked like-or would look like if  she managed to get the chains off of him. He would never again be that  elegant, handsome man she had grown so used to. He didn't want to be far  away from her with Lycans surrounding him or have her in danger while  sneaking through the woods in a rescue attempt, certainly not when he  bound them together.

He searched her mind. There were no doubts there. No regrets. She was  different-a grown woman-and she was coming to him as a woman. This was  her choice. He had promised her long ago that it would always be her  choice.

Skyler knew the exact moment he capitulated. She felt his heart race.  Swell with love and pride. The warmth of his love surrounded her,  swamped her, filled even that dark space in her mind where she hid when  she couldn't stop what was being done to her body. He was there, seeing  it all, healing her. Sharing her worst moments and holding her in his  arms while he did. He was Dimitri, her private phenomenon.

You have always been mine, Skyler Rose. Always. Te avio päläfertiilam.  He translated the ancient words for her. You are my lifemate. Éntölam  kuulua, avio päläfertiilam. I claim you as my lifemate.

Her heart gave a leap of joy. She placed her hand over her chest,  directly over her heart. Did you feel that, Dimitri? Even my heart is  aware of you. She knew those ancient words were the words she had  pleaded for. She felt them, tiny little threads weaving her soul to his.

Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed. I belong to you. I do belong to you, Skyler.  From the moment I saw you, you were not simply the lifemate I had waited  centuries to find, but you became my world as well. I love and respect  you.