Dark Wolf(31)

He doesn't yet have a sense of self-worth, Dimitri said. I can send him the information and caution him again that we need him.

Skyler turned her attention to the task at hand. Creating a diversion to move the guard was the safest way.

I call to the heart of a hunter,

I call to the scent of blood,

I call to the fox that is trickster,

Use your cunning to lead them astray.

They waited, crouched on the path. Skyler could hear the guard's heart  now, through her connection with Dimitri. She was astonished at how  acute his senses were. With her hands in the soil, she felt the movement  of the fox, trotting out just a little way from the wolf, out of sight,  but brushing his fur along a thorny bush.

Instantly, the Lycan responded to the furtive noise the fox made. He  moved with far more stealth, picking his way through the brush.

Now, we've got to go now, Skyler said. Suiting action to words, she was  up and hurrying along the green carpet, sending up silent prayers that  the guard wouldn't return to the same exact location, but pick a spot  away from their path.

Josef, hear me, Dimitri said. You cannot allow the pack to come too  close to you. You've given us a lead. They jump tremendous heights. He  did his best to give an example in imagery, showing the elite hunters in  battle. We need you with us as soon as you can come back.

Josef knew the Lycans were gaining on him. He was a fast runner, and in  truth, he wasn't setting his feet on the ground, but rather skimming  just above it, because he didn't want the Lycans catching his scent.  They hadn't been able to follow Dimitri's scent, but they had known  where he was from the device they'd planted on him.

Still, for all his speed, they were breathing down his neck. It was time  to abandon his subterfuge and get out of there. He'd led them several  kilometers from Skyler, Paul and Dimitri, and that had been his goal. He  threw the tiny tracking device into the thick layer of vegetation on  the forest floor and launched himself skyward. As he did, a Lycan burst  from the brush, half man, half wolf and leapt after him.

Claws hooked into his legs, terrible curved nails that ripped and tore  his flesh. The Lycan refused to let go, trying to claw his way up  Josef's body to his belly. Josef couldn't shift with the claws in him.  The sheer weight of the Lycan pulled him back toward the ground where  more of the pack waited eagerly. They jumped and snarled. One pointed a  weapon his way.

Desperate, Josef changed tactics. He couldn't shift his body, but he  could his hands. He lifted his arm and brought his clenched fist, now  made of solid iron, straight down on the Lycan's head. The crunch was  sickening. Josef's stomach lurched, but the wolf dropped away from him,  landing on top of two of the pack.

Josef reversed direction, shifting as he did so, making his body too  small for them to grab, the bird spreading its wings and taking off,  making it to the safety of the canopy. Small droplets of blood streamed  after him like a comet. He circled away from the pack and back toward  Skyler and Dimitri.

Get ahead of us, to the clearing, Dimitri directed. We're coming in fast.

The pack knows, Josef warned. They're already spreading out and heading  your way, trying to get in front of you and around behind you. I can see  them from up above. They're fast, Dimitri, too fast.

The pack knew the woods, and they were used to running flat out for  kilometers without breathing hard. Now they were in a frenzy to reach  Dimitri.

I might have killed one of them, Josef confessed. I'm sorry. They're really stirred up.

Dimitri dropped all pretense. "Run. As fast as you can. Don't look back,  just go for the meadow. Don't follow the path anymore, Skyler, take the  shortest possible route."

What did it matter to hide their scent? The pack knew their direction  and would use every means to cut them off. They couldn't know about  Skyler's safe haven smack in the middle of the clearing, but they knew  they were making for a specific destination and the pack was determined  they wouldn't make it.

Skyler picked up the pace, running hard. She couldn't imagine what this  type of exertion would do to Dimitri. She already had a major stitch in  her side and her lungs were burning. The trees began to thin, giving  them less cover.

Wolves leapt out of the forest just behind them-the guards left behind,  converging together to make their attempt at stopping the escaping  party.

One raised a weapon. Dimitri dropped directly behind her, his larger  body shielding hers. Skyler, undaunted, sent her plea once more.

I call to thee, Mother, hear my call,

Send that which is silver to stop their footfall.

Bring forth that which is silver, now let it block,

Use that which was hidden to protect and to stop.

Beads of silver bubbled up from the soil and began to liquefy and extend  across the ground behind and around them in a semicircle. Dimitri  glanced back and down at the silver spreading so fast. His body gave an  involuntary shudder.

Lycans wear boots. This cannot stop them.

Lycans wore thin gloves in order to handle the necessary silver weapons  when going after rogue packs, and they almost always wore boots to  protect their legs in the thick forest. The silver on the ground would  not be a deterrent.

It won't stop them, but it will slow them down. We just need time, Skyler assured.

The silver began to rise in columns, much like dust devils or mini  tornadoes, spinning rapidly as they rose and fell, always surrounding  the fleeing escape party.

The moment a Lycan came too close, the tiny beads shot out of the  whirling twisters, peppering the wolves coming up behind them. Curses,  growls and snarls rose, someone shot at them, the bullet whining through  the rotating beads.

Dimitri spun around as if he might attack them, but Skyler caught at  him, jerking at his arm. No, no, we can't take a chance on starting a  war, not if we have a chance to make it to the clearing. My blood was  spilled there. The spell is strong. They won't be able to penetrate  through the shield.                       
       
           



       

He ran, but he didn't like it. Twice he tried to drop back and cover Paul as well, but Paul just slowed with him.

Take care of Sky, Paul admonished. I'll be fine. If they keep shooting  at us, I'm going to shoot back, war or no war. This sucks.

Dimitri had to agree with him. He wasn't used to running or being so  weak. He prepared himself for battle, knowing that even Skyler's clever  wall of silver twisters wasn't going to keep the Lycans back for long.  Even as the thought entered his head, the wolves took to the trees,  leaping high to catch branches, working their way around the twirling  silver walls.

He caught glimpses of void spaces as if in the distance the trees were much thinner.

We're close, Skyler said. But I can feel the main pack gaining on us.  I'm sorry, Dimitri, I know I'm the one slowing you both down.

He had always known the pack would catch up with them. His worry was the  safe haven Skyler had created wouldn't be there and they'd be caught  out in the open in a place nearly impossible to defend.

My body is still shaky, csitri, he told her, I'm not altogether certain I  would be any faster on my own. But he would turn around and pick them  off one by one. The hell with not going to war, not when they were going  to kill his lifemate and Paul.

I'm with you, bro, Paul said.

Did I think that out loud? Dimitri asked. It was a sign of his weakness that he had.

Skyler answered him. Loud and clear. I heard it, too. All this time I thought you were the cool, peaceful, Zen-like warrior.

Dimitri saw that both Skyler and Paul found his little gaffe amusing in  spite of the danger they were in, and he was grateful he'd made the  mistake. They were running flat out now, uncaring of their burning lungs  and cramping muscles. They knew they were running for their lives.

Paul gave an inelegant snort. Yeah, cool and Zen-like, that's Dimitri. I say let him loose on these bozos.

Just ahead, Dimitri could see the clearing. Skyler broke into the open  first, running fast, heading for the very center. Josef waited, his  hands in the air, ready to do whatever it took to protect them, but  having no real idea how.

Dimitri paced himself just behind Skyler, always making certain his body  blocked hers from the line to the Lycans. Behind him, he heard Paul  grunt and the boy's pace changed. He glanced over his shoulder but Paul  continued to run, not quite as fast, but he was into the clearing.

Shots rang out. He scented blood. Dimitri whirled around while Skyler  skidded to a halt. Behind them, Paul was down, writhing on the very edge  of the meadow. Just as Dimitri began to backtrack, Paul staggered to  his feet, waving him off.

Paul picked up his pace again, sometimes hopping, but gamely coming  toward them. Dimitri could see the shield shimmering, translucent, but  definitely warping in the night air. Something was there waiting for  them. He was reluctant to remove his body from where he blocked the  Lycans' line of fire from his lifemate.

Get inside, Skyler. Get to safety. I'm going back for Paul.