Dark Wolf(46)

"I guess I should be glad you didn't kill him," Fen said.

"I would have asked him first. He lasted too long, so I figured he had a  powerful reason for staying alive, one that transcended that kind of  pain. He worked at remaining still, which meant he didn't want to die. I  found traces of silver on the ground below him and realized he had to  be pushing the silver out through his pores. He was completely wrapped  in silver chain from head to toe, so that made no sense."

"Skyler," Fen said. "That girl-woman," he corrected.

"Who would have thought that innocent-looking child could possibly wreak  such havoc and completely disrupt a takeover by some fanatical group  within the Lycans?" Zev said.

"You do realize," Fen pointed out, "Gunnolf and Convel had to be working  with someone else for a long time to put a takeover in place and when  we stumbled across the same rogue pack heading for the Carpathian  Mountains, we actually walked right into their opening move."                       
       
           



       

Zev nodded. He smiled up at Tatijana as she came to his side. "It's good  to see you," he greeted her. "Thanks for saving us out there."

She smiled back at him and sank down into the grass, taking his arm to  inspect the damage. "It's getting to be a habit. We can't have anyone  killing you, Zev. My sister wouldn't be too pleased. She's hoping to get  another dance with you sometime."

"She probably doesn't remember my name," Zev said. "But it's kind of you to say so."

Tatijana laughed. "Silly man. Your name is probably the only one she does remember. She's not very social."

Fen gave a small derisive snort. "The lengths you go to, getting  yourself hurt just for a little female sympathy. You know, Tatijana, he  really is far faster than he lets on and he could have prevented the  knife from slicing him open. He was just hoping your sister would show  up and kiss it all better."

Zev sent him a warning glare. "I'm still armed to the teeth, you bastard."

Tatijana shook her head, amusement in her eyes. "You two are awful." The  smile suddenly faded from her eyes leaving her, serious-looking-and a  little worried. "Zev, this cut is all the way to the bone. There is some  kind of poison at work here I can barely detect. I can check it out if  you allow me to, but I'll have to do so the Carpathian way."

Zev shrugged. "Apparently, I'm nearly half Carpathian already. I may as  well learn how to do the healing the way you do. And it isn't like you  haven't done it before."

Tatijana didn't wait, but shed her body, her spirit becoming white  energy, moving into Zev to try to find the poisonous compound spreading  through his system. A scratch along the bone from elbow to wrist showed  where the slice had been. The tip of the blade had cut into the bone and  she could see tiny, minute blisters, like little droplets all along the  scratch. The globules clung to the bone, but spread along the scratch  and beyond. The deadly beads crept their way up his arm, following the  bone.

She had to eradicate every single tiny trace of that poison. More,  throughout the tissue and muscles of his arm, she could see evidence of a  blood thinner and anticoagulant. Gunnolf had been prepared to challenge  Zev to a fight for pack leader and he'd come ready to murder him. As  long as the thinner and anticoagulant saturated his arm, there would  never be healing. They could give him blood over and over and it  wouldn't matter.

She moved back into her own body, her eyes meeting her lifemate's, her  expression grave. "Gunnolf planned to murder you, Zev. There are at  least three compounds left behind in your system to kill you. Your Lycan  blood is trying to regenerate tissue and muscle and your Carpathian  blood is trying to remove the intruders, but you won't be able to do so  on your own."

Fen reached out and took her hand, threading his fingers through hers.  "We knew it was bad," he told her gently. "Nothing has stopped the  bleeding. Can you get it out of him? I have some skills as well. Between  the two of us, we should be able to clean him up."

"Vlad can give him blood," Byron said. "Once you stop the bleeding."

"I can, too," Paul volunteered.

"If he gives me blood, would I be considered part of Zacarias's family?" Zev asked. "That might be safer."

"I think Gabriel is going to be one who comes in like the avenger,"  Byron said. "I'm getting a few rumblings. Razvan, Skyler's birth father,  is on his way with Ivory, his lifemate. They just reached out to me.  None of them are happy about any of this. Razvan informed me that there  was an assassination attempt on the members of the council."

Zev swore under his breath. "This is far worse than I thought. This  isn't just happening here then. I was afraid of that. There are council  members in a safe location as well. It's a precaution taken when there  is danger to any of them. That way there is stability should any one of  them die. There is always a continuity, older members with any necessary  new members. Were any of them killed or injured? I sent my best people  with them."

"Fortunately, cool heads prevailed," Byron informed him. "Razvan wasn't  there when the assassins struck. Apparently, they tried to kill Gabriel  and Francesca as they turned away. Zacarias stopped them, and both  Mikhail and a senior member of the council persuaded the others to stand  down after a brief but apparently ferocious battle. Twelve Lycans were  killed, but they appeared to be for the other side, whatever that is."

Zev swore again. "I need to get there. If a single council member is  murdered in the Carpathian Mountains, whoever is behind this has won."  He half sat up as if he might go right then.

Fen held up a restraining hand. "Did you forget the poison? The  anticoagulant? Were you planning on taking a body along with you to  supply you with blood?"

Zev looked pained, rolling his eyes, shaking his head. "When did he get to be such a comedian, Tatijana?"

Tatijana pinned Fen with a glare, although amusement lurked in her eyes.  "I have no idea, but you really are in trouble here. Sober up, wolf  men, both of you, we have to get this arm taken care of." She looked  over her shoulder. "Vlad, I'm going to need you. He's still losing too  much blood."

"Did she just call us wolf men?" Zev asked, one eyebrow shooting up.

"Were lucky it wasn't wolf boys," Fen pointed out. "She throws that in upon occasion."

"Zev, lay back and just relax," Tatijana advised. "Fen and I are both  going to work on you together." Her eyes met Fen's. "You go after the  poison, and I'll work on the anticoagulant."

Fen nodded, knowing she was particularly worried about the wound. There  was no keeping anything from Zev. He knew, probably because he'd been  wounded a thousand times in battles. He was a wolf with a body that  regenerated quickly. If his arm refused to stop bleeding and he felt  weaker even after the infusion of blood, he would know.

Fen shed his body, becoming white, healing energy, his spirit traveling  quickly into Zev. The blood of both Lycan and Carpathian was present,  although the Lycan was still stronger. Probably, had they not given Zev  so much blood over the last few battles, he would have gone several  years without realizing he was slowly transforming.

He moved through the body, inspecting the bones for any trace of poison.  Tatijana had provided a clear image in his mind, but already the tiny  blisters were spreading from the arm to the shoulder and along the  collarbone. He went to work extracting the poison, slowly driving it out  of the body. Some of the venomous dots were so minute, it was difficult  to spot them.

He felt Tatijana's presence, but only the heat of her energy, as she  began her own work on separating the anticoagulant from the tissue and  muscle surrounding the wound. Someone had worked on the formula to coat  Gunnolf's knives and daggers, probably his sword. Fen should have  thought to collect the weapons so they could find out exactly how it was  done.

If the faction of Lycans who wanted war were using poisonous weapons,  then the Carpathians and any allies had to quickly find a way to  counteract the formula used. He pushed more of the beads from Zev's  bone, driving the venom from Zev's body. There was no trace of silver in  the poison that he could find, so he was positive a Lycan had worked  out the compound. An enemy would have added that component as well, but a  Lycan, even a treacherous one, would not want to get anywhere near  silver.

He studied the line of drops. He'd seen something similar recently. Had a  mage helped with the chemistry required? The idea of a mage and Lycan  alliance was, frankly, quite terrifying. Once the crimes of Xavier, the  high mage, were known throughout their world, most of the other mages  had scattered, not wanting to be associated with him, but that didn't  mean they weren't around. Xavier had exploited them and murdered them  for his own experiments just as he had every other species. No one had  been sacred to him-not even his own flesh and blood.