Vlad offered next. With the second feeding, Dimitri’s body settled, the edge off just enough that he could gather Skyler into his arms, holding what appeared to be her lifeless body close. Tatijana blurred the background around them, making it impossible for prying eyes to see what he did next.

Waving his hand he opened the ground, taking Skyler deep, floating down into the very arms of Mother Earth. At once, even before he gave the command for Skyler to fall into the rejuvenating sleep of the Carpathians, the soil poured over them of its own accord, cradling them both in warm, loving arms.

Fen, Dimitri and Skyler are safe in the ground. Dawn will be breaking soon. We all have to follow them soon. Can you make it back to us? Tatijana asked. She kept the little catch out of her voice, the one that acknowledged she knew he probably wouldn’t be with her throughout the day, but somewhere alone and in danger.

Zev’s in trouble, Tatijana. The outer ring of Lycans have circled the inner ring. Those inside support Zev. The outer ring—and there are more of them—support Gunnolf. I think there’s going to be a bloodbath here. I can’t leave Zev to fight alone.

Don’t get killed, Tatijana ordered.

Fen sent Tatijana reassurance, but he couldn’t move from his position and he wanted Zev to answer him, to realize just how much trouble he was in. With an army of renegade Lycans surrounding the pack loyal to Zev, the situation looked grim for the elite hunter.

The sniper put his eye to the scope once more and Fen struck from behind, grasping his head and wrenching it around, breaking the neck. He plunged a silver stake through the heart, severed the head and left him there in the tree.

I can start picking them off, one by one, Zev, but there are a good number of them and we won’t last forever.

The ferocious fight between Gunnolf and Zev continued. Gunnolf several times glanced up in the direction of the tree where the dead sniper was positioned, clearly expecting a shot to ring out. The large oaf of a Lycan maneuvering his way behind Zev had finally gotten himself in place. All Gunnolf had to do was drive Zev back and the other Lycan could kill him from behind.

Fen flinched when the two combatants hit the ground so hard it shook. They rolled, snarling and punching, tearing at each other. He cloaked his presence and used the doubled speed of both Carpathian and Lycan to cross the meadow and once again insert himself in the crowd.

Tatijana, this is going to go bad for Zev very fast. Those loyal to him are surrounded by Gunnolf’s army.

What you need, wolf man, is a dragon in the sky.

True, but they have guns.

And we have shields.

The crowd pushed closer to the combatants, ringing the two males as they fought for supremacy. The great bulk of a Lycan surged forward with feigned eagerness. Up close, using his mixed-blood senses, Fen read cold and calculating in the closed-in energy field surrounding the assassin. This was a man used to committing assassinations. Killing Zev wasn’t personal to him, but his job, a duty to perform, nothing else. He took pride in his work, and he wouldn’t stop until Zev was dead.

Zev drove Gunnolf to the ground over and over, each time the other male tried to leap to his feet. The punches increased in strength each time Gunnolf refused to submit. Realizing he was in trouble, Gunnolf rolled away from Zev, attempting to conceal a small blade in his fist as he managed to get his feet under him in a crouch.

Those closest to him saw and reacted with a roar of rage. In a challenge fight, two males fought bare-handed. Gunnolf clearly wasn’t following the rules. Zev feigned a kick at the knife hand and went in low, driving for Gunnolf’s head. He locked his arm around the Lycan’s neck and spun, bringing the head up over his shoulder behind him. Gunnolf hung there for a moment, but the crack was loud and his body stiffened and then went limp.

The crowd went silent as Zev dropped the lifeless body onto the ground. He palmed a silver stake and drove it down hard, directly through the heart of the fallen Lycan.

The crowd roared approval. Zev slowly straightened. As he did, the assassin made his move. He shuffled forward with others around him, gawking, seemingly trying to get a look at the dead body of Gunnolf. The moment he was close to Zev, his entire demeanor changed. There was nothing awkward about him. He was fast and smooth, keeping his knife low and covered with his fist, driving the poisoned blade straight at Zev’s kidney.

Fen caught him from behind, twisted him around, his grip like steel, thumb digging into the pressure point of the wrist, exposing the knife and the assassin’s intent. Zev spun around to face the killer. He caught the dagger as it fell from paralyzed fingers. Fen let the assassin go, and Zev stepped forward into the man’s attack, plunging the silver blade into the heart.

A hot breath of fire swept over the crowd. Everyone looked up. There were three dragons in the sky, all circling around for a run at them. The lead dragon was blue, the neck elongated, stretched toward that outer circle of Lycans. Fire rained down, a steady stream that burned the fur on the Lycans’ heads and shoulders.

Tatijana had learned from previous clashes just how high a wolf could jump. Her blue dragon was in the lead, staying high enough to keep out of harm’s way, yet low enough to singe fur. The dragons circled the outer ring of Lycans, flames shooting down in long, steady streams. The Lycans broke formation, abandoning whatever plans they had to kill Zev’s force.

The Lycans scattered, a few dropping to their knees to take aim at the impressive sight of dragons in the sky. They fired off several rounds, but the bullets seemed to bounce off the tough scales of the dragons. When the creatures flew over for another fiery pass, the rest of the Lycans took to the forest, sheltering beneath the canopy of the taller trees.

“I see you’re still hanging around that woman,” Zev observed. He hadn’t moved a muscle when the dragons flew over, spraying the Lycan ranks with fire. “I can understand why you want to hang with her, but seriously, what does she see in you?”

Fen grinned at him. “I’m smart enough to always play the hero, unlike you, who seems to get into trouble every time you open your eyes.”

“You like to play with fire, don’t you?” Zev asked with a wry grin. He had warned Fen more than once that a relationship with a Carpathian woman was trouble—forbidden even. The council had decreed centuries earlier that all Lycans should avoid Carpathians so there was no chance of creating the dreaded Sange rau.

“Ha ha. You’re very funny,” Fen retorted. As far as Zev knew, Fen was Lycan. He might understand Fen’s attraction to Tatijana, but he couldn’t condone a union.