Dark Wolf

16

On his last return home, Dimitri had taken up residence in the old family dwelling, deep in the forest where the wolves gave him warning if visitors came too close. He’d done a few modern repairs on it, but he wasn’t in residence often. The outside stone was covered in moss, and trees and brush had grown so close they nearly covered the house. Thick vines wove around the stone columns that formed the verandah. The vines were so thick they’d nearly formed an impenetrable wall, yet there was an archway at the stairs as if it had been designed that way.

Beneath the stone building, deep underground, Dimitri and Skyler lay entwined together, their bodies slowly healing. Dimitri woke each rising and hunted, sustaining the two of them and then going back to ground to allow Mother Earth to rejuvenate them both.

He woke and lay listening to the beat of the earth’s heart. Over time the rhythm had become reassuring, a constant, steady drumbeat he could always count on. It didn’t matter where in the world he was, if he lay in the ground, it was there.

He opened the soil above their heads, staring at the underside of the house his parents had constructed so many centuries earlier. He had played in the room above them. He remembered the sound of his mother’s laughter and the murmur of his father’s voice. He realized he wanted to stay, to make this their home. It was deep enough in the forest to keep their wolf pack safe and yet still close enough to the other Carpathians that Skyler could have company whenever she wanted.

He leaned over her. He loved watching her as she slept. Skyler always looked peaceful now—so different from the nights he’d entered her room and found her tossing and turning caught in the throes of a hideous nightmare. Gently he brushed back silken strands of hair that had come loose from the braid he’d woven for her just the last rising.

Her lashes were long and feathery, dark, yet tipped with gold. He traced her high cheekbones with the pad of his finger, absorbing the satin-smooth skin. It had always annoyed her that she couldn’t tan. Josef and Paul teased her mercilessly, throwing their hands over their eyes to accuse her of blinding them with her white stomach or legs depending on what she was wearing. If she was out in the sun at all, she burned a bright red, and then they called her “lobster girl.”

Dimitri found himself smiling at the memory of the antics of her friends. “You make my life beautiful and full,” he murmured aloud to her. Wake, csitri. We have much to do. It’s time to start our life.

She stirred at his call, rolled in his arms and lifted her lashes. The impact of her eyes meeting his was physical, a low, wicked punch that drove the air from his lungs. She had her relaxed, happy color, the true dove gray that he loved beyond any other color.

“Good evening, sívamet. Are you feeling stronger?”

Skyler nodded and touched his face. “Much. I wouldn’t mind exploring our home a little bit. I haven’t really seen much of anything since we’ve been healing.”

“I want you to hunt for food with me.” It was the first time he’d asked her. He didn’t push for an answer, knowing this would be one of the hardest concepts for her to accept.

Dimitri didn’t mind supplying blood to her, but in the event they were ever in trouble, she needed to know how to hunt and that she could do it by herself. It was a natural part of being Carpathian. Skyler craved blood, but the thought of taking it from an unknowing source bothered her on a strictly human level.

There was a small silence. Skyler’s hand had dropped to his chest and she smoothed over the chain burns there—absently—like she did each rising. “Okay.”

His heart jumped. One little word. She accepted their way of life and trusted him to teach her the things necessary to survive. He knew this was a huge milestone for her.

“Afterward, I need to see Francesca.”

He wanted her to himself. They’d spent several risings in the ground healing. Yes, he’d gotten to hold her, and even exchange blood with her, but the entire rest of the time, they’d both been beneath, sleeping the rejuvenating sleep of the Carpathians.

The time spent in the ground had been necessary—both of them were in bad shape when they’d arrived in the Carpathian Mountains. Skyler had barely enough time to hug her adopted mother before she collapsed. Unfortunately, that essential time spent in the soil meant they weren’t able to really start their life together.

He held her while they slept, entwined together, skin to skin. He gave her blood and certainly there was intimacy in both, but he felt almost as if he was losing ground with her, that she’d taken a step back from him. She said little, and she seemed to prefer to spend the time in the ground, rather than face their life together.

“You’ve got that frown on your face again,” Skyler said, and reached up to rub his lips as if she could remove it. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to go with you?”

His hands shaped her tucked-in waist as he helped her into a sitting position. “Of course I want you to go with me. We both needed healing, but at some point we’ve got to rebuild our strength. I want to show you so many things.”

“And I want to learn. Specifically, shapeshifting,” Skyler said. “And flying. And running with the wolves.”

He couldn’t help laughing. “In other words, everything.”

She nodded, coming up on her knees to inspect the burns around his throat and forehead. His heart jumped. She had not leaned into him physically or touched his scars intimately since they’d arrived in the Carpathian Mountains. She’d definitely worked at healing them, but she had used more of a professional touch. The brushes of her fingers were far too intimate to him to ever be considered professional and both his body and heart responded to those caresses.

She murmured the words she chanted each time she carefully traced each chain loop surrounding his body.

I call to you, Mother, bring forth your might,

As I seal these paths that would bring pain and blight.

I call to aloe, so green and cool,

Bind with me now, become my tool.

Bring forth your life’s blood again to heal,

Ease this suffering, these scars do steal.

Each line I trace, may it fade day to day,

Taking all that causes pain away.

He allowed himself to inhale her scent, to bring his hands up to her back and hold her, fingers splayed wide to take in as much of her bare skin as possible.

“You’ve been keeping things from me,” Skyler said, leaning so close to him that the tips of her breasts grazed his chest as she ran soothing fingers into the deep indentations around his throat. “You’ve been worried about something. I’ve waited for you to tell me, but I figured rather than merging my mind with yours and prying, I’d just ask.”

Dimitri took a breath and let it out. Her fingers stroked over his skin, her touch sending flames flickering through his bloodstream. He had dreamt of this, had wanted it, but knowing he couldn’t act on the desire flooding his body made the moment bittersweet. She needed time, and he was determined to give it to her.

“You pulled away from me,” he admitted starkly. “You’ve never done that before. I know everything that’s transpired in the last few weeks has happened fast and you needed time to assimilate it all—especially becoming fully Carpathian.”

It was more than that—she would eventually become as he was—Hän ku pesäk kaikak. There was no getting around it, not when they were lifemates and would never be able to resist the urge to exchange blood.

Skyler was silent a moment, turning his words over and over in her mind. She had to admit to herself she’d been nervous each rising. She felt safe, there in the ground, in her little cocoon, wrapped in Dimitri’s arms.

Before, when he had come to her, sometimes several nights in a row, just to talk, they’d merged minds to do so, and she’d thought she knew him. He didn’t hide anything from her, but she’d never really merged so deep with him that she saw beyond the darkness in him. It had grown like a cancer, spreading over his soul, always looking for a way in.

To save him, she had pushed beyond that crouching darkness. She saw every memory, every deed. She knew the dangers he’d faced without flinching, the centuries of loneliness he endured without dishonor, and she’d seen how patient he’d been, even while the darkness pushed at his soul. Then, he had saved her, possessing her body, taking control of her mind, merging them both so deeply that she relived those memories with him, not just observed them.

Every kill took something from him, leaving behind tears in the fabric of mind and soul, even after losing one’s emotions. Bringing even the worst of criminals to justice was not without a price—and he’d paid often. The fissures and cracks had deepened, and that darkness had crept in, taking advantage at every turn.

She saw the thousands of physical wounds. He’d been alone, or he’d been with Fen, and sometimes, rarely, another hunter she didn’t know. Mostly, he’d been alone. He’d lived lifetimes, through history, and he’d always been honorable, no matter the circumstances. He’d saved lives and never asked for anything for himself—except her. His lifemate. He’d held on, hoping someday he would find her.

“When I was trying to find you, Dimitri, I felt empowered. I felt as if I was a partner to you, someone who could give you every single thing you needed and deserved. I knew you needed me and I knew that I could be exactly what you needed.” She sighed. “But then we came here to the Carpathian Mountains and I began to have doubts.”

The pads of her fingers went still, remaining over the burns on his neck. He found it amazing that in those raw indentations, he could feel the concentrated power of her healing ability, and yet she was expressing her reservations about whether or not she could be a partner to him.

A thousand arguments rose in his mind, but he stayed silent. She needed to be able to talk to him without misgivings that he might not really listen to her. As much as he wanted to reassure her, this was her moment, not his.

“I kept thinking, what have you really gotten in a lifemate? I’ve only lived nineteen years. I couldn’t hope to know the things you know. How could I possibly match you intellectually? I’m smart, I know I am. I’m only nineteen, but I already have several degrees. Still, what I know about any one subject is a drop in the bucket compared to your knowledge.”

Dimitri felt her fingers moving again, smoothing over the burns around his throat. She settled back on her heels and followed the chain links wrapped around his shoulders.

“I kept wondering, what exactly do I have to offer you?” Her gaze jumped to his and color flushed beneath her skin before her eyes went back to her work. “I’m afraid of physical contact—intimacy—you know that. It isn’t news to you, but I just keep thinking I’m not bringing you anything at all. Not only do I not know the first thing about pleasing a partner, I find the entire idea repugnant.” She paused. Took a breath. “Or I did.”

He was grateful for that small admission. He knew, better than she did, that she was beginning to respond to him. She loved him, and her body had begun to respond to his touch. He felt it with every touch, every look. As they spent time together, he knew, if he was patient and careful, allowing her to take the lead, she would come to want his body as much as he wanted hers. It was another expression of love, she just had to come to realize that herself.

“I don’t know the first thing about pleasing you, Dimitri, and that bothers me. I don’t know how I’ll react when you make love to me. What if I freak out?”

He wanted to assure her it wouldn’t matter. They would stop until she was ready, but again he remained silent, waiting for her to tell him everything.

“I don’t even have my virginity—that was lost long ago,” she added sadly.

That was too much for him. He had to respond, but when he opened his mouth, she shook her hand and laid a finger across his lips.

“This is difficult for me. One of the things I valued most in our relationship was that we could talk about anything. My past, yours, sex, all of it. But we weren’t face-to-face. We weren’t skin to skin. I want to be as comfortable just like this as I was all those times we talked telepathically,” she explained. “So I need to tell you this.”

She linked her arms around his neck and leaned close again, using the healing saliva from her tongue to bathe the worst of the burns around his chest. He closed his eyes and just let himself feel her skin moving over his and the intimacy of her mouth against him. Her breasts tantalized him, swaying against him. His body was already hard, as it was nearly every moment around her, but he found the ability to feel anything at all was a miracle, let alone such intense desire.

His love for her was all encompassing; if that meant giving her time, he had all the time in the world, now that they were bound together. Whatever she needed, he would provide, and if that was time, it was a very small price to pay, in his mind, for her to be truly comfortable with him.

Skyler ran her hand down his chest, very lightly, just a brush really, but it set his blood on fire. Her palm brushed his thick cock. Again, it was the lightest of touches, but it sent a shock wave through him.

“I know you want me. How could I not? The crazy thing is, Dimitri, I need you to want me. I do. I need to know that you think I’m beautiful and desirable and even sexy. I dream of the time that I can touch you, and love you without reservation or hesitation.”

Once again she sank back on her heels and looked at him with tears swimming in her eyes. He lifted her chin with his thumb and finger, waited until she lifted her long lashes before he leaned in to sip away her tears. Very gently he took her hand and formed it around his heavy erection. No doubt his size was intimidating when he was fully aroused, but she’d seen him naked several times now.

Her palm was warm as she curled it around his girth, her fingers one by one bending to make a fist, trying to close. He kept his hand over hers, light, so she could pull away the moment she needed to. Her heart beat so hard in her chest, he could almost see it beneath her pale skin.

He tapped his chest. “Feel my heart. Hear it. Follow the rhythm of mine.”

The tip of her tongue moistened her lips, sending another rush of heat surging through his veins, straight to his groin. His cock jerked in reaction, grew hotter, swelling even more in her hand. Her thumb slid over the sensitive head, smearing the pearl of liquid. He knew she wasn’t trying to tease him, she was trying to get to know his body, to feel comfortable with it, but her touch was killing him.

Her breathing turned ragged—small little gasps as if she couldn’t get enough air. Her body flushed with color. He very gently placed his free hand over her heart, feeling it race beneath his palm.

“For me, you will always be sexy and desirable. Knowledge of technique or practiced art is never going to be sexy to me. The desire to give me pleasure, to please me in the same way I want to please you is what makes you sexy to me, csitri. I can feel that desire in you with every touch of your hand. Even now, your fingers stroke over my shaft instead of pulling away.”

He stifled a groan of need. Her fingers brushed back and forth, but in that slow, leisurely way of hers, as if somehow she was imprinting the shape and feel of him into her very bones. She was naturally sensual. Given the right circumstances, she would grow in confidence and trust in herself and him, allowing that sensual part of her freedom.

He watched her take a breath, the action lifting her breasts temptingly. She didn’t realize how intimate, how possessive her touch was. Long ago she had become his, her heart, her soul and her mind. She loved him with every fiber of her being. He belonged to her, body and soul, and she was very comfortable with him, even skin to skin, whether she knew it or not.

He uncurled her fingers one by one from around the thick length of his shaft, pulled her hand very gently back to his chest, and placed her fingertips in the bands of chain. He needed a respite almost as much as she did. His body was on fire. He needed just a few moments to breathe his way through the danger zone.

“You cannot disappoint me. You cannot. It is an impossibility.”

“How do you know?” Skyler asked. “I feel like such a coward. There’s more than just the physical relationship, Dimitri. Knowing the Carpathian ways and living them are two distinctly different things. When I first wake beneath the ground, I feel as if I’m buried alive. Intellectually, I know better. I know it’s natural for us, but I can’t control my reaction, that horrible moment when I feel I can’t breathe and I’m being smothered.”

“That is easily solved, Skyler. I can wake first and open the earth . . .”

“No. No. I don’t want you to do everything for me. I refuse to be a burden to you. I want to be your partner. I need to come to terms with all of this.”

He tugged her braid very gently. “Sívamet, it has been less than a week since your conversion. You were shot numerous times and died, were brought back to life. I am not expecting that you’ll know everything and be comfortable with it. Isn’t that too much to ask even of a woman as powerful as you?”

“No, not when I know what you’ve been through, what you sacrificed.”

Dimitri brushed kisses along her temples, his heart nearly melting in that ridiculous way it had when she was concerned for him.

“I didn’t do anything special, Skyler, although I’m grateful you think I did. Stop worrying so much about being young, or finding new things difficult. Carpathians age differently than humans. At fifty I might be considered your human age or Paul’s human age. We don’t mature fully until we’ve seen two centuries. After that, there is no real aging. Time goes by but we don’t mark it with age. When one has such longevity, age ceases to mean anything. Humans mark time because they have a cycle of life and they become caught up in that and measure all things by it.”

“I didn’t think about that,” Skyler admitted. “Francesca tried to explain it to me when I asked why Josef was treated like such a child when he’s so brilliant. No one takes him seriously, but he actually is a real asset to the Carpathian community if they would just listen to him and utilize his talents.”

“I think Josef will be seen in a different light after your daring rescue. Without the three of you, Skyler, you know I’d be dead. You proved yourself as well.”

She sighed. “I don’t know why I suddenly began feeling so inadequate, Dimitri. Just knowing the things you’ve had to face in your life . . . ” She broke off again, shaking her head.

He shrugged his shoulders. Her fingers were already working their nightly magic, smoothing the burned flesh, easing the tight bands around his chest. The reminder of that agony of silver wrapped around his body like a boa constrictor would always be physically present. Skyler and Mother Earth did their best—and he was certain no skilled healer could do more—but the scars were too deep.

Sometimes, when he first woke, he could feel the bite of the silver burning into his skin, in a hundred places, surrounding his body, slowly, like a snake, penetrating his skin to slither inside him, burning long worm holes through every organ. He knew the memory would stay with him, century after century, right along with the scars.

“I told you everything, my love,” she said. “What are you keeping from me?”

Her fingers traced the burns around his ribs. His left side in particular had been excruciatingly painful, digging deep until he was certain the chain had wrapped around bone, leaving its mark there.

He was branded forever by the Lycans. He was mixed blood, part of the Lycan world, yet half wolf and half Carpathian. Like Skyler with her mage blood, he would have to come to terms with what the Lycans did to him and how he felt about them.

“Mikhail wants me to go before the Lycan council and show them what was done to me.”

Skyler frowned. Dimitri sounded as he always did—matter-of-fact, very steady and calm. But she felt a ripple beneath the surface. She was always tuned to him. He had become her world and she knew the very number of breaths he took at times.

She splayed her fingers over his belly, feeling the tension in him—not sexual as there had been only moments earlier. She felt humiliation and anger. Not anger. Rage. She took a breath, inhaling his scent, wrapping herself in him for a moment while she considered how to best come to his aid. She understood the way Ivory touched Razvan or stood close to him in moments of distress. She wanted to ease any burden, but wasn’t certain how.

“You don’t want them to see these scars?” she prompted. It would be easy enough to slip inside his mind and see for herself what battle he engaged in, but like Dimitri had done earlier with her, she wanted him to tell her himself—to trust his partner.

She loved touching him. It was that simple. Every stroke of her fingers along those terrible burns made her feel closer to him. She tried not to be intimate in her touch, but she couldn’t help the possessive feeling she had when her fingers moved over his body. Dimitri belonged to her alone and so did his magnificent body.

Each time she found herself skin to skin with him, legs tangled together, his palm sometimes cupping her breast while they slept, her body reacted, coming to life when she’d thought that part of her would always be dead. She hadn’t known she could want a man. She’d never felt that tension building in her, the electrical shock running from breast to thighs as fingers of desire pulsed through her, until Dimitri. Sometimes just his scent triggered her body’s reaction.

She was terrified, and yet she was also equally as mesmerized by him. When she’d wrapped her fingers around his thick shaft, her first reaction had been panic, but Dimitri never forced anything on her—certainly not intimacy. She felt safe with him, safe to do some of the things she wanted to do—like explore his entire body. She didn’t want to be a tease—she knew it was difficult for him, that she was lucky he had such control, but she had to know how she would react to him.

He’d felt so soft, like velvet over steel. So hot. Her body had become liquid, matching his heat, an urgent coiling need that burned through her body like wildfire. She had scared herself with a terrible hunger that seemed to come out of nowhere. But Dimitri steadied her. Always, she could count on him.

“I don’t want anything whatsoever to do with them,” Dimitri admitted. “Perhaps they didn’t know what was happening. Maybe they really weren’t the ones to sentence me to such a horrific death, but believe me, Skyler, when I say I planned out each of their deaths very carefully while I hung from hooks on that tree.”

She felt the tremor going through his body beneath the palm of her hand. Not fear—definitely rage. She knelt up again and wrapped her arms around his neck, linking her fingers at his nape. She knew he would never pull away from her, never recoil. There was such freedom in that knowledge. She wanted the same for him. She wanted to give him that gift.

“Dimitri, those members of the Lycan council are nothing to us. Nothing. You survived the worst that they had. They couldn’t defeat you. Standing in front of them is a slap in the face to them and their horrible medieval method of torture. Such a thing should be abolished.” She leaned in to trail soft, butterfly kisses over his face until she reached his mouth.

His hands came up, sliding up her back. His arms wrapped her up tight as his mouth came down possessively on hers. She felt the aggression in his body and waited for the familiar panic, but his kiss was too enticing, sweeping her up like an avalanche of pure feeling, pure bliss. She loved his mouth and the way he kissed. She was learning how to respond, how to give him that same somersaulting stomach and send fire racing through his veins.

He pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against hers. “There aren’t proper words in any language to tell you just how much I love you, Skyler.”

“I feel the same way.” She stroked his hair, fingers massaging his scalp. “You don’t have to go, but if you do, I want to be there, too, standing next to you.”

“I’ll go. You’re right about my presence being a slap in the face to them. Mikhail knows what he’s doing. He’s got the upper hand right now. He wants them to ban hunting Guardians, to acknowledge the difference between Sange rau and Hän ku pesäk kaikak. They assured him I was safe. When Mikhail brings me into that room, he’ll know which ones—if any—are involved in this plan to turn Lycan and Carpathian against one another.”

“What else? What else is bothering you?”

He sighed and straightened, dropping his arms. “You’re so attuned to me sometimes it’s scary, sívamet. In matters of your safety, I prefer to act rather than talk.”

Skyler burst out laughing. “I know that feeling well.”

He took her hand, giving her a dark scowl. “There’s no more flinging your body in front of mine to take bullets or anything else.”

She managed to look innocent. “Isn’t that what you meant by action not words? Why are you worried about my safety when we’re here, surrounded by Carpathians?”

“Because you left behind a blood trail,” he said. “Any wolf worth his salt could follow it easily.”

“That’s true,” she conceded. “Do you think one will be following us here?” She tried not to shiver, but it wasn’t because she was worried about a Lycan hunting her. Standing naked beside him was much more difficult than lying together or sitting. She felt vulnerable. “Teach me to put on clothes.”

“Yes, I think one will be following you here. I like you naked. Are you certain you have to have clothes?” There was a little pained note to his voice.

Laughter bubbled up and she found herself relaxing again. “I suppose I could parade around in front of all those Lycans and Carpathians just like this, but there might be a bit of shocked protest from my parents—both sets of them. And,” she added, “if I am going to be bare-butt naked, you have to be as well.”

His laughter joined hers, and she was happy to hear how carefree he sounded. “I guess you’re right. Sadly. I like looking at you. And if I walked around this way, I’d scare the children.”

She immediately put a hand on his chest, running her palm down to his flat belly. “Don’t do that, Dimitri. There’s nothing wrong with the way you look. I’ve never seen a more beautiful man. These burns”—she traced one long loop with the pads of her fingers—“these are badges of your courage and mine. We overcame impossible odds.”

He caught her fingertips and brought them to the warmth of his mouth, his teeth scraping gently back and forth. “You have a way of making me feel like a hero, csitri, a white knight from centuries gone by.”

“That’s what you’ll always be to me, Dimitri,” Skyler said. “That’s how I’ve always seen you, and nothing has changed since we’ve been together.”

He shook his head and kissed her knuckles. “Since clothes are so important to you, we’ll start there with your first lesson. Everything starts in your mind, build the image of being clean and refreshed, as if you just stepped out of the shower.”

Skyler was adept at using her mind. She was already more than capable and apparently far too good at it. She stood in front of him dripping wet. Small droplets of water fell all around them.

Laughing, she stood under the warm drops. “Dimitri, it’s raining right here, under your big stone house and underground.” She caught at his arm and tugged until he was standing under the shower as well.

“You have the concept,” he said, amusement coiling in him like warm molasses. She changed his world just by being in it. He couldn’t understand how she could ever doubt herself. She brought joy and happiness. She made him feel alive. He loved watching everything through her eyes. “Try again.”

“Oh, you want more?”

The teasing note of challenge should have warned him. The shower increased, soaking him in a torrent while she stayed warm and dry in a little cocoon she had enveloped herself in.

He found himself really laughing, deep belly laughs, something he had never done in his life. Playing was a new experience as an adult. The house brought back memories of his childhood, but there had been no such antics until Skyler.

He caught her up in his arms, cradling her close to his chest for a moment before lifting her straight over his head as if she was his own personal umbrella. Her fancy little cocoon fell to pieces under the onslaught and her merriment.

Skyler let out a scream as the water went from warm to icy cold. “Okay, okay, I surrender.”

Instantly the water stopped, and he set her on the ground. Skyler gave him a haughty look and swept her hand down her body, drying herself almost as adeptly as any Carpathian with a century or two on them could do.

“I think you know how to do this,” he said.

“Once you told me what to do, I realized it was fairly easy. It’s the details that can mix one up. You have to pay close attention to the smallest detail.”

“That’s right. After a few times, it will become second nature to you. You’re both Dragonseeker and mage . . .”

“And becoming mixed blood like you,” she asserted.

He nodded, frowning a little. “Eventually, yes. Your mind is already fully prepared to use images for dressing, shifting, or creating illusions such as eating or drinking around others not Carpathian.”

She leaned into him, brushing at the frown on his lips. “Mixed blood is simply an enhancement, Dimitri. I’ve been in your mind, healed your body, I know what it’s doing to you.”

“But we don’t know what it will do to you or our children should we have any,” Dimitri pointed out. “I want to find a few answers before you’re in too deep.”

Skyler closed her eyes for a moment, choosing a comfortable outfit, this time, making certain she remembered every detail from the top of her head to her feet. “I’m already in too deep, my love. Stop worrying about things you have no control over. A very wise lifemate said that to me several years ago.”

She turned in a circle, showing off the slim blue jeans, boots and soft flannel shirt. Her hair was in an intricate braid, hanging down her back. “What do you think? Ready to face hunting for my own food? Shifting? Standing before the Lycan council? Seeing my mother and father? Facing the prince?”

He took her hand as he donned his own clothes, going as casual as she had. They didn’t need to go before the Lycan council in formal clothes. He was damned if he’d dress up for them. Evidently, his lifemate felt the same way.

“You look beautiful, Skyler. We’ll hunt first.” He felt her shudder and drew her in close, beneath his broad shoulder. He knew that taking blood from a stranger would be difficult for her. “You know you don’t have to do this. I’m not altogether certain I even want you to. I find giving you blood and taking yours—erotic.”

The low, sensual tone made her blush. “I do, too,” she admitted. “It’s very sexy and the pleasure is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.” There was a question in her tone.

“It won’t be that way with others,” he said. “And if it were, I’d forbid you to take blood from anyone else.” She laughed softly, but Dimitri could tell she knew he was serious.

They drifted up to the basement of the house, floating together. He had his arm around her waist, but she rose under her own power and he was immensely proud of her concentration. When they came to the ceiling above that that was the basement floor, they stopped.

“Think of mist. The way it looks, the feel and scent of it. Every component.” He put the image in her mind, and watched her carefully as she examined every aspect of it. “Mist is more difficult than a lot of other forms because it appears so easy, but in fact, it has a distinct configuration. Mist and fog are both drops of water, clouds along the ground so to speak. Fog is denser. Mist travels as a rule close to the ground. Always remember you have to fit in with your surroundings. If you need mist or fog, you have to create the environment for it if it isn’t already there.”

Skyler nodded. She felt the first strange shifting in her body, as if she was falling apart, breaking into tiny molecules. She immediately plunged into Dimitri’s mind—her safety net—but she kept going, trusting he would stop her if she did anything wrong.

Triumphantly, she found herself moving through the cracks as seemingly nothing more than tiny droplets of water, mist rising from the floor into the basement of the house.

Remember to visualize every single detail of your human form, including the clothes you wore. You can’t leave out anything, so take your time. I’m right here with you.

She knew Dimitri was with her. He was the one believing in her, stepping back to allow her to do it on her own. She loved him all the more for understanding she needed to learn and she wanted to do each thing for herself if possible.

Her heart pounded. She could feel it. She heard the roaring of her blood in her ears, like the sound of thunder or a great waterfall, yet she had no body. It was strange and exhilarating. She couldn’t let the wonder of it loosen her focus. She needed to put herself back together without losing any part of herself.

She was determined to be thorough, calling on the memory of her anatomy classes until she felt Dimitri’s laughter.

If I had my boots on right now, I’d kick you. What am I doing wrong? You said thorough.

I should have known you’d take me literally. Your body is there waiting for you, whole and intact. Put that image in your mind. You’ll come together, I promise. I just meant, don’t forget your hair or fingernails.

I was thinking of more important body parts like ovaries.

I know you were.

Dimitri’s laughter spilled into her mind. Everything in her responded to his merriment. She was having fun, and so was he. He didn’t find it a tedious task teaching her things he’d known for centuries. He was enjoying the moments just as she was.

She took a deep breath with lungs that weren’t there and shifted. She found herself standing on the floor of the basement with Dimitri looking down at her as if she were the greatest thing in the entire world. He picked her up and spun her around, leaving her breathless.

“You are amazing, sívamet. Perfectly amazing. I’m certain you’ll have no trouble hunting.”