Zev understood that as well. The Lycans would be patient. They had all night to hunt Skyler and Dimitri and the local wolf pack. They’d seek cover and just wait. Eventually the wolf pack would return. The wolves would scent rivals in their territory and want to drive them out. The moment they showed themselves, the Lycans would wound them, hoping to draw out Dimitri or his lifemate.

I’m making my way to you. Don’t shoot me by mistake. I’ve noticed you can be a little bloodthirsty.

I feel compelled to point out your humor is becoming less Lycan and more Carpathian by the moment.

Zev found himself laughing. Life was good when you had family. He had forgotten these moments, small stolen moments together where one could find humor even in the midst of being hunted. He hadn’t had a family in a long time—unless one counted Daciana, Makoce and Lykaon, three members of his elite hunting pack. He had always counted on them to have his back—and they’d never failed him.

He made his way over to Branislava. She crouched in the brush, one hand in the soft fur, head down. He sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, cheri, there was really nothing to do.” Sorrow welled up. Though an animal, the wolf was brethren, and a wild, majestic creature that didn’t deserve to be caught up in the war taking place.

She looked over her shoulder at him, tears turning her eyes to emerald. “I understand how Ivory could be tempted to save them when we shouldn’t.”

“Turning a wolf to Carpathian could be creating a killing machine. Ivory had spent time with the pups prior to converting them,” he cautioned. “But the practice is dangerous.”

Branislava nodded and allowed him to help her to her feet. “I’m well aware of that. Still, it was a struggle not to try. I recognized that he was far too gone, but the temptation was there.”

“Are you saying we’ll probably end up with wolf tattoos?” he asked, slipping his arm around her and pulling her close to comfort her.

“Yours will say ‘Wolfie.’” She leaned into him, allowing her body to shelter against his for just a moment while she steadied herself. “I’ll have all the wolves riding on my skin.”

“Wolf-master,” he corrected solemnly. “I’ll be the master of the wolves and the wolf keeper.”

That bought him a faint smile and a quick eye roll.

She turned her attention to the two bodies. “We can’t incinerate them without the other Lycans knowing we’re in the forest as well.”

“They aren’t going anywhere,” Zev decreed. “It isn’t as if they’re going to rise as zombies.”

“It could happen,” Branislava said. “Tatijana told me all about the zombie apocalypse.”

He laughed softly. “She’s been watching movies, hasn’t she?”

Branislava had to admit the truth of that. Nodding, but she raised her eyebrow at him. “If Lycans and Carpathians are real, zombies could be as well.”

He brushed a kiss along the top of her head. “Vampires make puppets. Fen refers to them as ghouls but we’ll call them zombies just for you.”

“Let’s go hunt the assassins. They’ve got Dimitri and Skyler pinned down.”

“Dimitri doesn’t strike me as the type of man to ever be pinned down,” Branislava replied with a little sniff of disdain. “By the time we get there, he’ll have taken care of business.”

They hurried through the forest toward the coordinates Dimitri sent them. As they approached the area, they slowed. Zev was pleased that Branislava did so entirely on her own, not waiting to take her cue from him. More and more, he found he was comfortable with her hunting with him.

He signaled her to go low. He went high, making his way into the canopy of the trees like a large lizard clinging to the bark. His body took on the coloration of everything around him so that he blended perfectly with his surroundings. Smelling blood, he wasn’t at all surprised to find the first body lying at the base of a wide tree trunk. The head sat on the chest and a silver stake stuck straight up through the chest. The arm of the dead Lycan was turned up, exposing the small intricate circle on the inner wrist. This man had been a member of the Sacred Circle, a religious-like sect many of the Lycans believed in.

Nice work. Have you located his partner?

Not yet. I’m working on that.

I’ll move clockwise. Branka’s on the ground searching in the same direction, using a grid pattern.

Skyler will take the opposite way to Bronnie, Dimitri said, reluctance in his voice.

Zev!

Branislava broke in, her voice wavering with distress, but she kept their path shrouded from the Lycans and he couldn’t help but be proud of her.

The wolf pack is returning. The alpha almost stepped on me. I tried to send him away, but he smelled blood.

Zev cursed under his breath. The last thing they needed was to mix in a healthy, territorial wolf pack that could be used against them.

Do your best to warn them of the danger. That was all they could do. If the wolf pack didn’t listen, it was on their alpha, not Branislava, although he knew she would blame herself if something happened to the other wolves. He mentally braced himself for the event that she would want to save them and he would have to tell her to let them go.

Zev moved to the next tree via the long, sweeping branches touching the tree he was in. He took a careful look around. His breath caught in his throat. His heart gave a wild leap of fear. Skyler was a good distance away, lying prone in the vegetation, a few bushes covering her, but she was exposed and a good sniper could easily kill her.

Skyler, take cover, he warned abruptly, fear skittering down his spine, everything in him straining to protect her, but even his incredible speed, leaping from branch to branch was not going to get him there in time.

A shot rang out and her body jerked. A small red geyser went up in the middle of the back of her head.

6

Zev expected to feel her death, just as all Carpathians had the first time she had been killed by the Lycans, but there was nothing at all, only emptiness.

Another shot rang out and then a third, both bullets going into the body on the ground. Clearly she was already dead, but the sniper wanted to make certain. Even as Zev watched in a kind of horror, Skyler’s body jerked, the arms stretching out stiffly, the feet drumming the ground. She rose with multiple twitches and lurches, coming upright eventually, her raised arms stiffly out in front of her.

Her body turned as if it were a compass pointing the way to her killer. She lurched forward. Blood ran down her face through the exit wound in her right cheek. More blood stained the front of her vest. Each step she took was laborious, her body shaking with spasms and twitches. Her eyes went wide and round.