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edge—or disgust in his voice.
    Tatijana hastily shook her head. “He has no idea that I’ve awakened. None of them know. My guardians believe we are safe beneath the ground. I needed to feel freedom.” Her gaze met his. “I needed this.”
    He understood what she was trying to convey. She hadn’t slipped away out of spite, or because she frivolously wanted to outwit her guardians, she really did need to feel freedom—and he understood that. In a way, Carpathian hunters lost their freedom when they lost all emotion and color. They had one purpose after that—to find their lifemate. If they didn’t manage to do so, as the years went by, they would run the risk of becoming nosferatu—the undead. The only thing left for hunters was to hunt and destroy the vampire and search for their lifemate.
    “I told you about me,” she said. “Now it’s your turn.”
    “I think we’re about to have company. Two out of three. The third one chose to abandon his friends when he couldn’t talk them out of their drunken idiocy—and I must say—he definitely tried.” He wanted to laugh at the expression on her face. She looked absolutely pained—and adorable. He’d never considered using that word, but now he knew what it meant.
    “You have got to be kidding me.” She threw her hands into the air and whirled to face the two men creeping out of the bushes. “Are they really that stupid? What’s wrong with them?”
    “It’s called alcohol. You spit it out when you tried it, but many humans like and are very affected by it. The more they drink the less inhibited they are, and they make really stupid decisions sometimes.”
    “They aren’t even coordinated,” she pointed out. “One can barely stand. Do they really think they would have a chance against you? I can see them making the mistake about a woman, but they have to have seen you in the tavern.”
    “Alcohol impairs the ability to think straight.” Fen turned to face the two men coming toward them, shifting position to place his body just a little in front of hers.
    Tatijana pressed her lips together, an ominous warning. Fen caught the look on her face out of the corner of his eye. She suddenly looked both irritated and determined. He felt the burst of energy, and then she moved with blurring speed.
    You must appear human! he warned quickly, moving with her as he pushed the warning into her mind.
    At the last moment she emerged out of the mist as human, leaping through the air to land a perfect roundhouse kick, her foot slamming into the most aggressive man’s gut, doubling him over so that he folded in half. He swayed and slowly sank down onto the ground, blinking up at Tatijana.
    Fen whistled softly as the second man staggered to a halt and stood swaying, staring at his companion with blurry eyes.
    “Nice,” Fen commented. “I’m impressed.” He held out his hand to Tatijana. “Get along home, boys. The woods can turn dangerous very fast at night.”
    Tatijana took his hand and went with him into deeper forest. He took the narrow path leading back toward the village. She wouldn’t show him her resting place, but she would be much safer in the village than the forest. His last glimpse of the two attackers was of one trying to help the other off the ground.
    The mist enfolded them once again. Tatijana cleared her throat. “You said you were chasing a particularly violent vampire. Please continue. I’d really like to hear.”
    Fen glanced down at the top of her head. She didn’t come up to his shoulder, but already she was a force to be reckoned with. She hadn’t put any compulsion in her voice, yet there would be no resisting her. He had no experience with lifemates, so he had no idea if the spell she’d cast was one any woman could easily place on her Carpathian lifemate.
    “The vampire was named Vitrona and I could not get ahead of him no matter what I did. I never felt him. Not once. I could only follow in the wake of his total destruction.