Christine Feehan - Dark Celebration 17

Skyler bit back her retort. She would have gone anyway. She didn't need him-a virtual stranger-telling her what she could or couldn't do.

«I was on my way to see Julian,» Mikhail announced, deciding it was time to ease the obvious tension. «I know he loves a good time and I wanted to alert him to tonight's main surprise.»

«There is a surprise?» Gabriel sounded wary.

«Raven wants St. Nick to show up, dressed in red,» Mikhail said smugly. «The children will be expecting it.»

Francesca bit her lip, suppressing a sudden smile when Gabriel actually stepped behind her as if for protection. Big baby.

Mikhail is up to something. I am not going to play dress-up in red tights.

Francesca burst out laughing. «Santa Claus does not wear red tights, you nut.»

Mikhail flashed her a smile. «Do you think Gregori is aware of that? He is, after all, my son-in-law, and has a duty to do as I ask. Red tights might look good on him.»

«You wouldn't,» Gabriel said, a slow grin spreading across his face.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. «Gregori? The bogeyman of Carpathians?»

«He'll scare the children, Mikhail,» Francesca objected. «You aren't really going to ask him to be Santa Claus, are you?»

«Yes, of course.»

«I want to be there. I think Lucian and I need to go visit our younger brother,» Gabriel said. «Be certain to let me know when you are going to his house so I can drop by at the same time.»

«That's just mean,» Francesca scolded laughingly. «And don't you dare tell him Santa wears red tights. Just the idea of Gregori in red tights is enough to scare everyone.»

«There are benefits to being prince after all,» Mikhail said.

Skyler cleared her throat. «This is a joke-right?»

Mikhail looked smug. «A fine joke on Gregori, little one. I had better go. I have too many things to do. I have sent the word, Dimitri, to all the others that our women and children must be guarded at all times, especially our Skyler.»

Skyler tipped back her head to look up at Dimitri. In spite of herself, she had to admit he was handsome, with the face of man, not a boy. His eyes were so alive, so deeply blue they could either burn or freeze one. He lifted both hands and ran them through his shiny black hair, pushing it back away from his face. Muscles flexed and rippled. He was standing away from her, but she felt his fingers touch her own hair, sliding through the silky strands in a slow, intimate way. Her stomach did a curious flip. Far off she heard a wolf howl. Dimitri turned his head toward the sound.

«He sounds so plaintive-so lonely,» Skyler whispered, the mournful howl drawing her instant sympathy. She wanted-almost needed-to find the animal and comfort him.

«He is lonely,» Dimitri said. He pulled a black cord from around his throat. «I ask that you wear this, Skyler. For me.»

Skyler took a step back, but her gaze fell on the necklace he held out to her. The tiny wolf was exquisite, head thrown back, fur black and shiny, eyes deep blue, like sapphire gems glowing at her. She hesitated only a moment, her hand slowly moving towards his until their fingertips touched. Heat spread through her body, warming her in spite of the cold.

Instead of dropping it into her palm, Dimitri pulled the cord over her neck, lifting her hair and letting it settle back around her shoulders. The cord was still warm from his skin and the small wolf nestled in the valley between her breasts. Dimitri reached behind her where she couldn't see and immediately enveloped her in a soft red cape. The cold receded instantly.

«Now you look like Little Red Riding Hood,» he murmured as he bent down to draw the

hood over her hair.

She inhaled his scent, wild and masculine and unexpectedly familiar. She felt the touch of his lips on her cheek. He left a burning trail to the corner of her mouth, and her body responded with an odd tingling, a heightened awareness, even a reaching toward him. Even as she stood still with his arms caging her in, she felt something within her rising toward him. Before it could break free and respond, he shifted, once more the wolf, springing away from them to run into deeper forest. Skyler caught the small wolf pendant in her hand and held tightly.

She wanted to chase after him. Call him back. Her lungs seized and her heart stuttered. She knew she didn't want a Carpathian male. All of her life she had known what people really felt, really thought-and most of it wasn't good. Gabriel and Francesca gave her respite, provided a safe haven, but Dimitri would take that from her. She took a deep breath and turned away from the path he'd taken.

«I want to go home, Francesca,» she said softly, feeling a coward. «Please take me home.»

«Of course, honey.» Francesca gathered her close, cape and all, and took to the sky, leaving it to Gabriel to shield them from prying eyes.

«Far away,» Skyler murmured, «back to Paris.» She turned her face up to the snow floating down in endless silence. The world seemed filled with sparkling gems as the moonlight glinted off the ice crystals and snowflakes. She focused on the treetops and the pristine surfaces as they flew to the house, Gabriel close behind them.

«The baby always soothes you,» Gabriel said. «Why don't you go see how she's doing?» Their trusted housekeeper-nanny had come with them and was with the children during the day. He kept his hand on Francesca to keep her from stealing away from him.

Skyler kissed them both and, still wrapped in the hooded cape, went to pick up Tamara and hold her close. The minute she was out of the room, he turned to his lifemate with a deep scowl of impatience.

«Did you see that? Did you see him kiss her? Touch her? He did not simply touch her skin, he left his mark on her. I will not stand for this, Francesca.»

«Gabriel.» She rubbed his arm gently. «He walked away.»

«He didn't walk away. He marked her, he gave her blood, he took hers. It may not have been an exchange, but you and I both know he has imparted a warning to every other male to leave her be.»

«As he should. As you or any other male would have done with your lifemate.»

Gabriel frowned. «She should have a full childhood. He can wait two hundred years just

as all Carpathians did in the past. Sixteen. Who ever heard of such a thing?»

«Savannah was but twenty-three when Gregori claimed her,» Francesca reminded him. «It is a different world and Skyler is not fully Carpathian. If he waits two hundred years, she might be dead.»

Gabriel scowled. «She will be brought fully into our world. She is our daughter.»

«We said it was her decision. The blood exchanges were to help her overcome the trauma, not to take away her choice. You're sounding as bad as Dimitri.»

«She is our daughter. I am not about to let her be foolish out of fear. I refuse to lose her to human aging or that inconsiderate lout, who, by the way, is not nearly good enough for her. She is ours, Francesca. I love her as much as I love Tamara, and she is under my protection. All this freedom you keep talking about is ridiculous. We all live under certain rules, and Skyler does as well.»

«Dimitri showed great restraint in not doing a full blood exchange with her. He could have taken advantage and did not. Our women, until Savannah, do not become sexually mature so quickly. She is, Gabriel, whether you like it or not.» Francesca held up her hand when he would have protested. «Of course she's too young to be bound to him, but that doesn't mean that technically it couldn't happen. She has to overcome her past and who knows if she is going to be able to do that. She has scars in her mind that even I can't erase. I can't even find her memories of her childhood before the atrocities started. He has to know that. He has to be prepared to be gentle and kind and patient with her. It's inevitable that they will be together, Gabriel.»