Authors Note: Sorry again for the delay. I knew what I wanted, but I was really struggling with how I wanted to word it. Sometimes ideas seem so easy to work with in your head, but when you go to write it down, you just can't seem to start. I want to give big thanks to Rose3521 and murgatroid-98 for IM-ing with me so I could make this chapter the best it could be. I would also like to thank my readers and especially my reviewers. Encouragement always makes me feel good inside and keeps me inspired. So if you want me to keep writing, you have got to let me know. Well enough of my rambling. Read and Review!

Chapter 5

Zohra had always hated feeding. Xavier used to kidnap human victims for her to feed from, but she always refused. She would often refuse blood until the point of starvation, and even then only fed from the small animals found in her prison. Most Carpathians could find a way to look at people as just a means of nourishment while they fed. Zohra didn't have that luxury. Her connection power made it impossible for her to look at someone without seeing them as a person. Even Xavier. And she hated that about herself. When she fed, her connection power got stronger, allowing her to access the Tree of Souls like she was doing now. It also gave her a glimpse into a person's life.

The moment Zohra sank her teeth into Skyler's wrist, she was caught in a maelstrom of torturous memories not her own. This girl had been badly abused. After Razvan, her mother had been so scared that she married a man she felt was strong enough to protect them both. But he used his strength to hurt them, not help them. Zohra experienced every brutal assault Skyler ever endured, all in mere moments after she had begun to feed. Skyler's mind was in chaos. She was in the center of the storm, overwhelmed by the pain of the past. Zohra knew she could not travel up the Tree of Souls to find Dominic while this young girl was being dragged into the abyss.

"Denae what do I do?" Zohra called out to her guardian. "I can't let her drown in her fear or I will be just another monster who took advantage of her."

"Happy memories always helped you, Zohra. Help her focus on a time in her life she was at peace. But hurry, she's losing too much blood and we can't remain in the Tree of Souls long after feeding."

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Skyler was unprepared for the pure agony of Zohra's bite. It wasn't the physical tearing of flesh that made her scream; Skyler had learned long ago how to block that kind of pain from reaching her. No, this was something much more powerful. The moment Zohra had sunk her teeth into her wrist, Skyler was swept away into a sea of painful memories. She seemed to be reliving centuries of loneliness and hopelessness. She felt the pain of her mother die at the hands of the undead. She saw evil in its purest form surround her from all sides. Skyler was suffocating from the depravity. It was then she realized none of these memories were her own. Skyler had not lived centuries and her mother had died at the hands of a sadistic human being, not a vampire. It was Zohra's life she saw flashing before her eyes, Zohra's loneliness and fear that consumed her. Skyler had thought her own past was torture. This woman had lived centuries surrounded by evil on every side. Almost her entire life, she had been locked up, confined in the darkest and deepest dungeon imaginable. Up until a few nights ago, she had not seen the moon for over three hundred years. Skyler could not bear it. She struggled to breathe but she was drowning in this world of imprisonment.

Skyler could feel herself getting weaker. She had to get out of this emotional storm. She needed to find sanctuary. From the depths of her soul, she screamed for someone to hear her.

"Skyler, you must focus on a happy, peaceful memory to combat the darkness," Zohra called to her. "I cannot find my lifemate with you in such distress."

Skyler contemplated Zohra's words. Peaceful? When in her life had she ever felt peace? Even after Gabriel and Francesca had taken her in, she had never felt truly safe. Always the nightmares of her past returned to her, haunted her every waking moment, her every dream. And then she came here to the Carpathian Mountains and was put under guard 24/7 because she had a lifemate forbidden to claim her until she was at least 18. Peace? Ha! She'd never known peace.

"Focus! You must have experienced something in your life that gave you peace. Try to remember. Just find one moment in your life when you were able to let it all go and just enjoy the here and now. Think!"

Let it all go? Had she ever been able to do that? She tried to think. The waters of despair were pulling at her, the tide ever higher. It was then that she remembered. It was the evening of the Christmas party. The Dark Troubadours were on stage and Desari was singing a beautiful ballad of love and togetherness. Dimitri had asked her to dance. He had had no intention to claim her at that moment. He had been alone in a colorless, emotionless world for centuries and only wished to be near her. As frightened as Skyler had been, she had agreed. At first, all she could think about had been Dimitri's immense size and the threat he posed to her future. But once she relaxed a little, she had been able to lose herself in the music and just enjoy being in Dimitri's arms. She had never told him, but that was the only time in her entire life she had ever felt at home. Actually, that was why she'd never told him. In this raging storm of anguish, she shamelessly clung to that memory like she did her wolf. It always seemed to come back to Dimitri. As much as she hated the idea of being tied to a Carpathian male for all eternity, she couldn't hide this simple truth: to her, Dimitri was home. And only in his arms, did she feel truly at peace. As she used this knowledge to ride the tide of Zohra's past, she unknowingly reached for Dimitri and shared her revelations.

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The instant she felt Skyler relax, Zohra began her search for Dominic's branch on the Tree of Souls. It wasn't actually called that. Zohra called it the Tree of Souls because it seemed to her a network of interlocking branches, each branch a different soul. Different types of connections appeared differently, blood bonds the easiest to follow because the branches all stemmed from a central trunk. The bonds of love and friendship appeared as flowering vines that reached from one branch to wrap around another. Lifemates' bonds were the most unique as they were essentially a bond on every possible level. When she had been examining Skyler's branch, she noticed a flowering vine not only reaching to wrap around another branch, but taking root within. Skyler was not yet bound to her lifemate by the ritual words, but the strength of the pull between them was already incredibly intense. It was flourishing right before her eyes. The beauty of it was so great, Zohra could hardly believe that it would soon happen to her as well.

"Not if we do not find Dominic's branch and send that message!"

Denae's urgent reminder gave Zohra a burst of speed. She moved on, following her instincts until she arrived at Dominic's branch. There could be no doubt as she saw her own branch reaching desperately to embrace it. Zohra poured all of her will and desperation into the compulsion to her lifemate:

"Come to me, Dominic. Come to me and I will sate your thirst. I am your lifemate. The light is not yet lost to you. Come to me."

Zohra felt Skyler sway against her. Immediately she pulled out, swiping her tongue across the pinpricks. As she found herself leaving the Tree of Souls, she noticed her own branch reaching out to Skyler's, forming a new connection.

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Dimitri burst through the door like a man possessed. One look at his lifemate's gaunt, pale face was all it took. That woman would die tonight. Unclaimed female or not, she had hurt his lifemate. Fed from her veins! No one would hurt Skyler and live. No one!

In a move too fast for even most Carpathians to see, Dimitri grabbed the woman by the scruff of her cotton shirt and slammed her against the wall.

"HOW DARE YOU!" The words came out a growl as he bared his fangs.

The woman just stared at him. Dimitri detected no fear in her. Incredibly, he found amusement in her blue-violet gaze. Dimitri stared in shock as she met his gaze and smiled.

"So nice to meet you too, Uncle."

I'm sure many of you saw that coming. Even if you did though, I'm sure you were wondering just how it would be revealed. This scene just popped into my head and I just had to use it. Let me know what you think of Chapter 5. I'll try to get the next one up in at least 10 days. I'm going to try making most of it in Dominic's point of view. No promises. What happens happens. TTFN.