Author's Note: I'm so sorry I've taken so long to update. I tried to get it done before I went on vacation to visit my cousins, but I just wasn't inspired. Then when I got back I was feeling sick from a new medication the doctor put me on. Oh joy. But I'm feeling better now, and I finally finished chapter 6. I'm sorry to say that Dominic and Zohra still haven't met in this chapter. I had fully intended for it to happen but it was just getting too long. As it stands, this is the longest chapter yet. The two of them will meet in the next chapter for sure. Thank you all so much for being patient with me. I hope you enjoy. Now please read and review.

Chapter 6

Uncle? Why was this woman calling him Uncle? If this was a ploy to get him to spare her life, it was a very poor one. With the exception of a sister who had died in infancy, Dimitri had never had any siblings.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned the woman, his hand still forcing her body against the wall. "I could not possibly be your uncle, and this lie will do nothing to gain my mercy. For even if we were related by blood the very fact that you have harmed my lifemate makes you my enemy. I have no reason to let you live."

The woman just looked up at him, seemingly hurt by his words. Her eyes showed signs of tears. "My name is Zohra and although it sounds impossible, I am in fact your niece. When you were but five years old, your elder sister Katya was taken by the dark mage Xavier and forced to bear a child for one of his sick experiments. I am the result. Regardless of the fact that she did not choose to have me, my mother loved me with her entire being. She reminded me of that every night as she told me stories of her life before her capture. She told me of her family and the rest of the Carpathian people. She spoke of you often."

Older sister? He never had an older sister. Annabel was the only sister he had ever had and she had died as an infant when Dimitri reached his hundredth year. "I never had an older sister. You must be mistaken."

"I am not. I have the ability to see connections among people. Blood is the easiest kind to see and there can be no doubt that you are the brother my mother spoke of. Even if I did not have this talent, you look much like her. You even have the same icy blue eyes. Katya Kovalevsky was your sister, and she loved you dearly."

"She's telling the truth, Dimitri. I saw it." Skyler's mental voice penetrated the chaos of his mind.

"What are you saying little one? How could you have seen it? And why are you defending her? She hurt you."

"When she fed from me there was a bit of an emotional and mental exchange. I saw some of her memories, and I suspect she saw some of mine. And yes, she did hurt me, but that was not her intention. She needed my blood to find her lifemate and I gave it willingly."

"Willingly?" Dimitri was dumbfounded. "Why on earth would you give your blood willingly? And to a stranger? She didn't even have the decency to distance you from it. I felt your pain, lubouf maya. You were in agony. If I had not held you to me you would have fallen back inside your mind. Why should I spare her?"

"She is innocent of any crime. The pain I felt was Zohra's, not my own. She's so lonely Dimitri. She's always been alone. She needed my help to save her lifemate. How could I deny her when I know that, were it me in danger, you would use all resources at your disposal to save me? Let her go Dimitri. Please. She's been through enough."

"You're speaking with your lifemate aren't you? Has she confirmed what I just told you?"

Dimitri turned his attention back to the woman he had pinned against the wall. "Yes. She has. Skyler also says you needed her blood to locate your lifemate. Is that true?"

"Yes. And if it worked, Dominic should be here soon. I apologize. I never would have taken from her had it not been necessary; I made that clear to her from the beginning."

"Dominic?"

"Yes. Dominic Dragonseeker is my lifemate. He is losing the battle with the beast and as Skyler is of his line I was able to find him through her blood. That is why I took so much. I was not simply feeding for nourishment. Please try to understand. I know if Skyler were in danger, you would do everything in your power to save her, no matter what it took. I did my best to block her pain. Unfortunately, my best isn't much at the moment."

Dimitri released some of his grip on the woman. "You say I had an older sister taken when I was five years of age. I know I was a mere babe, but why do I not even remember my parents speaking of her?"

Dimitri felt a stirring in his mind. "There is a foggy area in your mind." Dimitri heard Zohra's voice through a mental path never before explored. "Your parents must have blurred the few memories you had of your sister in order to keep you from obsessing over her absence. They probably planned to take away the block when they deemed you old enough, but they died before that happened."

Dimitri answered back on the same path. "I believe you. You would need to have my blood to speak on a private path and as we have never made an exchange, you must be a relative. However this does not give me reason to trust you. But it seems that even after your brutal feeding, my lifemate still defends you. That must mean something. As for me, you must prove your loyalties. If you hurt her again, I will not hesitate to kill you." Dimitri released his niece and stepped away.

"Thank you." Zohra turned to look at Skyler. One didn't need a connection with the girl to see that she had taken too much. Turning back to Dimitri she said, "Your lifemate has need of you. Please go tend to her or I shall never forgive myself."

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The sound of a laboring heart woke Gabriel from his deep slumber. Skyler was in trouble. He burst from the soil, his lifemate right behind him. They found Skyler in the guest room with the woman Francesca had been healing. Skyler was on the bed. And she was sucking blood from Dimitri's chest!

"That pup's gone too far this time! I don't care if he is our daughter's lifemate. I'll skin him alive!"

"Gabriel don't!" Francesca cried as she raced to stop him. But Gabriel charged into the room in a fit of rage.

As he released Skyler from his thrall, Dimitri turned just in time to see Gabriel's fist coming at him. But then something amazing happened. Gabriel's fist stopped mid-swing as his body was incased in a glowing silvery light. Gabriel felt his rage just seep right out of him, leaving him with a feeling of intense vulnerability. Gabriel found himself frozen in place. He struggled to free himself from this unnatural hold, but his efforts were futile. He was completely at the mercy of whomever or whatever was creating this strange glow.

"You will not hurt him."

Gabriel watched as a woman came out of the shadows. It was the same woman Francesca had been treating, except it wasn't. Her golden locks gleamed silver and her skin seemed to shimmer like moonlight. Her eyes had lost their pupils and turned completely opalescent. As the woman made eye contact with him, Gabriel felt the last of his tension drain away. He looked at his fist hovering inches away from Dimitri's jaw and found himself wondering why he had wanted to hurt him in the first place.

"Who are you? And what have you done to my lifemate?" Francesca asked the woman in both awe and fear.

The woman turned to her. "I am Denae, guardian of the Carpathian Soul Walker, Zohra Kovalevsky. In order to protect her I have taken temporary control of her body. As to your lifemate, I have not harmed him. I have merely taken away his rage. He was never really angry to begin with, only afraid for his daughter." She turned back to Gabriel. "No one likes to feel fear. Warriors such as you view it as a weakness that must be conquered, so you cover it up with anger and direct your rage for battle. But this is not a battle to be fought with your fists or your Carpathian abilities. In fact, this battle you seem insistent upon initiating is only delaying the true battle you must fight with your own instincts. Fear is not your enemy hunter. No. Sometimes, fear just means you care for someone." Gabriel felt his muscles loosen and his arm return to his side. Dimitri moved to the corner of the room as the woman moved to stand in front of Gabriel. "You are so quick to jump to conclusions, without finding out the facts. Dimitri was supplying the girl with blood, yes. But he was not the cause of the initial blood loss. In order to locate our lifemate, Dominic Dragonseeker, and bring about his return, we needed the blood of his line. Skyler bears the mark of the dragon. She gave willingly, knowing we would not have taken from her had there been another option. Since the blood was not only for nourishment, we required more than a standard feeding. Unsure of the effects of an exchange, Dimitri gladly replenished her for us. And know this: when your daughter was caught in a storm of darkness while we fed, Dimitri was the only thing that held her to reality. So before you continue this battle with Skyler's lifemate, ask yourself, is it worth your daughter's sanity?"

After a few seconds, Gabriel realized the light encasing him had retreated and he had control of himself again. He turned to look at Skyler, now asleep on the bed. Her arm seemed to be reaching for something. Gabriel followed that arm with his eyes until they landed on Dimitri. It was then he came to an epiphany. He couldn't keep Skyler sheltered forever. He could admit he could care less what Dimitri felt, but it wasn't just Dimitri who needed Skyler. Skyler needed Dimitri, and by keeping her from him, Gabriel had just been delaying Skyler's recovery. Then Gabriel did something he never thought he would do. He bowed his head to his future son-in-law and pleaded forgiveness.

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Dimitri was dumbfounded. In just a few minutes it seemed everything in his world had changed. For the better? He didn't know. But Gabriel Daratrazanoff, legendary warrior, was humbling himself in front of a Carpathian over ten centuries his junior! What exactly was his niece that she could bring about this change in one of the ancients? Dimitri had never seen anything like it. All he could do was stare.

"Do you forgive my lifemate's pigheadedness or not? I can pretty much guarantee he won't ask again," Francesca said. "In fact, I can't believe he's asking now."

Dimitri managed to break through the fog in his mind to say one simple word. "Yes."

Francesca turned to the woman. "You're a miracle worker you know that? I don't know how you did it and frankly I don't care. Thank you. Gabriel was without emotion for almost two thousand years before we bonded. He still can't always handle it. Thank you for calming him."

The woman nodded her head in acknowledgement. "You're welcome."

Then all at once, the glow emanating from the woman was snuffed out. The woman blinked as the color returned to her eyes. She grabbed onto the wall as if to steady herself. "Whoa. That was strange. I didn't know Denae could borrow my body like that. It was rather disconcerting." The woman released the wall and looked back at them. "Why are you all staring at me?"

It was Dimitri who spoke. "You don't remember what happened, do you?"

"Not completely. There was a lot of tension but then it all went away with a burst of light. That's all I can remember. Why? Did Denae do something to hurt one of you?"

"No Zohra," Dimitri said. "Quite the opposite."

"I don't understand. What happened?"

"Don't worry about it," Dimitri told her.

"Zohra, isn't it?" Zohra turned at Francesca's words.

"Yes?"

"I feel I should tell you that the prince has ordered you be kept under guard," Francesca explained. "We've been told that you are not to leave the house. With all the attacks lately, you must understand that we must be especially careful with strangers. Please work with us on this. I'm sure you'll be off lockdown soon enough."

Zohra nodded. "I completely understand. I would feel the same if I were in your situation. Just please promise me I will not be restrained." Zohra lowered her head. "I can't take that again."

It was Gabriel who spoke this time. "We have no wish to harm you. You will be treated as a lady should. We shall make sure you have everything you need to feel comfortable."

Zohra blinked away tears as she met his gaze. "Thank you."

We need to go take Skyler back to her room and check on the baby," Francesca announced.

"Dimitri," Gabriel said. "Will you please stay with Zohra? I do not wish to leave her alone."

"Yes. I had planned on doing just that."

"Good."

Gabriel gathered Skyler into his arms and followed Francesca down the hall. Gabriel turned to look at his lifemate. "I am not pigheaded."

Francesca smirked at him. "Of course you are. All men are. But I love you anyway."

"You'll pay for that, woman."

"I can't wait."

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With just the two of them, Dimitri took a good look at his niece. She was tall and slender—the standard build of a Carpathian. Her eyes were a deep blue-violet that when gazed upon seemed to strip a man of all his faculties. Her hair was a light golden blonde, which seemed to shimmer with silver. Her skin was flawless except for a thick pinkish line running across her throat, no doubt a brand from the golden collar she had arrived in. She was truly beautiful. But she wasn't just Carpathian, was she? No, that glowing light and that guardian proved it. His niece was something different. As he looked back into Zohra's eyes, Dimitri recalled something the guardian had mentioned.

"What is a Soul Walker?"

"Excuse me?" Zohra looked about as confused as he felt.

"The one who took you over—Denae? She said she was the guardian of the Carpathian Soul Walker, Zohra Kovalevsky. That's you. I know what a Carpathian is, obviously, but I've never heard of a Soul Walker."

Zohra looked to the floor for a few seconds. When she raised her head she said, "I don't really know. Xavier called me that. He said my soul had form. I never really knew what he meant."

"Well it must have something to do with your Guardian. Carpathians don't have those. Your father must have been something we've never heard of."

Zohra sat down on the bed and was silent for several minutes. Finally she looked up and said, "I was an experiment. I'm probably the only one of my kind. But I'm hoping to find a home here. I know you don't know me, Uncle Dimitri, and you really have no reason to trust me; but please, we both could use a family. I think we've been alone too long."

Dimitri once again met his niece's gaze. "I wish I could have known her. From the way you describe her, Katya must have been an incredible person."

"She was. I'm sorry you do not remember her. Seeing as how she died at the hands of a vampire when I was 26, I can hardly picture her face any more either." Zohra got up and went to stand in front of her uncle. "Mother felt horrible that she wasn't there to watch you grow. She loved your beautiful face and the way your eyes lit up when you smiled." Zohra nodded her head towards the door she'd seen the others exit. Lightly, she touched Dimitri's shadowed jaw. "I can see it's been a very long time since you've had reason to smile. Don't worry, Uncle Dimitri. Your connection with Skyler grows stronger every moment. I promise you a time will come when she will be ready for you. You already have a place in her heart." Zohra's touch sent a curious warmth through Dimitri's soul. "She needs you Uncle, much more than she will ever admit. Do not give up. You must hold on." Then Zohra wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace.

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Outside, the last rays of sunlight fell past the horizon. A giant bird of prey took to the sky and raced towards the village. Quickly the raptor flew over the hills and through the trees, until it reached a single house. Here it would find its food.

Well that's it for Chapter 6. I'll try and get Chapter 7 up as soon as I can. Now please. Review!