DARK WOLF – Christine Feehan
A Carpathian Novel , Book 25
Berkley
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-27079-0
January 2014
Paranormal Romance

Carpathian Mountains Stronghold, Present Day

Skyler Daratrazanoff is sneaking into Carpathia to find and rescue her lifemate, Dimitri Tirunul, a nearly immortal Carpathian.  DImitri is hundreds of years old, and Skyler is merely nineteen, but they are lifemates.  Currently, the Carpathians and Lycans are in a meeting trying to form an alliance to quit the killing between them.  Her adoptive father Gabriel and his wife Francesca must be carefully told only that Skyler is going on a break from school with her friend.  But Skyler knows Dimitri has been caught and is being tortured by the Lycans somewhere in their stronghold.  Because DImitri is Carpathian, he is poisoned by silver, and he has silver hooks in his body and is being held by silver chains wrapped around his body from head to foot, waiting for the poison in the silver to flow through his bloodstream and enter his heart.  Then death will be immediate.  Skyler knows this because she can contact Dimitri psychically, and after days of not hearing from him, she has gotten flashes of what is happening to him.

Dimitri can tell through their mind reading that Skyler is taking a risk to try to rescue him.  How he hates the thought of her putting herself in trouble for him as a Carpathian, because it is his duty to protect and take care of his lifemate.  But with Skyler being related to one of the greatest mages, and also a dragonseeker, she has abilities that she hasn't even tapped into at her young age.  Since he met Skyler years ago, DImitri knew she was his lifemate, and he has waited patiently all this time for them to say their vows to each other.  But in a tree with silver creeping through his veins, he truly believes he will be going to the next world without her.

It's hard to believe that a nineteen year-old girl and her two friends could rescue a mighty, powerful Carpathian by themselves.  The rest of the Carpathians are in a meeting to come to terms with Lycans, and no one yet knows what is happening to Dimitri.  Dimitri knows when Skyler's father Gabriel finds out what she has done without his knowledge there will be a high price to pay for putting her in danger, and when his brothers also find out, it may be hard to stop a war from starting.  What Skyler goes through trying to rescue Dimitri from his prison of silver and helping him recover enough to escape will keep you enthralled, especially if you are familiar with this series.

Christine Feehan is continuing her Carpathian novels with book two in her Dark Series, DARK WOLF.  Told from Skyler's and Dimitri's points of view, theirs is a complicated world, and Dimitri and his family have lived for years as near Immortals, never able to die.  It's very seldom a Carpathian finds his lifemate, and Skyler also feels that total love between them.  It's not just love, it's devotion for each of them, even though they have not sealed their bond verbally or physically.

The secondary characters are mainly Paul and Josef, Skyler's best friends who help her go to where Dimitri is and release him from his bonds of silver.  Later in the story, we meet her adopted mother and father, and birth father, Razvan.  Because of the trouble they are in, soon all the members of everyone's family are brought into the story, including Josef's brothers, Paul's family, and too many other Carpathians from previous novels to even begin to name, all united together to free Dimitri and keep the alliance between the Carpathians and the Lycans from falling apart because of the rogue elements. Also important is Zev, the leader of the Lycans who imprisoned Dimitri, and despite what he thought were his orders, he let Dimitri drink his blood to save him from dying.  Soon Zev must decide what side he is on.

DARK WOLF is my first book by Christine Feehan, and I will state right now that I definitely felt adrift with the story line, who the different groups were, and the many characters, especially in the second half of the story.  I know fans have waited a long time for Skyler and Dimitri's story, and the drama and love for each other definitely is a highlight.  There is a lot of action, drama, and the torture of Dimitri that is hard to read.  Hopefully fans of the Carpathians series will revel in Skyler and Dimitri's coming together and watch them build on an already strong relationship.

Carolyn Crisher