My maidens are no longer saved.
Beneath his fingers, he felt her tremble, a faint shudder that echoed inside him, reminding him of the powerful need hed once felt to protect her. A need that wasnt entirely gone.
Hookeye knows Im alive.
How? Lyon demanded.
Ariana glanced at Kougar, their gazes clashing briefly before she turned toward the front of the war room and told his chief what had happened in her living room, how Kougar had removed her cuff, and shed seen the eyes again.
He wont be able to reach you. Kougars grip on her tightened protectively. Not here.
Its not the man Im worried about. Its his poison. And he can absolutely reach me here. He can reach me anywhere.
Shaman? Lyon asked.
I have to concur, the Shaman said. It appears to me that your hook-eyed sorcerer snared you with a connector spell. Extraordinary, really.
Whats a connector spell? Jag asked.
Think of it as a valve inserted into the middle of the tube of the mating bond. A valve controlled by the creator. Anytime he wishes, he can open that valve and pump more poison in.
Kougar looked at Ariana, though she didnt meet his gaze. Is that why you severed the mating bond? He felt as if hed been lashed to a rack and was being slowly pulled apart as he struggled to make sense of that day, of why shed turned her back on him and everything theyd meant to one another. Did you sever the bond to break the Mages connection, Ariana? To keep him from pumping more poison into it?
She refused to turn to him, her gaze falling to the floor, the air thickening with tension around her.
The bond was only severed on your end, Kougar, not hers, Brielle said, earning a sharp look from her queen. She was still connected to the source of the poison. Hookeye could have attacked her anyway, which was why it was so important he not learn the truth when he thought we were extinct. Ariana is barely holding on to the poison she has. Melisande reconnected the bond a few days ago because . . .
Brielle. The name escaped Arianas mouth through clenched teeth.
Hell, the poison . . .
Brielle turned to Ariana, then back to him, her fingers twined, her hands pressing against her waist. Im sorry, Kougar. Ariana didnt know. I tried to talk Mel out of reconnecting it, but Arianas been struggling so much, and Mel hoped you could ease her burden.
Is she saying what I think shes saying? Lyon demanded. That poison . . . ?
The Shaman nodded. Was Melisande aware that the poison would kill Kougar? he asked Brielle quietly.
Kougar heard the words as if from a distance.
Yes. Brielle flinched. Melisande knew.
Jags fists landed on the table. That bitch.
Brielle turned to Jag. If Ariana loses control of the poison, we all die. Her entire race. Would you not sacrifice one of us if it might save all of your own people?
Jag snarled. In a heartbeat, sister. I might do it anyway.
Jag, Lyon warned.
As his Feral brothers eyes turned toward him with dismay and shock, Kougar remembered that moment three days ago when Melisande reconnected the bond. Hed been caught in a Mage sensory-deprivation trap with several other Ferals and a pair of wraith Daemons with no way out. Melisande had come to him in that darkness and offered to save him, to give him a chance to save them all in exchange for the reconnecting of the mating bond. He hadnt wanted to do it. Not because of the poisonhe hadnt known about it. No, it had been his soulless mate he hadnt wanted anything to do with. But hed let Melisande reconnect that bond because hed had no choice. Without the Ilinas interference, theyd have died.
Now it looked like his death had only been delayed.
Lyon met his gaze, barely banked emotion gleaming in his chiefs eyes. Explain, Shaman. How is the poison harming Kougar?
The Shaman dipped his head. The mating bond is woven directly into Kougars heart. And where the threads connect, the poison flows like acid, eating away at the flesh. Literally. His immortal physiology fights to renew the decaying heart, but eventually the magic will win. And hell die.
The room went quiet, the silence deafening, ringing in Kougars ears. In that silence, another memory nudged him, a memory from long ago. Hed felt pain like the Shaman described, pain centered right where his heart sat, a long, long time ago. A thousand years, to be precisethat day on the battlefield that he last saw Ariana. Hed rubbed his chest against the discomfort, and shed remarked on it.
Understanding hit him in a silent blast, the piece that had been eluding himthe reason shed severed the mating bond.
You knew.
Ariana flinched.
Kougar jerked her around to face him, searching those blue eyes for the truth. You knew the poison was going to kill me. Thats why you severed the mating bond.
He gripped her shoulders and felt her body shaking beneath his hands. By the set of her mouth, he could tell she wanted to deny it. But the truth was in her eyes, glistening in her unshed tears.
She hadnt severed the bond, as shed claimed, because she was done with him. Not because she hadnt loved him. Not even to save her maidens.
Shed done it to save him.
Tell me.
Yes.
He stared at her, his world flipping end over end all over again. In some part of his mind he knew that this should make a difference, that it should quell his anger at her.
But deep inside, anger churned and grew, rising like lava about to explode. Because knowing shed done it to save him just made her betrayal cut all the deeper. Shed saved him, carved out his heart, then walked away, leaving him to choke in a pool of his own blood. Not once in a thousand years had she contacted him to let him know she was still alive. Not once had she sought him out.
If shed shared her burden with him, if shed told him what she was up against, hed have found that damned Mage. Hed have protected her. Hed have ended this!
I was right the first time, he said, his voice low and cold. When I thought you soulless.
She flinched, and he didnt give a damn.
If we kill the sorcerer, can we kill the poison? Lyon asked.
The Shaman took a long, slow breath. You might destroy the magic. But its equally possible that killing the one who created the poison will keep you from ever disabling it.
With a low growl, Kougar released her, needing distance. And perspective.
How dare she claim shed done all this to save him!
He spun away, stalking to the window, while behind him, the Shaman addressed Ariana.
The Ilinas have always known far more than most, given the memories youre able to pass down from queen to queen. Im surprised youve nothing in your knowledge arsenal to battle this magic and its effect on you, Queen Ariana.
Believe me, Ive looked, she replied softly. We tried everything I could come up with, and nothing worked. Melisande has been working tirelessly to track down Hookeye, but shes never been able to find him. To this day, we dont know who he is or what he looks like other than his eyes.
We have contacts within the Mage, Lyon said. Well find him. In the meantime, since that mating bond was severed once, can it be severed again?
Kougar? The Shamans query had him turning away from the window.
With a low growl, he returned to the spot hed stood moments before and allowed the Shaman to grip both his and Arianas wrists at once. The Therian closed his eyes, tipping his head back as if sending a prayer directly heavenward.
He released them, shaking his head, and stepped away. Whatever magic kept the bond from fully attaching the last time is gone. The attachment is complete this time. Permanent, though somewhat of a messtwisted and collapsed in on itself. The flow of poison is very slow at the moment, little more than a trickle. Even so, its quite deadly.
Dammit. To. Hell.
On one level, Kougar didnt entirely care. Hed lived a long, long time, the last thousand years in a numb, colorless wasteland of an existence. But the Ferals needed him. They couldnt afford to be down yet another warrior in the months it might take his cougar to mark another.
No, he wasnt about to give up this fight.
How long does Kougar have? Lyon asked.
The Shaman met Kougars gaze. The way it is, a few months at best. If the bond opens fully, and the poison flows freely, possibly as little as a week. Im sorry, warrior.
A week.
Kougars teeth ground together as he dipped his head in acknowledgment, a furious quaking setting up deep in his muscles. A week was all he needed. Because if he hadnt found a way to stop the poison and allow Ariana to turn to mist by then, Hawke and Tighe would be dead.
But hed have more than that week. The bond wasnt going to open because hed have to care for that to happen.
He was going to kill that Mage, disable his magic once and for all, and save his friends. Then, mating bond be damned, he wanted Ariana out of his life. For good.
CHAPTER 6
A week.
The words hung in the air of the now-silent war room, but Kougar acted as if he hadnt heard. The anger in his eyes, anger directed at her upon her admission that shed severed the mating bond to save him, hadnt abated even a flicker.
Goddess, shed hoped if she could keep the mating bond in its current mangled state, he might survive the poison. Now the Shaman was giving him only a few months, at best.
This shouldnt have happened!
She could wring Melisandes neck for going behind her back. And she would if not for the fact that she knew Mel had only done it to help her. To help them all.
But, dammit, she would not see Kougar die. They had to find Hookeye fast. Not that they hadnt been trying. Goddess, theyd been trying for centuries.
Maybe the Ferals could help. Maybe they really would succeed where Melisande had failed. Arianas fingers clenched into fists. She had to keep that mating bond closed tight and give Kougar as much time as possible. Time enough to save his life, even if they werent in time to save his friends.
A muscle leaped in Kougars jaw as she watched him, his arms and shoulders rigid as steel. Fury enveloped him like a red haze.
Under the circumstances, Kougar, Lyon began, I think it might be better if one of the other Ferals guards Queen Ariana. The longer that mating bond remains closed, the better.
A low animal growl rolled from Kougars throat as his hand circled her upper arm, biting into her flesh. Itll stay closed. Beneath his tight grip, she felt a fine vibration, a volcanic anger ready to blow.
Anger at her or Hookeye? Or the fates for handing him down a death sentence? Probably all three, and there was nothing she could do to make it better.
Then meeting adjourned, Lyon said. Get some rest, if you can. Kougar, Ill let you know the minute we find something on that Mage.
Yanking her with him, Kougar steered her out of the room and down the wide hallway toward the foyer.
She wasnt entirely certain herself why shed never contacted him. For a while, her situation had been impossible. But later . . . she wasnt sure. Shed never made the active decision to stay away from him. For a thousand years, shed loved him, missed him, and always intended to go back to him. Someday.
But even if she knew what to say to ease his anger, she wouldnt say it. His anger was keeping him alive. For now.
He steered her through the foyer and up one of the curved stairs to a long hall that, like much of what shed seen of Feral House so far, looked like it had been decorated a hundred years ago. The green-and-gold wallpaper of the foyer had given way to walls papered in swirls of gold peacock feathers on a beige field, covered in paintings of all styles and typeslandscapes, medieval portraits, battle scenes. Electric sconces hung at regular intervals like oil lamps of old. Shed always loved the style of that era. The gilt and color pleased her Ilina eye.
Kougar stopped at one of the doors that lined the long hallway, opened it, and pushed her none-too-gently inside what was clearly his bedroom.
His bedroom. Could their reunion have played out any differently in her head? How many times had she imagined his reaction when she found him again, his face wreathed in joy, his eyes gleaming like silver like they used to whenever he saw her. Shed imagined him lifting her, like he had in those days, until they were eye to eye as if she weighed nothing, then kissing her as if hed been holding his breath all that time and would only breathe again when their lips were fused. Hed always made her feel as if she were his sun and his moon when they were together, though those times had been all too seldom and those two years far too short.
But the reunion of her imaginings was nothing like the reality. There were no smiles. No sweet kisses. No softness at all. Only anger and hopelessness, and death hanging like a low, dark cloud over their heads.
Harsh fingers released her arm, leaving the flesh throbbing. Behind her, the door closed with a bang that rattled the windows. Ariana turned, ready to face her accuser; but Kougar paced away, violence seething beneath the animal grace of his walk.
Without warning, he yanked the straight-backed wooden chair out from his desk, lifted it, and sent it crashing down on the broad wood surface, splintering into a dozen pieces. As chunks of wood clattered against the wall and onto the floor, he threw what was left of the chair across the room, then arched as if in terrible pain. Hands fisted at his sides, he threw back his head and let out a roar filled with such fury that she knew she should be quaking with fear. But along with that roar, she heard pain. A pain shed caused.
Guilt twisted inside her. Shed never meant to hurt him like this. But, dammit, he wasnt the only one whod suffered!
His fangs and claws erupted as he started toward her, stalking her with eyes turned the yellow of a jungle cat.
Ariana held her ground, her wrists still bound before her as she faced him. Inches away from her, he stopped, staring down at her from his great height like an animal about to strike. Though her heart pounded in response to his fury and the memory of the last time hed drawn claws on her, up in the Crystal Realm, she wasnt afraid. Not of Kougar. No, she was getting mad. He acted as if shed carelessly tossed him aside, and nothing could be further from the truth.