Wulfe screwed off the top of the water bottle and handed it to Natalie.
The woman took a long drink, her intrigued gaze returning to Lyon beneath tear-spiked lashes. Thats amazing, what you can do. I feel . . . okay, now. Like I can handle this.
The moment Lyon released her, she dug into the bag and pulled out one of the crackers. Her gaze swung to Wulfe. How long have I been asleep? Im starving.
Longer than you think. Eat up.
Lyon rose and joined Kara at the cages door, his arm going around his mates shoulders.
Esmeria says only one bottle of water and a few crackers this first time, Kara told him. She needs to take it slow.
Within minutes, the crackers were gone and the water bottle empty.
Lyon steered Kara out of the cage. She needs to sleep, Wulfe.
Agreed.
Natalies gaze snapped to his, wariness leaping into her eyes. Youre going to knock me out again. I watched what you did to Xavier and Christy. I know you did it to me.
He didnt deny it. It wont hurt you, and the less you hear, the better for you and us both. Ill leave you in here with your brother if youd like.
Her tension slid away. Slowly, she nodded. All right.
Sliding his hand to the side of her warm neck, he found the spot beneath her ear with his thumb and pressed. He caught her as she collapsed. Beneath the acrid scent of fear and sweat that still clung to her, he smelled another. Her own scent. A calm gray-eyes scent, like a warm summer breeze.
Lifting her into his arms, he laid her on the opposite side of the small cage from her brother so the male wouldnt accidentally kick her when he woke, as he was sure to do soon.
As Wulfe left the cage and locked it behind him, Lyon lifted a brow. She didnt appear to be afraid of you.
Why would she be afraid of Wulfe? Kara asked.
Wulfe looked down at his chiefs mate from his seven-foot height with his badly scarred face, and saw nothing but genuine puzzlement. Not for the first time he marveled at their good fortune in being blessed with this woman as their Radiant.
With a smile, he hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her to him for a hug as he met his chiefs gaze. Think of all she saw that day.
A quick smile of understanding flickered across Lyons face. Daemons. Youre flat-out pretty compared to them.
Wulfe grinned, releasing Kara.
Lyon nodded toward the unconscious male. Who is he to her?
Her brother. And she confirmed it. Hes blind.
All hint of amusement left his chiefs face. Shit.
Yeah. He felt the same way about the prospect of killing the male. But he wasnt sure how they were going to avoid it.
Well, we dont have to do anything about them today. Do you want someone to spell you for a while?
No, Im good.
Lyon clapped him on the back, slipped his arm around Karas shoulders, and turned to leave.
Wulfe went to stand by the cage with the brother and sister, his gaze lingering on Natalies tear-streaked face. A lightness filled his chest at the thought that for once, he looked damned close to normal. At least in the eyes of this woman. It was a novel experience.
Behind him, he heard the other female, Lip Ring, stirring. He turned slowly, watching as she sat up, as she opened her eyes and stared at him.
As she screamed.
CHAPTER 3
Hi, Mr. McCloud. How are you feeling today?
As Ariana strode into the ailing patients hospital room, the elderly human looked up. Eyes tight with pain lit with pleasure at the sight of her.
Hi, pretty girl. Did you finally transfer down here to the oncology ward?
No, Im still in maternity. The poison inside her leaped to feed on the poor mans pain. Goddess, she hated feeding on others misery, though it didnt hurt them. She took nothing from them and gave back what she could. Im off work and heading out, but I wanted to stop by and see you, first. I hear youre leaving us tomorrow.
He nodded, his face a mask of resignation. Hospice. Theres nothing more they can do for me here.
Stage-four bone cancer. Not only was he the quickest feed, but shed learned he had little family and far fewer visitors than the others on the ward. So they gave to one another, though only she understood the true nature of the exchange.
An Ilinas natural energy was pleasure, not pain. But the poison inside her was another mattera living thing that demanded the misery. Long ago, shed discovered that the hungrier the darkness became, the less able she was to control it.
She gripped his frail hand. Im sorry.
Me, too. He was silent a moment, then visibly shook off the pall. Tell me about the Orioles. I hear they won.
As much time as shed spent among humans these past centuries, shed come to know and understand them well. She never failed to be humbled by the depth of their courage in the face of impending death.
They did. They beat the Mets seven to six. Shed never acquired much of a taste for human sports, but Mr. McCloud was an avid baseball fan, and she kept tabs on the games so shed have something to talk with him about. Something that might take his mind off his own terrible pain.
You should have seen them in 96. What a team. While Mr. McCloud regaled her with stories of the Orioles pennant race, the poison inside her exhausted body feasted.
For most of her years in exile, shed acted as a midwife or maternity nurse, her Ilina nature feeding off the joy of childbirth even as the dark poison gorged on the accompanying pain. But sometime over the past couple of years, the balance had tipped. Either she was growing weaker, or the darkness inside her had grown in strength. Her feeding had had to grow along with it.
Deep inside, she felt a fluttering of panic that she was losing control. The fear that, after all these years of struggling to hold on, her strength would fail before Melisande caught the Mage sorcerer and forced an antidote from him.
And now, to make the disaster complete, Kougar was back, demanding explanations and aid she couldnt provide, their mating bond reconnected and endangering his life all over again.
She felt beaten, pummeled by emotions that had her torn between screaming and crying ever since Kougar walked back into her life three days ago and turned it upside down. She ached at the pain she knew he was in over the impending deaths of his friends. Yet she could do nothing. Nothing but ensure that he continued to hate her.
Letting his friends die ought to seal that hatred for eternity. Maybe someday shed be able to make it up to him, when this nightmare was finally over. When they were both free of the threat of the poison.
It would happen. Melisande would find the bastard. Though shed been saying that for nearly a millennium, she couldnt give up hope that someday this would all be a bitter memory. For a long time, shed thought Kougar would be part of that future. Now she wasnt so sure.
If she didnt keep him hating her, he wouldnt be alive to see any future at all.
As the elderly patients voice slowed, his eyes beginning to droop, Ariana patted his hand. Get some rest, Mr. McCloud. You have a busy day tomorrow.
His eyes softened. I wont see you again, pretty girl. Thank you for brightening an old mans last days.
Ariana bent down and brushed his cheek with her lips. Youll have the best seats to all the games, soon.
His eyes crinkled. From on high. Ill save you a seat, though you wont be needing it for a good many years.
He had no idea. Shed already lived nearly thirteen hundred and might live thousands more, despite her current inability to turn to mist. Killing an Ilina queen required cutting out her heart, which took a speed and slyness few possessed.
Ariana smiled softly, sadly. Save me that seat. With a squeeze of his hand, she grabbed the purse shed left on the chair by the door and headed home, her heart heavy, but the poison back under control. For a while.
The night was cool, a light fog blurring the edges of the streetlamps that lit the parking lot. As she made her way to her car, she shrugged, trying to ease the tension twisting her neck muscles, a tension she laid firmly in the lap of the mate shed hidden from for a thousand years.
She strode through the parking lot, her gaze skimming for movement, noting only a pair of young parents hurrying toward the Emergency Room with a feverish-looking toddler in arms. Arianas inner radar had long ago become finely tuned to threats of any kind, but she sensed none. Not even the Feral whod become the biggest threat of all. He wasnt anywhere near. Yet.
As shed dressed for work two days ago, shed discovered her name badge missing, and she was all too afraid shed lost it in the Crystal Realm when Kougar attacked her. If she had, hed found it. All she could do was hope that he wouldnt be able to use it to track her down since the hospitals name wasnt on it. But she felt far from safe.
Kougar was nothing if not determined.
For the past two days, shed monitored the mating bond, seeking any sense of his drawing closer than normal, but shed felt nothing. That didnt mean he wouldnt find her, only that he hadnt yet.
If she could just avoid him for the next week or two, until his friends caught in the spirit trap had died, she felt almost certain hed go away and leave her alone again. Something inside her twisted at the callousness of that thought. The loss of so many Feral Warriors since she and Kougar had last been together was a tragedy. Shed known none of the shifters well, but Horse and the Wind had always treated her with kindness and even gratitude for the happiness shed brought their friend. She was sorry she hadnt been there to save Horse when hed been caught in that spirit trap with the others. Sadly, it was the very fact that shed come into Kougars life that had ensured she couldnt save his friends. The Mage would never have attacked the Ilinas if they hadnt feared that the Ilinas might join forces with the Ferals against them.
She unlocked the door of her ten-year-old beige sedan, climbed in, and tipped her head back against the seat. Slowly, she unwrapped the bandage that covered her right wrist and the silver cuff set with six blood red moonstones, a cuff that shed worn since that day shed tried too hard to save her maidens and taken too much poison, then lost it all. The moonstones shored up her defenses, keeping her from accidentally turning to mist. Her boss wasnt fond of the bandage but preferred it to her flashing the jewelry. It was a compromise they could both live with.
With the bandage off, she pulled on the cardigan shed left on the front passenger seat against the nights chill, started the car, and headed home. Over the years, shed purchased three different homes in the D.C. area, rotating between them, careful to change her home and identity every fifteen to twenty years so the humans wouldnt notice that she never aged.
Each of her houses was situated at the outer edge of where she could sense Kougar and draw strength from the bond that had never entirely been severed between them, at least on her side. She was careful to stay away from the Therian enclaves, where another immortal might spot her, though she doubted any would ever recognize her. Few Therians still lived who were over a thousand years old.
The drive to her current home, her favorite of the three, a small three-bedroom Cape Cod located in downtown Baltimore, took only ten minutes. She drove into the narrow drive and turned off the ignition, the sweet scent of spring flowers welcoming her as she stepped out of the car and made her way up the pavers to the front door.
Kougars presence remained at a distance, not as far, perhaps, as Feral House in Northern Virginia, but a good distance, nonetheless.
All that mattered was that he wasnt here.
With another shrug, trying to loosen some of the tension in her neck and shoulders, she inserted the key into the lock and let herself into the dark living room. The streetlights illuminated furniture and shadows, revealing nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing moved. No sound carried to her ears. But as she closed the door behind her, a faint tingle pricked her skin, tripping her pulse. Telling her she was being watched.
Her breath caught. She wasnt alone.
But even as the adrenaline surged, her mind calmed. Even without her Ilinas energy, she was stronger than a human woman, equal in strength to any human male. And after a thousand years, her hand-to-hand combat skills were excellent. She could handle him, whoever he was. Because he wasnt Kougar.
The intruder moved, faster than any human.
Shit.
She grabbed for her bracelet, to escape back to the Crystal Realm. Before she could reach it, an iron-strong hand clamped around her wrist, yanking it away from her body as a second snagged her other wrist.
He was too strong. Too fast. Too big.
Feral Warrior.
Crap, crap, crap. Damn Kougar. Hed known shed be able to sense him and had sent another in his place.
With a swift backward kick, she slammed her heel into her assailants knee and might as well have hit a brick wall.
Do your worst, Sugar.
She slammed her head back, hoping to hit his nose, but he was too tall and she barely clipped his chin. Wheres Kougar?
On his way.
Double shit. She tried to twist out of his grasp, and for a moment thought she was succeeding until she realized hed used her own momentum against her. Before she could stop him, he picked her up and pushed her against the nearest wall, wrenching one hand wide from her body. Shed forgotten how strong the Ferals were!
The cold bite of steel snicked around the wrist of her outstretched arm. And though she struggled, her second wrist quickly met the same fate. And then he was gone.
A moment later, she heard the click of a lamp, and light flooded her living room, illuminating her captor. Like the Ferals shed known in the past, he was tall, broad-shouldered, muscular. A man women of all races noticed . . . and most lusted after. His hair was in need of a good cut, his pants camouflage, his black T-shirt revealing the golden armband that wrapped around his upper arm, an armband with the head of some kind of predatory cat.
The shifter pulled out his cell phone even as he watched her with curious eyes. Got her. Now are you going to tell me who she is? A brief look of disgust passed over his features as he put the phone away.