"Stay in your skin, Vhyper."
"Go to hell, Chief." Wicked, curved, snake's fangs sprouted from his mouth. " Give her to me ."
As Vhyper closed the distance between them, Lyon shoved Kara behind him, his beast leaping in protective fury, snarling beneath his skin.
His fingers burned, but he fought the feral anger, balled up his human fist, and smashed it beneath Vhyper's jaw in a hard uppercut.
The snake's head snapped back, two trails of blood trickling down his mouth from where his fangs pierced his lower lip.
"Back down now, Snake," Lyon snarled. "Get back in your skin, or you're joining Wulfe in the prison."
Vhyper hissed at him, his red eyes spitting with anger.
"You wouldn't."
Lyon leaned forward until he was fully in Vhyper's face. "Watch me. If you're not in control, you threaten the safety of the Radiant, which endangers us all."
"So this is how you stay away from her, Chief?" His voice was low and hard. "With your hands all over her? And you condemn me for losing control? Not a man in this house would blame me for taking you down for this insult." A low sound rumbled from his throat. "You have no right to touch her, no right to keep me from touching her."
His beast roared in protest.. She was his to protect. His .
But, dammit. What Vhyper said was true.
It didn't matter. He wasn't letting her go. His teeth clenched and unclenched in a low, rhythmic violence as his innate fairness battled with his beast's hyperprotectiveness and the primitive instinct that told him not to let her out of his sight.
His instincts won.
"Tomorrow night we ascend her. Then she's yours. Until then, as the finder and chief, she's my responsibility." His voice brooked no argument.
Vhyper's fangs slowly retracted, a show of more control than Lyon himself had. "She's your responsibility? Or is she yours? To touch. To fondle. To fuck?"
Lyon's hands balled into fists, and it was all he could do not to smash them through Vhyper's face. " Watch your language, Snake ."
"Watch your hands, Roar. I saw you touching her. Holding her. You've said yourself you lost control during the preparation for the Pairing. And every Feral watched you lose control during the Pairing itself. Why in the hell should I trust you with her now?"
He shouldn't. Goddess knew, Lyon didn't trust himself. What in the hell was he doing?
Yet he couldn't back down. Kara needed him. All he knew for certain was she needed him.
He rarely explained himself to his men. He sure as hell didn't feel like explaining himself now. But he didn't have a choice. At the very least, he had to convince himself he was doing the right thing. That he hadn't, in fact, lost complete control.
He straightened and crossed his arms across his chest, pinning the other man with his hardest look. "Until she's ascended, you're not touching her. And I'm not letting her out of my sight."
With a hiss of anger, Vhyper whirled and stormed from the room.
As his beast roared with approval, Lyon wondered what in the hell he'd just done.
"I'll be right outside your door," Lyon told Kara that evening as he stood with her in front of her bedroom. This was the first time he'd been alone with her since they'd returned from the falls. Dinner had been a tense affair, with Vhyper glaring at him and Foxx snarling at every man at the table. Kougar and Jag had gotten into it over something trivial, but both managed to regain control when he'd demanded. Not once had he left Kara's side, but neither had he trusted himself to be alone with her.
He rested his hands on either side of her neck, now, draining the emotions, hoping she'd be able to fall asleep before they became unbearable again. Because the one place he didn't dare follow her was into her room while she slept.
His control wasn't that strong.
"Are you going to stay out here all night?" Her blue eyes watched him.
"All night." His thumbs brushed the underside of her chin. If not for Vhyper, he might have attempted the torture of staying with her to keep the emotions at bay. But Vhyper's accusations were too close to the truth. He wanted this woman with a need that was like fire in his blood. The temptation of her was just too much.
Kara lifted her hands to cover his. Warmth flowed into his bloodstream.
"I'm glad." She sighed, her lips parting, drawing his. gaze. He tried to look away, but it was no use. Her scent teased his nostrils, her hair gleamed beneath the golden glow of the lamplight. Her mouth beckoned until his hands shook from the effort of not giving in to the need to taste her again.
He should leave. Now. Before he did something he'd regret.
But the thought of putting so much as a door between them had his beast howling with unhappiness. His fingers brushed her neck. With one hand, he stroked her hair.
"Have they found the dark charm, yet?" she asked.
"Not yet. But they will. And if they don't, I'll call the Shaman. He has a unique ability to sense magic. He'll find it for sure."
Something warm glowed in her eyes. "I almost wish you'd wait and call the Shaman later."
He lifted a brow in surprise. "Why?"
"Because once the fear goes away, you won't have any reason to touch me."
Lyon tossed back his head and groaned even as he pulled her against his chest and dug his fingers into her hair.
Her slender arms went around his waist. "I wish it were you." Her voice was so low he wasn't certain those words had been meant for his ears, but he heard. Goddess help him, he heard.
His hand slid down her back, hard, shaking with a need he couldn't slake. The blood pooled between his legs, heavy, his erection pressing against her abdomen.
If only he could slake his desire for her. Maybe it would be over, then. He'd be able to forget her.
But he couldn't. Ever.
He needed to get the hell away from her.
Lyon gripped her shoulders and pulled her gently back. "Go to bed, Kara. Before I do something I'm going to regret."
The look she gave him was almost a smile. A sad one, but a smile.
"Good night, Lyon."
He locked his hands behind his back to keep from reaching for her. "Sleep, little one. Dream-free." Then she turned and left, closing the door behind her.
Lyon settled on the floor, propping himself against the wall. It promised to be a damned long night, but he wouldn't be able to sleep in his own bed for wondering if she was okay. At least this way, he'd hear her if she became distressed during the night. And more importantly, he'd be here if Vhyper got it into his head to claim his mate.
He could hear the sound of a basketball game on the television in the media room punctuated by the yells of his men as one team or another scored. More than two hours had passed when Paenther came upstairs.
"No sign of any kind of charm. I called the Shaman, but he's in New York visiting one of the enclaves. He's going to drive back tonight and will come over after dawn."
"Good. Any change in Wulfe?" Lyon asked, as the other warrior leaned one wide shoulder against the wall.
"None."
"What about the others?"
"Foxx is holding on to his control by a thread. As is Vhyper." His black eyes met Lyon's with the hard glint of truth. "And you."
Lyon couldn't deny it. He was definitely teetering on the edge.
"Jag's more volatile than usual, but that may just be because his digs are getting more reaction than he's used to. The others seem fine. They're taking turns watching Wulfe. Pink's annoyed as hell at all the blood spilling but showing no signs of trouble. Hawke and Jag have been mopping up the messes for her."
"And you?"
"I've been balancing on the edge of control for centuries. Nothing's changed." His gaze flicked to Kara's door. "How's she doing?"
"Well enough."
"Are you going to stay here all night?"
"I am. It's either that or lock up Vhyper."
Paenther eyed him soberly. "You really think he'd hurt her?"
"I think he's mad enough to want to. And I'm not sure his control is currently strong enough to refrain if he gets the chance. I'm not risking it."
Paenther's mouth compressed, but he said nothing as he met Lyon's gaze. Finally, he nodded, said good night, and went down the hall to his room.
Lyon tipped his head back, resting it against the wall behind him, his senses tuned to Kara. She was sleeping, he was almost sure of it. He was too far away to feel her emotions clearly, but low levels of fear were reaching him in regular waves. Unless he was touching her, she was never free of the rancid emotion. He wondered how she stood it.
His beast refused to settle down, whimpering continuously to go to her. To touch her, to ease that fear. To simply be near her.
What had she done to him? Just thinking about her made him ache in a way he barely understood, filling him with a need that was more of the spirit than of the body, though that ache was an ever-present torment as well. As soon as she was ascended, this ache would leave him. He'd go back to being as he'd always been.
He didn't need anyone. He'd never needed anyone.
Until Kara.
And it had to end.
She hung from the ceiling, her arms stretched until she thought they would break, her body hot from the ritual fires that surrounded her, sweat running down her temples and forehead, dripping into her eyes.
Eight robed figures circled her, daggers tight in their hands. Through the fog of dream and fear, she saw the flash of metal, then felt a pain worse than fire. And screamed.
Lyon wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, but he woke suddenly to Kara's low cry of distress, her fear washing over him.
He was on his feet in an instant, through her door a heartbeat later. As he rushed to her side, he found her on her back, thrashing in the bed as small cries escaped her throat.
" Kara . Kara, wake up." Easing onto the bed beside her, he stroked her damp brow. "Kara, sweetheart, wake up. You're having a bad dream."
She jerked beneath his hand, then went still, trembling like a leaf in the rain. Slowly, she opened her eyes. But instead of being comforted by his presence, raw terror flooded her eyes, and she jerked away from his touch.
He moved back, giving her room as he attempted to gentle her with his voice. "Kara, it's me. You had a dream."
She was shaking hard enough to rock the bed. Her hands came up to clutch her skull as tears slid down her cheeks. "God, I hate this."
She didn't protest this time when he pulled her against him and onto his lap. Her arms wrapped around him, her damp face buried in his neck. Her pulse thundered so hard he could feel it pounding against his chest.
Lyon stroked her back, her hair, murmuring words of comfort. "You're safe, Kara. It was just a dream."
Slowly, Kara quieted in his arms as he pulled the fear out of her.
His palm splayed over the soft fabric of her nightgown, rubbing gentle circles on her back. "The Shaman will be here in the morning. He'll help us figure out what's going on."
Kara turned her head, pressing her ear to his shoulder.
He held her, stroking her until she fell asleep in his arms, then eased her back onto the bed. But when he straightened, intending to return to his post outside her door, his beast snapped at him. His deep, primitive instincts prowled, restless, sensing that something was wrong. Demanding he protect what was his.
She wasn't his, of course. But his beast would not be denied. He would protect her.
Lyon lifted the silk sheet and climbed in beside her, pulling her tight against his body. Kara gave a soft, satisfied sound and curled against him.
Both beast and man purred.
But less than an hour later, Lyon was the one in pain.
He didn't know what Kara was dreaming, but instead of her fear leaking into him, all he could feel was the steady rise of her arousal. Was he the one she was dreaming of? She was sure as hell dreaming about someone. A twinge of jealousy broke into the passion that was rising inside him. Goddess, but he wanted it to be dreams of him that had her hand clutching his shirt and had her making those soft, mewling noises deep in her throat.
With every one of her soft moans, his cock grew harder, more painfully engorged until it was all he could do not to flip her on her back and bury himself deep inside her.
He'd never been so acutely aware of a woman. The scent of her hair, the feel of her breath on his neck, the warmth of her body lying tight against his side.
He tried to keep his hands still, tried to keep from touching her, and failed. So he rubbed her back, his hand shaking.
Kara's low moans increased, and she lifted her leg over his, her knee just millimeters from his swollen erection. Instinctively, his hand shot out and captured that slender thigh. His fingers curled around the soft flesh, driving his need a hundred times higher. He wasn't even sure why he'd caught it. To push it down, or pull it closer? Or, perhaps, to reach for what lay beneath.
With a groan, he tipped his head back, fighting to stay in control. The only sane thing to do was to get up and leave her.
He'd left sanity behind the moment he'd pulled her into his arms.
Kara made a soft sound of need and pressed her leg tighter against his, pushing her hips into him as if seeking relief.
" Lyon ." The soft, breathiness of her voice nearly undid him.
"You're awake."
"I was dreaming about you." She sounded like she was still half-dreaming, her voice sexy as hell.
His fingers spasmed, digging into her thigh.
"This was a good dream." Her hips pressed against his side. Heaven help him, she was rubbing herself against him. "An amazing dream."
"Kara." His hand slid up the long, smooth length of her thigh. Shaking. Needing. His fingers moved closer to her heat. One reached, stroking her own engorged flesh, brushing her wetness.
She sucked in a breath. " Lyon ."
Beneath that scrap of nightgown, she was bare and wet, and wanting. Needing him.
And he could not take her.
But neither could he find the strength to move away.
Her fingers splayed across his chest, digging into his shirt, shaking as badly as his hands were.
"Put your fingers in me."
"I can't."
"You can. So close." The air was so heavy with her arousal it nearly sent him over the edge.
He gave in to the moment's weakness and stroked her wet folds again, drawing a gasp of such longing from her he knew he had to stop now, or he was going to finish. His entire body was shaking with the need to take her, to pin her to the mattress and drive himself into that wet heat.
"Lyon, please."
"No, Kara."
But her own control had been lost somewhere in her dreams. He felt her hips rise off the bed, felt her leg lift to straddle him. If he let her continue, let her press that wet heat against his erection, it was all over.
With Herculean effort, he forced himself to push her leg away, pressing her to the bed to keep her from trying to ride him again.
"Lyon."
"No, Kara." A funny ridge of bone deep within the fleshy part of her hip teased his fingertips. His finger moved, tracing the ridge. A perfect circle.
Shock vibrated through his body.
A circle. Embedded in her hip.
A Mage cantric.
His lungs collapsed. His heart shattered.
Kara was Mage.
Kara was Mage.
Kara was Mage.
CHAPTER 15
Kara froze at the low sound of agony that tore from Lyon's throat.
She felt his body go taut, felt a deep rumble rise from his chest in a sound that held the jagged edge of rage.
"You bitch."
"Lyon?" Kara's arousal cooled, her head ringing with confusion. "What's the matter?"
He moved so quickly, it was almost unnatural. One moment he was lying beside her, the. next he was on his knees, one hand pressing against her back, holding her down, while the fingers of his other hand dug into her rear, hard, in the same place he'd traced seconds before.
"Lyon, what are you doing? That hurts."
But he didn't let up, as if he didn't care. As if he meant to hurt her.
Her heart began to race with uncertainty. With fear.
"Did you think we wouldn't know?" His words were hard as gravel. "Did you think we wouldn't figure it out?" His knee replaced his hand, digging painfully into her back. "How could you, Kara? Damn you ."
"LyonI don't know what you're talking about. What are you doing?"
"You're Mage."
"No." She gasped. "How could you even ?"
His hand closed around hers and he yanked it back, forcing her fingers to her own backside.
"Feel this."
He pushed her fingers hard into the flesh of her buttocks. Deep beneath the muscle she felt something hard. Bone. It was just her bone!
But as Lyon moved her finger, digging into her flesh she felt the narrow ridge and realized it was circular. No . It wasn't there before. She'd have known, wouldn't she? Would she ?
"What game have you been playing?" There was so much anger in his voice. So much pain she wanted to cry.
"Lyon, no. I'm not" But, Dear God, did she know that? Did she know she wasn't a Mage? Did she know anything about herself?
His knee pressed harder until she could barely breathe. "Lyon" He killed Mages. He told her he'd killed them. "Lyon, I didn't I'm not hurting your men. I'm not doing any of this. It's not me."
The sudden shock of pain made her cry out. Her eyes burned with tears as fire followed the circle he'd forced her fingers to trace moments before. A trickle of warm liquid ran down her hip. Blood.
"Lyon. Please."
His hand clamped around her wrist and he hauled her to her knees, pulling her around to face him. Anguish and fury riddled his eyes as he shoved his hand in front of her. In the curve of his palm lay a bloody mass, a woven metal circle. Copper, covered in blood and bits of flesh.
Bile rose and she swallowed it down. That thing had been inside her.
For how long? All her life? Would she have known?
A low rumble started deep in Lyon's chest rising to a full-scale roar. The dim light in the room grew as Lyon's eyes began to glow. Inhuman eyes. Lion eyes.
The glow reflected off the fangs now visible beneath his lips.
The blood rushed from her face. "Lyon," she gasped. "Don't."
She'd just begun to feel the scratch of his claws on her wrist when he threw the bloody copper ring against the wall and whirled away from her, leaping from the bed. In a haze of tears and bitter pain, she scrambled off the bed, backing toward the wall, shaking. A shadow sailed across the room ending with the sound or crunching wood and breaking glass. The scrape of wood on wood told her he was lifting the chest from the end of the bed, A moment later, the dresser disintegrated in a burst of raw destruction.
Kara pressed back against the wall, easing toward the door, the terror pounding in her chest for once all too real.
She was Mage. And Lyon was going to kill her.
The door flew open, flooding the destroyed room with light. Paenther and Tighe stood silhouetted in the entrance for an instant before Paenther lunged toward Lyon and Tighe held out his hand to her.
"Get out the room, Kara." He ushered her into the empty hallway and closed the door against the rage of the lion.
Tears blinded her as she ran down the stairs, her hip bleeding and burning, her heart shattered. On a broken sob, Kara wrenched open the front door, and fled into the night.
"Roar. Roar!"
The feral haze slowly began to clear as Lyon stared up into the bloody and fanged faces of Paenther and Tighe. He was flat on his back on the hard floor, destruction all around him. Kara's room.
Kara.
He struggled for control, feeling his claws retract. "Let me up!" The pair released him, and he leaped to his feet. "Where is she?"
"I got her out of here before you hurt her," Tighe told him.
Lyon's gaze spotted the damning piece of bloody copper lying on the floor beside the crushed bed. He scooped it up and tossed it to Paenther.
The panther snarled. "A cantric." His black gaze looked up in surprise. "Kara?"
"Yes." Lyon closed his eyes, searching for her with his senses.
"Are you going to destroy her yourself, or can I?" Violence laced the panther's words.
Lyon's claws sprang and he lunged until he was in Paenther's face. " You won't touch her . She's mine."
Suddenly, his finder's senses caught her. Outside. Away from the house. Hell .
Lyon ran for the door, heedless of the blood coating his quickly mending flesh. He leaped down the stairs in two strides and tore through the front door, taking a second to secure it behind him before he raced into the night.
She's Mage , his logical mind cried. Let the draden take her . But the draden rarely bothered with Mage. They wouldn't take her. And he needed to know how she'd fooled them into thinking she was their Radiant.
He had to know!
Deep inside, his beast growled at him. She was Kara. Kara .
But he knew better. She was Mage.
His enemy.
Branches whipped across Kara's cheeks and tangled in her hair as she followed the sound of the river, but she kept running. Away from Lyon's knife. Away from the terrible pain of having the only man she'd ever loved, a man who'd promised to protect her, turn on her.
Damn him. Damn him .
All she could see as she ran was the fury in his eyes.
The wound oh her hip hurt, the air tearing at her lungs, as she ran into the night. With no destination. No plan. Nowhere to go.
In a bloody nightgown. Now wouldn't that be a sight any homeowner would love to see on her doorstep in the middle of the night? Not likely.
It didn't matter. There was nowhere she could run that Lyon wouldn't find her. She'd learned that over and over again. She was fooling herself to think she could get away. He always knew where she was, and he'd come for her again. With his knife, ready to cut out her heart.
No, not that. He'd already done that.
The sky was clear, the moon full, lighting her way through the trees as she followed the rumble of the falls. A hard breeze blew, freezing the sweat on her skin, chilling her to the marrow of her bones, but still she ran. Because she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't go back.
She didn't know how long she'd run, or how far, when she finally pulled up at the edge of the trees and sank back against the rough bark of one, her arm tight across her middle as she fought for breath. Her lungs ached and her bare feet felt torn and shredded from the branches and rocks as she stared out at the glistening Potomac River.
She pressed her palm to her forehead. What was she going to do? Did she dare try to get help? Human help? What would Lyon do if someone tried to protect her?
Her heart clenched with pain. She'd thought she'd known him. But she hadn't. She hadn't known him at all.
No, she did know him. She knew one thing for certain.
He'd never let her go.
A dark shape soared over the river, catching her eye. A bird of some kind. But not. Her brows creased. The thing seemed to be moving too quickly. And behind it a dark cloud, little more than a shadow against the night sky. If she didn't know better, she'd think a swarm of locusts was about to descend on the D.C. area.
Not locusts.
Realization slammed into her like a wall of ice water, freezing her blood on contact.
Draden.
Oh shit .
She hadn't seen one since the night her mother died, and she'd forgotten.
She straightened, her body tensing to run, but as she watched the cloud draw nearer, she knew there would be no outrunning them. And nowhere to go if she did.
This would be her last mistake. Game over.
An unnatural calm settled over her.
"Lyon," she whispered, her heart crying out for him in these final moments. Not the man who'd looked at her with rage flaring from, his lion's eyes but the one who'd smiled at her on the goddess rock, looking at her as if she were the only person in the world. The one who'd promised he'd never let anything harm her. The one she'd trusted. The man with whom she'd foolishly fallen in love.
The draden were almost on her, their hunger feeling like ants crawling over her skin.
As tears began to track down her cheeks, she covered her face against the impending attack. The man who'd sworn to protect her wasn't here. And there was nothing left to do but try to face her fate with the same grace and courage her mother had.
As she waited for death to descend on a cloud of demons.
CHAPTER 16
Lyon's heart stopped in his chest as he saw the swarm of draden diving for Kara in a deadly descent. She stood still as granite against the tree overlooking the river, awaiting the impending attack.
"Kara! Run!"
But if she heard him, she ignored him. Did she welcome death?
Did he offer her anything better?
Hell. He didn't know. She was Mage.
She was Kara.
"Kara!" He ran through the trees toward her, logic flying in the wake of his desperation to reach her before the draden stole her away. He closed the distance between them as the first of the draden attacked. With his knife, he stabbed the two that had latched onto her and hauled her against his body, curving himself around her, making it as hard as possible for the draden to reach her.
"Try to go radiant, Kara. If you go radiant, they can't hurt you." But he knew she was too new, too untried to pull the power in the midst of such an attack. He had to get her to the goddess stone, where he could call a Feral Circle to protect her.
She said nothing, running, climbing over the rocks with him. He could feel the power spitting inside her and tried to help her, but it was harder away from the ritual stone, and harder still when her feet weren't staying planted on the ground. The only place he could help her was the goddess stone. And as he urged her faster, the cloud descended on them. Half a dozen of the bloody fiends latched onto him, but it was Kara they wanted. Kara he fought them for. He tucked her tight to his side as he used his knife on the Daemon dregs, fighting them off her as fast as they latched on.
She didn't scream. Didn't cry. At least not that he could hear. But whenever one of the little sons of bitches flew at her face, she ripped its heart out.
The rock wasn't far. Out of instinct or luck, she'd run this way. But twenty yards under a full-scale draden attack felt like twenty miles. Finally, they reached the path he sought and leaped down onto the flat stone.
Lyon pulled Kara to the ground and covered her with his body. "Go radiant, Kara! Try ." The draden covered them, but he only felt a few bites.
It was Kara they wanted and all he could do was fight them off, stabbing those within reach of his right hand and ripping out the hearts of those on his left while he chanted the words in a heated rush that would raise the circle around them.
Beneath him, he felt Kara's power spitting and dying as if the strength she'd had earlier was all but gone. Or had come not from her Radiant's power, but from the cantric buried deep in her hip.
He threw all his concentration into raising the circle and felt the mystic energies rise and finally pop into place. A high-pitched cry of fury tore at his eardrums as the draden were forced back, away from their prey. He looked over his shoulder, watching until the cloud slowly rose and disappeared into the night.
Lyon's heart thudded as his chest rose and fell in harsh agitation. So close. Too close. He rolled off Kara and stood, his gaze taking in the bloody bites on her limbs. And the dark bloodstain soaking the hem of her gown, reminding him why she had run.
She was Mage. Everything he'd felt for her, everything he'd dreamed was a lie. Her strength, her sweetness, her vulnerability. All lies.
He might be able to forgive her for those, all was fair in love and war, after all, except for one thing. She'd made him feel. She'd cast a spell over him that had ripped open his heart and laid it bare, exposing the emptiness where he could see it. Where he could feel it like salt on a wound.
And it had all been a lie.
She pushed herself up and stood facing him, her arms and legs streaked with rivulets of blood. Her stance was wary, her arms away from her body like a boxer risen for another round. In her eyes he saw the heart of a cornered animal prepared to fight for her life.
Was that what she was? Cornered? He didn't know.
All he'd known was he had to catch her. He'd had to save her from the draden. But as his fingers stung with warning, as his fangs elongated in his mouth, he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't kill her himself.