"I can't eat all that."
"Try. It doesn't look like you've eaten anything at all."
And she hadn't. She forced herself to cut a piece of meat. As she set down her knife and picked up her fork with her right hand, Lyon's palm covered her left. Immediately, the rising fear began to ebb away.
"You have prisons in the basement?" she asked him. She didn't remember seeing anything like that when they were down there for the Pairing.
"If we ever get searched by human authorities, they'll find a basement with our ritual room and our workout gym. But the chambers below the house are far more extensive, flowing out beyond the footprint of the house. There are actually two levels of subterranean chambers, though the lowest level has never been used. The prisons are in a hidden section of the upper level, beyond the gym. We haven't had to use them since the last Mage war, soon after the house was built."
He grunted as he speared a piece of ham. "At the rate we're going, we may have those prisons filled again in no time."
As they ate in silence, her mind returned to Wulfe's accusations. And Pink's. Were they right?
Was she really that important to the world ? She'd kind of assumed they wanted to he able to shift, again because, well, it was fun. And if they'd implied that it was more important than that much more important she hadn't wanted to hear it. She hadn't been ready to hear it. She still wasn't sure she was ready, but Wulfe hadn't given her the choice any longer. And this time she'd heard him loud and clear.
Finally, four of the men returned, their clothes changed, the blood gone. Wulfe wasn't with them.
Tighe smiled at Lyon as he took his seat across from Kara. "Glad to have you join us, Roar."
Lyon nodded, his expression serious. "Any improvement in Wulfe?"
"No. He's still feral." Tighe looked at Lyon with worry in his eyes. "He's like a wild animal. It's as if his beast has completely taken over. There's no sign of the man at all in there."
Paenther sat on the other side of Kara. "How soon can we get Kara ascended?"
"Soon. I'm going to take over the prepping myself. If she's as strong as Hawke predicts, it may not take a full week."
"Thank the goddess," Paenther said.
As the men dug back into the meal, Kara picked at her food as she struggled to process her role as she now understood it.
She was some kind of power plug for the Feral Warriors. And if Wulfe was right, if she failed, even Spearsville could be in trouble. Shame filled her at the realization. She'd been so worried about saving herself, she'd given very little thought to what her leaving would do to everyone else.
Dear God, she couldn't continue to live with her heart constantly trying to pound its way out of her chest, though. But maybe there was a reason for it, a reason Lyon would find and eliminate. Or maybe once she ascended, she'd be able to see it for herself, if it didn't go away.
Either way, it didn't matter. She had to stay.
As bizarre as it might seem, the world was depending on her.
Miss MacAllister. Preschool teacher. Radiant.
The source of power for the guardians of the world.
CHAPTER 11
"You can feel my fear, can't you?"
Kara gripped the interior car door handle as Lyon drove back to the falls after lunch, taking the hills and sharp turns like a roller-coaster car.
He took his eyes off the road ahead for one moment to meet her gaze. "I can, yes."
"Have you felt the way it's been dropping as we've gotten farther and farther from the house?"
"The mind is a powerful thing, Kara. You're probably associating bad feelings with that place. Your grief the night your mother died. The nightmares."
Kara frowned at him. "You think I'm insane."
He met her gaze with a rueful lift of his lips. "Not insane."
"Deluded, then."
"Maybe a little unsettled by the shock of everything."
"Even though, as soon as I leave the house, I'm suddenly better?"
Lyon shrugged, his thick, golden hair brushing the broad shoulders of the rust-colored silk shirt he'd changed into after lunch. "Once we get you ascended, everything will be fine. You'll see."
"Fine?" Somehow she couldn't imagine life with Vhyper would ever be fine . But she didn't want to think about him right now.
She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was so blasted important to the world. If she was going to stay in this world of immortals and shape-shifters, she supposed she'd better start trying to understand it.
"Tell me more about the Therians, Lyon. Why were you at war with the Mage?"
"Most recently, because they'd killed one of my warriors. The previous jaguar."
"So the spirit of the jaguar somehow found Jag? That's how this works, right?"
"Yes. Upon the death of the man, the animal spirit flies to the strongest Therian with the blood of his line still running through his veins. Jag was the strongest."
"Was he a child?"
"No. Children are rarely the strongest. Jag was over seventy at the time."
"Why did the Mage kill the previous jaguar?"
His jaw hardened. "They wanted the Daemon blade. They've always felt they should be the ones to guard it, and we've always disagreed. More than once the question of its guardianship has caused war between us."
"I can't believe anyone would willing go to war with you and your men."
"The Mage have just enough magic to even the odds. Their magic and their damned superior attitude."
"What do you mean?"
"Most of them consider all other creatures inferior to them. Greatly inferior. In their eyes, Therians are little better than the animals we can, or could, shift into. Humans are no account at all."
"Are there only the three immortal races? The Therians, Mage, and Daemons?"
"There were others, but we're the only ones who survived."
"Are the Mage as strong as you are?"
"Physically, no. But they have their weapons. Mostly they're just pains in our butts. Unfortunately, we have to be very careful not to kill them with the freedom we might like. While we tap into the Earth's energy through our Radiant, the Mage are part of nature itself. At least they used to be. Before the mortgaging of their power to imprison the Daemons, the Mage could affect, and often control, many of nature's functions. The weather, the growth of plants and trees, the reproduction of many of the Earth's species."
"They sound like gods."
Lyon grunted as he turned onto the same residential street Hawke had earlier. "They think they are. But since the loss of their power, they've been reduced to doing little more than small spells and charms. The greatest danger they pose to us is their ability to mess with our minds."
"What do you mean?"
"Beguilement. Bewitchment. It's generally how they get the upper hand before we know they've declared war on us again. They can't maintain the beguilement long and generally have to be touching the Therian to do so. If a Therian goes missing, we always assume a Mage attack." He made a sound deep in his throat. "We quickly end the wars they start." There was something dark in his tone that told her the Mage involved generally didn't survive.
Lyon parked the Land Rover, and they both got out. The day was fully overcast, now, the clouds darker and the wind stronger than before. Kara zipped her jacket and joined Lyon as they started toward the woods they had to walk through to reach the falls.
"So they've enchanted Ferals to try to steal the Daemon blade?" she asked, glancing at him. The breeze had blown his tawny hair back, revealing the strong lines of his ruggedly handsome face.
"That's usually their goal."
"Why do they want it?"
"Because we're the only ones who can free the High Daemon and his horde."
"I have to admit, I can see their logic."
He scowled at her. "We would never free him. And we're not giving up control of that knife."
"What danger is there in letting the Mage have it if they can't free the Daemons?"
"The Mage have always been more vulnerable to Daemon manipulation than we are. And while the High Daemon is safely locked in the blade, there is evil still in the world that craves his return. We who cannot be turned to evil keep the blade."
"Do Mage look like us? Like humans?"
"For the most part. The only real difference is their eyes. True Mage have copper rings around their irises. Distinctive." He glanced at her sharply. "If you ever see someone with eyes like that, get away from them and tell one of the Ferals immediately."
"Would you kill them?"
"Depends. If they threaten you, then yes. I'll kill them."
Kara shoved her hands into her jacket pockets, lifting her shoulders against the chill of his words. There was something both heady and horrifying about his simply stated declaration. A vow she had no doubt he meant. Once again, she was reminded of how important she was to them.
The Radiant.
As they entered the woods, Lyon lifted a low-hanging branch for her to pass beneath. "In the old days, there was a second way to tell a Mage. The cantric. Occasionally you'll still find someone with one, so you should know what they look like, as well."
"What's a cantric?"
"A braided copper circle that takes a Mage's natural magic and magnifies it. All Mage are implanted with a cantric upon maturity. Without them, they'd have almost no magic at all anymore."
"So both the Mages' eyes and their power magnifiers are copper circles?"
"Not a coincidence. Copper is one of their elements."
"Where do they implant the cantrics?"
"Beneath the skin. Where depends on the person and the century in which he or she was born. In the old' days, Mage wore the cantrics in their faces, usually on the cheek. You could see the outline of it clearly beneath the cheekbone, and they often tattooed the skin over it so none would miss it. Humans knew to be wary of these creatures whom they considered witches. The hysteria against witches in the seventeenth century put an end to visible cantrics after half a dozen Mages were captured and burned at the stake. Most of the Mage cut the cantrics out of their faces and implanted them in other parts of their bodies. Unseen places."
The rocks became more numerous, until the path through the trees became little more than a rocky climb. The wind flipped her ponytail against her cheek, and she raked it back.. "There's a painting in my room of a lion with a head beneath its paw. The face has a circle on the cheek. A shiny copper circle."
Lyon nodded. "It was painted by a Therian artist to commemorate my victory over the Supreme Mage in 1738. The supreme is their leader."
She gaped at him, holding her ponytail so it wouldn't flick her in the face again. "So it's a painting of you?"
He met her gaze, a hint of pride gleaming in his eyes. "It is."
Seventeen thirty-eight. A painting of a victory of a lion over a man who was essentially king of the witches. It was real. Not only real, but the victor, the lion , walked beside her now. A man. How was she ever going to get used to this stuff?
"Have you really been alive seven hundred years?"
"I have."
Together, they started down the rocky path to the goddess stone, Lyon's long strides making her hurry to keep up. He grabbed her hand, his warm fingers curling around hers, and tugged her with him. "Are you ready to pull the power again?"
"Out of the rock?"
"Out of the Earth, yes. It's coming from far more than just the rock."
"Then why do we have to come here? Why not do this in the backyard?" A car alarm went off in the distance, a bizarre counterpoint to her strange new reality.
"The goddess stone is sacred. A place where the Earth's energies are focused most strongly. It's where you will connect to the Earth. Once you've connected, you'll potentially be able to access the energy anywhere you can access the Earth. Every Radiant is different."
"Isn't the Earth everywhere?"
"Let me put it another way. Anywhere you can touch dirt or rock."
"Oh. No pulling the energies in the house, then."
"No. Not usually. I knew of one Radiant who was able to pull through other materials in an emergency, but she was old and powerful. It's been known to happen, but it's rare."
Lyon squeezed her hand, his touch almost affectionate, then released her.
Answering affection welled inside her. Strong and confident, he was as gentle and patient with her as anyone had ever been. And his simplest touch consumed her with fire. A fire she was almost certain he shared.
She was falling for him. In a big way. Which, unfortunately, was not a good thing. Not when the Pairing had chosen another for her. As if some game of kiss-the-immortal-shape-shifters could honestly choose her husband. How ridiculous. And awful. Yet she couldn't deny the blue glowing from Vhyper's fingertips. There'd definitely been something mystical at work. But whatever that mysticism was, it hadn't been her friend. If it had been, she'd be marrying Lyon, with only a token grumble at having the choice taken away from her.
The way things stood now, as soon as he got her ascended, he'd walk away. But really, what made her think he wouldn't have anyway if there hadn't been a Pairing? If her husband wasn't some preordained mystic thing? A man like Lyon could have any woman he wanted. He would never, in a million years, need to settle for average.
Kara crossed her arms, shielding herself from the brisk wind as much as the disheartening thoughts.
Lyon jumped down onto the goddess stone, then held out his hand to her again. "I'll invoke the Feral Circle, then we'll get started."
She tucked her hand in his and let him help her down. "What's the Feral Circle?"
"A blind of sorts. If any humans pass by, they won't see us. If anything happens, they won't hear."
She gave him a skeptical look. "What's going to happen that's going to make that kind of noise?"
The look he gave her was almost amused. "Nothing bad. Come have a seat."
He led her to the center of the stone where she'd sat facing Hawke that morning. While she sat cross-legged in the middle of the stone, Lyon raised his hands and face to the sky, looking as wild and exciting as the wind tossing his mane of golden hair. A rush of pleasure pressed against the insides of her chest as she watched him. He was gorgeous. Thrilling.
But the pleasure slowly turned bittersweet. If only he could be hers. Even just for a little while.
After a few moments of murmuring incantations, he lowered his arms.
"Why didn't Hawke do that earlier?" she asked.
"It's not needed the first time, when all you're doing is letting the Earth learn you. It's usually not needed for the first two to three days, but Hawke said he was able to pull a surprising surge through your hands earlier, and I don't want to take any chances."
"Chances of what?"
"Your raising fire when a human's watching."
"Oh."
He squatted in front of her. "I want you to try to pull the energy yourself this time."
"I don't know the words."
"The Radiant needs no words. You are the conduit, the channel for the energies. They'll seek you and be ready at your command once they become accustomed to you."
"And that's what we're doing?"
"Yes. Close your eyes and think about the power rushing into you through your hands. In your mind, imagine you're pulling the power from the Earth."
"Like a vacuum cleaner?"
A flicker of amusement softened his features. "Like a vacuum cleaner. Try it, Kara."
She closed her eyes and tried to imagine she was sucking the rock up through her hands. But imagining had nothing to do with reality. Except, she wasn't human, was she? And she needed to start opening her mind to the possibility she could do things humans couldn't. Other than heal quickly.
Concentrate , she told herself. Be the vacuum .
The rock began to tremble under her, heating beneath her hands. Her eyes snapped open, her gaze jerking to Lyon's. "Is this supposed to be happening."
"Yes." But he was clearly surprised. "Keep going. Keep pulling."
"O-kay." She closed her eyes and concentrated harder. This time she imagined herself a bigger vacuum. Industrial-strength. The trembling increased until she started to worry that the rock would break apart and tumble them into the raging river far below.
"Lyon?" she asked, keeping her eyes closed.
"Keep going, Kara." His voiced was laced with excitement. "You're doing well."
The rock beneath her hands began to feel hot, nearly too hot to touch, but she didn't move, telling herself to just keep vacuuming. If she sucked too hard, could she turn the world inside out?
And suddenly it wasn't heat going into her palms, but a jolt of hard-charging electricity that rushed into her body. Kara yelped and jerked her hands back, staring at Lyon with disbelief.
"Are you okay?" He grabbed her hands, turning them over in his. A different kind of energy surged through her at his touch. His voice roughened as if he felt it, too. "New power can hurt until you get used to it."
"It only hurt for a second. It just startled me."
Lyon inspected her palms, running his thumbs over her flesh, as if he didn't believe her. Each stroke sent shivers rippling over her skin.
"Did it burn you?" he asked.
"Kind of. Could you feel the heat?"
He nodded. "I was having trouble crediting it. That's what I was hoping would happen eventually, but I didn't expect you to be able to do it for a few days at least. And not without help." Approval lit his eyes, warming her from the inside out. "Good job, little Radiant."
Kara smiled, the buzz of happiness so rare these past few days, she almost didn't recognize it. "Thanks. That was actually kind of fun in an oh-my-God-what's-happening way. Not nearly as creepy as this morning."
A smile glimmered in his eyes. "What happened this morning?"
"The power felt like worms under my skin."
"I've heard of that before. It'll get easier as you get stronger."
"Just how much stronger can I get? It felt like I caused an earthquake."
His lips tilted. "You didn't. With the Feral Circle in place, the quaking never extended beyond the rock."
"That's good. I'd hate to be responsible for a natural disaster."
The smile that had slowly been forming on his face finally found its way out and spread, widening his strong mouth, blossoming inside her, filling her with a pleasure so raw, so pure, it nearly brought tears to her eyes.
And made something move in his own. Their gazes locked in a way they never quite had before, and she felt herself falling. Tumbling into those warm, liquid-amber depths. Only the grip of his strong hands on hers kept her tethered to the ground.
Inside her chest, her heartbeat changed, shifting to a pulse that was deeper, stronger, as if they'd somehow, in that moment of connection, become one. Her heart was no longer hers alone.
And she knew.
She'd fallen in love with Lyon.
CHAPTER 12
Lyon dropped Kara's hands and rose, feeling suddenly strange. Off-balance. His chest heavy, like he wasn't sure he remembered how to breathe. Was this another problem due to the lack of radiance? Or something else? Something caused by the woman herself?
The moment he pulled away, Kara's gaze fled to the falls. She stared out at them now, her hair a golden glow around her. The pulse throbbing in her neck.
What just happened? She'd smiled, and he'd fallen. He'd felt as if his feet had been jerked right out from under him. As if his equilibrium had been suddenly stripped away.
Goddess, but she was a temptation he couldn't afford. What was he thinking bringing her out here alone? He should have at least brought one of the others with them. Hawke could have prepped her while he kept watch. Or Vhyper. He should have invited her mate. He could have watched to make sure he didn't go feral. But the thought of that snake's hands on her sent hot jealousy rushing through his bloodstream.
Damn, but he needed to get control.
Kara turned back to Lyon, feeling off-kilter. As if the sands had shifted beneath her feet. She loved him.
How screwed up was that ?
She took a deep breath and struggled to settle down. What she felt for Lyon wasn't going to matter so long as he was convinced she had to marry Vhyper. Maybe there was a loophole somewhere. Dear God, there had to be a loophole somewhere.
Maybe for now, she simply needed to learn alt she could about this world and her role in it.
She looked at Lyon, watching the wind toss his thick hair as he watched her in return with enigmatic amber eyes.
"What's the purpose of this energy pull?" She linked her fingers together in front of her. "What can I do with it?"
"You have to pull the power in order to ascend."
"You keep using the word ascend . I'm not actually going anywhere am I?"
He turned away. "No, You'll call the power from the Earth, and we'll all share it."
"How?"
"There's nothing for you to fear."
Warning bells clanged in her head and she stood, staring at his strong profile.
"Oh, no you don't. The moment you tell me I shouldn't be afraid, I know I'd better start worrying. Spill it, Lyon. All of it."
"Later." His tone hardened with impatience. "You need to get back to work." But he wasn't meeting her gaze. She'd been down this path before and wasn't going there again.
"No way. You sent me into the Pairing without telling me I was getting a husband, and look how well that turned out. Don't you dare send me into another one unprepared."
His jaw clenched, and he remained mute.
Kara crossed her arms over her chest. "In case you hadn't noticed, this is not the way to calm my fears."
He glanced at her with a scowl. "You aren't going to like it."
"Tell me anyway. It's better if I'm prepared."
With a huff of frustration, he turned away and began pacing with tight agitation. "When the Ascension is over, you'll feel a rush of power like nothing you've ever experienced. We all will. And we'll be able to shift again."
"That's nice. Tell me the rest, Lyon."
He looked out over the river, then back at the path. Anywhere but her. Finally, his jaw set, and he met her gaze.
"The Ascension requires blood. And sex."
Kara's eyes widened as the word did a strange number on her pulse. "Sex? During the ritual?"
Lyon shrugged. "It's necessary. Only at the moment of sexual release is the body and mind fully opened. It's only at that moment that you'll be able to raise the powers of the Earth and make them yours."
She thought of the Pairing. How they'd been prepared to make her kiss them all. Them all .
"Sex with whom? How many times ?"
"For goddess sake, Kara, we're not complete animals. One time. With your mate."
"With Vhyper." She went cold, imagining him forcing himself on her, into her , with the others there. With Lyon there . "I'm not having sex in front of eight men!"
"The rest of us won't watch."
"But you'll be there?"
"Of course. We have to be touching you when you raise the Earth's power in order to be renewed ourselves."
" Touching me ?" Dear God, this was getting worse by the second. "Touching me where ?"
"You'll be clothed, Kara," Lyon replied, his voice tight with strained patience. "In a ritual gown. Standing. We'll be kneeling, touching your feet or calves, heads bowed. Not watching . Your mate will enter you from behind."
Kara groaned. "You're making this up." They'd be right there, touching her legs, listening to every groan, every slap of flesh on flesh while she was mounted like some kind of some kind of animal . Her scalp crawled at the thought of Vhyper's hands on her, his penis pushing against her, forcing itself inside her tight dryness, because she would never be ready for him. Never.
Lyon threw up his hands in frustration. "This is why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you wouldn't take it well."
"It's like some kind of frat-boy fantasy! You'll hear everything!"
Lyon scowled. "You wouldn't find it barbaric if you'd been raised Therian. We're shape-shifters, Kara. Part animal. Not a bunch of computer salesmen."
She flung her hands outward, mirroring his own frustration, and whirled away from him. "I can't believe this."
"Don't go anywhere."
She tossed him a heated glare and turned her back on him as she looked out over the river.
Lyon wished he could take back his words. He shouldn't have told her about the sexual nature of the Ascension, not this soon. She was far too human-minded for such truth. At the very least, he should have waited until after they were through with their work today.
They'd barely started, and already Kara stood at the far end of the stone, silhouetted against the brooding sky as she stared down at the Potomac, her back to him. The wind toyed with her hair, rippling the blue jacket that shielded taut shoulders.
For all her innate power and her Therian blood, she wasn't one of them, yet. The human world and morals had molded her thoughts and expectations. She needed time to accept the Therian ways, but time was the one thing they didn't have.
He stood, watching her, and raked his wind-tossed hair from his face. His timing might have been off, but she was right. The Ascension couldn't happen without a fully cooperative Radiant, and springing the sexual aspect of the ritual on her as they tried to ascend her would have been disastrous. At least this way she might get used to the idea by the time they got to it.
If she were his, he'd get her used to the idea. Goddess, but he'd enjoy getting her used to it. Bending her over, sliding inside her hot, wet sheath. Think of me. Only of me .
Blood rushed to his groin even as his stomach clenched with pain at the thought of kneeling at Kara's feet while Vhyper took her. How would he stand hearing Vhyper's groans and Kara's sexy whimpers as the passion rose between them? Listening to her cries as she came. Cries he'd come to love.
Goddess spare me.
He would survive it because he must, and thank the heavens and Earth he only had to be present for their coupling the one time. He'd find a way to be absent from their actual mating ritual, if it killed him.
"You aren't a bunch of shape-shifters," Kara muttered from behind the barrier of her stiff back. "You're a bunch of perverts."
Lyon had had enough. He went to her, took her by the shoulders, and forced her to face him. "You. Are. Not. Human. The sooner you stop thinking like one, the better for all of us, Kara. Yourself included."
The temper in her eyes drained away.
He softened his grip on her shoulders. "It sounds strange to you, I know, but it won't be. You'll be so caught up in the power, you won't think about being self-conscious. I promise."
The look in her eyes turned almost bleak. "I don't want it to be Vhyper."
His hands spasmed. His beast howled with a bleakness to match her own. What had he done? What grief had he pulled down on all their heads by giving in to his need for her when he'd prepped her for the Pairing? If she were his mate instead of Vhyper's, he was certain he'd be able to lead her through the ritual with relative ease because she trusted him. With the right encouragement, he could make her want him even under circumstances that might be embarrassing for her.
But Vhyper was still a stranger to her. Her acceptance of him under those trying circumstances was questionable. Even doubtful. And she must accept him.
Lyon's eyes were shuttered, his jaw tight as he squeezed her shoulders and released her. "Let's get started again. Sit down, Kara. We're going to try something a little different."
Kara wanted to argue. He was asking too much. At every turn he demanded she accept the strange ways of this world and forsake everything, she'd ever known. Forsake everything she was for a role that meant next to nothing to her. A role she'd give anything to give to someone else.
But at lunch she'd begun to accept that while the role might not mean anything to her, it meant everything to them. And she was stuck with it, whether she liked it or not.
Her teeth worried her lower lip as it occurred to her she was railing against the fates for giving her no choice. Yet those very fates had delivered her to a mansion where she was expected to live in comfort, do no work that she was aware of, and be paired with a man who would supposedly be the love of her life. Oh, and by the way, the fates had tossed in a body that never aged and healed, as it always had, miraculously fast.
All over the world, men and women, alike, were living the lives forced on them by birth and circumstance. Many of them were miserable lives, filled with hardship, abuse, and disease.