Desire Untamed (Feral Warriors #1)(30)

After Lyon brought her back to her mom during the night, she'd sat by the door for more than an hour before she'd finally forced herself to get in bed and try to go to sleep. And she had, eventually, only to suffer through another horrible dream, almost identical to the first. Like before, she'd been hanging, naked, from the ceiling. This time though, instead of one robed figure closing in on her with a bloody knife, there'd been many of them. Eight. Maybe ten. Coming at her from all sides. She'd tried to scream and only woken herself up again.

And, like before, the fear hadn't fallen away with the end of the dream. It was as if she were somehow locked in the nightmare, caught halfway between that world and this. Awake in this one, but fully aware that the other waited for her, ready to suck her back the moment she closed her eyes.

Kara shook even as the hot water turned her skin red with heat. Something was wrong. This wasn't natural. Something was making her feel this way, and she'd be damned if she was going to hang around until she fell into that horror-movie world for good. Yet Lyon wasn't going to let her go.

When she was through with her shower, she dried her hair and pulled on jeans. She was shoving her arms into a green cotton sweater when a knock sounded at her door.

Hope lifted, then plummeted as an unfamiliar voice spoke.

"It's Hawke, Radiant. Are you up?"

She'd thought it was Lyon.

"I'm up," she called, and went to open the door.

Hawke stepped back from the door, his stance casual and unthreatening. A smile lit his features, softening them. "I'm glad to see I didn't wake you. Lyon's asked me to teach you to pull the energies from the earth."

Kara blinked. "Teach me what?"

Hawke's smile turned wry. "It's the first thing you have to learn to do before you can ascend. We'll go out to the river to work on it."

The river. Her pulse leaped. She knew there was some kind of water around here, or the place wouldn't be called Great Falls. Surely, going to the river meant leaving the house. And that was all she wanted to hear.

"I'm ready whenever you are. I just have to put on my shoes."

"Why don't you get some breakfast first?"

Kara shook her head. "I'm not hungry. I'd rather get started." She was too wound up to eat. Besides, she had no desire for a repeat of last night's dinner. The flamingo woman. Zaphene looking at her like she was a bug that had just crawled out from under a rock. No thanks.

Hawke nodded with approval. "Good, then. Let's go. You'll want a jacket. The wind's kicking up."

Kara grabbed the windbreaker she'd worn on the plane the night before last, her fingers clenching nervously around the rubbery fabric. This might be her only chance to escape this nightmare once and for all.

"Sit down, Vhyper," Lyon said, as the bald warrior appeared in his door.

Vhyper crossed his arms over his leather vest and propped his shoulder against the doorframe. "I'll stand." His demeanor was calmer than usual, his eyes cold, reminding Lyon of his own culpability in this untenable situation. Vhyper had watched him kiss Kara, bringing her to full orgasm in his arms, moments before the goddess chose Vhyper to be her mate.

If the situation were reversed, he'd be tempted to rip the snake's throat out. He had to remember that.

"What happened during the Pairing wasn't Kara's fault," Lyon told his warrior. He rose and moved around to the front of his desk, to prop his hip on the corner, "I was too heavy-handed when I ripped her from her life. With nothing familiar, she turned to me. She just needs time to get acclimated here. She needs you to be patient with her."

Vhyper raised a single dark brow. "Is that why she came when you kissed her?"

Lyon scowled, then released a frustrated breath. "I may have screwed up the Pairing. My only excuse is that my finder's senses went on overload with her. It doesn't happen often." Hell, he wasn't sure it had ever happened. Not like this. "I… got into it. Kissed her. The passion I was calling in her accidentally turned toward me."

He looked at the other man sharply. "That doesn't excuse the way you treated her last night."

Vhyper shrugged. "She's mine."

Lyon felt his fingertips tingle, and he rose slowly, clenching his fists against the feral anger sparking inside. "She's ours. Our Radiant. You hurt her, and you won't be alive for her to be yours."

Vhyper's jaw clenched, his eyes turning colder before he broke eye contact and glanced toward the window. "I didn't rape her, if that's what you're worried about. I knocked her out when she fought me, but all I did was lay her on my bed with the intention of trying to start over with her when she woke. I decided I didn't have the patience for it, yet, and took her back to her own room."

"And stole Zaphene from Foxx."

Vhyper turned back to him with a cool shrug. "Stole is a powerful word, Chief. She was interested, I was frustrated. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"And you attacked Paenther when he pointed out that you had a mate."

"It was none of his business."

"How can you say that?" Lyon's patience snapped. "You're out of control, Snake. The goddess has blessed you with the most beautiful Radiant we've ever had."

"Sounds like you're jealous, Chief."