Desire Untamed (Feral Warriors #1)(37)

"I forgive you for startling at the sight of me. Most do. I do not forgive you for betraying those who depend on you for life."

Kara met the woman's, hard gaze, opening her mouth to deny she'd done anything of the sort, then closed it slowly and sighed.

"Thank you, Pink."

Kara turned to retrace her steps, Pink's words ringing in her ears… those who depend on you for life. Was it true? For life? Lyon said they needed her ascended to be able to shift again, but they didn't really have to shift, did they? She'd never stopped to think what would happen to them if they couldn't. If she got away.

As she pushed back through the swinging door, the men rose, their manners so ingrained as to be automatic. But while the others remained with their chairs, Wulfe stepped forward, lunging toward her, his scarred face cold, his brown eyes slowly turning golden green as the irises grew to those of a feral wolf.

"You faithless little bitch!" he snarled, fangs slowly elongating top and bottom.

Kara reared back.

"Wulfe!" Tighe barked, but the warrior continued to stalk her.

"You'd leave us like this? Without our ability to shift? Don't you care that your people will weaken and die without the life-giving energy you provide? That once the Ferals are gone, there will be no one left to keep the Daemons from rising again? And that once they're freed, the world you think to run back to will crumble beneath the chaos and terror they bring?"

Kara stood rooted, shaking.

Claws snapped out from his fingers. A snarl vibrated in the bones of his face. "You're unworthy of your calling."

She was frozen as much by his words as from the menace in his eyes. Her mind screamed run! but she remembered what had happened when she'd run from Lyon. This man would tear her to shreds.

Both Paenther and Hawke leaped on Wulfe from behind, but the huge man didn't go down until Foxx swept his feet out from under him, sending the lot of them crashing to the floor.

Tighe grabbed her and pushed her behind him, his claws unsheathing as if he intended to protect her.

Lyon stormed into the dining room. "What's going on?"

Kara peered around Tighe's solid form to get a glimpse of the fury on Lyon's face. His gaze landed on her, and some of the tension seemed to leave him.

"The dog lost it," Jag muttered. "He was getting ready to shred our pretty little Radiant."

Lyon crossed to where the four men were struggling, Paenther and Hawke looked like they were trying to end the fighting, but Foxx looked nearly as out of control as Wulfe.

"Enough!" Lyon shouted, but nothing changed. Foxx and Wulfe were fighting and clawing one another as if they wanted to kill. "Jag, give me a hand."

Lyon and Jag wrenched Foxx free and held him back while Paenther and Hawke finally pinned a thrashing Wulfe to the ground.

"Get back in your skins! Both of you," Lyon snarled. "You must be able to regain control."

Kara eased farther to the side, where she could get a better view. Paenther and Hawke were already back to looking fully human. As she watched, Foxx's features slowly returned to normal. But Wulfe continued to thrash and fight.

"Jag's right," Tighe said. "He's lost it."

Lyon's brows narrowed. "We can't leave him like this. We'll have to open the prison until he's back in control."

Paenther nodded. "We're going to need some help getting him down there. Not Foxx."

Tighe and Jag stepped in, and the four men struggled to pull their feral companion from the room. When they were gone, Lyon turned to Kara.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded. Her heart was still thudding, but that was nothing new. "He didn't touch me."

"We've got to get you ascended," he said. His hand slid behind her neck, the fear instantly beginning to drain. "I need to get some lunch first."

He turned her toward the table, where Foxx was sitting beside the auburn-haired woman. "It's not safe for you here, Zaphene. I suggest you stay at one of the enclaves until things settle down."

Foxx scowled. "I can protect her."

"Can you?" Lyon asked pointedly. "You didn't look like you had it entirely under control yourself."

"I'm fine. Zaphene's fine. Aren't you, Zaph?"

The auburn-haired woman smiled. "I rather enjoy the sight of blood. It's so… wild."

Lyon steered Kara back to the table, where he moved her plate to one of the two empty places at the end.

"Are you staying?" she asked hopefully, looking up into his strong face.

His amber gaze met hers. "I'm staying." He grabbed a plate from the stack in the middle and began filling both his and hers from the nearby platters.

"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."