Desire Untamed (Feral Warriors #1)(61)

She gasped at the lick of fiery pain. But before she could catch her breath from that first tiny, assault, he slid the blade downward in a single mind-ripping swipe, slicing a shallow furrow from her sternum to the top of her pubic bone.

A scream escaped her throat.

Vhyper laughed, then turned her around and drew a second line of pain down her back.

Warm blood began to trickle down her thighs.

"Vhyper," she gasped. "Don't."

"Oh, but Radiant. I've barely begun." Two more scores across her shoulders, and the shreds of her nightgown fell away.

Her terror spiked.

"Get the others," Vhyper said. "Quickly."

Kara barely heard the sound of footsteps in the dirt above the pounding in her ears. But the sound of metal clanking together stopped her heart.

Tears trickled down her cheeks. Her fear spiraled.

Into her line of vision came the robed figures of her nightmares. Four stood where she could see them, but her ears told her there were more behind her. The hoods hid their faces from her frightened eyes.

"Vhyper, don't," she begged. "Please don't."

"Ah, but I must, Radiant. I must. Now!" he shouted suddenly.

All around her blades flashed. In a single, mind-shattering blaze of hot, white pain, they pierced her abdomen, clanking inside her as they pierced her like the spokes of a brutal wheel.

Her mind went blank, and all she could do was scream.

"We can't ascend a witch!" Paenther snarled, pacing the war room.

Lyon stood by the door, his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Other than the two already in cages, all his men were in this room. And all were staying here. He would take no chance on one deciding to take Kara's fate into his own hands.

"She's the Radiant," Tighe argued. "You saw her as clearly as I did, B.P. We need to ascend her. It could take months for another to come forth, and we don't have that kind of time. We'll all be as crazy as Wulfe and Vhyper by then."

"Tighe's right," Hawke said, seated at the oval conference table, his eyes thoughtful. "We've got to ascend her. But we've also got to protect ourselves from whatever power she acquires as a result. If she already has magic, goddess knows how strong she'll get."

Lyon had listened to the arguments for more than twenty minutes and still had no clearer picture of what he was going to do. Though everything inside him told him Kara was innocent of any malicious intent, he wasn't a fool. He couldn't discount the possibility that she had, utterly, bewitched him. Which meant his belief in her innocence could well have been manipulated.

Deep inside him, his beast growled and snarled, demanding he protect her. "We'll wait until the Shaman gets here." He pushed away from the wall and met Tighe's gaze. "I'll be downstairs."

Tighe nodded.

Paenther fell into step beside him. "I'll go with you."

Lyon glanced at his second. "Afraid I might free her?"

Paenther made a move of his head that was almost a shake, but not quite. "I just figure you could use some company."

Lyon gave a bark of what passed for laughter and gripped the other man's shoulder. Something he almost never did. But it felt right, somehow.

"I'm not going to let you kill her, B.P. If she has to be destroyed, I'll do it myself."

Paenther's head dipped once. "Agreed."

They descended the stairs, to the lower chambers in silence. Not until they opened the mirrored wall in the workout gym did the sounds of Wulfe's snarls reach his ears.

The prisons had long ago been soundproofed in case any enterprising humans tried to search the premises. Humans the Ferals preferred not to kill.

Another sound reached his ears. The sound of a distant scream.

. His blood went cold and he took off running. Rounding the final corner, his gaze flew to Kara's cell, searching for Kara. Please don't let those screams be hers. But her door was open, her cell empty.

In that single moment, he died a thousand deaths.

"Vhyper's gone," Paenther said.

The scream continued, a continuous siren of agony that killed him over and over. He forced himself to still and closed his eyes, sending his senses outward. Kara. He felt her close by. And yet not.

His heart thundered.

"The witch and Vhyper have escaped," Paenther said into his cell phone. "Leave Kougar on guard upstairs," Paenther snapped into the phone behind him. "Everyone else down here."

Below. He felt her below. Damnation. "He's broken into the dungeons!" He ran for the far passage and the long-sealed door.

The passage was long and winding and took an eternity to traverse as Kara's screams ended, then resumed at fevered pitch. What in the name of the goddess was he doing to her? He'd kill him. Kill him.

Finally, he came to the door. The wood sealing it shut appeared to still be in place. But when he gave a tug, the door moved easily in his hand.

The moment the door cracked open, he was blasted with a wall of such pain it nearly drove him to his knees.

He lunged forward, down the dark, dank stairwell that he'd believed sealed for centuries. Kara screamed again, the sound ripping through his gut and twisting his heart.

Dead snake. Dead snake. Dead snake.

A hundred scenarios danced through his head, a hundred horrors that Vhyper might have been visiting on her.