Desire Untamed (Feral Warriors #1)(75)

"Did you know Zaphene very well?" As soon as the words were out or her mouth, she wanted to take them back. For all she knew, all the men had slept with her at one point or another.

"No," Hawke replied.

"That must have been a shock. I'm sorry about Beatrice."

"Yes."

Kara quit trying to engage him in conversation. For her, it was an attempt to take her mind off Lyon and the others, but he didn't seem to want the distraction. She knew he had to be immensely worried.

They continued in silence, driving through the busy streets, through traffic unlike anything Kara had ever seen. They didn't have traffic like this in Spearsville.

When Hawke took the on-ramp to I-495, the Washington Beltway, Kara looked at him in surprise. She'd thought the Therian enclaves were all fairly close together.

"Hawke, where are we going?"

He didn't answer.

"Hawke?"

He glanced at her, his eyes cold.

"I'm not Hawke."

* * *

Chapter Twenty-one

"The witch's pets?" the Shaman said. "They're clones."

"Explain." The phone in Lyon's hand creaked from the white-knuckled pressure of his grip.

"When I got out to Feral House, Hawke and Zaphene met me at the door. Except it wasn't Hawke. The man who drove me back to the enclave is a draden."

"Turn the car around," Lyon barked at Jag. Into the phone he said, "That was no draden."

He held on as Jag made a fast, illegal U-turn across the median. "Back to Georgetown?"

"Yes."

"It started out as a draden," the Shaman said through the phone. "The witch has split your souls, Warrior, and used your souls to animate the draden. She implanted the cantric into Kara to stimulate her fear, then channeled that fear to the draden to feed and grow them into clones of you and your men. It's the clones who will free the Daemons."

Raw fear twisted his girts into knots. "Where's Kara? Get her away from Hawke!"

His heart pounded as he heard the Shaman moving down the stairs. He heard a distant scream.

Kara.

A commotion in the background had his breath catching. He heard shouting.

"Shaman!" he yelled into the phone.

"Marina's dead. Drained as if by draden. She took the clone to bed."

"Find Kara." But she wasn't there. His senses felt her moving. Away from the enclave.. Away from Georgetown. "She's gone. He's already got her."

"I'm sorry."

"Jag, get on the Beltway. East." He clutched the phone. "How in the hell did she split our souls?"

"One by one. You trusted her enough to let her touch you, correct? All she had to do was touch you to enthrall you long enough to do what she needed to."

"How can we live with half a soul?"

"You can't indefinitely. In the short term, you probably can't tell the difference, though you may start losing control more quickly than normal. Control of your anger, your actions."

"That's already happening. One of my men has lost control completely."

"He was probably the first to have his soul split."

"How do we get our souls back?"

"Kill the clones."

"Done. The way we kill any draden? By pulling their hearts out?"

"Yes. But be careful, Warrior. They may look identical to you, but they're not. They're energy creatures. They won't bleed. And like any draden, if they get their mouths on you, they'll try to drink your life force. And these draden are as big and strong as you are. They might well kill you."

"Understood."

"Lyon," the Shaman said. "Beware the witch. She's strong. Stronger than any Mage I've run across in more than a thousand years. She's come into possession of old magic. Powerful magic. Be very, very careful."

"I'll do whatever I must to stop her, Shaman. That's the only promise I make."

He snapped his phone closed and reached for his knife.

"Want to explain what's happened to our souls, Chief?" Jag drawled.

"In a minute. Give me your hands."

Without hesitation, the three warriors thrust their palms toward him. Not even Jag complained. Three quick, shallow cuts confirmed that they were flesh and blood. He cut his own and held it up like a badge of honor, but the others only looked at him with confusion.

"What's up, Roar?" Tighe asked.

"Kara's in trouble. Hell, we're all in trouble."

"They've stopped." Lyon kept his eyes closed, his senses firmly on Kara as Jag drove. Fear for her clawed at his insides. He shouldn't have left her. Dammit, when was he going to learn? She belonged with him. By his side.

"Where?" Paenther asked.

"Somewhere between the I-95 and Route 50 exits."

"That doesn't narrow it down much. What exits are around there?"

"I don't think they took an exit. It felt like she stopped. Wait. Now she's moving again. Slowly. Very slowly." His heart lurched on a spark of hope. "I think she's running."

"Good for her," Jag said, his voice little more than a growl.

"The sun sets in less than an hour," Tighe said. Less than an hour before the draden would be on top of her. Then again, with a draden clone chasing her, she might not have even that long.