Ecstasy Untamed (Feral Warriors #6)(75)

"Gather around the circle, everyone." Ariana turned to her maidens. "Retrieve the two Ferals from the prisons." When the Ilinas had disappeared, she directed her attention back to the Ferals. "Grizz and Lynks will be unbound. The moment they appear, we'll begin the ritual. At first they'll be suffering and likely immobilized from the travel. After that, they'll try to escape what's happening to them. Or, more accurately, the darkness in them will fight not to be exorcised. They must remain within the fire circle. It's up to you to see that that happens. The ritual itself will not harm you." She glanced at Hawke. "It may even help you."

Kougar met Hawke's gaze. "Accompany Faith into the circle when it's time."

As Hawke nodded, something cold crawled over his skin. No, not over. Under. Inside.

"What the f**k?" Vhyper muttered.

Hawke met his gaze. "It's not just me?" His hawk, already furious with him, set up a chorus of cries loud enough to be four birds, not one.

"Hell, no."

"My animal is going ballistic," Wulfe growled.

Fox rubbed at his arms. "Mine, too."

"Hold it together," Kougar ordered.

"It won't hurt you," the Shaman assured them. "It's the ancient magic." Easy for the Shaman to say. He might have been a shifter once, but he'd long ago lost that ability.

Hawke gripped his head against the agony of talons lancing his brain with every beat of his heart. He smelled Faith's sweetness a moment before he felt her arms go around him, felt her press against his side. She didn't ask what was the matter, didn't make any demands at all, just tried to absorb some of his misery. Love for her welled up inside him. His arms went around her, and he held her close, eased by the simple, precious feel of her in his arms.

Through the screeching in his head, he heard the intonations of ritual, the Shaman's and Ariana's voices rising together as if in ancient song. Moments later, the two new Ferals appeared, each in the mistlike clutches of four Ilina maidens. Four to transport a single unwilling Feral. The women released their charges and zipped away to hover, mistlike, behind the outer circle.

As Grizz and Lynks fell to their knees, retching, Ariana motioned Hawke forward. Biting down on the dreadful pain, Hawke walked hand in hand with Faith into the fire ring. As they stepped between two of the flaming pots, Faith screamed, her hand jerking upward, her arm bending . . . breaking. He released her, horrified, then grabbed her again, sweeping her into his arms as her legs bent at odd angles beneath her, her back contorting.

"What's happening?" he roared.

"She must remain within the fire circle, warrior," the Shaman said. "It's the only way."

"Hawke, lay her down." Ariana's tone was soft with sympathy. "She'll feel less pain if she's on the ground without the weight of gravity tugging at already-broken bones."

Another cracked with a sickening snap. Goddess.

He did as directed, setting Faith carefully on the dirt floor of the cave, though it was all he could do to release her when she was in so much pain. As his hands slid away from her, she met his gaze, her own shiny with tears and dark with misery.

"Smiley."

"I can do this, Hawke. Let me do this."

Without warning, Grizz reared up out of his crouch with a roar, shifting into his grizzly in a spray of colored lights. Hawke whirled, placing himself firmly between Faith and the dangerous, furious bear. But Grizz lunged at the Shaman instead, his mouth opening as if he meant to tear the much smaller man's head off. Wulfe leaped at him, shifting into his wolf in midair, slamming into the huge animal, his lips pulled back in a snarl. Though Wulfe's attack barely changed the bear's trajectory, it was enough. Fox shifted more slowly, his reflexes still coming on board, growing until he was larger even than Wulfe, then he was on the bear, too, snarling, biting.

His skin still crawling with cold, Hawke pulled his knives, ready to defend Faith if any of them drew close. Behind him he heard another terrible snap of bone and she screamed. His hawk joined her, filling his head with its cries. At the edges of his vision, the red haze began to creep.

Hold it together, hold it together. He'd be no use to her if he lost it, now. No use to anyone.

Lynks, still in man form, made a run for the circle, trying to escape, but Vhyper and Kougar were ready for him and easily tackled him to the ground. A few yards away, the two large canines and the bear fought as if to the death, fur and blood flying.

Faith screamed again and again as her body twisted and contorted until Hawke was about to yell from the pain her suffering was causing him. Vhyper and Kougar dragged Lynks back into the circle as the Shaman and Ariana continued to chant, as the Ilinas floated, wraithlike, watching it all.

"It is done," Ariana said at last, her voice barely audible over the roars and screams. The chanting ceased.

The chaos ended as quickly as it had begun. Across the fire ring, the grizzly collapsed, the wolf and giant fox leaping back. Lynks, too, seemed to have lost his fight.

Hawke whirled to find Faith lying bent, her body twisted at horrible angles. Unconscious or . . .

His heart roared as he fell to his knees beside her, reaching for her neck, searching for her pulse. There! Strong and steady against his finger. Thank the goddess. Her body jerked suddenly, then began to unbend as if whatever dark power had gripped her had finally let go. As he watched, she untwisted until she lay in her normal shape, the bones snapping back into place, healing almost as quickly as they'd fractured.