Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)

Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)
Pamela Palmer



Prologue

A.D. 1006

Upon the bloody battlefield she took form, a woman of mist and light. As she turned to flesh and bone, the cold wind tore at her tunic, stinging her cheeks and whipping dark tendrils loose from her braid to fly across her eyes. Beneath clouds as thick and gray as waves on an angry sea, Ariana, Queen of the Ilinas, raked back her hair and scanned the field--a battle between men and animals. Shape-shifters.

Feral Warriors.

Only twenty-six true shifters remained in the world when once there had been thousands. Twenty-six, each of a different line, a different animal. Jungle cats and bears, a horse, a wolf, a huge fox, along with others unsuited to the field of battle who fought in their human forms--an eagle and hawk among them. The Feral Warriors fought their ancient enemy, the Mage.

Melisande, her second-in-command, appeared from the mist beside her, delicate features turning hard with distaste as she surveyed the battle before them. "He wants you to watch him kill?"

"He is my mate, Melisande." The rebuke was no less harsh for its quietness.

Ariana knew the reprimand would do no good. Melisande had bitterly disapproved of her queen's taking a mate at all, let alone a shape-shifter. Indeed, all her maidens had been unhappy with her decision. A decision they would simply have to live with, for Ariana loved her Feral beyond measure.

"I do not know why Kougar called me," Ariana admitted.

Swords clanged, a Mage cried out in pain as the huge fox ripped off his arm. Even as she watched, the lion leaped, separating another Mage's head from his shoulders in a spray of blood.

Sleet began to slice from the sky in small, stinging pellets.

A large, golden cougar broke from the battle and ran toward her, his cat's body sleek and beautiful as he ran across the frozen field. He'd known the moment she appeared, just as she felt him now through the mystical link that bound them together for eternity. The mating bond.

As the cat neared, he slowed to a walk, then began to sparkle in a rainbow of colored lights. A moment later, a man walked in his place, fully clothed in his dark blue warrior's tunic, knives and a sword strapped to his belt. The Feral Warriors were, as a whole, larger, stronger, finer than any other males on Earth. Kougar--their chief and her mate--was, without doubt, the finest of them all. His hair was as dark as her own, his beard close-cropped, his eyes as pale as ice, yet lit with a fierce and tender flame.

Warmth slid through her blood.

Though his eyes remained warm as he reached her, Kougar frowned. "Two more of your maidens attacked us as we prepared to strike, my love."

Ariana's jaw dropped. "No. They know I'll not have it! Where are they?"

"Horse cut off the hand of one, Snake the arm of the other. Both turned to mist and fled."

Their limbs would regrow quickly, as all Ilina limbs did, but the process would be painful. Of far more concern was the fact that they'd attacked the Feral Warriors at all despite her direct orders against it. Dammit. Her maidens had never accepted her mating a Feral.

Melisande threw Kougar an antagonistic look. "How many Ferals have you lost this day?"

"None."

"A shame."

Ariana shot her friend a hard look. "Mel."

Kougar sketched her lieutenant a brief, mocking bow. "Your sweet nature brightens any battlefield, Melisande."

"Go to hell, Feral."

Ariana eyed her second. "Why are my maidens attacking the Ferals? I gave a direct command . . ."

Melisande lifted her hands. "I swear 'twas not my doing." Her gaze flicked to Kougar. "As much as I might approve." Melisande met Ariana's gaze again, her eyes turning worried. "There's been talk of wildness in the temple. I dismissed it, but perhaps I shouldn't have. Some may have been infected by dark spirit."

"Goddess, I hope not." There was no cure for dark spirit, no way to destroy it except through the deaths of the ones infected. "Find them."

Melisande nodded, giving Kougar one last parting shot. "Why don't you do us both a favor and go die in battle?" With a flick of her hand, Melisande faded to mist and left.

Kougar shook his head. "That one would try the goddess herself." He rubbed his chest with his fist, right over his heart, as if he had, indeed, been injured.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

His fist stilled, his eyes registering surprise as if he'd been unaware of what he'd been doing. "I'm fine." He stepped forward, his large hands gently cupping her shoulders as the battle raged far behind him. "What of your maidens? This is four in as many days who've attacked us. Dark spirit rarely claims more than one at a time."

Ariana shrugged though she was more than a little concerned herself. "I'll handle it."

Frustration flashed in her shifter's eyes, sparking along the bond that connected them. His hands contracted.

"I'm your mate, Ariana. I'm here to help you shoulder such difficulties."

Her own temper flared, and she cocked her head at him. "As you let me help you? I offered to fight beside you today, and you denied me."

"Of course I did. This is our war, not yours."

"And the Ilinas are my responsibility. Not yours."

As the cold wind kicked up, carrying with it the shouts and cries of battle, Kougar glanced behind him. "I must get back. Go. Be safe. Later, we'll discuss the role of a male in his mate's life."