Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(10)

Here it comes. Wulfe tensed, prepared for a flood of tears and a few good screams, even before he showed his ugly face.

But no tears came. Instead, she shot unsteadily to her feet, grabbing the bars of her cage. "Xavier?" Her voice was hoarse with lack of use and raw with fear. "Xavier!"

The fear wasn't for herself, he realized. Not directly. He noted the modest diamond solitaire on the third finger of her left hand. Was the male her intended mate, then?

Her agitation grew as the seconds passed without answer. And while he could tell she was struggling to hold on to control, she was losing. The tears were beginning to spring up in her eyes though they'd yet to fall.

"Xavier!"

He'd been hoping to leave the woman to Kara. Like most males of his acquaintance, he took off . . . or wanted to . . . at the first sign of tears. But this one was fighting them so valiantly, he found he couldn't let her suffer.

"Is Xavier blind?" he asked from the shadows.

"Yes." The word burst from her lips, her gaze spinning toward him. Hope and fear shone in her damp eyes.

Damn. He was hoping he'd been wrong about the blind part. "He's unharmed, unconscious, as you were. He's in one of the other cells." From the angle of her cage and where the blind male was lying in his, he doubted she could see him.

Her forehead dropped to the bars, her shoulders bending as if crumbling beneath the weight of her relief. After several, deep, trembling breaths, she straightened again, once more spearing him with that gaze that he found oddly . . . visceral.

"Who are you?" By the tone of her voice, he wondered if she feared he was one of the Daemons.

"We're the ones who rescued you. You're safe now."

"Then why are we caged?"

Good question. And he couldn't see any reason not to tell her the truth. "We can't set you free until we're able to take your memories of us and all you've seen."

She was silent for a moment, as if processing that. Would a human believe memories could be taken? Then again, after all she'd seen, she was likely to believe anything.

"Then you'll let us go?"

He hesitated. "Yes." There was no sense in scaring her. But it was unlikely Xavier was going anywhere. Alive.

"Let me see him. Please."

Ah, crud. Where is Kara? "Someone will be down soon . . ."

"Please."

He'd given her hope that her male was alive, but no proof. And she clearly needed that proof. Hell. "All right. But . . ." I'm ugly as sin. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He sighed and stepped out of the shadows, watching her carefully, surprised when she seemed almost . . . relieved. Well, hell, of course she would be. She'd probably feared he'd be a Daemon.

The band of tension eased from his chest, and he strode to her cell and unlocked her door. She was out like a shot, brushing past him. Spying the male, she surged forward, clinging to the bars of the male's cage while Wulfe unlocked the cell door. The moment he swung it open, she bolted inside and fell to her knees beside the young man.

"Xavier? Xave?" Her hand went to his throat, to his pulse. As she clearly felt what she was searching for, she sank back on her heels, gripping one of Xavier's hands, the tension flowing out of her.

"Is he your mate?"

She turned to meet Wulfe's gaze, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. But still no revulsion or fear crossed her features. "He's my brother."

Had the other human male been her mate, then?

As if reading his mind . . . or his expression . . . she shook her head. "My fiance wasn't there." Remembered horror swam through those soft gray eyes. "The others . . . Jill, Mary Rose. They're dead, aren't they?"

He hated to add to her misery, but the knowledge lived in her eyes. There was no sense in lying to her. "Three died. Two females and a male. The remaining female is the one in that cage." He motioned across the block.

Her head snapped around where she could see the one with the lip ring clearly, but her expression didn't change. She clearly felt no relief.

"You don't know her."

"I . . . yes, I know her, or at least I know who she is. Her name is Christy. I only met her today. Her boyfriend is Mary Rose's brother. Was." She swallowed hard. "He was."

She'd handled all she could take, he could see it in the faint shaking of her shoulders and the way she was beginning to hunch over with pain. Though five days had passed, she thought it had all happened today.

"What's your name?" he asked quietly.

"Natalie." Her voice was thickening with tears. "Natalie Cash."

"I'm sorry, Natalie."

A fat tear dripped from her cheek. Then another.

Wulfe gripped several bars of the cage as he watched her struggle with the grinding grief, and loss. He'd expected to want to run at the first sign of tears. Instead, he felt a compulsion to move forward, not back. To try to comfort her, which was a laugh. He wouldn't even know where to begin.

Her crying grew worse, and she bent over, wracked with sobs.

If only he'd been able to take her memories in Harpers Ferry, she wouldn't have to suffer like this.

He straightened. Esmeria had said enough time might have already passed. He might be able to take them now.