Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(18)

Nothing would bring his love back to him. Joining with her fully would only drive that fact home. But he could touch her. He could see her. And, dammit, he needed to see her--the queen, not the nurse. His glorious Ariana. One last time.

Drawing claws, he ripped her shirt down the middle, then her bra. Then he shredded the sweater and shirt from shoulders to wrists in one quick move that left her skin unscathed. As he reached her right wrist, his claws clinked against metal, a bracelet of some sort.

With a quick tug of destroyed fabrics, he bared her from the waist up.

Her br**sts lifted on a gasp as she stood before him in nothing but a scrap of white lace panties and the silver bracelet winking at her wrist.

His chest contracted, his heart taking a hammerblow as he stared at the body of the woman he'd loved for so long, this body he'd once known every inch of, every freckle, every taste.

She was glorious. More beautiful even than he remembered, her br**sts perfectly shaped, her waist small, her hips sweetly rounded, and her legs lithe and shapely. He'd loved touching her in bygone days. Loved trailing his lips and tongue over every inch of the skin now revealed to his hungry eyes. How he longed to kiss her shoulder, trailing his lips down her arm, over the curve of her elbow, all the way to her wrist. . .

He stilled as his gaze, which had been following his thoughts, snagged on that bracelet. A silver cuff set with . . . red moonstones.

Fury stirred as a growl rumbled in his chest.

"Kougar, wait!"

"You bitch." Moonstones kept an Ilina from turning to mist. No wonder she was so certain he couldn't turn her. She'd have convinced him she couldn't help, then disappeared on him yet again. Leaving his friends to die.

He grabbed for the bracelet.

"Kougar, don't!"

With a single furious move, he unsnapped the manacle that bound her to the wall, pried open the offending bracelet, and tossed it across the room.

"No!" A desperate horror sliced through Ariana's voice, her skin turning suddenly, deathly pale. "The cuff." Her eyes clutched at him, wide and terrified. "I'll tell you everything. Just give me the cuff!"

Kougar stared at her, part of him wanting her to suffer as he was suffering. Another part of him, driven by the cat inside him, desperate to protect her from whatever was causing her such distress.

Even knowing what she was, the sight of her anguish was a blade twisting in his gut. With a frustrated burst of air, he went to retrieve the bracelet from the rug by the foot of the sofa.

Returning to her, he clasped it back around her wrist. At once, the tension left her on a shuddering sigh as she collapsed against the wall behind her, eyes closed. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," she murmured, the litany, a desperate mantra.

He kept hold of her wrist, suspecting the bracelet held the transport magic she'd used to escape him before, and he wasn't letting her go again. Not until he knew what the hell was going on.

Suddenly, she stiffened, her eyes flying open, eyes filled with shock and terror.

"Ariana." Though one manacle kept her chained to the wall, he grabbed her as her knees gave way beneath her. "Tell me."

Her gaze lifted to his, her eyes deep wells of horror. "He knows." A tense quaking invaded her body.

Kougar felt like he'd walked into the middle of a movie he knew nothing about. He lifted his hand, cupping her face, his thumb brushing her cheek. "Who knows, Ariana?"

"I have to get to my maidens, Kougar. They're in danger." Her voice trembled, her eyes almost wild. "You have to let me go!"

"Tell me what's going on."

She struggled against his hold, thrashing wildly. "Let me go!"

Inside, his cat yowled with distress. His gut knotted at the anguish in her eyes. But if he let her go now, he might lose his only chance to save Hawke and Tighe. He couldn't be certain where she'd go. And if it wasn't the Crystal Realm, he wouldn't be able to follow.

He tightened his grip on her jaw, forcing her to look at him. A sheen of perspiration dampened her too-pale skin. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on, Ariana."

He waited as she struggled to pull herself together though her breaths remained ragged, and her lips pressed together with a faint tremble that told him she was close to tears. She blinked hard, pulled in a shuddering breath, and met his gaze.

"Who knows?" he prompted quietly.

"A Mage." She tried to look away. "The moonstones have kept him from finding me. He'll attack us."

Kougar frowned. "I didn't think anyone knew you were alive." Those who knew the truth had a way of dying beneath Melisande's sword. Or being dragged back to the Crystal Realm to die there.

"He didn't. Now he does."

Kougar stared at her, struggling to fill in the blanks. Since when did the Mage attack Ilinas?

"He's attacked you before?" He stilled. "When, Ariana?"

She glanced at him, but couldn't hold his gaze. "A hundred years ago."

"You're lying." Goose bumps erupted on his arms as understanding crashed over him. "Not a hundred years ago, but a thousand. Am I right?"

When she didn't answer, he squeezed her jaw harder. "Am I right?"

"Yes! Yes, it was a thousand years ago." She met his gaze, truth and anguish in her eyes. "He all but destroyed us. The moonstones were all that's kept us safe. I don't know why he couldn't sense me through them, but he couldn't." Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "But now he knows."