Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(23)

That commanding gaze swung to Ariana. "You'll remain with us until this is over."

Ariana stiffened. "I'm safer in the Crystal Realm, where he can't reach me."

"Unacceptable."

Kougar could feel her agitation rising. He understood her need to be with her maidens, especially when she considered them at risk, but he suspected equal to that need was her distaste of the idea of staying in this house. With him. He couldn't say he was thrilled himself, yet Lyon was right to demand she remain. If they let her go, she might never return.

Ariana's jaw turned hard. "My warriors have to be able to reach me. To contact me."

"Communicate telepathically," Kougar said.

"I've been corporeal so long that I can't hear them any longer. Communication between us is only one-way. A few of them can still hear me. Or sense my emotions if they're strong. I'm sure that's why they attacked."

Brielle nodded.

"One warrior only, then," Lyon said. "Flesh and blood, and she comes to the back door and knocks. Not Melisande. She's no longer welcome anywhere near Feral House, and if she approaches any of my warriors or their wives again, it will be considered an act of war."

Melisande threw up her hands with a look of disgust.

"Return to the Crystal Realm, Mel." Ariana's voice, though quiet, brooked no argument. "All of you except Brielle."

Lyon lifted an eyebrow.

"She knows things that could be of help. I'll send her away when we're done here."

"Fair enough," the Chief said.

With an angry wave of her hand that made the windows rattle, Melisande disappeared. A moment later, the others followed, leaving only Brielle and Ariana behind.

A heavy silence blanketed the room for several moments, then Jag and Wulfe shifted back into their man forms, both sans clothes. Jag strode to the chest in the corner and pulled out a couple of pairs of sweatpants, tossing one to Wulfe.

Delaney leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with a desperate determination. "Where do we start? Tighe and Hawke don't have much time."

"Everyone, have a seat," Lyon ordered quietly.

Kougar held Ariana's chair, releasing her arm, but she shook her head, restless agitation radiating from her in waves. As she stepped away from him, Kougar tensed, ready to grab her again, not trusting her not to try to escape him.

But when she turned to him, the raw despair in her eyes turned to a physical ache beneath his breastbone, and he let her go. His gaze never left her as she walked to the window, her stride graceful and sure despite her bound hands, her shoulders bowed by the weight of her fear.

Lyon's gaze, too, followed her. "We need to know everything you know, Queen Ariana, if we're to help you."

Ariana turned to face his chief, her bearing proud, her eyes flashing with determined fire despite her agitation. Kougar doubted anyone else sensed that agitation but him. Watching her, he saw again the indomitable, fierce beauty he'd fallen in love with.

A mistake he would not repeat.

"We were attacked by Mage magic a thousand years ago." Her voice clear and strong, she continued. "I'd chosen to take Kougar as my mate, an act one of my maidens was convinced I'd soon regret." Melisande, no doubt. "Without my knowledge, she procured a Mage potion to keep the mating bond from fully attaching. We now believe that the Mage who produced the potion wove additional magic into it. Two years later, he attacked us through that mating bond."

Lyon glanced across the room. "Shaman?"

The Shaman's air of excitement made him look even younger than fifteen. "I knew something was up, but I could never have imagined this." He rose and walked toward the window and Ariana slowly, cautiously.

Ariana watched him approach with equal wariness.

The Shaman, little taller than Ariana, stopped just shy of arm's reach in front of her and held his hands out as if she were a fire he meant to warm them with.

Ariana stiffened and cocked her head with warning, but the Shaman didn't seem to notice. Backing up a few steps, he motioned her to follow, pulling her away from the window, then closed his eyes and began to circle her, his hands still up as if warding off a blow.

The Shaman frowned. "It's Mage magic. An abundance of it, thick and powerful, yet it doesn't seem to be harming her." He opened his eyes and stared at her. "How long have you held it like this?"

Ariana glanced at Kougar, her stance open as if she prepared to defend herself, her gaze wary. She clenched her jaw, turning back to the Shaman as he continued to circle her slowly, his face a mask of patience and concentration. "A millennium, though it's grown stronger in the past couple of years."

The Shaman nodded. "No doubt because the Mage have acquired dark magic. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say the change occurred when your sorcerer lost his soul and acquired that dark magic for himself. If his magic is connected to you, and it seems to be, it's been growing stronger."

The Shaman's mouth pursed, and he turned abruptly to Brielle. "Now you." With a flick of his hand, he motioned the other Ilina to him, but Kougar quickly intervened, not wanting Brielle anywhere near Ariana.

"No, Shaman. Go to her." With swift strides, Kougar reached Ariana, clamping a hand around her arm, unwilling to take any more chances that Brielle would whisk her away before he could stop her.