Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(25)

Jag's fists landed on the table. "That bitch."

Brielle turned to Jag. "If Ariana loses control of the poison, we all die. Her entire race. Would you not sacrifice one of us if it might save all of your own people?"

Jag snarled. "In a heartbeat, sister. I might do it anyway."

"Jag," Lyon warned.

As his Feral brothers' eyes turned toward him with dismay and shock, Kougar remembered that moment three days ago when Melisande reconnected the bond. He'd been caught in a Mage sensory-deprivation trap with several other Ferals and a pair of wraith Daemons with no way out. Melisande had come to him in that darkness and offered to save him, to give him a chance to save them all in exchange for the reconnecting of the mating bond. He hadn't wanted to do it. Not because of the poison--he hadn't known about it. No, it had been his soulless mate he hadn't wanted anything to do with. But he'd let Melisande reconnect that bond because he'd had no choice. Without the Ilina's interference, they'd have died.

Now it looked like his death had only been delayed.

Lyon met his gaze, barely banked emotion gleaming in his chief's eyes. "Explain, Shaman. How is the poison harming Kougar?"

The Shaman dipped his head. "The mating bond is woven directly into Kougar's heart. And where the threads connect, the poison flows like acid, eating away at the flesh. Literally. His immortal physiology fights to renew the decaying heart, but eventually the magic will win. And he'll die."

The room went quiet, the silence deafening, ringing in Kougar's ears. In that silence, another memory nudged him, a memory from long ago. He'd felt pain like the Shaman described, pain centered right where his heart sat, a long, long time ago. A thousand years, to be precise--that day on the battlefield that he last saw Ariana. He'd rubbed his chest against the discomfort, and she'd remarked on it.

Understanding hit him in a silent blast, the piece that had been eluding him--the reason she'd severed the mating bond.

"You knew."

Ariana flinched.

Kougar jerked her around to face him, searching those blue eyes for the truth. "You knew the poison was going to kill me. That's why you severed the mating bond."

He gripped her shoulders and felt her body shaking beneath his hands. By the set of her mouth, he could tell she wanted to deny it. But the truth was in her eyes, glistening in her unshed tears.

She hadn't severed the bond, as she'd claimed, because she was done with him. Not because she hadn't loved him. Not even to save her maidens.

She'd done it to save him.

"Tell me."

"Yes."

He stared at her, his world flipping end over end all over again. In some part of his mind he knew that this should make a difference, that it should quell his anger at her.

But deep inside, anger churned and grew, rising like lava about to explode. Because knowing she'd done it to save him just made her betrayal cut all the deeper. She'd saved him, carved out his heart, then walked away, leaving him to choke in a pool of his own blood. Not once in a thousand years had she contacted him to let him know she was still alive. Not once had she sought him out.

If she'd shared her burden with him, if she'd told him what she was up against, he'd have found that damned Mage. He'd have protected her. He'd have ended this!

"I was right the first time," he said, his voice low and cold. "When I thought you soulless."

She flinched, and he didn't give a damn.

"If we kill the sorcerer, can we kill the poison?" Lyon asked.

The Shaman took a long, slow breath. "You might destroy the magic. But it's equally possible that killing the one who created the poison will keep you from ever disabling it."

With a low growl, Kougar released her, needing distance. And perspective.

How dare she claim she'd done all this to save him!

He spun away, stalking to the window, while behind him, the Shaman addressed Ariana.

"The Ilinas have always known far more than most, given the memories you're able to pass down from queen to queen. I'm surprised you've nothing in your knowledge arsenal to battle this magic and its effect on you, Queen Ariana."

"Believe me, I've looked," she replied softly. "We tried everything I could come up with, and nothing worked. Melisande has been working tirelessly to track down Hookeye, but she's never been able to find him. To this day, we don't know who he is or what he looks like other than his eyes."

"We have contacts within the Mage," Lyon said. "We'll find him. In the meantime, since that mating bond was severed once, can it be severed again?"

"Kougar?" The Shaman's query had him turning away from the window.

With a low growl, he returned to the spot he'd stood moments before and allowed the Shaman to grip both his and Ariana's wrists at once. The Therian closed his eyes, tipping his head back as if sending a prayer directly heavenward.

He released them, shaking his head, and stepped away. "Whatever magic kept the bond from fully attaching the last time is gone. The attachment is complete this time. Permanent, though somewhat of a mess--twisted and collapsed in on itself. The flow of poison is very slow at the moment, little more than a trickle. Even so, it's quite deadly."

Dammit. To. Hell.

On one level, Kougar didn't entirely care. He'd lived a long, long time, the last thousand years in a numb, colorless wasteland of an existence. But the Ferals needed him. They couldn't afford to be down yet another warrior in the months it might take his cougar to mark another.