Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(36)

"Kougar . . ." But as she started to pull back, he disappeared from her arms.

She stood alone in the sunny glade, the summer warmth beating down on her naked flesh despite the fact she wasn't really there. Her gaze slid over the pair in the grass, watching Kougar drive into her body with long, slow strokes, their gazes locked in a powerful vise of love.

If they could hear her, if she could walk over there, interrupt their lovemaking, and warn them of the future, what would she say? At that point, the damage was already done, the poison already sewn into their mating bond, waiting to attack.

What would she say? What would have happened if she'd taken another path after that attack and run straight to Kougar for help?

She'd never know.

With a shake of her head, she locked on to him and followed, materializing in a place, for once, she didn't remember.

Had he finally left her memories and entered a real dream?

Kougar reached for her, taking her hand in a room of some sort, the walls intricately carved, but plain stone and windowless, the ceiling high. It reminded her of a cave. Or a temple.

In the middle of the room, thick stone pillars circled what appeared to be a pool of water. The darkness was broken only by the flickering flames of small fires set in stone pots and placed between each pair of pillars, the fire casting eerie shadows on the walls.

Kougar's hand squeezed hers. "What is this place?"

"I don't know." The carving reminded her of the earthbound Temple of the Queens, the Ilinas' primary home before the attacks that had forced them into the clouds and the Crystal Realm. But the temple's chambers were decorated with beautiful inlays of gold and jewels, not simple stone.

Ariana shook her head. "This has to be a real dream. It's not one of my memories. I've never been here before."

Kougar's gaze jerked to hers. "Then who's that?"

She followed the direction he pointed, sliding away from him to peer around the pillar that blocked her view of whatever . . . or whoever . . . he was looking at. A woman. In a soft white gossamer gown, she knelt beside one of the stone pots on the other side of the pool and lit it.

Chills danced over her flesh as she stared at the woman. At herself. As she watched, the woman began walking slowly around the pillars, chanting softly in the ancient Ilina tongue. A prayer to the queens of old.

A prayer Ariana had never heard before.

"I like the gown," Kougar said. His warm hand touched her shoulder, then gripped tighter. "You're shaking. What's the matter?"

She stared at her other self. "I don't remember this place. I don't know the prayer she's saying. I don't remember."

"It's been a long time."

"No," she said sharply. "We don't forget. Ilinas never forget anything. Our brains don't work that way."

How could she have forgotten so much? The place, the chant. The very fact that she'd once been there.

Her heart began to race with the implications. She swung to Kougar. "Ilinas are born knowing much of what we'll need to know in life." She was starting to feel light-headed and sick to her stomach. "Upon my awakening, I received the knowledge of the ancient queens. All the spells, all the magic, all the memories. It was . . . downloaded . . . right into my head. Everything that had been learned. Everything the race needed to know to continue."

He watched her sharply. "You never told me this."

"We didn't do a lot of talking in those days, did we?" She lifted her hands, raking her hair back from her face. "How many times did Brielle ask me if there wasn't something in the old knowledge that could help us? Over and over I assured her there wasn't. If there had been, I'd have remembered."

She stared at him, understanding like a blade to the heart. "This is Hookeye's doing. The attack . . . the poison . . . was more insidious than I'd ever imagined. How much have I forgotten?"

Kougar turned her to face him, his grip tight on her shoulders. "If the poison was designed to make you forget, then there were things Hookeye didn't want you to remember. You have to get that knowledge back."

She shook her head. "I don't think I can."

Olivia paused in Kara's doorway. As the Radiant, Kara had her own palatial bedroom on the second floor, though from what Olivia was coming to understand, she slept in Lyon's room. The Radiant's bedroom had become the unofficial hangout of the Feral wives.

Olivia hesitated. Delaney and Kara were both sitting in the middle of the huge bed, Delaney crying, Kara offering comfort. And Olivia, Jag's mate for only a couple of days, was still too new to the sisterhood to feel comfortable walking in on a private moment. But before she could decide whether or not to turn away, Kara glanced up and saw her, a look of welcome blooming on her face.

"Hi, Olivia."

"Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all. In fact, I was just getting ready to come find you." Though her expression was grave, an odd, out-of-place smile played at her mouth.

Delaney wiped her damp cheeks with her hands, the same odd expression on her face. Clearly the worst hadn't happened, yet--that Delaney had ceased being able to feel Tighe through their mating bond. He was still alive.

Kara wrinkled her nose. "We're Therian-knowledge challenged."

Delaney made a sound that was almost a laugh, but when her gaze met Olivia's, her eyes gleamed like smoky brown topaz. "How does a Therian know . . . if she's pregnant?"