Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(43)

Still, the knowledge must live inside her somewhere.

Forcing herself to shut out her fears, to shut out the world, she closed her eyes and concentrated, dropping her hands loosely to her sides. Little by little, she sank deep within her own mind, down through the layers of memory of her life among the humans, through the all-too-shallow bright layer of those two years with Kougar, down through the three centuries she'd ruled the Ilinas before she became Kougar's mate.

All of a sudden, the memories began to flash and blank out like a television show that had taped poorly. Memories that weren't hers, but the queens' who'd come before her. Jagged memories with large chunks ripped away. She hadn't realized. From the beginning, her brain had delivered the knowledge she sought, like a dumbwaiter lifting the facts from the basement of her mind. It was only since she'd come down herself, that she understood the extent of the damage.

Finally, sinking deeper, she hit the ephemeral watery memories she'd been born with. Memories that appeared clean and whole.

And it was there she found the knowledge she sought.

She pulled off her clothes and discarded her weapons, then giving herself up to that ancient instinct, she stepped down into the shallow pool.

The water felt cool against her skin, bubbling oddly. How could she not remember this? She shoved the thought aside and concentrated on what she had to do.

With four slow strides, she was in the middle, the water lapping at her knees. Lifting her hands to the stone ceiling above, she called to the queens who'd come before her in the language of the ancients. And waited.

Nothing happened.

A trickle of despair broke through her concentration, and she tried to seal it off, opening her mind as instinct told her to. But the longer the temple ignored her, the harder it was to keep the fears at bay. Was Melisande all right? Had the Mage, even now, managed to break in to the lower chamber? Would Kougar come and be trapped as well?

The sharp worry and longing at the thought of him caught her off guard, slicing deep into her heart.

Concentrate.

With excruciating effort, she forced herself back down into that place of instinct and resumed the words of ritual. Over and over she begged the queens to hear her. To share their memories and knowledge with her once more.

The first bolt took her by surprise, a flash of pure energy that sliced at her shoulder like a blade, ripping her skin open from clavicle to biceps. She cried out as the pain radiated from her shoulder, washing like a wave out to her extremities. Was this how the knowledge had come to her last time? She couldn't remember!

As warm blood began to run down her arm, another bolt shot at her from the other direction, slicing down her hip and thigh.

With a curse, she began to shout. "I'm one of you, queens of the Ilinas! I need your help."

The third bolt tore down the middle of her back and she cried out with pain and frustration, losing the thread of the chant. This was no awakening, but an attack. Morwun's punishment for her impudence.

As if to confirm the thought, energy twisted around her, binding her in place. And when three more bolts shot at her in quick succession, tearing across her br**sts and thighs and shoulders, she couldn't move, couldn't escape.

All she could do was scream.

Kougar leaped through the hole he'd kicked in the wall, thanking the goddess as his paws hit stairs. A twisting spiral of golden stairs, he realized, his cat's eyesight taking over in the dark. Behind him, he heard the soft footfalls of his jaguar companion.

Upshifting into his full-sized cougar, he flew down the stairs four at a time. Light began to reach him from below after a single turn, growing brighter as he descended, revealing the jeweled inlay work in the walls, creating magnificently intricate floral designs. One part of his mind wondered at the artists who'd created the place, but his only concern was finding Ariana.

A flash of pain, Ariana's pain, burst from the mating bond, making him crazy with the need to reach her.

After more than a dozen turns of the stairs, he leaped into a chamber and came to a startled halt.

What the f**k? Jag pulled up beside him.

Melisande stood alone in the large, circular chamber. At first, he thought her feet had been cut off and she stood balanced upon the remaining stumps. But she was somehow fused to the mosaic floor.

His gaze rose to her face, to the defiant fury that couldn't mask the terror in her eyes. He shifted into his human form, Jag doing the same.

"Where's Ariana?" Kougar demanded.

"You shouldn't be here. You have no right to breach the sanctity of the queen's chambers." But her words held little real heat.

Kougar strode to her, in no mood for her attitude. "Tell me!"

"She's in the lower chamber."

"Show me how to reach her."

This time, her ire rose. "It's forbidden to all but the queen." Even terrified half-out of her mind, she remained defiant.

Kougar's patience was at an end. He went feral, his claws and fangs descending, though he held himself back from attacking her by the barest measure. There would certainly be no lifting this one off her feet.

A distant scream rang from deep below. Ariana's scream.

"Melisande." The growl ripped through his voice.

Her resistance visibly melted, the fear for her queen getting the better of her where her fear for herself had not.

"You can't follow." Melisande lifted her hand to forestall his reaction. "I can open the door, but the temple won't let you through it. It won't even let me pass." Disgust sliced through her expression. "And you're not even Ilina."