Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(44)

High above, a shout sounded, followed by the smashing of stone.

"We're about to get company," Jag warned.

Melisande's temper snapped, anger fueled by pure terror. "You've led them to us!"

"Put a muzzle on it, blondie." Jag held his hand out to Kougar, palm up. "Knives? I'll hold them off." Of the two of them, only Kougar retained his clothes and weapons when he shifted.

Another distant cry of pain rang out, followed by a burst of agony blasting down the mating bond deep within him.

Kougar tossed two knives to Jag and whirled on Melisande. "Open the door!"

The blond mist warrior began to chant softly in the musical Ilina-speak. Behind the altar, a shimmering door appeared. Kougar raced for it, desperate to barrel through, but all too afraid Melisande had spoken the truth. He pulled up, attempting to slam his hand through instead. And hit solid rock.

"I told you." For once, Melisande's voice held no smugness, only a twist of defeat.

But Kougar wasn't about to give up. Again, he heard Ariana cry out and felt her pain in that mating bond he'd been trying so hard to keep himself cut off from.

The mating bond.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and followed that bond with his mind, reaching down through the decrepit, caved-in cord, trying to touch her in some way. As he focused on her through the bond, he reached for the door again. And again, hit only stone.

From the other end of that bond, he felt her pain, her fear. And something else. A rising darkness. As if she was losing control of the poison.

Goddess. He pounded at the door with both fists, then shifted into his cougar and tried to leap through, only to be knocked back on his haunches. He sat there, his head ringing for an infuriating moment before he leaped to his feet and shifted back to man. As he'd done above the stairs, he kicked at the barrier over and over with his foot; but this one showed no intention of crumbling.

The damned temple wasn't going to let him in.

Like. Hell.

Once more, Ariana's scream rang from below. Fear for her tore at his throat. The need to reach her rose until he thought it would suffocate him.

"Let me reach my mate!" A roar of fury and possession and frustration blasted up from his chest and out his throat, echoing through the chamber, pounding at the walls. "She's mine!"

He slammed his fist against the door again and again, then stopped suddenly as a weird crawling energy hit his scalp and washed down his body. Deep in his mind, a voice spoke to him. A voice he didn't know. A woman's.

Then you shall both suffer.

His gaze flew to Melisande. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Turning back to the shimmering, unbreachable door, he knew. The temple itself, or the queen whose spirit resided within, had heard his claim and bowed to it.

In a spray of light, he shifted into his cougar and flew through as if the stone had never been. As before, he landed on tight, spiral stairs, this time of stone. The air changed as he descended to the lowest of the chambers, taking on the scent of lightning and lily of the valley. Of fear and pain.

Ariana's pain.

With his cat's agility, he tore down the stairs, a longer set than the last ones, twisting deep into the earth. With each twist, Ariana's pain grew inside him.

She cried out again. And again.

Finally, when he thought he couldn't stand it another minute, he burst into the chamber he'd seen in his dream. And into a scene of nightmare.

Ariana stood within the circle of pillars, in the center of the knee-deep pool, naked. Bloody stripes crisscrossed her br**sts and thighs. Stripes that weren't healing.

As he watched, a bolt of lightning shot from the top of one of the pillars to slice across her abdomen. With a cry, she threw back her head, her face a mask of agony. She swayed unnaturally on her feet as if she were being held upright by an invisible force.

He felt her pain as if it were his own. Shifting into a man, he ran to her and jumped into the pool as another bolt struck her low across the back.

"No more!" he shouted.

The water plastered his pants to his calves and soaked into his boots. As he reached her he saw a flash of light against the ceiling and shifted to put himself between it and Ariana. Pain sliced across his shoulder blade, an electric current that raced through his body, setting every nerve ending on fire. Biting down on a groan, he wrapped his arms around Ariana's chilled, bloody body, curving himself around her. Protecting her as well as he could.

"Kougar." His name on her lips was little more than a gasp. "You can't be here."

"I'm getting you out of here."

"No. Can't . . . leave."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another bolt flash, and shifted to take that blow, too. The lightning tore through his left hip, slicing his pants and his flesh halfway to the bone.

Fuck.

Within the cage of his body, Ariana began to soften, her breath easing.

"Have you accessed any of the ancient knowledge?" he asked, but she didn't answer. "Ariana?" He tried to lift her into his arms, but she was caught fast by an invisible force.

Another bolt flashed and Kougar spun, Ariana tucked within the curve of his body. Whatever held her to that pool allowed him to turn her, but not remove her. Fire exploded across the backs of his thighs.

Goddamn that hurt.