Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(35)

And what had it meant to him? It hadn’t changed his own mission or her place in it. He could hardly expect it to have changed hers.

Delaney Randall might be a woman, but she was FBI through and through. And the truth was, that was one of the things he admired most about her. She never let her emotions get in the way of what she had to do.

“Better?” Kara asked, looking up at him, the glow of radiance leaving her face.

“Much.” He leaned down and placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead. “Thanks.”

She gave him a quick hug, then slipped out of his hold to join Lyon, hooking her arm around his shoulder as he tugged her down to perch on the cushioned arm of his chair.

Lyon nodded to Hawke. “Show them what you showed me earlier.”

Hawke reached for the laptop sitting open in front of him. A moment later, one of the flat-screens came to life, replaying the local news channel’s morning report. The sound was muted, but no sound was needed.

Tighe watched his own likeness with dismay. An amateur photographer at the scene of the fire had caught Tighe leaving the apartment with the child in his arms.

“Is that you?” Lyon asked him. “Or the clone?”

“Me.”

“Who was the girl?”

Tighe set his jaw and shrugged. “Just a kid trapped in the apartment above the fire.”

Jag snorted. “Since when do you give a shit about humans?”

Tighe threw the warrior a glare, but had no decent answer. He’d been asking himself the same question.

“The better question,” Lyon said, “is why is that clone so damned hard to catch?”

Tighe nodded. “I’ve been asking myself why this one’s different. Why did this one escape the battle when the others stayed to the bitter end?”

“The witch’s control on him must have been weaker,” Hawke said. “But there’s more to it than that. The clones were created for one purpose only. To perform the Feral ritual to free the Daemons from the blade since we’d never do it.”

Wulfe leaned forward in his chair. “But Tighe’s clone developed a will to survive.”

Hawke nodded. “Maybe more than that. Those clones should have been the same. They were made at the same time with the same magic by the same witch. The only differences were the souls used. And the draden.”

“The draden,” Lyon murmured. “What if she accidentally caught one of the old ones in her net?”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Hawke’s palms flattened on the table in front of him. “The oldest ones were once Daemons. Though the souls were stripped and imprisoned in the Daemon blade, it’s conceivable a bit of the Daemon’s consciousness survived in the draden all that time.”

Tighe scowled. “And now that he’s been reanimated, he possesses the drive of a Daemon. He’s acting like one, that’s for damned sure.”

Lyon turned to Hawke. “Does that mean what I’m afraid it does?”

Hawke’s jaw clenched as he nodded. “His ultimate goal is bound to be freeing Satanan. And with that bit of Daemon consciousness, he may know things, ways to accomplish that that even the Mage and Therians have never known. At the moment, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything but feeding. And maybe that’s all he is doing, but it’s clear he’s evolving. Survival comes first, and sooner or later he’s going to realize, if he hasn’t already, that his survival hinges on you, Tighe.”

“He can’t live if I die. At least that’s what your clone told Kara.”

“I believe that was right initially. Before the clones were fully evolved. But I’m not sure that’s true any longer.”

“So what exactly are you saying, Wings?” Tighe asked warily.

“I’m saying, watch your back, buddy. I don’t think killing you is going to automatically give him your half of the soul, but there may be other ways. He was born of magic. A magic I’ve seen evidence he may still possess.”

“Explain,” Lyon said.

“Kougar and I had him cornered. He slipped into a group of humans and disappeared. We’re not sure how, but when we combed the group for him, he was gone. And he should not have been able to get away.”

“Could he have acquired Tighe’s ability to shift?” Foxx asked.

Tighe frowned. “My animal can’t be split like that.”

Hawke shook his head. “We don’t know what abilities he’s acquired. They could be anything.”

“How are we going to catch him?” Lyon demanded.

“Daemon traps.” Kougar pulled at his goatee. “If we can unearth some of those old spells.”

Hawke groaned, shaking his head. “They haven’t been used in five millennia. What are the chances?”

“Get on it.” Lyon turned to Tighe. “Have you had more visions?”

Tighe quit pacing and faced his chief. “The lady Fed is getting them now instead of me, but when I touch her as she’s having one, I see them clearly. I know right where he is.”

Lyon met his gaze, his amber eyes thoughtful. “Hawke told me what happened. That you weren’t able to take her memories.”

“Not yet. I’m working on it.”

“Where is she now?”