Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(38)

Jag, remaining in human form, opened the car door for him, and he leaped out onto the grass, Kougar behind him, Hawke soaring into the air.

As Tighe and Kougar ran toward the house on four feet, Hawke reported back.

Two guards patrolling the grounds outside—one in back, one watching the front from the bushes in the right front corner of the house. The fence is high and looks to be solid. I’ll get the one in back.

Tighe replied. I’ll cloud the mind of the one in front and get him to open the door. Kougar and I’ll go in. Wings, you keep watch.

Will do.

Tighe ran through the yard, then slipped between the legs of the watching guard.

“Beat it.” The man picked him up with his foot and tossed him half a dozen yards.

Damned human. Tighe came around behind him noisily, ensuring that the guard knew the movement behind him was a cat. Then he shifted and grabbed the man’s neck before he knew what was happening. The moment the guard hit the ground, Tighe took control of his thoughts.

“You need to use the bathroom. When I tell you to, go into the house. Two cats will try to come in with you. You must let them in. Don’t allow anyone to stop them. Once inside the house, you’ll go into the bathroom and close the door, pull down your pants, then curl up on the floor and go to sleep.”

The bastard’s career would be over when they caught him, literally, with his pants down. But he deserved it for kicking a cat.

Tighe? Hawke’s voice broke into his thoughts. My guard’s out. I’m flying up to the roof to keep watch.

Good. Meet me beside the front porch, Kougar. We’re going in.

“Wake, human, and do as I told you.” As the guard rose to his feet, Tighe changed back into his cat form and raced for the front door.

The guard pulled out his phone. “I’ve got to take a crap. Change places with me.”

Tighe trotted beside the human, leaping onto the front porch as the guard knocked on the door with a quick, light rhythm. As planned, the door opened and the two cats slipped inside.

“Hey!” The inside guard tried to stop their entry, but the one under Tighe’s control blocked the swing of his foot.

“Leave them alone. They’re not bothering anything.”

Get control of things down here, Tighe told Kougar. I’ve got to find Delaney.

The Feral didn’t answer, but Tighe didn’t expect him to. He dashed for the stairs and the source of the terror clawing at his brain. The closer he got to her, the stronger the darkness swirled at the edges of his consciousness. And the stronger he felt her desperation. She was fighting her fate, as was her nature, but without help she was lost in there. And she knew it.

Her door was closed, which meant he was going to have to shift to reach her. The prudent thing to do was search out the rest of the upstairs first, to make sure he wasn’t surprised again. But his need to reach her was too strong.

Tighe shifted in the empty hallway, but as he reached for the doorknob, he heard the click of a gun.

“Freeze! Hands in the air.” A small, round woman with graying hair appeared at the other end of the hall, aiming a gun at his head. “Intruder!” she shouted.

Shit. This is so not happening. He needed to get to Delaney and he needed to reach her now.

He heard a short scuffle on the lower floor, then silence as a cat ran up the stairs. Kougar.

The woman was already talking into a phone. “It’s him.” She paused. “Agreed.”

Tighe lifted his hands into the air, holding perfectly still. He could take another bullet if he had to, but he’d just as soon not. Not when Delaney needed him.

“I thought they’d shot you,” the woman said conversationally.

Tighe didn’t bother to answer as Kougar scooted past her, then shifted. The woman seemed to sense the change, but she was too slow turning around. Kougar jammed his thumb into the hollow at the base of her ear, stripping her gun from her hand as she went down.

Tighe grabbed for the door that separated him from Delaney. He found her exactly as he’d seen her in his vision, still and silent, her cheeks stained with tears.

“Delaney.” He fell onto the bed beside her and reached for her hand. Like ice. “D, I’m coming for you. I’m not going to leave you in there. But you have to trust me this time. Trust me.”

Raw terror pressed in around her, squeezing her mind until Delaney thought her brain would crumble beneath the weight. Her existence had narrowed down to this darkness, this place void of everything she’d ever known. This miserable pit of echoing pain and suffocating fear.

How long could she stay sane like this? Maybe it was better if she didn’t. Better to lose herself somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Delaney.

A voice whispered from the darkness. A deep voice she’d longed to hear so badly she’d started to create it for herself. Maybe that insanity would come quicker than she’d thought.

Delaney.

Tighe’s voice. But Tighe was dead.

Trust me.

How many times had he asked her to do that? But she hadn’t. Not fully. She couldn’t. Not when she knew he was one of the bad guys.

Tighe?

Darkness swirled around her, a perfect void without sound, without sight, without feel except that persistent, distant pain. But the voice continued to speak in her head.

D, I’m coming for you. I’m not going to leave you in there, but you have to reach out to me. You have to trust me.