Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(46)

Without her calming touch.

Without those wide, dark eyes questioning his every move. Filling with heat whenever he touched her. Shining with courage and fire and life.

“Now, Tighe. I’m tired of being your captive. I want my life back. I want you to get into my mind so I can be rid of you once and for all.”

Her anger washed over him, a hot, biting rush that set off an ache deep in his chest. When he was through with her, she wouldn’t remember him, not a thing about him. And he had a terrible feeling he would never forget her.

Tighe grabbed her face and kissed her hard, marking her, daring her to push him away. Daring her to prove she only wanted to be rid of him. Her resistance lasted all of five seconds, then she melted in his arms and kissed him back fiercely, her arms sliding around his neck, her tongue twisting and twining with his. Desire flared, and the next thing he knew, his hands were in her hair, and he was thinking of nothing but stripping her of the clothes she’d just put on and sliding into her all over again.

What am I doing?

He wasn’t thinking. He couldn’t think when she was close, let alone touching him, kissing him. Forcing himself to pull back, he stared down into her dazed eyes.

An odd mix of protectiveness and tenderness welled inside him, the ache in his chest intensifying as he raised his hand and stroked her cheek.

She was right. As much as he hated the prospect of wiping himself from her life, the sooner he did it the better. If he hadn’t freed her by the time his soul splintered, her life was over. Lyon would see to it.

He traced her high cheekbone with his thumb.

“Are you going to do it?” she asked.

Tighe nodded slowly, pulling his scattered thoughts to the task at hand. Never before had he had any trouble clouding the thoughts of a human. But never before had he tried to breach the formidable barriers of Delaney Randall. And maybe that was the problem.

“Why don’t you try helping me this time, D? When you feel me pressing against your mind, let me in. Don’t fight me.”

“I’m not fighting you.”

“Yeah, you are, though maybe not consciously. This time, I want you to think about wanting me to come in. Do you remember when I pulled you out of the darkness?”

“Is this the same?”

“In a way, yes. But you weren’t at the gates that night. You weren’t there at all. I had to go deep to find you and pull you back.”

“Could you have captured my mind then?”

“Probably. If I’d had time. Once I get in there, I have to disentangle you from the clone.”

She watched him warily. “From the what?”

“From the…never mind. If it gets bad, tell me, and I’ll quit. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

He pushed her damp hair back from her face with his fingers. “Think of that night, D, of how I came for you. Think of how you needed me. How you could need me again. Then let me in. Right now, right here. Let me in, Delaney.”

His thumbs moved to her temples, and he rubbed gently, staring deep into her eyes. “I won’t hurt you, brown eyes. Let me in.” He didn’t push this time, but still, he tasted her desire on his tongue, rising more slowly, but rising all the same.

“You’re going to make me come again, aren’t you?” she whispered, but her voice was soft, with little inflection, as if she were at least partially mesmerized.

“That’s not the plan, but it seems to happen every time I get too close to you, doesn’t it? Relax, Delaney. Let me in.”

Little by little, he felt her resistance give way. Excitement lifted his pulse. Dismay caught in his chest. It was going to work. He was going to be able to send her back.

He felt her mind catch with his and open. He was in.

“That’s a girl. Just relax, D. Let’s see what we’ve got here.” With his mind he found again that twisted, tangled mass of dark Daemon threads and tried to follow it, to find the place where they attached. Damn, but they went deeper than he’d expected.

Beneath his hands, he felt her tensing. “Is this getting uncomfortable?”

“A little.”

“Hang in there, sweetheart.” Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Maybe if he…

He gave a mental tug on one of the threads.

Delaney gasped.

“That hurt?”

“Yes.”

Damn. Little by little, he eased deeper, feeling her stiffen. If he could just find the source.

Once more, he gave a gentle tug, but Delaney cried out, and he stopped. Dammit. There was no way he could hope to free her without damaging her. There was nothing he could do for either of them but kill that son of a bitch clone.

Deep in his own mind, the tiger raised his head and gave a soft roar of satisfaction, then leaped to his feet, eyeing the bright opening into Delaney’s mind.

Tighe saw what was about to happen. His mind seized. He had no way to stop it.

The tiger, already intrigued by her, leaped through that opening, trying to claim her for his own.

Delaney screamed.

Tighe wrenched the tiger back, but it was too late.

Delaney reared back, her pulse rocketing upward, her eyes glazing with terror, triggering the ancient fury that lived inside him, the rage of Gretchen’s betrayal, as fearful eyes always did.

But the fury was too much for his thinning control. He clawed to hang on, to keep from losing himself in a feral rage from which he might never escape. But it was too late.