Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(48)

His fangs and claws retracted, and he collapsed against the floor.

“Get off me.”

“Let him go!” Hawke snapped.

Kougar and Jag released him, and Tighe struggled to his feet, exhausted and bloody. “Where is she?”

“The sofa.”

Tighe stumbled through the door, his strength returning with every step. But he pulled up short when he saw her. Ice washed through his veins. She was sitting up, but barely, sunk deep into the sofa cushions, drenched in blood. Her blood. Which he’d drawn.

Sweet thunder. What have I done?

He sank onto the sofa beside her and stared at her too-pale face. “Delaney.”

Her lashes swept slowly upward, her dark eyes glazed. “Tighe?”

His knuckles brushed her cheek. Unblemished. Thank the goddess he hadn’t tried to hold her face. “I’m sorry, brown eyes. I never meant to hurt you. I’m going to get you help.” He turned to find Hawke standing in the doorway watching him.

“Call Esmeria. Tell her we’re on our way.”

But Hawke didn’t move. Kougar stepped into the doorway behind him. “It’s forbidden to take a human to the enclave. You know that.”

“I don’t give a f**k what’s forbidden. She’s going to die!”

He grabbed his cell phone and speed dialed Lyon and began talking the second Lyon answered. “I went feral and attacked the Fed. She needs a healer. Either I take her to a human hospital or to Esmeria. Your call, but you’re making it now. She’s out of time.”

“Have you taken her memories?”

“No.”

“She saw you feral?”

“She’s seen it all. Feral, tiger, shift, you name it. I lost control. I tried to shift to my tiger to regain it, but I couldn’t stay there. I was too far gone.”

“Tighe…”

“No!” He knew what he was going to say. “She lives, Roar. You have two choices, and that’s it.”

“She can’t be near other humans with the knowledge she now possesses. Nor can you take her to other Therians when you can’t wipe her mind.”

Tighe began to growl low in his throat, the fury threatening to sweep him away all over again until Delaney’s soft hand slid over the back of his, pulling him back into his skin.

“Tighe.” Hawke’s voice dragged his attention back into the room. “Put Lyon on speaker.”

With only a moment’s hesitation, Tighe pressed the button.

Lyon’s deep voice echoed into the room. “Neither option is acceptable, Stripes. I’m sorry.”

Hawke took a step toward the phone. “There’s another option, Chief. If he binds her to him, she can’t betray him. Or us.”

Tighe’s blood went cold. Bind her? A human? “No way. I’m not making her my mate.”

Hawke shrugged. “Your choice.”

He couldn’t. Couldn’t.

It wouldn’t be for long. Sixty years. Maybe seventy. Not long. But she knew what he was now. Seventy years living with that look of fear, that loathing.

“I can’t.”

“Then she dies,” Hawke said softly.

Marry her or let her die.

Your choice. But was it?

He looked down at Delaney and found her watching him, a glimmer of warrior’s strength still visible in the dull pools of pain that had become her eyes.

A blade ripped through his chest at the thought of permanently quelling that bright, fierce spirit.

“Which do you choose, Delaney, knowing what I am? Death? Or me for the rest of your life? Your choice.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Don’t…want to die.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then you won’t. You won’t die.” What am I doing? He turned back to the phone. “I’m binding her.” His gaze speared Hawke’s. “Call Esmeria and tell her we’ll pick her up in ten minutes. Bring whatever she needs to heal a human in the car. We’re going to Feral House.”

What am I doing?

But he knew. As he’d done six hundred years before, he was once again consigning himself to the hell of tying himself to a human.

Chapter Eighteen

Paenther’s fist tapped with rhythmic frustration against the car’s door handle as Foxx drove past yet another damned field full of cows. The hills of the Blue Ridge rose around them, keeping their secrets…if they held any.

He was seriously beginning to think Foxx’s intuitive gift had flown. They’d found no sign of the Mage. No sign of Vhyper. Goddamn nothing.

Except a girl with eyes like a summer sky. A girl he couldn’t get out of his head.

“Go back to that country store we stopped at yesterday. The one set into the hillside. The Market.”

The words were out before he had time to think about them, but he didn’t call them back. He flexed and fisted both hands, hating the uncharacteristic lack of control that had him needing to see her again.

Goddess help him, he was acting like a fifteen-year-old with a massive hard-on.

“Why?” Foxx threw him a questioning look. “I thought we were going to take this search systematically.”

Paenther growled. “Just do it.” He’d finally given up hope that Foxx would lead them to the exact location. Knowing the Mage would be in some kind of mansion, they’d downloaded satellite images of the mountains and had been traveling from estate to estate ever since. In his animal form, Foxx was able to run right up to the houses and have a look around. Paenther had to wait for nightfall to join him since he lacked the ability to downsize into a house cat. If they did stumble onto a Mage stronghold, his panther form would give him away in a heartbeat.