Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(59)

He nodded. “Lyon tells me you’ve made a friend.”

“I imagine anyone who enters Kara’s orbit is going to become her friend. She’s a good person.”

“I agree. Lyon’s a lucky man.” He closed the distance between them and took her face in his hands. “I’m luckier.”

His head dipped, and he kissed her, his mouth warm and inviting, with that intoxicating taste of thunderstorms and wildness. A wildness she was beginning to understand.

When her breath was ragged, and her body hot and pliant, he pulled slowly away, his hands returning to frame her face. “I’d take you to bed, brown eyes, but I’ve got a meeting in the war room in five minutes. And five minutes isn’t nearly enough time to do what I want with you.”

Damp heat flushed through her body. “I’m supposed to meet Kara in the foyer in a little while. She’s going to show me around.”

Tighe nodded, brushing his thumb across her cheek. “I’ve got a cell phone for you. It has GPS, but will only call two numbers. Hit any speed dial but two and you’ll get me. Two will get you Lyon.”

Two numbers. The word prisoner rang through her head all over again. The warmth from his touch slowly seeped out of her, and she pulled away. “Afraid I’ll call the FBI to swarm this place?”

“No. You couldn’t if you wanted to. You can’t intentionally betray me now that you’re bound to me.”

Yeah, she was annoyed. “Right.”

“It’s for your safety as well as ours. Just because you can’t intentionally betray us doesn’t mean you couldn’t do it accidentally. I want you to have a way to reach me if you get another vision, and I’m not right here with you.”

Tighe handed her the phone. “Take it, D. Please?”

Delaney did and slipped it into her pocket.

Tighe retraced his steps back to the door. “I’ll find you as soon as I’m through with this meeting.”

“Then what?”

His expression turned grim. “Kougar’s working on something. Let’s hope he’s having some success. I’m running out of time.” He left.

Delaney put on her boots, then did a quick search of the room to see if she could find her guns. Nothing. Her gaze scanned the knives on the walls. Heavy weaponry, to be sure, but not a thing suitable for day wear. She’d have to have a talk with Tighe about that. They were going to have to come to some kind of agreement about weapons.

Tighe had left the bedroom door partially open when he left. Since he hadn’t locked her in, she assumed she was free to wander the house while she waited for Kara. And her curiosity about the place and these people was intense.

As she descended the wide, curved stair, the front door opened. Hawke and Kara walked in.

Hawke looked up and smiled as he met Delaney’s gaze.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” At least there seemed to be one friendly face among the Ferals.

As Hawke strode down the hallway, Delaney turned her attention to Kara. No smile lit the other woman’s eyes this morning. Delaney’s trouble radar went up.

“Everything okay?” Delaney asked, descending the last of the stairs.

“I need to talk. Come take a walk with me.”

Delaney nodded and followed the blonde out the door and into an overcast morning. She felt a little funny leaving, though Tighe hadn’t told her she couldn’t.

What was to keep her from running? That mating bond, apparently.

But even if she could, where would she run to? With the understanding of what he was, and what the clone was, everything had changed. No longer was she simply fighting for her own survival. There was so much more at stake. Tighe’s life, for one. And almost seven billion other lives, if what he’d told her about the Daemons was true. Considering all she’d seen, she had no reason to doubt him.

No, of course she wouldn’t run. Not when the battle was here. And when she possessed one of their only real weapons, her visions.

It pleased her that Tighe understood her well enough, trusted her enough to know that.

As they traversed the rocky woods, Delaney glanced at her silent companion. “What’s up, Kara?”

“I need to show you something.” She didn’t elaborate.

“Okay.” But they continued to walk until they’d once more left the woods and were walking along a residential street. Delaney’s instincts began to crawl with unease. “Kara, tell me what’s going on.”

To her surprise, Kara pulled a set of car keys out of her pocket and pressed the button. The red minivan parked on the side of the road in front of them beeped in response.

Delaney shook her head. “Kara, I’m not going anywhere. Not without telling Tighe.”

Kara held out her hand, a sly expression entering her eyes. “Give me your phone. I’ll call him.”

“No.” The hair on her nape began to rise. This was not the woman she’d talked to for two hours last night.

And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, she wasn’t.

The person standing beside her was no longer Kara but Tighe. No, not Tighe. The clone.

Delaney’s heart skipped a beat and began racing with terror. Her head went cold. She whirled to run, reaching for the phone in her pocket. But like Tighe, the clone was too fast. He grabbed her hair and jerked her off her feet in a blast of tearing pain. As he swung her around to face him, she slammed her elbow into his solar plexus.