Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(80)

And she felt the clone.

Her heart started racing. Tighe’s grip on her tightened.

“D,” he said softly. “It’s me, sweetheart. I know every time you look at me, you see him.”

His words were a gentle reminder they were on camera. He’d told her just to think of it as a television camera. And she was going to blow the plan completely if she didn’t play it right.

She gazed into his eyes, opening her heart, feeling Tighe’s love engulf her, calm her. Yet looking into those green eyes, badly streaked with black, her heart clenched as she was reminded of just how little time they had left. Of just how critical it was that she pull this off.

With a determination born of desperation, she gathered her wits and her thoughts. And said her lines with all the raw emotion in her heart.

“What are we going to do, Tighe? How are we going to save you?”

“Kougar has a plan. He’s figured out what went wrong with one of the Daemon traps he tried down by the river last night. He needs more Ferals, more power. Everyone’s going at midnight tonight. Everyone but me.”

She reached up, stroking his jaw. “Why not you?”

“We never leave Feral House unprotected if we can help it. And with my soul deteriorating, my energy’s the lowest right now. If it doesn’t work without me, they’ll call me, and I’ll have to go.”

“Once they trap him, will they kill him?”

“They’ll bring him to me to kill. We’re not sure how far the soul can travel, but we’re taking no chances.”

It was done. They’d said all they had to say. But they hadn’t discussed the last part, how to end the vision without simply turning away.

Tighe leaned in and kissed her, slowly at first, then with increasing passion, stealing the fear that lurked in her mind, stealing all thought. He pulled away, and without looking at her, tucked her head against him.

“I love you,” he murmured softly.

“And I you.”

She wrapped her arms hard around him and prayed for a miracle. Prayed for Tighe’s life to be spared so he could live another six hundred years, or another six thousand.

Even as she knew she could never be part of them. Even if she saved him, she’d lose him.

Because she could never stay there with nothing to do, no purpose in life, growing old and wrinkled, watching her perpetually virile, perpetually young husband’s interest in her die. No, she wouldn’t be able to bear it. It was better to go back to her life, to the place she belonged, even if it meant feeling a hole in her chest where her heart used to be.

His world could never be hers.

Tighe pulled Delaney onto the bed with him and peeled off her clothes, then his own, needing to make love to her one more time. Every move was slow, unhurried. He wished those moments could last an eternity.

While she kept her eyes closed, afraid, he knew, of engaging the clone, he touched her, loved her, with infinite care. First with his hands, then his mouth, and finally with his body as she spread her thighs, and he sank deep into her heat, filling her. He felt their hearts engage in a sensual explosion of heat and love.

Her eyes flew open, widening.

“The bond,” he murmured.

A look of amazement creased her passion-drugged features. “It’s stronger than before.”

“From what I’ve heard, it’ll grow even stronger over time.”

Her eyes contracted with pain, with the reminder, he knew, that time was the one thing they might not have. She closed her eyes again.

“Look at me, D.”

“But…”

“Look at me. It’s your eyes that strengthen me.” He slid into her again and again, slowly, loving her with his body. And with his mind, his heart. His soul.

Afterward, he pulled her into his arms and held her as the hour until midnight slowly counted down.

Tighe was sitting on his bed, watching Delaney strap on her ankle holster when a knock sounded on his door. It was ten to midnight.

Hawke opened the door and stuck his head in. “We’re heading out. Give us twenty minutes.”

Tighe nodded, rose, and went over to the man who’d been a friend for well over a century. Understanding and deep friendship moved through Hawke’s dark eyes as he met him halfway, embracing him hard.

“We’ll get him, buddy. This isn’t the end.” But despite the positive words, worry riddled his eyes.

“I hope to hell you’re right.”

Hawke left, with a nod to Delaney.

When she finished tying her boots, Delaney straightened, her gaze carefully not meeting his. “I’m ready to kick some Daemon ass.”

He never tired of watching her, never failed to marvel at her strength and resiliency. She was a vision of beauty and power in the jeans and long-sleeved tee she’d borrowed from Kara, the gun strapped boldly at her waist. She’d twisted her damp hair into a knot at the back of her neck, accentuating the feminine shape of her head and the long, graceful line of her throat.

Goddess, but he loved her. “You know guns won’t kill him.”

A savage smile lifted her mouth. “I’m fully aware of that, sport. But when I’m armed, I feel ready for anything. I could take on the world if I had to.” She shrugged. “Just maybe not this world.”

Tighe chuckled.

Delaney scowled. “I hate not being able to look at you.”