Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(81)

“I’m drinking my fill of you, brown eyes.”

He watched her gaze slide up his legs, lighting tiny fires along his skin as it went. “Maybe I’ve been a little too cautious.”

“If that gaze of yours travels any higher, you may blow the whole operation, Agent Randall. You’re going to make me forget everything. Everything but that sweet body of yours.”

Her worry rolled over him, quieting the teasing. He went to her and took her in his arms, holding her, calming both of them as much as either could be calm when so much was at stake. If the clone didn’t bite, what would they do?

Finally, he pulled away, again, careful not to meet her gaze. “It’s time for act two.”

With a deep sigh, Delaney nodded and preceded him out the door and down to the foyer, where Kara waited. Kara gave Delaney a big hug, then came to him, sliding her arms around him. He hugged her tight. As he held Kara, he asked, “Are you ready, D?”

“As ready as I can get.”

He released Kara, then turned to Delaney, took her into his arms, and stared deeply into her eyes, all the way to her heart. The warmth rushed into him. He nearly closed his eyes to drink the sweet intensity of her love, but he forced himself to hold her gaze.

Slowly, he repeated the second batch of lines they’d rehearsed. “I have to go, D. The trap isn’t working. They need me to add my power to theirs.”

“Be careful, Tighe. I love you.” The fear in her eyes was real. As was the love.

Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her thoroughly. When his mind told him it was time to pull away, to leave, as they’d planned, his hands wouldn’t let go. What if their plan failed? What if he never made it back to her before his soul was spent?

Goddess, but he needed just one more kiss. But then he’d need another and another. With a massive force of will, he cupped her cheek and pulled away.

Tears glistened in her eyes. “Be careful.”

“Always.” Then he turned and left Feral House, stepping into the cool night wind.

As he ran across the circular drive at a slow jog, his body was tense and ready for the fight for his life. He just prayed he’d timed this right, that the clone would come for him before the draden, before he had to shift. Prayed that he’d come for him at all. Because if he didn’t…

Tighe clenched his hands as he ran. He might have just held Delaney for the very last time.

Tighe? Hawke’s voice rang in his head. Was there a part of this plan you didn’t tell us about? The part where Delaney runs out of the house on her own?

Tighe slowed, his mind scrambling. No.

I’ll get her.

Out of nowhere, a dark cloud of draden descended, blocking out the treetops. Shit. He was going to have to shift. As he transformed into his animal on a rush of power, Wulfe’s curse rang in his head.

The damn draden are attacking the animals!

No sooner did Wulfe’s words register than the draden bit right through his tiger’s fur. Dammit. Just as they’d attacked Hawke and Kougar by the Lincoln Memorial.

Tighe’s blood went cold, understanding slamming him in one fell blow. It’s the clone! The clone can control the draden. His heart clenched with fear, his mind screaming with pain. Goddess help her. He’s controlling Delaney!

Chapter Twenty-nine

Tighe fought back the draden, gut clenching, terror pounding through his brain as he sent his heart outward, seeking Delaney.

A hundred times brighter than their old connection, the bond that bridged their hearts showed him the way. With draden clinging to him, he took off through the woods, following his sense of her, feeling her confusion and fear.

Goddess stone, he sent out to the other Ferals. He’s taken her to the goddess stone.

We’ll get there as fast as we can, Hawke said. We’re fighting for our lives right now, buddy. The draden have got us good.

Abruptly, his tiger’s vision went black. He careened to a stop, slamming shoulder first into a tree. Draden tore at his tiger’s flesh, but the only pain he felt was in his heart and mind. Because he couldn’t reach her. And the only reason he’d be getting a vision was if the clone was about to feed.

Delaney’s mind fought to draw her weapon, to fight, but her body remained still and trembling before the monster who wore Tighe’s face.

“What have you done to me?” She stood before him on a wide, flat rock high above the Potomac, the cool wind whipping at the loose tendrils of her hair.

As she’d waited in the foyer of Feral House, armed and ready for whatever came, she’d felt this sudden, inexplicable need to leave. At first, she’d thought it had something to do with the strange new connection she had to Tighe and feared he’d needed her, so she hadn’t fought it. But the moment she was outside, her feet took off as if they had a mind of their own, and she’d felt him. The clone. Controlling her.

Inside her.

He reached for her now, cupping her face in his hands, shooting cold through her body as his face took on an expression she’d often seen on Tighe’s. As if she were the most precious thing in the universe.

“What have you done to me?” she demanded a second time.

His mouth turned up in a smile that froze her from the inside out. “I’ve made you my channel key.”

She didn’t know what he meant by that. And was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.