Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(83)

Lyon, Kougar, and Hawke, too, shifted and tried to punch through, but only Tighe was able to breach the wall.

Lyon’s gaze met Tighe’s. “Looks like this is your fight.”

Tighe nodded. As he dove headfirst into that feeding frenzy, he heard Lyon behind him.

“Kill the son of a bitch.”

As he pushed through, inch by inch, he felt his flesh being devoured by savage mouths, his life force being sucked from his body. When he finally emerged onto the goddess stone, he stumbled, barely able to stand.

“Tighe.” Delaney lay as he’d seen her in the vision, but so much worse, her eyes tight with pain and despair, and horror at the sight he must be with his flesh nearly gone. Her own flesh was open, her blood spilling over the rock too fast for her to possibly be still alive and conscious.

Opening himself to her, he felt it. The dark hold the clone had on her, the talons gripped around her heart. It was all that was keeping her alive.

And in a shattering moment, he understood. The second the clone died, so too would Delaney.

His fury swung to the one responsible.

The clone stood a few feet away, his face and chest raised to the heavens like a man inhaling air…or power.

Tighe tried to shift into his tiger form, his stronger form, but he was too weak to do even that. So he did the only thing he could. He launched himself at the clone. And took a fist to the face that sent him reeling back into the wall of draden. The small bits of flesh that had started to regrow were chewed off before he could push himself out of the little monsters’ grasp again.

The clone chuckled, grinning Tighe’s grin. “You can’t stop me, Feral. I’m nearly through, and when I’m done, you’ll be dead.”

“You’ll never get away.”

“With my draden guard, who’s going to stop me?”

The Ferals would stop him. He prayed to the goddess they’d be able to stop him. But he wasn’t at all certain they could.

Tighe. Delaney’s voice floated through his head, soft and weak. Come to me.

I’m here, sweetheart.

No, my tiger. Come over here where I can touch you. I need to touch you.

He wasn’t sure how she could even stand to look at him, let alone touch his decimated flesh. Though second by second his body regenerated, he still looked more ghoul than man.

Lowering his center of gravity to a fighter’s stance, he began to circle the clone, inching his way toward Delaney until his feet were slick with her blood.

Brown eyes. Grief swept through him, swift and terrible. She was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I should have been there to stop you. To protect you.

We tried. It was a good plan.

Are you in terrible pain? He’d been able to feel her pain initially, but either it had waned, or his own was blotting it out.

I feel nothing but my love for you, Tighe. I’ll always love you. I’ll always watch over you.

His heart cried with anguish. Don’t give up, D. I’m going to find a way to save you. I have to find a way to save you!

Another step, and he felt it, her too-cool fingers sliding around the bones of his shredded ankle.

I love you, Tighe. Her love flowed through him on a rush of warmth. The tiger spirit inside him stirred and raised his head. Strength began to flow once more through his body. She was pouring her love into him, making him strong. Healing him.

Brown eyes, I love you. More than life.

He felt her smile enfold him through the connection between their hearts.

Tiger! Delaney called softly. Help him.

The animal spirit inside him leaped to its feet. With a ferocious roar, he sent power rushing though Tighe’s body. Perhaps power enough to shift. But enough to fight?

He wouldn’t know until he tried.

Let go, D. Let go, sweetheart.

As her fingers fell away, he prayed to the goddess this worked, and pulled on the energy inside him to access his tiger form.

The lights flickered, then died, then flickered again as he fought to shift. He had to shift. Only in his tiger form could he possibly beat the man who had his own strength but who was whole and strong, as he wasn’t.

Finally, finally, the transformation slid through his body, with none of the accompanying rush of joy. He’d shifted. But the draden had taken too much from him.

The clone whipped out his dagger, the light of battle in his eyes.

Tighe’s vision wavered. His heavy tiger’s body lurched drunkenly, and he doubted he could rally the energy to ward off the clone’s attack, let alone launch one of his own.

He had to. For Delaney, he had to.

He started forward on unsteady legs, watching as the clone lifted his dagger, ready to plunge it into his brain. A single stab wound wouldn’t kill him, but in his weakened state, it might be all the shitbag needed to drive him to his knees, where he would cut out his heart. And no creature survived without a heart.

I love you, D.

Don’t give up on us yet, Tighe. That small power boost from your lovely tiger spirit went both ways. I’ve broken free of his hold. I can move again.

As the dagger began its deadly descent, Tighe bunched his hind legs, desperate to find the strength to ward off the attack. To protect Delaney.

The first explosion rang through his ears, sending him back on his haunches. Two more rang out, the clone’s eye disintegrating, holes erupting in his face, before he understood what was happening.