Passion Untamed (Feral Warriors #3)(35)

"I don't know what I'm doing." She was beginning to shake. "It's not on purpose."

Jag started around the table toward her again. Paenther moved to block his access to her, but Jag didn't back off this time. Instead, fangs sprouted in his mouth, claws erupted from his fingertips, and his eyes turned the color of a jungle cat's.

Paenther tensed, his arms opening at his sides as if preparing for a fight. "Back off, Jag."

"If you can't make her stop f**king with our animals, I will."

To Skye's horror, the terrifying creature Jag had become leaped at Paenther, his claws out. She ducked, fearing they were going to land right on top of her, but Paenther met the attack with one of his own. The two men, both part animal, tumbled to the ground, clawing and ripping at flesh in a tangle of teeth and claws and massive limbs.

"Enough!" Lyon roared.

The fight went on for about ten more seconds before the two bloody combatants rose to their feet and retracted their fangs, eyeing one another as if ready to go at it again.

Her heart pounded.

"No one touches her but me," Paenther snarled.

Skye felt something warm and raw stir in her chest as she realized he was protecting her. From his own men.

"Get her out of here, B.P.," Lyon snapped. "I don't know what the hell she's doing, but I'm about to leap out of my own skin. Lock her up in the prison, then come back. We have some decisions to make."

Paenther's jaw clenched, drawing his cheekbones in high relief. Finally, he nodded once and turned to her, barely looking at her as he pulled her from her chair and steered her out of the room, retracing the path back to the prison.

"What in the hell did you do to them?" he asked tightly as he led her down the long stairs.

"Nothing. I don't understand what happened. Animals always react to me, but it's with friendliness, not anger. Your panther was the only one who didn't go nuts in there."

Paenther said nothing more as he led her back to the prison and locked her up. Then he turned and left without a backward glance as she watched his bloody and retreating back disappear into the passage.

He'd protected her. And, so far, he hadn't been able to bring himself to hurt her. There was goodness inside him. And honor. She'd thought it before, and she believed it even more, now.

But that didn't mean she was safe from him. As long as he was convinced she was his enemy - and the strange reaction of the animal spirits to her wasn't doing much to convince him otherwise - she was in deadly peril from the very strength she admired. Maybe, whether they meant to or not, the Mage and the Ferals couldn't help but harm one another. Even if harming these men was the last thing in the world she wanted to do.

She sat on the hard floor against the back wall, her hands still trapped uncomfortably behind her back. While she feared what the Ferals might ultimately decide to do with her, she feared Birik more. Because she knew what Birik would do.

And it was almost midnight.

Chapter Ten

Paenther rejoined the group in the war room minutes later.

"We're spread too thin. I'm enlisting the aid of the Guard," Lyon said as Paenther took his seat.

Jag scoffed. "The Guard is just a bunch of Therians. What in the hell can they do?"

Lyon growled. "They're damn fine fighters, just Therians or not. They won't be of much help in fighting the draden, but they can help in other ways. A small team is on its way over to discuss the situation as we speak."

Paenther half listened to the discussion, shaken by how violently he'd reacted to Jag's threat against Skye. It infuriated him. He should be clear of her magic, but she obviously still had her claws in him.

Lyon placed his hands palm down on the table and looked at Paenther. "Until those shackles come off, you'll be guarding Feral House. I don't want you leaving."

Great. Now I'm essentially under house arrest. Yet he couldn't argue the point. Lyon was right.

"Tighe and Foxx, you take first shift with the draden. You'll rotate with Jag."

Paenther looked at Lyon. "Since when do we need three men guarding the house?"

"Since one of them brought a witch home and still wears the shackles to prove it. I won't compromise the safety of our Radiant, or the other women in this house."

He turned to the others. "If that's it, we're through."

When no one said anything more, they all rose.

Paenther scowled, hating the situation the Mage had put him in. Even his own chief couldn't trust him. Worse, he couldn't trust himself.

Kara came to him, her blue eyes warm and determined. "I'd like to give you a shot of radiance, Paenther. After all you've been through, I think you could use it."

Paenther inclined his head with deep respect and deeper affection for this petite woman with the heart of a lioness. "I'd be honored, Radiant."

"Fuck." Jag grabbed the back of a chair.

Lyon and Tighe, too, seemed to be in some kind of pain.

"What's happening?" Paenther demanded.

"Your witch," Tighe said, through gritted teeth. "I think the pain is hers."

Paenther leaped for the door and took the stairs to the underground chambers four at a time, running the rest of the way back to the prison. No sound reached his ears as he approached her cell, but as he came even with it and his gaze took in the sight of her, his chest seized, his mind going gray as a winter sky.