Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(47)



She shouldn't ask. It was none of her business. "Who's Cordelia?"

He stiffened as if he'd been stabbed through the side. Slowly, his hands dropped away from her.

"Why?"

"You said her name in your sleep this morning."

"She's nobody. Not anymore." He stepped back and turned away. "She's dead."

Unh. "I'm sorry, Jag." She knew she was treading dangerous ground, yet something told her she needed to know. If she were ever going to help him, she needed to understand what drove him. Why she thought she could help him - or even wanted to - she wasn't sure.

"Was she your mate?"

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"No." He turned his head, looking at her over one broad, muscled shoulder, meeting her gaze with eyes filled with an ancient pain. "She was my mother."

Oh, Jag.

He walked away, as if needing to distance himself from her, from the truths she'd pulled from him. She ached from the pain she'd seen in his eyes, and from the deep well of empathy she felt for him. His parent was dead, and he blamed himself. She knew that dark, bitter landscape far too well.

For long minutes she stood in the woods, alone but for the need to somehow ease Jag's torment. But how, when he wouldn't listen? When he wasn't ready to hear?

Finally, the others began to return, rescuing her from her frustratingly inadequate thoughts. Tighe and Delaney came through the trees first, hand in hand, Delaney's cheeks flushed, Tighe's eyes warm with satisfaction and love.

As Olivia watched them together, she couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to be cared for like that. To be loved. Sometimes she caught a similar look in Niall's eyes as he watched her, but Niall's feelings lacked the depth of Tighe's for Delaney. In comparison, they felt weak and thin. Unhappy.

Unreturned. And perhaps that was the difference. Love could never be rich and full when it went only one way.

Niall and Ewan came in from opposite directions.

"Success?" Tighe asked. "Delaney's a go."

"Shit hole of a house," Ewan commented by way of an answer.

Niall nodded. But the look he gave her was nothing less than morose. Niall knew her better than anyone ever had, except, oddly, Jag. Niall had always sensed her moods surprisingly accurately and could no doubt feel that her relationship with Jag wasn't quite right.

He'd just have to deal with it.

Hawke and Kougar returned, shimmering into man shape in a concert of sparkling lights. Interestingly, while Hawke's shifting lights were multihued, as Jag's always were, Kougar's were almost colorless. White and silver and gray.

"Report?" Tighe asked.

The group had reassembled behind a thick stand of brush where no one from the house would be able to see them if they looked. Jag came up behind her. Though he didn't quite touch her, she felt his body heat at her back.

"No change," Hawke replied. "They either have no clue we're out here, or they're waiting for us inside."

Tighe nodded. "Let's hope it's the former, but we're going in either way. Hawke and Kougar, you'll take the back door with Olivia."

"No," Jag said abruptly. "Olivia stays with me."

Olivia shot him a questioning look. Was he afraid she'd start feeding again and hurt his friends? But when she met his gaze, she saw only a fierce and startling protectiveness. Of her.

She turned back to Tighe, her heart pounding an awkward rhythm. Jag positively confused her. He was the last man in the world she needed to be involved with. And yet, wasn't that exactly what they were? Involved?

With a twist of her gut, she knew they always would be, on some level. Because as long as he alone knew her secret, he'd always hold her life in his hands.

Hell.

Tighe's gaze moved between her and Jag. Like Niall, she could tell Tighe wasn't entirely trustful of what he sensed between them. His gaze landed on her, a question in his eyes. She dipped her head in a brief nod.

Tighe shrugged. "Okay, then. Kougar, you're taking the front, with Niall and me. Ewan and D are staying outside to catch anyone who tries to escape."

As Tighe met his mate's gaze, Olivia could tell neither was thrilled with the situation.

Delaney wanted to be in on the attack. Tighe didn't like the idea of being separated from her.

But she heartily concurred with Tighe's refusal to take his mate inside with him.

Fighting the Mage, with their ability to enthrall, was a skill acquired over decades. A skill no human possessed. Delaney might be a fighter, but she lacked the training that would keep her alive.

"Hawke, let me know when your team's in place," Tighe said. "Let's move out."

Almost as one, the Ferals shifted into their animals, the cats downsizing. The jaguar led the way and Olivia followed close behind as they delved deeper into the woods to circle the stronghold. They kept low, ducking behind trees whenever they came within sight of the house.

The battle was bound to turn dangerous whether or not the Mage saw them coming.

The Mage had magic at their disposal they hadn't had...perhaps ever. Magic strong enough to steal souls, free three wraith Daemons, and goddess only knew what else.

Dark magic. Maybe even Daemon magic, though no one knew for sure. They needed to be prepared for anything.

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