Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(54)

The Hummer jerked, buffeted by nature's fury over the death of four more Mage. Jag held her tight.

"You going to be able to keep this thing on the road?" Tighe asked from the backseat.

"Nature's throwing a minor tantrum," Jag muttered.

The Ferals had ultimately dispatched the Mage Olivia hadn't killed. Both Ewan and Delaney were still unconscious, but only Ewan was tied. Tighe had left his vehicle in Harpers Ferry so that he could ride in the backseat of the Hummer, his arms about Delaney, his eye on Ewan.

The fire exploded in her wrist again, bone pulsing. Lights exploded behind her eyes.

Sweat ran down her temples, and she gasped for breath.

Jag squeezed her good hand, but it was Tighe who offered words of comfort.

"Hang in, Olivia. It shouldn't take too much longer. You'll be good as new in a few more minutes."

"I...know." Goddess, but it hurt! When she could breathe again, her gaze went to Jag, driving so stoic and silent. Had he been hurt? Had more happened than she'd realized?

Or was he worrying about taking her home? To be honest, she hadn't expected him to take her back to Feral House at all now that he knew her secret.

She looked back at Tighe, Delaney unconscious on his lap. "Are the four of you Ferals all right?"

He nodded, his eyes grave. "As far as I can tell. We fell into some kind of sensory-deprivation trap with a Daemon or two waiting. We couldn't see them, but damn, we could feel their claws."

"Venom?"

"We're all still feeling the effects, which is why we're heading back to Feral House instead of rallying the forces. We need radiance. I've already called Lyon."

Olivia glanced at Jag, but he didn't look her way. He'd said virtually nothing since they set out, and she hated that she couldn't read him, that she didn't know what was going on in his head.

Another wave of pain hit her hand, shallow and weak compared to the others, and she knew from experience it would be the last. Slowly, she straightened her arm and held out her new hand, identical to the one she'd lost. As it should be. On an exhausted sigh, she tipped her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the grief pressing in. In defense, she struggled to find the anger instead and pulled it tight around her.

"What the hell?" Ewan's voice sounded groggily in the back of the vehicle.

Olivia turned, watching as Tighe pulled a wicked blade. "How are you doing, Ewan?"

the tiger shifter asked calmly.

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Tighe's voice remained soft and even.

"Shit. Why am I tied?"

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"That wasn't the question."

Ewan levered himself into a sitting position despite his bonds, his gaze finding hers and holding fast. In his eyes, she saw confusion, but no enthrallment.

"He's fine," she told Tighe.

Understanding lit Ewan's eyes. "I got tackled by the Mage, didn't I? Enthralled."

"Afraid so," Tighe replied.

"What happened to the Daemon?"

"He got away. Ewan..." Olivia hesitated. "Niall..." The words caught in her throat, and she fought to hold on to the anger. "The Daemon got to him. I couldn't stop him."

Ewan's brows drew down, his mouth tightening. "What are you saying?"

"He's dead."

Ewan stared at her. "No. No!"

He whirled to face the back, and she turned front. There was nothing more she could do.Dammit. Dammit. The fury turned and twisted inside her, cocooning the emotions she couldn't deal with until they were nothing but a hard mass deep in the pit of her stomach.

They continued on, the country roads quickly giving way to the congestion of heavily populated Fairfax County. Delaney woke as they pulled into the long drive of Feral House, her mind once more clear.

Jag parked the Hummer, and Olivia climbed out, went around the vehicle, and released Ewan from the back. His gaze met hers, his eyes dark with pain, his cheeks damp as she'd feared they might be. Niall and Ewan had been as close as brothers for centuries. Seeing his devastation tore something loose inside her. She clamped her teeth together hard and climbed into the back with him as she pulled her knife and released him from his bonds.

As the big man swiped at his cheeks, hiding the telltale weakness, she crawled back out before he could touch her, or in any way try to share his grief with her. She didn't want it. Didn't need it.

Goddess, she couldn't deal with his, too. She had enough of her own.

Jag waited for her outside the vehicle, his brows low, his face hard.

Hawke and Kougar pulled up behind them in a black Yukon and got out. Each looked the worse for wear, but both were healing, their movements almost normal. Niall's corpse had been loaded into the back of Hawke's vehicle and would have to remain there until tonight, when they would perform the ancient rites, sending the body back to the earth from which it sprang.

Her mind shied from the thought of Niall consumed by that mystic fire, but Jag stole her attention when his hand gripped her arm, pulling her aside as the others passed.

His grip pinched. "Don't feed when any of the women are around, including Pink."

"All right." His words made her feel dangerous. Unclean. Like a predator he feared would turn on his friends.