Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(65)

Enthrallment descended over his mind as he stared into a pair of copper-ringed eyes.

The eyes of a young Mage.

Chapter Twenty

"Where is he?" Lyon demanded. "He's not answering his cell."

Tighe met his friend and leader's hard gaze. "Olivia didn't kill him. I don't pretend to understand that relationship, but my instincts tell me that not only is it not in her nature, but she has feelings for him. Goddess knows why. She might shatter his kneecap, but she wouldn't kill him."

"Then where the hell is he?"

"I'll find him."

Tighe called Wulfe and Hawke, and together the three set out, Wulfe in his animal form, the best tracker among them. As Wulfe set the direction, Hawke took to the skies.

I see him,Hawke said as they neared the river.On the rocks. He's not moving.

Hawke's words rang an ominous knell.

Dead?Tighe asked. Goddess. He'd been so sure she wouldn't hurt him. From the moment she dug her heel into Jag's instep, he'd thought the jaguar shifter had finally met his match. Everything he'd seen since had confirmed it.

Not only the way Jag looked at her, but the way she'd looked at Jag. With the eyes of a woman fighting the pull of love.

After all they'd been through together, he couldn't blame Jag for bringing her back to Feral House, especially if he thought he could control her.

But he was afraid they'd both been wrong.

We should have gone with him,Tighe said to himself as much as to Hawke and Wulfe.We shouldn't have let him go after her alone.

As messed up as Jag was, he wasn't all bad, not by a long shot. And he was a damn good fighter. The last thing they needed was to lose another Feral.

Well he's not alone, now. I don't see any sign of Olivia, but there are people around him. Old people. Humans.

Tighe and Wulfe caught up with Hawke. Wulfe stayed behind, away from people, stuck in the form of a huge wolf. Like Lyon and Jag, he couldn't retain his clothes when he shifted, but neither could he downsize into something innocuous. Neither of his forms - the huge wolf or the large, scarred, naked man - was human-friendly. Hawke landed in the woods and shifted, then led Tighe to the small group of elderly hikers who'd found the Feral.

Several looked up when the two men approached. Tighe said nothing, just eased past them and knelt beside Jag's prone form. He touched his hand, terrified he'd find it quickly cooling, but Jag's hand felt warm, thank the goddess. A quick glance at his throat and he could see the pulse pounding strongly.

He closed his eyes with the force of his relief.

"We've called 911," one of the women said.

Hell.Tighe looked up at her, a woman with shoulder-length gray hair and wise eyes.

"Was he alone when you found him?"

"Yes. He was just like this. We tried to wake him, but he didn't respond."

Tighe nodded, then scooped Jag up, slinging him over one shoulder. The humans stepped back, their eyes wide, as if he'd just performed a spectacular feat of strength.

He supposed he had, from a mortal viewpoint.

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"He's passed out drunk. Thank you for caring for him." They'd seen nothing out of the ordinary except for a little surprising strength. If there'd been time, he'd have taken their memories, but he didn't know what was wrong with Jag, and the sooner he got him back to Feral House, and away from any further human contact, the better.

Wulfe, get over here. Jag's fine, but he's out cold. See if you can pick up Olivia's scent.

We need to find her.

He turned back to the humans. "If you see my dog, don't panic. He looks like a big wolf, but he's harmless."

Wulfe passed them as they started into the woods and caught up to them again as they reached Hawke's Yukon.

The big wolf leaped into the vehicle, then shifted back into a man. "I followed the trail to the street and lost it. Maybe she hitchhiked out, or took a car?"

Tighe glanced back, meeting Wulfe's worried gaze. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. They both feared that wasn't the case at all.

Tighe pulled out his phone and called Lyon. "Jag's unconscious, and there's no sign of Olivia. Wulfe followed her trail, but it disappears abruptly, as if she got into a car."

Lyon put two and two together and came up with the same number Tighe had. "He's enthralled. And the Mage have Olivia."

"That would be my guess."

"If they turn her before we can stop them, she's going to make a hell of a weapon."

Lyon pulled his mouth from the phone and shouted. "Kougar, Vhyper! Load up the vehicles. Every man, every woman."

"Harpers Ferry?" Tighe asked.

"My gut's telling me that's the place."

"Mine, too."

"Get back here, ASAP. We're rolling!"

The sound of Feral voices and the rumble of an SUV engine slowly broke through the fog that encased Jag's brain.

"He's coming around," Wulfe said behind him.

"Jag?" Tighe's voice sounded close by.

His senses told him he was sitting up, the seat belt locking him tight against the seat.

In Hawke's Yukon, by the sound of the engine. Jag struggled to open his eyes, blinking against the morning sun reflecting off his window as they went around a curve.