Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(7)

Kougar nodded. "Another round."

As they once more walked the pond's damp perimeter, he felt the silent communion of the two animals, cougar and hawk, creatures who'd known one another for eons. In both the hawk spirit and the feral in which he resided, Kougar had always found wisdom and a fierce, yet quiet strength. When the Wind died, Kougar had lost his last link to the old times, his last link to the man he'd beenbefore. He'd feared that the coldness that had long ago encased his heart and stolen his ability to feel might finally destroy the last of his humanity. But the son and the hawk spirit itself had both reached out, filling the void left by the Wind's passing, tethering Kougar to the world of flesh and blood. Of duty and honor.

Kougar's heart might be gone, but thanks to Hawke, he still felt glimmers of emotion.

Friendship. Loyalty. Though Hawke knew little about Kougar or his past, he knew something, which was more than anyone else. Of all the Ferals, Hawke was the only one he ever found himself opening up to. Despite Hawke's keen and innate curiosity, he never pressed for answers. Which was why Kougar sometimes gave them to him.

When they'd gone around the pond a second time, binding tight the net of magic, the two shape-shifters moved back into the shadows of the trees to wait.

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"It's said the Ilinas used to help the Therians set these traps," Hawke murmured.

A shard of ice contracted inside Kougar's chest. "They did. Ilina blood and magic was mixed with Therian."

"But you believe the traps will work with Therian alone?"

"They'd better."

Hawke's body went still as it often did when his mind was in full swing. "It's said the Ilinas were mist creatures, spiritlike in their natural state."

"That's true."

"Yet they bled?"

"They could turn to flesh and blood at will, and remain that way. In that state, their bodies were much like any Therian's."

"You knew Ilinas, of course."

Hawke alone knew how old he was. "Of course."

The hawk shifter glanced at him, curiosity a living thing in his eyes. "Do you know how they came to be extinct?"

The muscles in Kougar's face clenched. He knew, but he couldn't have told Hawke if his life depended on it. He said nothing, and Hawke didn't press.

"Were they as beautiful as stories claim?"

"They were as varied in looks as Therian women, petite in build, with eyes..." He glanced at his companion. "They possessed the brightest blue, green, or aqua eyes of any women I've ever seen."

Hawke's brow lifted, a glimmer of humor easing his expression. "If anyone else had said that, I might accuse him of waxing poetic."

"It's just a fact."

"I believe you." And his voice said he did. "I've never understood how an entire race of women can exist. They couldn't have procreated the way we're used to."

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Only by accident. Their usual method consisted of magic."

"One would think they could have kept the race alive, had they wanted to." Hawke's tone was contemplative, as if he spoke to himself. "Then again, it's said their queen, Ariana, destroyed them herself."

Kougar said nothing. There was nothing hecould say because the truth was something he could never share. The truth was, the Ilinas weren't extinct at all.

"Kougar." Hawke's voice turned low and sharp."Daemon."

The gnawing hunger drove Olivia from her bed about an hour before daybreak. She'd slept little, and when she had slept, she'd kept dreaming she'd started feeding in her sleep, and the Ferals were barging into her room, knives drawn, ready to carve her up.

Kara had given her an upstairs room, third floor, but she wasn't sure where Jag's room was, or even if he was in it, and she had been afraid to take any chances. If he sensed her feeding again, it would no doubt spark a full-out witch hunt.

But she needed to feed. Usually, she spent her nights draden-hunting, sucking the little buggers dry of life, feeding on them before digging out their hearts with her knife. It drove her nuts to think there were swarms of them just outside Feral House, and she couldn't touch them. Not just because she was hungry, but because her drive to destroy draden was nearly as strong as her drive to live.

If only she could sneak out and find them on her own. But feeding off draden anywhere close to the Ferals was too dangerous. Even if she didn't have to worry about Jag feeling her feed, the others might see her. The moment they did, they'd know something was wrong. No normal Therian could survive a swarm the size of the ones near Feral House.

Her skin felt prickly and uncomfortable as it always did when she began to get energy-deprived. How sad was it that in a house filled with energy, she couldn't feed.

In the land of a thousand draden, she didn't dare go outside for fear of revealing her secret.

Which left her with one option, and not a good one. She was going to have to eat food.

Tons of food. Even that wouldn't satisfy her forever, but it might tide her over until she could get away from Jag.

Olivia groaned as she pulled on a dark green tank and her black fighting pants, the pockets loaded and ready with knives. She never went anywhere without her knives.

She'd learned early and bitterly that safety from draden was never complete. And while they could no longer hurt her, the very fact that they couldn't made it all the more critical that she be able to fight them. In case of draden attack, anyone looking would merely think she was quicker than the beasties. They'd never know she killed them by sucking the life out of them.