Wulfe Untamed (Feral Warriors #8)(82)

Fighting it, he pulled back his lips and snarled at her. She was small compared to him, female and human and should be terrified. But instead of retreating as she should have, she lunged at him, grabbing his bare forearm, pressing against his side.

“Come back to me, Wulfe. I know you’re in there. Fight it. For me. For your friends.”

Her hands shook, her warm blood smearing his arm. Lines of pain bracketed her mouth, making him ache. He didn’t want her in pain.

Why did he care? The thought roared in his mind. He was power incarnate. With a swipe of his clawed hand, he could rip off her head.

The thought of it nearly brought him to his knees.

Natalie.

Protect her. Protect her.

The thought, the need grew and grew, pulsing in his veins, battering and silencing the shadows that yelled for him to push her away, ripping through the power, through the darkness, through the light.

Wulfe blinked, disoriented and confused, at the woman tight against his side, clinging to his arm. Natalie. He’d drawn fangs and claws. She’s in danger. The thought exploded in his head even as he took in the sight of his brothers, weapons drawn staring at him as if he’d become the enemy.

Understanding slammed into him like a rock. He’d lost it again. Badly. As he retracted his fangs and claws, his gaze flew to Natalie, to the agonized lines of her face, to the warm stickiness beneath the hand that still grasped his arm.

“I hurt you.” The words tore from his throat, cutting like razor blades.

“You’re back.” Her grip fell away and she sagged against him, clearly injured.

“I hurt you.”

“No. Just a little. It’s the primal energies . . . I’m okay.”

The primal energies.

“Wulfe,” Lyon called. “Destroy the warding.”

And everything snapped back into place—West Virginia, Inir’s ritual to free the Daemons, the heavy warding that surrounded the mountain that even he hadn’t been able to get through.

Turning until he once more gazed upon that colorful curtain of energy snapping in the wind, he lifted his hand with a snap and willed that curtain destroyed. As he watched with satisfaction, it hissed and popped, exploding into a million bits of light that winked out, one by one, until they were no more.

Goddess, he had power.

Deep inside, he could feel that golden thread, the beginnings of the mating bond, pulsing with light. It was Natalie’s love that had pulled him back, her love that had tethered him, just as she’d promised, but at what cost? She was shaking, the energies hurting her. And that golden filament was already beginning to tarnish and fade.

He pulled her around to face him, holding her up. “I have to shut off the primal energies.”

“No.” Natalie’s voice was strong, her gaze unyielding. “Stop Inir from freeing Satanan. Only that. Then turn them off.”

He shook his head, his heart threatening to shatter. “You’ll be dead by then.”

“I won’t.” She smiled at him through the pain with a strength that he envied. “I’m tougher than that.”

Lyon strode up, joining them, pushing his rain-drenched hair from his face. “How much of the warding did you disable? Is it safe for the Ilinas to mist us closer to Inir’s stronghold?” They were still miles away from the fortress. And, he remembered now, quickly running out of time.

Wulfe sent his senses flying outward, taking in the energy of the mountain, feeling the warding as if it were a part of him. And in a Daemon sort of way, it probably was. The sudden, unnatural storm had turned day to night.

“The outer warding has shattered,” he told his chief. “The inner is still strong, but I can get us through. It extends two hundred yards around the stronghold in every direction. It’s Ilina-proof, but the Ilinas are in no danger as long as they remain outside that.”

Lyon swung to Kougar. “It’s your call.”

Kougar closed his eyes for several seconds. “Ariana’s already on her way to test it.”

“Have they freed the Daemons?” Paenther asked, striding up.

In the part of him that was connected to Satanan, Wulfe could feel the ritual proceeding. “Not yet.”

Ariana appeared from mist beside her mate. “We can deliver you to the base of the hill, a short distance from the stronghold.”

Lyon nodded. “Take us.”

Ilinas appeared out of thin air all around them, snatching up Ferals and Therians alike.

“Hold on to her, Wulfe,” Ariana said. “I can take you both.”

Moments later, Wulfe was spilling his guts on the ground at the base of the stronghold, Natalie sitting a short distance away. Wulfe pushed to his feet, then helped Natalie to hers. She gasped with pain, a soft sound that stabbed him in the heart.

“I’m shutting the energies off.”

“No you’re not. I can handle this.” She met his gaze with granite in her eyes.

A shout went up. Moments later, Mage sentinels began to rush out of the stronghold by the dozens.

“Get the Ferals through those gates,” Olivia yelled to her troops.

Wulfe kissed Natalie gently. How could he leave her like this?

“I’ve got her, Feral,” Melisande said. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Wulfe nodded, sliding his palm along Natalie’s jaw, his own jaw hardening. “I’ll kill him quickly.”