"We're going with you," Brielle said quietly.
"No. I don't know what will happen when I make this request. I want you both to stay here."
Mel shook her head, the look in her eyes telling Ariana she would get no cooperation. "Brielle stays here, but I'm going with you. I'm your second for a reason."
"If anything goes wrong . . ."
"I'll be there to help you. Don't waste time arguing, Ariana. We need to get going before that Feral of yours shows up growling and making demands."
"You've forgotten how to take orders, Mel." Her tone was wry, for her friend's loyalty was rock solid.
A hint of a smile lit Melisande's eyes. "My job is to protect the queen. That's what I'm doing."
Ariana nodded. "Let's go, then. Let's find out what I've lost."
"Do you remember the Chamber of Life in the lower level of the temple?"
Ariana nodded.
"I'll meet you there." Melisande turned to mist, her form insubstantial for a moment before she disappeared.
Ariana took the corporeal's path, gripping her moonstone cuff and whispering the chant of transport as she visualized the chamber where all Ilinas were born. Moments later, she materialized within the inlaid ivory walls of the Temple of the Queens.
Around her, sconces flared. Goose bumps rose on her arms at the sight of this place she hadn't seen in centuries--the mosaic floor and the pure crystal altar standing at the very center of the circular room. It was upon the Altar of Life that new Ilinas came into the world. Upon which she herself had been born, not as flesh-and-blood creatures were born--springing forth from the wombs of their mothers as infants who must grow to full size--but through a ritual of magic that created women prepared to take their place in Ilina society within only a few education-filled months.
Unlike a flesh-and-blood woman, she remembered well the day she was born--the wonder and confusion as the maidens welcomed her as their new queen. Unlike humans and most immortals, Ilinas were born with the basic knowledge they needed to survive, including the language of their kind.
Yes, she had memories of this place, of the births of other Ilinas who'd come after her.
But of the lower chamber, the stone chamber that was supposedly hers alone, she had no memories at all.
Mel's low cry behind her had her whirling, ready to fight, but she saw no one and nothing wrong. They were alone. It took her a second to realize the problem, and when she did, her eyes went wide.
Melisande was sinking into the floor, her feet slowly disappearing into the decorative mosaic tile.
Melisande reached for her. Ariana grabbed her hands, trying without success to pull her free.
"Turn to mist, Melisande!"
"I can't! It's some kind of trap." Her oldest friend's eyes took on a rare and gut-wrenching terror.
They'd walked into a trap that could have been set by only one race.
The Mage.
Regret raked at Hawke's mind. He should have shoved Tighe away from him. He should have saved his friend.
Excruciating pain speared through his skull as his hawk screeched in agony. The pain had become a constant, now, an ever-present torment. At least he knew what was happening, though it was of no comfort whatsoever. He'd fallen into a spirit trap whose purpose was to separate man from beast. And when it succeeded? He'd be dead. The trap would spit out his body as it had the bodies of the seventeen all those years ago, leaving the hawk spirit trapped inside in perpetual agony, if the sounds of the other animals were anything to go by.
They'd been in there for centuries.
His hawk screeched again.
Easy, buddy. Calm your feathers.
But instead of soothing the spirit as he'd intended, he only seemed to inflame the creature's fury. Hawke felt the bird's anger pummel the insides of his mind, melding with the pain.
Dammit, I didn't get us trapped in here on purpose!
He had to find a way out of here. For the hundredth time, he prayed to the goddess that he'd been mistaken about Tighe's falling in with him, that Stripes was safely with the others. With his mate. For the first time in the long years he'd known the tiger shifter, Tighe radiated with a happiness Hawke envied. If anyone deserved that happiness, it was Stripes. Yet Hawke was all too afraid he was trapped down there with him, about to leave Delaney a widow.
The other Ferals couldn't afford to lose two more animals. Perhaps more? He had no idea how many had fallen into this with him.
Goddess, get us out of here. Take my life, if you must, but not like this. Let the hawk fly free to mark another.
Don't let us both end like this!
Slowly, he shoved back the anger, both the hawk's and his own, forcing his mind to search for a solution. There had to be a way out of there. Perhaps the animal spirits themselves knew the answer if he could only find a way to communicate with them. There were at least a dozen distinct animal sounds he'd managed to identify, at least a dozen animals--several different kinds of cats, two or three bears, the screech of a bird that wasn't his hawk. And others he couldn't identify. He'd heard a deep snorting that might have come from any one of several large animals. He heard them, not with his ears, for his senses were in limbo, but with his mind.
Were they really even there? The question had plagued him from the start. He'd tried to call to them, to communicate with them, but he'd failed to get any response.
All he heard in the depths of his mind was the hawk's punishing anger. And the sound of pain.
"Get some lunch." Lyon turned to head back into the house after the Ilinas' disappearance. "Pink keeps making too much food. I think she's convinced that Tighe and Hawke might return at any moment, and she wants to be ready in case they're famished."
Kougar continued to stare at the spot Ariana had stood just moments before, frustration eating at him that she'd left. He felt her in the Crystal Realm and was tempted to follow, but he knew she didn't intend to stay there. By the time he found her, she'd be gone again, down to the earthbound Temple of the Queens.
He hated that she refused to let him protect her, but he trusted her to return, as he hadn't before. Something had changed between them as they'd traveled his dream and her memories, together.
He joined Lyon as his chief opened the patio door. "Any word on Hookeye?" Kougar asked.
"Not yet. Skye's family has put the word out. Someone has to know of a sorcerer whose eyes had oddly-shaped pupils."
One would think. And when they got a lock on him, Kougar was damn well going to be first in line to hunt the bastard down. Meanwhile, he waited. And the waiting was killing him.
How much harder this must be on Tighe's mate, forced to wait while others tried to save the one she loved.
"How's Delaney?" he asked Lyon.
Lyon gave him a surprised look as if he hadn't expected him to remember Tighe had a mate, let alone her name. "She's on her way back to Harpers Ferry to join Vhyper."
Kougar knew that Vhyper watched over the place where Hawke and Tighe had fallen into the vortex in case they reappeared. Of course, if they did, it would almost certainly be as corpses.
"Delaney puts up a good front." Lyon started into the dining room, empty but for Wulfe. "But I've found her pacing the house at all hours, day and night."
"We'll get them back, Roar." There was an answer, and he wasn't giving up until they'd found it.Lyon met his gaze with eyes rife with worry. "I hope to hell you're right."
As Lyon continued through the dining room and into the hall, Kougar turned to where Wulfe was making what appeared to be a sandwich. A small one. Since when did the wolf shifter bother with bread?
At the lift of Kougar's brow, Wulfe shrugged. "The humans are hungry."
Kougar stilled. "Humans?"
Wulfe bristled, a snarl in his throat. "Three of the humans attacked by the Daemons in Harpers Ferry survived, but we haven't been able to wipe their minds. As soon as we can, we'll release them."
As long as the humans posed no threat to the Ferals, Kougar didn't much care. All he cared about was Ariana's returning to him, hopefully with the answers they needed. He grabbed a plate and was piling it high with ham when he felt it, a pulse of raw emotion blasting down the mating bond, stronger than he'd felt since the bond was reattached. A blend of anger. And fear.
He dropped his plate with a clatter, closing his eyes as he tried to sense her in the Crystal Realm, but the door was closed to him. She wasn't there. She must have already headed to that damned temple. And he had no way to reach her. No way to communicate with any of them other than to send his emotions, his demand, roaring through the mating bond, and hope someone other than Ariana felt them and responded.
His muscles spasmed with his need to do something. Shoving through the back door, he caught a whiff of pine, felt a tingle of Ilina energy and began to breathe again.
Brielle shimmered to form before him, the look on her face telling him she already knew something was wrong.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"They're in trouble. Ariana and Melisande went together to the Temple of the Queens, but Melisande's been caught in a trap. Mel thinks it was set by the Mage. She can't be certain, but she thinks there are Mage in the temple."
Hell. "Take me to them."
"So that we can be captured, too?"
The need to reach Ariana was a live wire streaking through his blood, but he forced himself to think.
"They went directly into the temple?"
"To the Chamber of Life below the temple."
"Then you're going to deliver me outside. Far enough away that no one will know we're there and that you won't be caught by the magic."
Brielle's tight expression eased. "All right."
"Can you transport two of us?"
"Not two Ferals."
"Then get help." Kougar ran for the back door of Feral House. "Roar! Jag!" He was yelling even before he stepped into the dining room.
Lyon met him in the hallway. "What's up?"
"Ariana and Melisande ran into trouble in the temple. They've been captured."
"By whom?"
"Only the Mage would be able to capture an Ilina."
Lyon growled. "Where is this place?"
"The Himalayas."
"You've got to be kidding."
"The Ilinas can get us there. I'm taking Jag as backup."
Lyon lifted a brow. "Not Wulfe?" Hawke and Wulfe had been Kougar's partners of choice for years, now.
"We'll have to slip into the temple. Jag can downsize." And Wulfe couldn't. When he was shifted, he had only one form--huge gray wolf. Jag, like Kougar and a number of the others, had perfected the ability to take on smaller forms. He and Jag could pass for house cats, or close enough.
Jag joined them in the hallway, and Lyon filled him in.
"How in the hell are we getting there?" Jag demanded.
"Ilina."
The jaguar shifter made a sound of excited disbelief. "No shit. Hey, Chief, tell Olivia where I've gone, will you? She's with Kara."
"I'll tell her. I don't have to tell you two to be careful."
Kougar turned back toward the dining room.
"So how does this work, traveling by Ilina?" Jag asked, catching up with him.
"You'll feel like you're falling. Then you'll puke your guts out."
"Reality check, Kougar-man. Don't apply for a job as an ad man for the travel industry."
Lucky for Kougar, his link to Ariana had long ago tamped down the worst of the effects for him. But he remembered all too well his one trip to the Crystal Realm before they were mated. He'd sworn he was never traveling like that again. Jag wasn't going to enjoy himself, but there was little help for it. Ariana needed him, and he needed Jag.
Brielle and an Ilina whose name Kougar didn't know were waiting for them when they reached the patio.
The mist warriors flew at them before they were fully out the door.
"Hey!" Jag complained, then said nothing more as they were both encased in a warm, mistlike energy glow.
As long as they didn't fight the Ilinas, the energy didn't hurt unless the Ilinas wanted it to. But Kougar had never been particularly fond of the scratchy feel. It always reminded him of lying naked in hay. He closed his eyes against the blinding light, concentrating on the mating bond inside him to anchor himself against the spinning.
Moments later, he came back to himself in a bitterly cold wind that whipped at his face. On the hard, rocky ledge beside him, Jag began to retch. Ahead rose a steep, rocky path. Behind them, the cliff face dropped away, offering a view of rugged snowcapped peaks as far as the eye could see.
"I feel magic," murmured the dark blond Ilina Kougar didn't know.
Brielle clasped her hands agitatedly before her. "Mage magic. Ariana and Melisande would have transported into the thick of it."
The need to reach Ariana pulsed in his head like the pounding of drums. He started up the rocky path until the glittering crystal dome of the Temple of the Queens came into sight above him, blinding in its sunlit brightness.
The impressive structure was surprisingly large--perhaps the size of a three-story office building--and square, with a pair of thick pillars framing the entry. It sat atop a wide plateau, an iridescent ivorylike beauty capped by a crystal dome. The temple was an artist's dream, the pillars decorated with gold leaf, inlaid with sparkling gems of hundreds of varieties forming what appeared to be intricate scrollwork.
His warrior's eye took in the two sentries posted before the entrance, two men dressed in the blue tunics of Mage sentinels.