She also noticed that Jag's hand stroked the side of her friend's neck, long, gentle strokes. Skye pushed between the deer gathered around him and gave the Feral a kiss on the cheek.
He scowled as she knelt to pull the tethers from around the deer's heads, his face screwed up against the driving wind and rain. "Can the gratitude, Glinda. I told you I'd get 'em, and I got 'em. You saved us, I saved your friends. We're even."
"The blade?" Paenther called.
"No sign of it. And that hall is gone, now. It pan-caked about two seconds after I got Bambi and her friends out of there."
One by one, Skye looked into the beautiful creatures' eyes, sharing her joy in their survival, feeling their warming love in return, then sent them far away.
Finally, she kissed Faithful. "Go, dear one. Be safe." Faithful hesitated, then pressed her cheek against Skye one last time and took off.
Skye rose and turned back to Jaguar, tears in her eyes. "You're a better man than you want the world to think, Jag," she said softly.
He scowled at her again. "You're wrong, Sabrina. My heart is as black as they come, and it always has been."
She could see the utter truth of his words in his eyes. Or at least, a truth he fully believed. He was wrong.
But she had a feeling telling him that wouldn't do a bit of good.
The ground rumbled again, violently. Paenther's hand landed on her soaked head. "We have to go. Now! Just how many Mage did you kill in there, Jag?"
"Eight. Maybe nine."
Vhyper laughed. "Serves the fuckers right."
"Yeah, well let's hope we can get out of here before Nature's fury rips this mountain out from under us."
Skye grabbed Paenther's hand and ran as the earth began to cave in behind them. Birik and the caverns were gone. There was no going back.
But she feared the only future she wanted, one with Paenther at her side, was nothing more than a dream.
"How did Foxx die?" Tighe asked grimly as he drove them back to Feral House.
"I killed him." Vhyper's raw confession rang through the closed car.
Paenther looked at him sharply, hating the pain he heard in his friend's voice. They were in Tighe's Land Rover, Delaney riding in front with her mate, Vhyper in back with Skye and him. Foxx's body lay in the cargo area behind them. Hawke was driving Jag and Wulfe back in Paenther's Escalade.
"You didn't kill him, Vhype," Paenther said, willing his friend to believe the words he knew were true. "The Mage killed him when they stole his soul."
The car went silent except for the swish of the windshield wipers and the gusts of wind buffeting the Land Rover. Any rejoicing at Vhyper's and Jag's return was dampened by the hard truth of Foxx's death and Vhyper's earlier announcement that the three wraith Daemons had been set free just that morning. Goddess knew where the Daemons had gone, but Paenther felt certain they'd know soon enough. Just as soon as the first bodies of their victims were found.
His own satisfaction at finally freeing Vhyper was tempered by the pain lancing his body in harsh, regular waves. He didn't know what the sorcerers had done to him when they tried to steal his soul, but he felt strange in a way he never had before. Like there was still something inside him.
Skye lifted her head off his shoulder. "Something's wrong with your animal spirit, Paenther. He's acting like he's sick. I'm worried about him."
He looked down into the copper-and-blue eyes he'd come to love. "Me, too, Beauty. Me, too." Pressing her head against his shoulder again, he held her, needing the feel of her against him.
"If this is too insensitive, tell me and I'll shut up," Delaney said from the front seat. "But what happens now? With Foxx? Or the fox spirit?"
Tighe answered her without hesitation clearly relieved to end the silence. "Within the next few weeks a new Feral will be marked. Sometime in the next year or two, he'll find his way to us. If he doesn't, he'll die, clearing the way for one who will."
Vhyper met Paenther's gaze over Skye's head. "I can't decide if I should thank you for freeing me or kill you for it." His eyes swam with a guilt thick enough to choke. "I'm not sure I can live with the things I've done, B.P."
"You will, Vhype. Because you didn't do them. The darkness that held you captive did. And because I'm not ever giving up on you. Just as you've never given up on me."
He saw Skye's hand reach out and take Vhyper's. To his surprise and relief, his friend didn't pull away but curved his hand around her smaller one and held on as if her touch alone kept him from flying apart into a million pieces. A tiny curl of jealousy slid around Paenther's heart, then dissipated. He was about to take as his mate a woman, an enchantress, to whom all the Ferals would be drawn on some level. And while she'd told him she had no particular affinity for snakes, she had a heart big enough to care for all creatures, two-legged and four-. And those without any legs at all, for that matter.
It was a moment before his mind backpedaled to the words he'd thought without hesitation. He was about to take as his mate...
He stared out the window, stunned, and yet...certain. He was taking her as his mate. If she agreed, if she wanted him, he would willingly bind himself to her for all eternity.
They wouldn't be able to live at Feral House, of course. Not with her being Mage, but it didn't matter. He'd find a safe house nearby and split his time between them. This woman wasn't getting away from him. Ever. He just hoped whatever was going on inside him gave him the time to make good on that promise.
Chapter Twenty-six
Once more, Skye stood on the goddess stone, dressed in nothing but a filmy ritual gown, Kara and Delaney on either side of her as they waited for the Ferals to raise the Feral Circle. The winds weren't as bad this far from the mountains, and the rains had ended, but the sky was still dark despite sunrise being nearly upon them.
Paenther stood with the others, his strong form tense with a pain she prayed she could ease. Inside him, the panther no longer leaped to greet her. He barely lifted his head at all. But she felt his will, felt him demanding help that only she could give.
Tighe had called Lyon as they'd driven in from the mountains and told him Paenther was in bad shape.
When they'd arrived at Feral House, the Shaman had been waiting, ready to clear Birik's spells from her cantric now that the Mage was dead. Kara had helped her change into the ritual gown once he was done. The moment she was ready, Lyon had ushered them all down to the goddess stone.
All but Vhyper. Vhyper alone remained at Feral House, at Lyon's command. He was glad to have the warrior back, but he didn't entirely trust him yet. None of the Ferals did, except Paenther. Sadly, they seemed to trust her not to hijack the ritual more than they trusted one of their own.
Paenther came to her and took her hands. "Are you ready?"
"I need to know something. I've been thinking about how to make this work, and I need to know what Ancreta did to you to cause this rift in the first place. It might be important to repairing it." She touched his face, loving him with her eyes. "Tell me what you remember.""As little as possible." He gazed down at her, his eyes pained, yet filled with love. Once more, the feral mark across his eye was nearly gone. "She opened my mind, then chanted some words I can't begin to remember."
"I don't need the words. My power's enough. But I think we need to open your mind as I pull the power."
He released one hand to stroke her jaw, his eyes gentle on her face. "Do you want to do this somewhere more private?"
She gave him a rueful smile. "I got over any shyness about my body a long, long time ago. No, I think we need to do it here. We're going to need to raise the power of the panther again. He's the one who has to do most of the work, and he's weak, Paenther. He has to breach the gap Ancreta formed between you, and he's going to need all the strength you can give him to do it."
She pressed her palms to his bare chest. He was wearing his leather pants again, but all the Ferals had doffed their shirts to prepare for the ritual. Through the link of flesh, she stroked the animal spirit inside him, telling him with her heart that she would do what he wanted and try to get him the power he needed to find his way back to Paenther.
"Does he know what we're doing?"
The panther brushed her mind, a growl of gratitude and approval. She nodded. "He knows. He's ready."
"It amazes me you understand him."
"If this works, you will too, soon enough."
"Then let's do it." He led her down to the circle, told his friends what they were going to do, then swept her into his arms, kissing her with a hot, deep-throated kiss. When he pulled back, he growled to his men, "Close your eyes. This is about to get private."
Grunts and groans rose around them, but Skye closed her eyes, shutting them out. The only thing that mattered was healing Paenther. The only one who mattered was the one she loved.
"Look at me, Skye."
She did, gazing into Paenther's strong, beloved face, and tumbling into the dark depths of his eyes.
Holding her gaze, he reached for her breast, kneading, teasing, then grabbed the back of her head and tilted her face to meet his hard, passion-ate kiss. She knew his intent was to drive her up, hard and fast, and he knew just how to do it. The hand on her head slid down her back and grabbed her rear. Then he yanked on her gown until he was able to reach beneath. His warm hand slid between her thighs. His fingers stroked that sensitive flesh, nearly melting her, before they dove deep inside.
His scent, his taste, the feel of his muscled shoulders beneath her hands combined with the blissful feel of his fingers inside her, had her quickly weeping with need.
He pulled away, unfastened his pants to free his erection, then grabbed her hips.
"Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on, Beauty."
Paenther lifted Skye's dress to her waist, then gripped the backs of her thighs, spreading her wide for him as he lifted her. He probed between her legs with his shaft, seeking her entrance. Finding it, he pulled her hips toward him and thrust inside her tight, wet sheath on a stab of ecstasy.
Skye threw her head back with a moan of pure pleasure.
"Oh, Paenther."
His name on her lips destroyed his control. He pulled nearly all the way out of her before pressing home a second time and a third, over and over, each thrust more desperate than the last.
So intense was the pleasure he nearly forgot the reason for it. "Say the words, Beauty. I'll help you say the right ones." Together they called her power.
His voice broke off, midchant. "I'm getting close. Goddess, you send me up faster than..." He kissed her hard and pulled back on a groan. "The power of the beasts!" he called. "Now!"
Skye gripped his head from behind, and he knew she fought to reverse the damage Ancreta had done to him all those years ago.
The men circled tight around them even as Paenther continued to thrust inside her.
The scent of fresh blood mixed with the heady scent of sex teased his nostrils. He didn't have to look to know they were cutting themselves.
"Lean back, Skye," Lyon's voice said. "I need to cut his chest."
She curved her back, giving Lyon minimal room to get a knife between them. Paenther shifted her, holding her rear with one arm as he slid his hand against his bloody chest, then shoved his fist in the air.
"Empower the spirit of the panther!"
Like before, thunder rumbled. Power roared up through the Earth. The rush of pleasure and pain sent them both over the edge in the next thrust of his body inside her, sending them tumbling in a single spiral of ecstasy. As the orgasm tore through his body, he felt the power erupt within him ten times stronger than before. Paenther shouted, half pleasure, half pain. Skye screamed.
Around them, the other Ferals shouted, but he heard no pain in the sound. Pleasure, yes. And triumph.
"Holy shit!"
"Did you feel that?"
The Ferals' excited voices bombarded his ears.
Skye continued to whisper the words Ezekiel had taught her, alone this time. Now that her cantric had been disabled, she no longer needed his help. As she murmured the words, the pressure mounted in his head until he thought it would explode.
"Paenther, reach for him!" Skye cried. "He's trying to get to you. Reach for him!"
Paenther closed his eyes, desperate to help, yet uncertain where to reach, where to turn. And suddenly he felt it, the second presence struggling toward him through a thick, bright barrier. With his Feral's strength and determination, he pushed against that invisible wall with every ounce of mental power he possessed.
It shattered. In a burst of light that rained down over him like broken glass, the barrier burst. And standing within a rainbow mist was a sleek and beautiful black panther. A creature, a spirit, he'd never seen, yet knew in the deepest reaches of his being.
The panther roared, a jubilant sound of triumph and rapture. Then he leaped, and suddenly they were one, their minds brushing, intertwining, snapping together like two pieces of a puzzle. And as one, they swung their gazes to Skye, who was still in his arms, still cradling him deep within her body. The woman they both loved.
For one sharp moment Paenther felt a pinch of jealousy that the beast inside him loved her as thoroughly as he did. Then he laughed at himself. Laughed out loud. And felt the beast's pleasure caress his mind.
Within him, a sudden pressure built, a desperate need to shift. He pulled out of Skye and set her down. With a swift kiss, he stepped back.
For the first time, he didn't have to pull on the power. All he had to do was think of himself as an animal, and in a sparkling flash of light, he became one. The shift was amazingly, incredibly, without pain. Instead, he felt a rush of such pleasure he could barely credit it. The pleasure raced through his body, extinguishing the pain, flushing the rage he'd lived with for three hundred years.