Yes. She was really going in there.
Sticking her hand back between the bars, she unlocked the door and let herself out, then crossed the stone floor to enter Tighe’s cage. She shivered at the sight of Lyon and Kougar watching her with animal eyes, fangs dripping from their mouths. Beneath them, Tighe thrashed and snarled, desperate to be free to annihilate them all.
And she was walking into his cage instead of running for her life as any sane person would do. Then again, running had never been her style.
Circling the edges of the cage, Delaney finally knelt near Tighe’s head. He saw her. Oh yeah, he saw her. He snarled, his mouth dripping with saliva as he tried to snap at her with deadly teeth.
A wild, vicious animal Lyon had called him. And he was. On the outside. But the man she’d fallen in love with was in there somewhere. Oh, Tighe. How much harder must this be for you?
Shaking like a rookie on her first takedown, she reached for him, laying her hand on the bare flesh of one of the arms Kougar had pinned high up Tighe’s back. His skin was warm and damp with exertion, but she knew that arm. How many times had it held her with gentle strength?
The thought grounded her.
“Tighe, I know you’re in there. Come back to me. I need you to come back to me.”
But her words didn’t calm him, just as her touch was having no effect. If anything, he thrashed and struggled all the harder to free himself. As if dinner were within his reach and two fools were keeping him from it.
Despair pressed on her heart. Was she being totally foolish to think she could help him? She was human. Powerless. Tighe’s thrashing body began to glisten through the tears filling her eyes.
“Do something, Delaney,” Lyon growled. “We can’t hold him forever.”
With a bracing breath, she lowered herself to the floor until she lay beside Tighe, face-to-face. Until she was staring into those wild, golden orange tiger eyes with the jagged black lines.
“What’s the matter with his eyes? The clone’s had the same weird lines.”
“The soul they share is disintegrating.”
Disintegrating. Oh, Tighe. Fool or not, she wasn’t giving up until she got him out of there.
“Tighe.” As Lyon’s big hand pinned Tighe’s head, struggling to keep him from turning and biting off her fingers, Delaney gingerly reached for him, touching his stubbled jaw just below his upper fangs.
He growled low in his throat.
“Tighe, I know you’re in there. Do you remember when I was trapped in the darkness? You came for me. You reached down deep in my mind and came for me. I don’t know how you did that. I’m terrified it takes some kind of Feral gift that I don’t possess.”
Her voice caught as a tear escaped her eye to run over the bridge of her nose.
“I’m hoping you can follow my voice, Tighe. Follow my voice.”
She stroked the rough stubble of his jaw, running her fingers gently over his warm skin, as she stared into those black and orange-gold tiger eyes that tracked her without recognition. Without humanity.
“You’re not like him. Even feral like this, your skin’s warm. Alive. Come back to me, Tighe.” She couldn’t stop the tears. “I need you to come back to me.”
Keeping her gaze pinned on his, she thought of Tighe in there and tried to mimic the way he used to touch her mind when he was trying to get control over her. She’d been able to feel him like a warm presence in her head. If only she knew how to do that.
She kept talking, praying her voice might find its way down into whatever dark cellar he’d fallen into. “Tighe, I’m remembering how you brushed my mind when you were trying to steal my memories of you. How the touch of your mind against mine was warm and soft. And so much more. I’m remembering that touch of your mind, and I’m reaching for yours. In my mind, I’m reaching for you.”
This was useless. Embarrassing. How could she ever think she could help him? A human.
With a suddenness that had her gasping, the face of a tiger leaped into her head as it had the other time, so clear, it almost felt real. A wild, beautiful sight. Like before she startled.
The tiger began to fade.
“No! No, come back to me, tiger.” Her fingers dug into Tighe’s jaw as she thought of the tiger this time, willing him to return.
He did. His ruffed, striped face rose in her mind until she could neither think of, nor see, anything else. And as it did, a warmth wrapped around her as strong and wonderful as Tighe’s arms.
Her tears fell in earnest.
“Find him for me. I can’t reach him, but you can. Find him. Please find him.”
“She’s connected with his animal.” Kougar’s voice fell on her ears as if from a distance.
“I’ll be damned,” Lyon replied.
D?
Tighe’s voice sounded in her head, clear, but faint.
“I’m here, Tighe.” She said the words out loud. “Can you hear me?”
Yes.
“Follow my voice.”
Slowly, the hungry predatory eyes began to take on a glow of humanity. Even more slowly, his fangs began to recede, and the pupils of his eyes shrank until white showed around them again, and the color beneath the black shards turned to green.
“You’re okay?” The words fell from his throat roughly, more growl than speech as his fangs disappeared altogether.
She lunged forward and pressed her cheek against his, drenching him with her tears. The next thing she knew, she was in his arms, crying with relief, battered by all that had happened since she last felt his arms around her. And scared by Lyon’s words. That Tighe’s soul was disintegrating.
Lyon cleared his throat behind her.
Tighe ran his hand down her hair. “Let’s get up.” She pushed off him and stood, brushing away the tears on her cheeks as he rose beside her. He reached for something in the corner and when he straightened those blasted sunglasses of his were back on his face, having miraculously survived the fight.
He reached for her, pulling her tight against his side as he faced the others.
“Welcome back.” Lyon eyed him with a relief that glowed hotly in his amber eyes.
“What’s the situation?” Tighe asked, as if he’d just woken from a quick nap. “Any news from Paenther?”
“Not today. I got a brief call from Foxx yesterday. They haven’t found anything, yet.”
“What about my clone?”
Lyon’s mouth tensed. “In the two days you’ve been out, we’ve tried every Daemon-trapping spell Kougar can come up with, but so far, no luck. Either the clone’s not Daemon enough, or the rituals aren’t right.”
Tighe’s arm tightened around her. “So I’m out of luck?”
“We’re not giving up.” But Lyon’s tone held little hope.
Delaney pressed her cheek against Tighe’s chest as fear twisted in her heart.
“How long do I have?” Tighe asked.
Lyon just shook his head.
Tighe stiffened. “Tell me, Roar.”
The man, who was clearly Tighe’s friend, cleared his throat, a suspicious glimmer entering his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was low and pained.
“Your soul…is almost gone. The Shaman thinks you may see another sunrise. But you won’t see another sunset unless we get a miracle. I’m sorry, Tighe.”
Delaney stiffened. “There has to be something you can do. You’re immortal. Supermen.”
Lyon shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry.”
Tighe was silent. His body still. “What about D?” He asked finally. “Is she okay?”
“As far as we can tell. The Shaman’s knowledge is of Mage magic, not Daemon. But she seems to be okay.” Lyon’s gaze swung to Delaney. To her surprise, he came to her, put his hands on her shoulders, and kissed her temple. He pulled back and met her gaze with eyes breaking with pain. “Thank you for giving him back to us.”
His unspoken, for now hung in the air.
Delaney nodded, fighting back tears of her own. She wanted to rail at him for giving up, but she could see the pain in his eyes and knew he’d be doing something if he could.
“Is there anything I can do?” Tighe asked his chief.
Lyon shook his head slowly. “Kougar and Hawke are searching for any ancient spell they might have missed. The others are chasing fires in hopes of catching the clone that way. I’m afraid one more person isn’t going to be of a lot of use.”
Lyon put his hand on Tighe’s shoulder. “If you want my advice, get something to eat and spend some time with your mate. Not necessarily in that order.” His gaze swung to her, respect sharp in his eyes. “Human or not, she’s a hell of a woman.” He turned and started back down the tunnel.
Kougar came over to them and clasped Tighe’s shoulder. “Never give up.” His enigmatic gaze swung slowly to her. “Worthy,” he murmured, with a single nod of the head, then turned and followed Lyon.
Tighe’s hand squeezed her arm. “Was I hallucinating, or did Kougar just call you worthy?”
“You tell me.”
She felt the stiffness enter his muscles a second before he released her, gripped her shoulders, and turned her to face him. His eyes took on a light she wasn’t sure she liked. “What did you do?”
Delaney stared at him, her brows drawing together. “You know what I did. I led you out of the dark, just as you did me.”
His hands tightened on her shoulders until his grip was almost painful. “I could have killed you.”
She stared at him, her temper flaring. “Well, you’re welcome.”
“I mean it,” he growled. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”
She kicked him in the shin with her bare toes. “Twice you risked everything to find me. Twice. Don’t you dare get on my ass about helping you.”
“I’m immortal. You’re human!”
“As everyone keeps reminding me! I’m made of flesh and blood, not soap bubbles. I might not heal as fast as you do, but I do heal. Don’t try to lock me away to protect me, Tighe. I won’t have it.”
She stilled, her words hanging in the air. She’d yelled at him about what not to do the next time, but it didn’t look like there was going to be a next time.
“Oh, Tighe.” Her eyes filled with tears.
With a growl, Tighe hauled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair with a shudder that shook the entirety of his big body. For long, long minutes he held her like that, shudders rocking him at regular intervals, while she clamped her arms around him and held him tight.
“I’m not mad at you, D. It’s not you, though goddess, when I think of what I could have done to you like that…”
“I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to reach you.” Her voice broke. “I don’t want to lose you.”
The tears got away from her, and Tighe held her as she cried, stroking her back and running his hand over her hair.
“Don’t cry, D. Kougar and Hawke will come up with something. We’ll beat that bloodless sucker, yet.”
But there was no real belief in his tone. Nothing but bleak despair.
When she got control, he pulled back until he could see her face, then cupped her cheek in his warm palm. “Are you really okay? I had a vision, D. I saw him stripping you, tying you down. Touching you.”
His words brought back that nightmare. Delaney shivered, the chills rippling over her skin.
Tighe pulled her against him, cradling her head. “I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. You were right there, and I couldn’t help you. I couldn’t reach you.”
“I’m okay. I knew you’d come for me.”
“Always.”
But always spoke of a future they didn’t have.
How could this be it? How could this man, whom she’d just found, whom she loved, be dying? The weight of her grief was almost more than she could bear.
Chapter Twenty-six
Tighe held Delaney in his arms, deep in the bowels of Feral House, his heart filling with a pressure he wasn’t sure he’d survive even if they did manage to kill his clone in time.
Was this love? He’d thought he’d been in love once before, but now he wondered.
Was this what real love felt like? This feeling that he couldn’t breathe? The certainty that before he’d found her he’d never breathed? Never lived? And now he might only have hours.
Hours.
The knowledge echoed through his mind like the death knell it was. For the first time in his long, long life he faced true death. There had been threats to his life before, certainly. Mage battles. Draden attacks that for short periods of time had gone south. But he’d always known he’d prevail. And he always had.
He was immortal.
Face-to-face, he’d be able to defeat the clone, he was sure of it. But his enemy fought from the shadows and behind the faces of the people he loved.
This time he might well lose.
The worst part was, for the first time since he was marked all those centuries ago, he had a strong reason to live. To watch over Delaney as she lived her life. To do whatever he could to make her short years safer, richer, even if she insisted on returning to her own world with no memory of him. He’d visit her in his cat form, then once she was asleep, he’d cloud her mind and hold her. She wouldn’t be lonely. He’d make certain she was never lonely.
Slowly he pulled back, framing her face as he clung to her gaze, reassuring himself she was really in his arms, shaken anew by how scared he’d been that he’d never hold her like this again. Emotion caught in the back of his throat, burning a line all the way to his eyes.