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With a lol in his throat, he fought for control

He’d co only To save his friends But standing within reach of the woht dead for aanswers

"Why, you soulless bitch?" The question ca bond? Why one? Why one?"

A shadow passed over her face, her h he knew that to be a lie The soulless felt no pain but the physical

She sed visibly, her expression hardening to granite "I severed the bond because I could Once I embraced the dark spirit, I had no need of you, Feral No desire to touch you or be touched by you again And I still don’t The Ariana you knew no longer exists And I have no interest in you"

Even though her words didn’t surprise hi his fury

His hands fisted until the blood began to throb in his pal bond?"

She looked away "A perverse bit offor you here"

As her gaze returned to his, brown contacts blocking any gliled to hold on to his thinning control And felt it slipping through his fingers--fingers about to erupt in claws

Ariana flushed hot, then cold, as she stared at Kougar, at her mate, at the otten how tall he was, how broad his shoulders, how muscular his arms, as he stood before her now in a white-collared shirt and black pants, clothes torn and bloodied as if he’d been fighting She’d forgotten how his presence filled a room, how it filled the entire castle, until she could hardly breathe through the need to be in his ar into hers

He couldn’t know

Never had she struggled so hard to control her emotions, to hide as in her heart and head Never had doing so caused her so ar stared at her with eyes as pale as ice, filled not with tenderness but with pain and a growing fury Not with love but hatred A hatred she must fan

Her sto was cruel beyond ht keep Kougar alive

Soulless, soulless, soulless

The chant pounded in her head as she focused on keeping her expression closed and hard even as e and fear A storrief that had lived within her for an eternity

Inside, her heart tree of an e her lids toto hide the sheen of disastrous tears even as she fought back the eht for control

Goddess, she loved hi him even when she’d hated herself for it, for the destruction that love had wrought So er wasn’t past for the Ilinas

And thanks to Mel, Kougar was in danger again, too Da bond without Ariana’s knowledge Without her consent!

Mel knew Ariana wouldn’t approve, which hy she’d gone behind her back Melisande ar, or any Feral, lived or died But Ariana did Too ain The only thing saving hi bond

And shestep toward her Within the flaying hatred in his eyes she saw flashes of a pain that nearly drove her to her knees

"Why are you here, Kougar? Why now if you’ve knoas alive for over twenty years?"

"You’re going to free two of oddess She couldn’t help hihter over her features "No I’ive a damn about your Ferals" Which was partly true Most of hisas her maidens had been Only Horse and the Wind had ever been friendly to her But whoever the tho were lost, they were Kougar’s men If she could, she would certainly save them For him

But she couldn’t help hier! She had to get hihtiest, coldest look "Go, Kougar, and don’t coer ignited She’d pushed him too far

A chill of fear skipped down her spine as his eyes turned the pale gold of a cougar’s, as fangs dropped fro still, the next he lunged, grabbing her around the throat with a wickedly clawed hand Fiery pain exploded as his claws pierced the sides of her neck, as warainst the wall

Too late, she fought hiut-deep belief he’d never really hurt her causing her to move too slohen it suddenly becarowl in his throat, his furious face mere inches fro flesh

She began to tree that without her unique Ilina weapons, she was virtually helpless against his far superior strength If he chose to rip out her throat, she couldn’t stop him

That alone wouldn’t kill her Ilinas, like all immortals, healed almost any wound within minutes Only if he took her heart would she die But if she died, so too would herto the other Ilinas And with it, the poison she’d protected theainst for a thousand years

As badly as she wanted to protect Kougar, her first responsibility led with the blood in her ruptured windpipe

He flinched, his gaze dropping to her neck, to where the blood ran in rivulets, soaking her top Als retracted, but he didn’t pull away His large hand reainst his palaze locked on hers and held as her wounds healed, as the pain in her throat died a quick death And still he watched her, pale eyes probing, digging too deep She tried to look away and couldn’t, her parched heart drinking in the sight of the ed for, whom she’d missed, and loved, for a thousand years

In so ed His hair was much shorter than he’d worn it in those days, his beard trimmed to encompass only his mouth and chin But he’d always exuded a powerful pull on her physically, nearly overwheled For a thousand years, she’d blas for hi within the heat of his body, enveloped by his raw, masculine scent, snared by the power of his eyes, she reain how impossible he’d been to resist