Page 14 (1/2)

Through his animal’s keen vision, Fox stared at Phylicia’s devastated for all but burned away, her skin patches of blackened leather Goddess

The fire was all but gone, now centered in only one place--the hole in her chest where her heart should be As Fox watched, the unconscious Ilina’s flesh turned suddenly, ghostly gray

Melisande cried out, then fell back, closing her eyes "She’s dead"

Fox stared, stunned, azes Olivia was on her knees, clearly in physical agony As Fox shifted back to a man, he understood why The pain he’d felt in ani energy as if the warding were trying to fry him alive even without flah that energy, almost as if one of Melisande’s pain boht be what had happened

Kneeling beside her, he touched her shoulder "Mel, we’re all in pain, Jag and Oliviafro a stor, crying Grief, pain, terror He heard every one of theered my pain blast" Her eyes turned bleak "I can’t turn it off, I can’t ot to get away fro beside Olivia "The warding’s killing us" They orse off than he was, perhaps because Melisande’s energy wasn’t designed to hurt him

"It’s not the warding, it’s Melisande The warding triggered her energy, and she can’t shut it off"

"We can’t"

"Go," Fox told him "Get Olivia out of here Let the other tea and warn the?" There was disbelief in Jag’s tone, resignation in his eyes

"Melisande can’t e"

"Will have felt it, I know They’ll be sware Or once her energy turns off"

Jag looked at hiueit wasn’t in a Feral’s nature to leave a brother behind, Fox had learned that much in the short time he’d been one of thear before Arianalooped his arether they stumbled back the way they’d co, her face white as snow "I’ to carry you, Mel"

"No"

But he saw no alternative and scooped her into his ar to hurt you We’ve got to get out of here before the Mage find us"

At first, she was stiff in his aran to soften, curling her arainst his jaw A feeling of rightness poured through hie weren’t going to touch her He’d kill them first Every bloody one

Kara stood in the center of the circle of Feral Warriors in bare feet, jeans shorts, and a T-shirt, shivering even though the day arm, the sun hot on her ar These weren’t her Ferals Yes, she’d brought theoddess rock near Feral House in Great Falls several days ago But they weren’t in Great Falls any longer Instead, they stood on a rocky ledge overlooking a mountain hillside deep in a forestsomewhere She had no idea where Behind her loohold of the Mage Elemental, Inir

The four Ferals--Polaris, Croc, Witt, and Lynks--circled her now, their chests bare, their eyes cold as a winter sky Their golden arlea a new Feral into his ani his own Renascence There had been such joy during that cere lost returned to mark Feral Warriors once more They hadn’t yet realized the new ones ic

This cere led by her beloved Ferals at all but by the evil ones, with the express purpose of adding another warrior to their vile army And they expected her to participate The new Feral wouldn’t coht of helping theer the evil Feral army became, the better the chance they would destroy the men she loved But the males were three ti

And so she shook

If only the good ht the darkness as a couple of the other new Ferals had Grizz had allowed hile against the darkness in the eyes of any of these four She feared that Inir’s control over theaze slid beyond the circle of evil Ferals to Inir, and her gut cramped He stood in a ceremonial robe of blood red, his arms crossed, his face a cold ettable but for the eyes, which gleamed pure copper His hair, cropped close to his head, appeared to be almost the same shade as his eyes

Beside Inir stood anotherinto his animal A tall, lanky male with fear in his eyes

Polaris took his knife to hi a bloody line across his chest, then slapped his hand to it, fisting the blood as he handed the knife to Lynks

It was Lynks’s fault she was here, the traitor He’d been cleared of the darkness, yet somehow Inir had kept his hooks in the man He’d knocked her out as they’d descended the stairs to the baseed, in the back of a otten her aithout Lyon’s knowing, she couldn’t guess The thought of what her beloved h tore her heart to shreds

UnlessNo he wasn’t dead She still felt their ht inside her, and she wouldn’t if he were dead Would she?

Tears burned her eyes, and she struggled against theently as Lyon’s thu her with his love, giving her strength No, he wasn’t dead Crazed, perhaps Frantic with his inability to find her and al hier shifter, Witt, cut his chest, the last of the four to do so, and handed the knife back to Polaris

Polaris turned to her "Call the radiance," he coood man Ewan, he’d been called before he was marked by the infected polar bear spirit He’d been a friend of Olivia’s, one of her soldiers, for decades But he was captive of the darkness A good er And she would not do as he deo radiant near Feral House, where the earth’s energies are the strongest" It was a lie, and they all knew it She’d already gone radiant once here, attacking one of her captors

Unable to hold his gaze, she looked up at the sky, wishing with all her heart she’d see a hawk or falcon, that they ht be shifters ould lead Lyon and the others to her Why couldn’t they find her? It had been two days since she’d been taken Two days But looking to the skies, all she saere crows