“A valid question.” Lyon paced. “The Georgetown enclave is working on digging up information on the men who were marked. They’ve already sent me what they’ve found on Lynks and Grizz. Lynks has been a member of his French enclave for twenty-two years, mostly in the capacity of cook. He’s well enough liked and puts a lot of time into the local human community, working with children. Grizz is a little more problematic. He’s portrayed as a loner with a reputation for causing trouble, which comes as no real surprise.”
“Hey.” Jag shrugged. “Someone has to cause the trouble. This place is going to get dull with me all happy and shit.”
Fox snorted. “You just got chomped in half by a gator fighting beside a saber-toothed cat. If this is dull, I’d hate to see exciting.”
Lyon cleared his voice. “Unfortunately, the kind of trouble Grizz causes isn’t the verbal kind. He leads with his fists.”
“Who are his targets? Humans or immortals?” Tighe asked.
“Both.” That kind of force from an immortal tended to be deadly against humans.
“He may have a good reason,” Kara said.
Lyon nodded. “I agree. But he’s not just a man anymore. In addition to being a Feral, he’s a dangerous grizzly when he chooses to be. That could work to our advantage or to our detriment. Even clear of the infection, I don’t know if he can be trusted to protect our backs. I don’t know if he can be trusted with our women.” He rubbed his hand across his mouth, his tone and body language as undecided as Hawke had ever seen them. “I’m putting this up for a vote. We either cure him, welcome him into our ranks, and trust him until proved wrong. Or we kill him. Tonight. And let the grizzly spirit mark another.”
Silence fell over the room. To Hawke’s knowledge, such a vote had never been taken, certainly not in recent centuries. But never before had they had reason to doubt that the right Therian had been marked to be a Feral.
His gut soured at the realization it could be Faith’s life voted on next.
Wulfe was the first to speak. “I think we should give him a chance. He could have killed half of us out there when the new Ferals turned on us, and he didn’t. He fought it, Roar. He let us cut off all four of his legs.
Let. Us.
Despite his anger-management issues, there’s honor in him. And strength of every kind.”
“I agree,” Fox said. “I spent the night in your prison listening to Lynks scream with pain as he regrew his legs. Grizz never made a sound but for a constant low growl until, through that mind speak, he asked me who’d died, who was injured. He didn’t seem to care when I told him Eigle was gone. But when I told him Jag and Paenther might not make it, he howled with a fury that I thought would bring the ceiling crashing down on us.”
“I don’t have anything against giving a guy a chance,” Tighe said quietly, “But neither of you have wives. Or a child on the way.”
“Tighe’s right. Those of us without mates . . .” Wulfe’s gaze turned and met Hawke’s. “Or women here we care about . . . shouldn’t vote. I won’t be responsible if something happens. It has to be on your heads, not ours.”
Hawke reached for Faith’s hand, twining her fingers with his. She looked up at him, her pensive expression softening, a small smile lifting her lips, lifting his heart.
“Six votes, then,” Lyon murmured.
“Five,” Kougar said. “Ariana’s at no risk.” She’d be able to mist away from any danger. “But I suggest a closed ballot. If you agree, I’ll collect the votes.”
Hawke nodded, as did the mated males. He felt odd voting as one of them, and yet in this he was. Absolutely. If Grizz turned on any woman in this house, in either form, he could easily kill her. Any Feral could, himself included, which was why he’d tried to keep away from them until Faith’s presence had miraculously helped him keep control instead of losing it. But he had another concern. That Faith’s fate not come to a similar vote. And there was no way to guess which would help her more. If he voted to give Grizz a chance and the grizzly killed one of them, the others would probably vote all the new Ferals marked by
the seventeen
destroyed. But if Grizz turned out to be a good Feral, Faith’s chances of being given a similar chance increased.
In the end, all he could do was vote his gut. And his gut said they needed Grizz.
Kougar shifted into his cat and leaped onto the table, pacing back and forth.
Hawke?
As long as one of them was in animal form, they could speak telepathically, to all or one.
Give him a chance or clear the way for another?
Hawke didn’t hesitate.
Give him a chance.
Less than a minute later, Kougar leaped to the floor and shifted back into a man. “Grizz stays.”
Lyon nodded, his expression revealing neither relief nor regret, making it impossible to guess which way he’d voted. And Kougar would never tell.
Hopefully, they’d made the right decision in sparing Grizz’s life. He wouldn’t get a second chance if he blew this one. But by then, one of them would be dead, or badly injured. And Faith’s death warrant all but signed.
A
short while later, the group gathered in the large foyer of Feral House. It had been decided that most of the mated males and their mates would remain behind to guard Feral House. One of the Ilinas would stay with them, ready to call in the mist cavalry if the new Ferals attacked again. Kougar would lead the rest of the Ferals and Faith to the Cave of the Mystics. And once the ritual was in place, and the Ferals had recovered from the intense motion sickness Ilina travel apparently triggered, the Ilinas would fetch Grizz and Lynks and bring them to the cave as well. Then, hopefully, all three new Ferals, Faith included, would be cured of the darkness once and for all.
Hawke, too, if he was lucky. And Tighe, if he needed it. Though the Shaman sensed no darkness within either man, Hawke still wondered if the hawk spirit had been infected. What the ritual would do to him in his present state was anyone’s guess, but no one had come up with a better option.
Hawke glanced at Faith, standing beside him. “Are you ready for this?”
She gave him a bright little smile that sparkled inside him, a smile with a teasing sharpness. “Are you asking about the Ilina travel or the exorcism?”
He grinned. “Just another fun evening in Feral House.”
The Ilina team arrived on a pine-scented breeze, eight petite women appearing first as mist before quickly turning corporeal. All but Ariana, their queen, were dressed in tunics and tights, knives hanging from the belts at their waists—the uniforms of the Ilina mist warriors. Ariana wore jeans, boots, and an olive green tank top that made her look more like an attractive bounty hunter than an immortal queen.
“Melisande.” Fox smiled at the blonde standing to Ariana’s left. That Feral was on the hunt for a blade between his ribs.
Melisande scowled but ignored him, color blooming lightly in her cheeks.
Lyon stepped back, motioning to Ariana to indicate those of his group that needed transport. Hawke pulled Faith close and kissed her gently. “I’ll see you on the other side.” As they pulled apart, two Ilinas turned to mist and stepped into them. Hawke’s world flipped, tumbling him through space in a film of energy that made him feel like he was crawling out of his flesh. His head and stomach went into a violent spin.
The sensation ended as quickly as it had begun, and he fell to his knees, vomiting, unable to do anything else. Around him, he heard others doing the same. Goddess, that was a ride he’d happily never repeat. As the spinning ended, and his stomach slowly settled, he rose to his feet, helping Faith to hers, then looked around at the small cave, little bigger than the dining room at Feral House. It had already been lit by the light of a dozen small fires in large clay pots. The shadows flickered and danced on the walls—solid walls on every side. There was no way out, no escape, except the way they’d come in. By Ilina.
“Gather around the circle, everyone.” Ariana turned to her maidens. “Retrieve the two Ferals from the prisons.” When the Ilinas had disappeared, she directed her attention back to the Ferals. “Grizz and Lynks will be unbound. The moment they appear, we’ll begin the ritual. At first they’ll be suffering and likely immobilized from the travel. After that, they’ll try to escape what’s happening to them. Or, more accurately, the darkness in them will fight not to be exorcised. They must remain within the fire circle. It’s up to you to see that that happens. The ritual itself will not harm you.” She glanced at Hawke. “It may even help you.”
Kougar met Hawke’s gaze. “Accompany Faith into the circle when it’s time.”
As Hawke nodded, something cold crawled over his skin. No, not over. Under. Inside.
“What the fuck?” Vhyper muttered.
Hawke met his gaze. “It’s not just me?” His hawk, already furious with him, set up a chorus of cries loud enough to be four birds, not one.
“Hell, no.”
“My animal is going ballistic,” Wulfe growled.
Fox rubbed at his arms. “Mine, too.”
“Hold it together,” Kougar ordered.
“It won’t hurt you,” the Shaman assured them. “It’s the ancient magic.” Easy for the Shaman to say. He might have been a shifter once, but he’d long ago lost that ability.
Hawke gripped his head against the agony of talons lancing his brain with every beat of his heart. He smelled Faith’s sweetness a moment before he felt her arms go around him, felt her press against his side. She didn’t ask what was the matter, didn’t make any demands at all, just tried to absorb some of his misery. Love for her welled up inside him. His arms went around her, and he held her close, eased by the simple, precious feel of her in his arms.
Through the screeching in his head, he heard the intonations of ritual, the Shaman’s and Ariana’s voices rising together as if in ancient song. Moments later, the two new Ferals appeared, each in the mistlike clutches of four Ilina maidens. Four to transport a single unwilling Feral. The women released their charges and zipped away to hover, mistlike, behind the outer circle.
As Grizz and Lynks fell to their knees, retching, Ariana motioned Hawke forward. Biting down on the dreadful pain, Hawke walked hand in hand with Faith into the fire ring. As they stepped between two of the flaming pots, Faith screamed, her hand jerking upward, her arm bending . . .
breaking.
He released her, horrified, then grabbed her again, sweeping her into his arms as her legs bent at odd angles beneath her, her back contorting.
“
What’s happening?
” he roared.
“She must remain within the fire circle, warrior,” the Shaman said. “It’s the only way.”
“Hawke, lay her down.” Ariana’s tone was soft with sympathy. “She’ll feel less pain if she’s on the ground without the weight of gravity tugging at already-broken bones.”
Another cracked with a sickening snap.
Goddess.
He did as directed, setting Faith carefully on the dirt floor of the cave, though it was all he could do to release her when she was in so much pain. As his hands slid away from her, she met his gaze, her own shiny with tears and dark with misery.
“Smiley.”
“I can do this, Hawke. Let me do this.”
Without warning, Grizz reared up out of his crouch with a roar, shifting into his grizzly in a spray of colored lights. Hawke whirled, placing himself firmly between Faith and the dangerous, furious bear. But Grizz lunged at the Shaman instead, his mouth opening as if he meant to tear the much smaller man’s head off. Wulfe leaped at him, shifting into his wolf in midair, slamming into the huge animal, his lips pulled back in a snarl. Though Wulfe’s attack barely changed the bear’s trajectory, it was enough. Fox shifted more slowly, his reflexes still coming on board, growing until he was larger even than Wulfe, then he was on the bear, too, snarling, biting.
His skin still crawling with cold, Hawke pulled his knives, ready to defend Faith if any of them drew close. Behind him he heard another terrible snap of bone and she screamed. His hawk joined her, filling his head with its cries. At the edges of his vision, the red haze began to creep.
Hold it together, hold it together.
He’d be no use to her if he lost it, now. No use to anyone.
Lynks, still in man form, made a run for the circle, trying to escape, but Vhyper and Kougar were ready for him and easily tackled him to the ground. A few yards away, the two large canines and the bear fought as if to the death, fur and blood flying.
Faith screamed again and again as her body twisted and contorted until Hawke was about to yell from the pain her suffering was causing him. Vhyper and Kougar dragged Lynks back into the circle as the Shaman and Ariana continued to chant, as the Ilinas floated, wraithlike, watching it all.
“It is done,” Ariana said at last, her voice barely audible over the roars and screams. The chanting ceased.
The chaos ended as quickly as it had begun. Across the fire ring, the grizzly collapsed, the wolf and giant fox leaping back. Lynks, too, seemed to have lost his fight.
Hawke whirled to find Faith lying bent, her body twisted at horrible angles. Unconscious or . . .
His heart roared as he fell to his knees beside her, reaching for her neck, searching for her pulse. There! Strong and steady against his finger.
Thank the goddess.
Her body jerked suddenly, then began to unbend as if whatever dark power had gripped her had finally let go. As he watched, she untwisted until she lay in her normal shape, the bones snapping back into place, healing almost as quickly as they’d fractured.
Kougar finally broke the silence that had descended over the cave. “Get us home, Ariana.”
Never ones to hesitate, the Ilinas swept forward, and Hawke once more found himself in that spinning nothingness. The next thing he knew, he was puking his guts out in the yard behind Feral House, the awful coldness finally gone.
The moment he could raise his head, he searched for Faith, finding her a short distance away, still unconscious. He pushed himself to his feet and went to her as the other Ferals slowly rose to surround Lynks and Grizz, who were lying on the grass as still as Faith. Hawke knelt beside her, grasping her cold hand, eyeing the others, ready to lend his sword if needed.