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"How about I yank out your liver? Maybe that will teach you some respect. " Inside, he felt the control that had been holding back the red haze begin to slip away.
"Go, Wings. " Wulfe's quiet cheer penetrated the bloodlust, reminding him he had an audience. An audience that included Faith. Hell. But when he looked up, he couldn't see her.
"Hawke. "
At Lyon's prompt, he realized that Maxim's claws had finally retracted. He was losing it, and if he didn't move fast, he was going to do precisely what he'd threatened - yank out the bastard's liver, then rip his heart out so that he never touched Faith again. Killing the man she cared about.
He couldn't do that to her. He pushed off Maxim, backing away, but there was no retracting his fangs and claws. The red haze had begun to rush in, and he was losing control. As Maxim rose, Wulfe crossed to Hawke, gripping his shoulders, tethering him. After the sensory deprivation of the spirit trap, touch was often the one thing that calmed him.
"Ease down, Wings," Wulfe said. "Easy. Deep breaths. "
"You were doing so well," Tighe muttered, suddenly beside him, too. Hawke hadn't seen him come up.
Beyond them, he watched as Lyon grabbed Maxim by the neck, slamming him against the wall. "I don't know who you were in your former life, and I don't care. Here you are one of my men. Nothing more. You will do as I order, when I order, or I will personally clear the way for your replacement. Is that understood?"
"Go, Roar," Wulfe said quietly.
For long seconds, Maxim just glared at his chief.
Lyon's grip tightened, his claws erupting and sinking deep until blood ran in streams down the bastard's neck, soaking his chest and the remnants of his shirt. "Is that understood?"
"Yes," Maxim spit, his tone and body language proclaiming otherwise.
Lyon growled low in his throat, a sound of warning Maxim would do well to heed. "It better be. " Lyon released him and stepped back. "To the basement for training. "
Maxim brushed past him. "My mate . . . "
Lyon grabbed him and slammed him once more against the wall. "Now. Paenther, Wulfe, Vhyper, you will accompany him. We'll bring him into his animal before sunrise. I don't want him out of the basement until it's time to walk out the door. "
Maxim snarled. Paenther and Vhyper grabbed his arms and propelled him toward the basement door.
Maxim's humiliation helped calm the red haze. Slowly, Hawke pulled himself back from the brink. Wulfe gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze, then left to join the others.
Lyon came over to Hawke. "You fought and didn't shift. You're getting better. "
"I was. For a while. "
"I'll send Kara to you tonight for more radiance. I don't want that forgotten in all the commotion. " Their chief shook his head. "I don't know what I'm going to do with Maxim. I haven't gotten through to him. Not at all. "
Tighe joined them. "Do we really want to bring him into his animal?"
Lyon sighed. "I've got to believe he'll get better. Half of you started out nearly as bad. "
Hawke growled low in his throat. "If he hurts Faith again, I'll solve your problem for you. "
"I can't imagine what she sees in him," Tighe said.
"She barely knows him. " Hawke dragged a hand through his hair. "They only met yesterday. She says there was an instant connection. She knew he was the one. "
"It happens," Lyon said.
"It does. " Tighe shrugged. "I saw Delaney for the first time through the eyes of that clone. I thought she was already dead, and I mourned. I hadn't even met the woman, but on some level I knew she was meant to be mine. "
The bird gave a cry of frustration deep in Hawke's mind, a frustration the man shared because for the first time in his life, he knew what they were talking about. He got it. Trouble was, the woman wasn't his.
Lyon gripped his shoulder, his gaze at once hard and sympathetic. "For your sake . . . for all our sakes . . . you need to give Maxim a wide berth for a while. And Faith. Especially Faith. "
The hawk cried out in anger. Hawke bit down hard on the need to knock Lyon's hand away and tell him to go to hell. Because Lyon was right, dammit. He was right. Maxim wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Faith. They were about to become a constant and permanent part of his life. And one another's.
Faith was never going to be his.
And he had no choice but to live with it.
As Faith and Kara reached the foyer, they met Delaney and Olivia coming down the stairs.
"What's happening?" Olivia asked. The petite redhead frowned. "Did Hawke lose it again?"
"Surprisingly, no. This one was all Maxim. " Kara winced, meeting Faith's gaze. "Sorry. "
Faith smiled at her. "Don't be. " She wasn't about to blame Kara for speaking the truth. "Maxim's been a first-class jerk since the moment we arrived at Feral House. I don't think he likes not being the one in charge. "
Delaney grunted. "You can say that again. "
Kara took Faith's hand. "Come on. We'll continue this discussion upstairs. Any objection to our using your room, Faith? The Radiant's room has become our unofficial hangout. "
"No, not at all. "
Kara looked at Delaney. "Where's Skye?"
"With the menagerie. I'll get her. "
"Is Ariana around?"
Olivia grunted. "Does anyone ever know? Ariana," she called, as if the woman might be hiding nearby. "If you're here, we'd love for you to join us. "
Faith frowned.
Olivia shot her a rueful smile. "Have you ever heard of the Ilinas?"
"No. "
"We'll explain later. You have enough to deal with right now. "
Faith wasn't about to argue.
Five minutes later, Faith was seated on the huge bed in the room Kara had loaned her. How different this bed was than the sagging, decrepit one in the little apartment in which she'd sat with Paulina and Maria just a few short days ago. She wondered how the girls were doing. Hopefully, Stanislov had kept his word and kept Maria away from the man who'd beaten her. If only she had some way to check on them.
Kara hopped onto the bed and motioned the others to follow. Skye slipped into the room, a small kitten curled in one arm.
"Where's the rest of the brood?" Delaney asked with a smile.
"Sleeping. " Skye looked at Faith. "I like animals. "
"An understatement," Delaney muttered.
"For wedding gifts, several of the Ferals gave me pets - a puppy, a kitten, a cockatiel. " Skye's sweet smile told Faith precisely what their thoughtfulness had meant to her.
"Hawke gave you the cockatiel. " Faith didn't even have to ask. She knew.
"Yes. "
"What's the matter with Hawke?" Faith asked cautiously. "The way everyone's acting, I'm guessing he doesn't simply suffer from a hair-trigger temper. "
"He doesn't," Kara assured her. "He's the kindest, most even-tempered one of the bunch. Or he was. " Skye joined them on the bed, and they all settled into a cross-legged circle. "How much do you know about the Feral Warriors?"
"A lot less than I thought I did. Stories of brave heroes who fight in their animals. "
"They are that," Kara assured her. "But they're more than that, too. They're men. "
Olivia chuckled. "Goddess help us all. "
Faith grinned. "I'd never seen a Feral Warrior until I met Maxim. I haven't lived around Therians since I was fifteen, since World War I scattered my enclave to the winds. "
"World War I," Delaney murmured, giving her head a little shake. "Sorry, I'm human. Or I was. I'm still not used to this immortality stuff. Were you in Poland, then?"
Faith shook her head. "Belgium. "
Delaney cocked her head at Faith. "Have you always lived in Europe?"
"Always. "
"Amazing. Your English is flawless, with only the slightest trace of an accent. You even use American slang. "
&n
bsp; "I have a gift for languages. " Faith shrugged. "It's as if I was born knowing them all. "
"Wow. I'd love that as one of my superpowers. "
"It's made moving around easy. Perhaps too easy. " She looked at Kara, silently encouraging her to continue.
"Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Hawke was caught in a spirit trap. " Kara sighed, pressing her hands against her jeans-clad knees. "Let me start at the beginning. If you haven't been around Therians since you were fifteen, I don't know how much history you know. "
Faith shook her head. Neither did she.
"Do you know why there are only nine shape-shifters?"
"Yes. Five thousand years ago, the Therians gave up their power to shift in order to defeat the Daemons, locking them in an enchanted blade. Only one of each animal retained the power of his animal. "
"Right. Only there were a lot more than nine, originally. As recently as six hundred years ago, there were twenty-six Feral Warriors until seventeen were trapped in a spirit trap, which we now know to be of Daemon origin. The men were killed, and their animals never marked another. "
Delaney took over the tale. "A few decades ago, a powerful Mage by the name of Inir was infected by dark spirit, wisps of Daemon consciousness left when the Daemons were ripped from this world. We think he was infected with the consciousness of the High Daemon, Satanan, himself - the most evil creature who has ever walked the Earth. Inir quickly rose to become leader of the Mage, and his sole purpose, now, is to free the Daemons from the blade. His problem is, only the Feral Warriors can do that, and the decision to free them has to be unanimous. "
Faith frowned. "But that would never happen. "
Kara's mouth grew hard. "No, it wouldn't, which has forced the Mage to get creative. They've tried stripping the souls of the warriors, they've tried creating clones. A few weeks ago, they created a wormhole into the spirit trap, hoping to end the existence of as many of the warriors as possible. Two fell in - Tighe and Hawke. "
Faith's stomach fisted. "But they got out. "
"Yes. Thanks to Kougar's mate, Ariana. But it was close. And they suffered. "
"Hawke suffered worse than Tighe. " Olivia's hand reached for Delaney's shoulder. "Delaney's bond with Tighe's animal is strong. Through her love for them both, she kept them tethered to her and to one another. Tighe is fine. Hawke wasn't so lucky. "
Faith's fingers twined together in her lap. "What's the matter with him?"
Olivia's mouth tightened. "The spirit trap is designed to separate man from animal. In Hawke's case, it nearly succeeded. Though still joined, man and animal are acting as two separate entities. Whenever Hawke shifts, the bird takes over completely, body and mind. He's also suffering bouts of uncontrollable rage. When he loses control, he shifts. "
"He didn't tonight," Kara told them excitedly. "He fought Maxim just now. A full feral fight, and he didn't shift. "
All their eyes widened.
"Excellent," Delaney breathed. Her gaze cut to Faith. "What happened?"
Faith grimaced. "Maxim had been fighting with some of the others in the television room. When he came out, he saw Hawke. With me. "
Olivia frowned. "I thought you were with Maxim. "
"I am. Hawke and I were just talking. When the other fight started, Hawke got me out of the way. "
"Sounds like a Hawke thing to do. " Delaney eyed her shrewdly. "But it's not that simple, is it? Hawke likes you. More than he should. "
Four sets of curious gazes swiveled toward Faith.
"He's been . . . very nice to me. "
Delaney grunted. "Hawke's nice to everyone. But I've never seen his eyes follow anyone like they follow you. "
"Delaney," Kara admonished quietly.
"Sorry. I just call them like I see them. "
"How long have you and Maxim been promised to one another?" Olivia asked.
Faith grimaced. This was the question she'd been dreading. "I just met him. Yesterday. "
"What?"
"Yesterday?"
Faith groaned, burying her face in her hands. "It's all so weird!"
She felt a hand on her right knee, another on her left shoulder. "Tell us," Kara said softly.
Faith looked up, her gaze moving from one face to the next. If she'd seen only more curiosity, she might have held back, but in their faces she saw sympathy, too. And concern.
"The moment I met Maxim, I felt this powerful certainty that we belonged together. We both felt it. "
Olivia sighed. "I know that feeling. I knew Jag and I were destined to mean something to one another the first time we met. Of course, I thought that something was enemies. "
Skye nodded. "I fell for Paenther the first time I saw him. " A pink hue rose in her cheeks. "Or maybe I just wanted him. "
Delaney snorted. "God, Tighe was hot. He scared the crap out of me, but I couldn't stop wanting him. Still can't. "
"You're talking about lust," Faith objected. "I'm talking about . . . a knowing. I can't even explain it. But not lust. I don't think of Maxim like that. "
"You're kidding. "
"Seriously?"
"Now that's just wrong. "
Their voices pelted her with disbelief, all talking at once.
"Do you love him?" Kara asked softly. "Was it love at first sight?"