Chapter 29

Branches whipped across Kara's cheeks and tangled in her hair as she followed the sound of the river, but she kept running. Away from Lyon's knife. Away from the terrible pain of having the only man she'd ever loved, a man who'd promised to protect her, turn on her.

Damn him. Damn him.

All she could see as she ran was the fury in his eyes.

The wound oh her hip hurt, the air tearing at her lungs, as she ran into the night. With no destination. No plan. Nowhere to go.

In a bloody nightgown. Now wouldn't that be a sight any homeowner would love to see on her doorstep in the middle of the night? Not likely.

It didn't matter. There was nowhere she could run that Lyon wouldn't find her. She'd learned that over and over again. She was fooling herself to think she could get away. He always knew where she was, and he'd come for her again. With his knife, ready to cut out her heart.

No, not that. He'd already done that.

The sky was clear, the moon full, lighting her way through the trees as she followed the rumble of the falls. A hard breeze blew, freezing the sweat on her skin, chilling her to the marrow of her bones, but still she ran. Because she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't go back.

She didn't know how long she'd run, or how far, when she finally pulled up at the edge of the trees and sank back against the rough bark of one, her arm tight across her middle as she fought for breath. Her lungs ached and her bare feet felt torn and shredded from the branches and rocks as she stared out at the glistening Potomac River.

She pressed her palm to her forehead. What was she going to do? Did she dare try to get help? Human help? What would Lyon do if someone tried to protect her?

Her heart clenched with pain. She'd thought she'd known him. But she hadn't. She hadn't known him at all.

No, she did know him. She knew one thing for certain.

He'd never let her go.

A dark shape soared over the river, catching her eye. A bird of some kind. But not. Her brows creased. The thing seemed to be moving too quickly. And behind it… a dark cloud, little more than a shadow against the night sky. If she didn't know better, she'd think a swarm of locusts was about to descend on the D.C. area.

Not locusts.

Realization slammed into her like a wall of ice water, freezing her blood on contact.

Draden.

Oh shit.

She hadn't seen one since the night her mother died, and she'd forgotten.

She straightened, her body tensing to run, but as she watched the cloud draw nearer, she knew there would be no outrunning them. And nowhere to go if she did.

This would be her last mistake. Game over.

An unnatural calm settled over her.

"Lyon," she whispered, her heart crying out for him in these final moments. Not the man who'd looked at her with rage flaring from, his lion's eyes but the one who'd smiled at her on the goddess rock, looking at her as if she were the only person in the world. The one who'd promised he'd never let anything harm her. The one she'd trusted. The man with whom she'd foolishly fallen in love.

The draden were almost on her, their hunger feeling like ants crawling over her skin.

As tears began to track down her cheeks, she covered her face against the impending attack. The man who'd sworn to protect her wasn't here. And there was nothing left to do but try to face her fate with the same grace and courage her mother had.

As she waited for death to descend on a cloud of demons.

* * *

Lyon's heart stopped in his chest as he saw the swarm of draden diving for Kara in a deadly descent. She stood still as granite against the tree overlooking the river, awaiting the impending attack.

"Kara! Run!"

But if she heard him, she ignored him. Did she welcome death?

Did he offer her anything better?

Hell. He didn't know. She was Mage.

She was Kara.

"Kara!" He ran through the trees toward her, logic flying in the wake of his desperation to reach her before the draden stole her away. He closed the distance between them as the first of the draden attacked. With his knife, he stabbed the two that had latched onto her and hauled her against his body, curving himself around her, making it as hard as possible for the draden to reach her.

"Try to go radiant, Kara. If you go radiant, they can't hurt you." But he knew she was too new, too untried to pull the power in the midst of such an attack. He had to get her to the goddess stone, where he could call a Feral Circle to protect her.

She said nothing, running, climbing over the rocks with him. He could feel the power spitting inside her and tried to help her, but it was harder away from the ritual stone, and harder still when her feet weren't staying planted on the ground. The only place he could help her was the goddess stone. And as he urged her faster, the cloud descended on them. Half a dozen of the bloody fiends latched onto him, but it was Kara they wanted. Kara he fought them for. He tucked her tight to his side as he used his knife on the Daemon dregs, fighting them off her as fast as they latched on.

She didn't scream. Didn't cry. At least not that he could hear. But whenever one of the little sons of bitches flew at her face, she ripped its heart out.

The rock wasn't far. Out of instinct or luck, she'd run this way. But twenty yards under a full-scale draden attack felt like twenty miles. Finally, they reached the path he sought and leaped down onto the flat stone.

Lyon pulled Kara to the ground and covered her with his body. "Go radiant, Kara! Try." The draden covered them, but he only felt a few bites.

It was Kara they wanted and all he could do was fight them off, stabbing those within reach of his right hand and ripping out the hearts of those on his left while he chanted the words in a heated rush that would raise the circle around them.

Beneath him, he felt Kara's power spitting and dying as if the strength she'd had earlier was all but gone. Or had come not from her Radiant's power, but from the cantric buried deep in her hip.

He threw all his concentration into raising the circle and felt the mystic energies rise and finally pop into place. A high-pitched cry of fury tore at his eardrums as the draden were forced back, away from their prey. He looked over his shoulder, watching until the cloud slowly rose and disappeared into the night.

Lyon's heart thudded as his chest rose and fell in harsh agitation. So close. Too close. He rolled off Kara and stood, his gaze taking in the bloody bites on her limbs. And the dark bloodstain soaking the hem of her gown, reminding him why she had run.

She was Mage. Everything he'd felt for her, everything he'd dreamed was a lie. Her strength, her sweetness, her vulnerability. All lies.

He might be able to forgive her for those, all was fair in love and war, after all, except for one thing. She'd made him feel. She'd cast a spell over him that had ripped open his heart and laid it bare, exposing the emptiness where he could see it. Where he could feel it like salt on a wound.

And it had all been a lie.

She pushed herself up and stood facing him, her arms and legs streaked with rivulets of blood. Her stance was wary, her arms away from her body like a boxer risen for another round. In her eyes he saw the heart of a cornered animal prepared to fight for her life.

Was that what she was? Cornered? He didn't know.

All he'd known was he had to catch her. He'd had to save her from the draden. But as his fingers stung with warning, as his fangs elongated in his mouth, he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't kill her himself.

"I hate you." Kara lunged toward Lyon, fury blazing through her. Then stopped abruptly as she saw the light spark in his eyes, his irises expanding until they were glowing amber fury.

Real fear mixed with her anger.

He grabbed her shoulders, his claws pressing against her flesh. "What was your plan, Kara? To try to control us?"