Chapter 31

As she held Lyon, a strange and profound peace settled over her. A rightness. As if this place, this moment, this man, were what she'd been waiting for all her life.

All she could do was hope this wasn't the end.

Lyon wasn't sure how long he'd lain Within the cradle of Kara's arms and the tight welcome of her body. All he knew was, he never wanted to leave. Was this, too, bewitchment? Or something more? Something all Kara.

He pulled out of her and rolled away, to lie on his back beside her.

He turned his head to look at her, his breath catching at her shining beauty. "You're radiant."

Her head rolled toward him until she met his gaze. There was something warm within the wariness and confusion in her eyes. "How can I go radiant if I'm a Mage?"

"I don't know. Why don't you have the Mage eyes? You're probably only half-Mage."

"Can you have a Radiant who's half-Mage?"

He turned his face to the stars, unable to voice the truth. But Kara was too sharp to need it spelled out for her.

"You'll kill me to make way for my replacement." Her words were simply said, without emotion. But he felt her pain, the pain of betrayal. "Why didn't you just let the draden have me? Why did you save me and heal me if you're only going to kill me again?"

"I don't know. It's probably the spell you put on me. I still feel protective of you."

"I didn't put a spell on you, Lyon." She rolled onto her stomach, rising on her arms to look down at him. Her body still glowed, but in her eyes, he saw a hurt and a bleakness that raked at his soul. "You've been sensing and pulling my emotions since you found me in Spearsville. Wouldn't you know if I've been lying?"

He tucked his hand behind his head as he looked up at her. "Yesterday, I'd have said yes. Absolutely. I believed everything you told me. Tonight, I'm not so sure." But searching her eyes he saw no cunning lurking in those blue depths. No slyness. In the emotion that rolled out of her he felt an anguish of the spirit that had his beast whimpering in pain. With his free hand he reached for her, needing to touch her, to comfort them both.

He stroked her cheek. "Goddess help me, but I want to believe you."

She turned her face and kissed his palm. "If I've done anything to hurt you or yours, it was an accident, Lyon. I would never hurt you on purpose." The truth of her words swam in her eyes and sank into his heart, making him ache.

With his thumb, he traced her cheekbone. "Even after I cut you?" The thought of what he'd done to her made him ill. He reached for her and pulled her on top of him, cradling her head beneath his chin.

He shouldn't care. She's Mage, his mind railed.

She's Kara, his heart replied.

All he knew was she was hurting, and it was his fault.

"I'm sorry, little one. What I did was inexcusable." Barbaric. He'd felt that cantric and all he could think was that she'd betrayed him. That she'd opened him up, made him feel, and it was all a lie. She was a lie. He'd attacked her. Turned on her without asking a single question. Judge, jury, and executioner in one brutal act.

His hands slid over her back, comforting. Begging forgiveness. "You had to have felt that cantric before."

"I didn't. As deep as it was buried, how would I have felt it? I'm not in the habit of exploring the bones in my rear. You only found it because you were pressing so hard."

What she said might be true, he supposed. "When I felt it, I went a little berserk."

Her cheek brushed his collarbone, her soft hair sliding against his chin. "I noticed. Is there anything left of my room?"

"Not much. I don't think I hurt the bed, but I can't entirely remember." His hand slid carefully over the place where he'd cut her. "Are you okay?"

"It's healed."

Physically. The emotional pain he'd caused her would take far longer. He marveled that she trusted him to hold her after that. He felt no hate coming from her, though he thought he just might hate himself.

He stroked her hip and buttocks where he'd hurt her, his fingers exploring the sweetness of her curves. His body responded and rose to the feel of. her along his length, her naked breasts soft against his chest, the sweet scent of her hair. His senses swam and goddess, but he wanted her. He had to have her again.

His fingers dug into her buttocks, kneading, pressing her against the arousal growing thick and heavy between their bodies. He reached lower, sliding to the crevice of her rear, and down, past the tight pucker of her anus, to the soft, wet folds he sought.

As he stroked her, dipping his finger into her heat, Kara moaned, rocking against his hand.

His mouth brushed her hair. "Do you want me again?"

"Yes. Always." She lifted her face for his kiss, and he didn't disappoint her. He pulled her head down, cradling it as his tongue drove into her mouth. A groan broke free of his throat while between their bodies his erection surged and bucked, demanding attention.

He kissed her hard and long, then released her head to reach for her hips. She propped herself up on his chest, and he lifted her and drove himself deep inside, her hot, slick walls expanding to fit him. He lifted her hips, pulling nearly out of her, then pushed home again, his hips rushing up to meet hers. Over and over again, he took her, watching the passion drench her radiant face. But it wasn't enough.

He rolled her beneath him and covered her mouth with his kiss, needing to erase the distance between them. His body craved the feel of her, everywhere. Inside, outside. No space. In that moment, if he could have crawled inside her, he'd have done so. Or better, yet, tucked her inside him. Where he could keep her safe. His.

As he captured her mouth and stroked her tongue, he sent her crying out with a release that clutched him hard enough to send him spinning after her.

His body warm and sated, he dropped his head to her shoulder even as his mind railed at his body's betrayal. She's Mage. The enemy.

Unable to stop himself, he opened fully to her, feeling her emotions, knowing her heart.

And his mind was finally forced to accept what his heart had known all along. No matter what Kara was., she was innocent of malice and subterfuge.

She might be Mage, but she wasn't his enemy.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure it mattered.

As Chief of the Ferals, his first duty was to his men and his race.

No matter what his heart wanted, or what his beast demanded, he would do what he must.

Even if it meant destroying the only light that had ever warmed the dark caverns of his soul.

* * *

Kara felt them before she saw them. That odd energy like ants crawling over her skin. Her eyes flew open at the exact moment Lyon tensed and rolled off her.

"Draden," they said together. The little demons were back, hovering barely ten feet above their heads.

Lyon lunged for his pants and his knives. "The circle's weakening."

"Can you call it again?" Kara scrambled up and grabbed her nightgown. Safety was a fleeting thing around here.

"Not until it dissolves, but by then, it may be too late." He pulled two switchblades and a cell phone from his pockets and snapped open the phone.

"Goddess rock. We've got a draden swarm. Bring the smallest ritual robe and three men to guard her."

He flipped the phone shut and dressed. "Stay radiant, Kara. If this magic fails, they'll be all over you again if you don't."

"What about you?" She pulled on the little nightie, wishing she'd worn something thicker to bed. Like a suit of armor. "Don't they bite you, too?"

"They do, but when you're around, they tend to do little more than nip before they realize I'm not the one they want. The tiny nips will usually heal on their own."

"Why am I the one they want?"

"Because your energy, now that it's been tapped, is the purest. It's the only energy the sires can feed from."

"The sires?"

Dressed and armed, he stood beside her, his gaze fixed on the enemy above. "The easiest way to understand draden is to think of a bee colony. The sires are like the queens, the only ones capable of reproducing, though they reproduce through energy. Each sire has its own swarm."

She stared at him. "I thought the term sire was male. And queen is definitely female."

His gaze dropped to her with a quick roll of his eyes. "These are mindless, soulless energy creatures, so just go with me on this one."

"The sires can only feed from me? So they can only survive by attacking me?"

"They don't have to attack, though they will it they get the chance. They can survive by simply being near you and feeding off your energy from a distance, though not too great a one. They also get energy secondhand through the swarm. Whatever energy any of the draden swarm picks up from you goes back to the sire."