Wulfe Untamed (11 page)

“X, your sister’s here,” Wulfe said.

“Hey, Nat!” Her brother turned toward the door.

“Hey, Xave.” But her gaze remained riveted on those tense, unblinking eyes. Natalie smiled. “You must be Pink. You have quite a fan in my brother. I’m happy to finally make your acquaintance.”

Xavier reached for the bird-woman without hesitation, his hand clasping a feathered arm. “Pink, this is my sister, Natalie. And, yeah, I’m a fan. Pink does all the cooking and cleaning around here, or she used to when there weren’t so many people. I’m her helper, now.”

Natalie met Pink’s gaze with a rueful look. “This place is mobbed. I don’t know how you do it all, even with help.”

Pink’s stiffness eased a little. “Most of our guests are temporary, and we’re managing. It’s a pleasure to meet Xavier’s sister.”

“The pleasure is all mine. I’m delighted that Xavier has you as a friend, Pink.” The truth of that statement hit her hard, because it was more than clear that a good deal of the reason Xavier radiated such contentment with his captivity was due to Pink. She met the woman’s gaze, letting her see her thoughts and emotion. “You have no idea,” she said quietly, and smiled.

“Are you going to watch the Ferals shift this morning, Nat?” Her brother launched into one of his dear and familiar rambles. “It’s so cool when they shift, though a little scary when they fight like that, but then they’re best friends again, usually, except for the evil Ferals, but they’re all with Inir, now, or maybe in the prisons below Feral House. We’re not sure about those guys. It was scary as shit when the evil Ferals attacked. We weren’t sure what they were going to do. Pink and I hid, then the bad guys ran to Inir, and the good guys finally healed and came back.”

Natalie shook her head with a smile. “You must be a good listener, Pink, because my brother can talk the ears off an elephant. Mom likes to tease that he came out of the womb talking, that she had to buy him a pacifier just to get a little quiet.”

Xavier laughed at the old joke. “What can I say? Active mind, active mouth.”

As the two women’s gazes met, Natalie watched a small smile form on that remarkable face. “I enjoy Xavier’s thoughts. He’s my friend.”

Gratitude welled up inside Natalie, and she started around the island that separated her from the pair, talking as she went so that Xavier could follow her movement. “It’s no wonder you’re happy here, Xave.” Natalie gave her brother a hard hug, meeting Pink’s gaze over his shoulder.
Thank you,
she mouthed, earning a sweet smile.

As she released her brother, Pink held out her hand to her. “I am very pleased to meet you, Natalie.”

Natalie took that soft, feathered hand between both of hers. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“We need to go,” Wulfe said from the doorway. “Later, X and Pink.”

Natalie followed him back to the dining room. As the kitchen door swung closed behind them, she glanced at Wulfe. “She’s amazing.”

He watched her with eyes like velvet. “So are you.”

“Natalie,” a woman’s voice called softly from a short distance away.

Wulfe turned. “Kara.”

Lyon slowed his walk through the dining room, the woman in his arms holding out her hand toward Natalie. She appeared wan, with dark circles under her eyes, her blond hair pulled back in a lifeless ponytail. But as she gazed at Natalie, she smiled warmly.

Natalie took the proffered hand. “You must be Kara. Wulfe says we met the last time I was here, but I’m afraid I have no memory of that visit.”

Kara’s smile turned rueful. “That’s what they were hoping. I’m sorry you’ve been pulled back into all this.”

“I’m not.” And she realized that was true. “I know I probably won’t be able to keep these memories, either, but it’s worth everything to see my brother again and see him so happy.” She glanced at Wulfe, a welling of pleasure filling her chest. “This is turning out to be quite an adventure.”

Kara laughed. “Everything the Ferals touch turns into an adventure.”

“Funny,” a Feral she hadn’t met said, joining them from the hallway. “I’d say everything we touch turns into a goat fuck.”

“Jag, watch your language,” Lyon snapped.

The shaggy-haired warrior grinned unrepentantly. “Sorry, ladies. I just call ’em like I see ’em. Are we ready to start this war dance? The sooner Kara stops looking like death warmed over, the better.”

“Thanks, Jag.” Kara met Natalie’s gaze with a wry smile.

Jag leaned over and kissed Kara’s cheek, his gaze turning stone-cold serious. “I mean it, little lightbulb. I want you getting better. That’s an order.”

“Yes, Jag.” Kara looped her free arm around his neck and pressed her cheek to his. “Thank you.”

When Jag had stepped back, Wulfe reached for Kara’s hand and brought it to his lips, earning himself a sweet smile. Then Lyon started forward again, heading for the back doors. “Let’s get started.”

Wulfe grabbed Natalie’s hand and led her to the sideboard laden with coffee mugs and industrial-sized coffeepots. “First things first.”

“Mmm, thank you.” She threw him a grin as she grabbed one of the cups and was rewarded with a pleased smile.

“How many will actually take part in this?” she asked, pouring herself a cup of the steaming brew.

“Ten Ferals and Kara since the purpose of the power raising is to strengthen her.”

When Natalie had filled her mug, Wulfe ushered her out the back door and onto a wide brick patio ringed by azalea and forsythia bushes growing in abandon. The morning was warm, the humidity reasonably comfortable, and the sky bright blue above the trees. In the middle of the open yard, a male with a close-cut mustache and goatee lifted his hands to the sky and murmured words too low to hear.

“Kougar is calling a feral circle,” Wulfe told her. “The entire back of the house will be warded once he does, so even if one of the neighboring humans walks through, they’ll neither see nor hear anything. Wait here.” He stepped forward, joining the other men, all of whom were incredibly well built, though not a one held a candle to Wulfe.

“Hi, Natalie.” Delaney came to join her, along with another woman, an attractive brunette with eyes almost as bright a blue as Melisande’s. “Natalie, Julianne,” Delaney said, by way of introduction.

“Hi, Julianne.” Natalie shook hands with the woman, but her gaze immediately returned to the Feral who’d caught her eye—a male currently stripping out of his clothes, right there in front of everyone. Lyon was doing the same.

“The nudity takes a little getting used to,” Delaney murmured, amusement in her voice. “Just one of the many perks of life with a bunch of shape-shifters.”

Natalie snorted, her gaze following Wulfe’s movements, admiring the perfection of his now-bare back and shoulders and watching with fascination as he pulled his jeans down and off. Her breath caught. His butt and legs were like sculpted marble, truly glorious to behold. How could a flesh-and-blood male be so beautiful, so perfectly formed?

“Admiring the view?” Delaney asked.

“Oh, yes. Every time I see it.”

Delaney made a sound of surprise. “Something already going on between you two?”

Lyon had settled Kara on a lawn chair, and now all the males, either shirtless or naked, made a wide circle around her. Each of them had a golden armband snaked around one thick biceps, Natalie realized.

“When the Mage attacked, he shifted a couple of times,” she told Delaney.

Julianne groaned. “And you’re human. That must have been a shock.”

Natalie smiled. “You could say that. I’d met the wolf before and had already fallen in love with him. Finding out he was really a man, a shifter, was definitely a shock. But at least I’d already come to trust him. He saved my life, attacking the Mage sentinels who’d been sent to capture me.”

“I’m officially a fan, Natalie,” Delaney said quietly, seriously. “If you can handle all that and not fall apart, you’re rock solid.”

Natalie looked at her thoughtfully. “I’ve been having some strange dreams since . . . the incident—the Daemons. I’m beginning to think I’ve been dreaming about that day even if I don’t remember much of it. What happened last night was shocking of course, but I didn’t have much trouble accepting it. I suppose, subconsciously, I already knew about shape-shifters and the Mage.”

Delaney nodded. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“Here they go,” Julianne said breathlessly. “I’ve never seen a Feral shift.”

All three women turned their attention back to the shifters. Natalie watched as Kougar pulled out a wicked-looking knife.

“Small cuts only,” Lyon commanded. “And to your palms, not your chests.”

Several of the shifters made sounds of disgust.

“They’re not healing,” Delaney said, her voice low and tight.

One by one, the shifters cut their palms, then thrust those fisted hands into the air. As Wulfe cut his own, his gaze found Natalie’s and held, a look in his eyes that, for once, she couldn’t read. A touch of pride, perhaps, that he belonged in that elite, mythic circle. Or perhaps a pinch of concern that she might be put off by the strangeness of it all. Maybe a little of both.

“He likes you,” Delaney murmured beside her.

“I like him, too.”

“Do you?” It wasn’t a casual question.

“He’s a good man.”

“He is. He absolutely is. But he’s been dealt a rough hand.”

Natalie met the other woman’s gaze. “Are you ready to tell me more, now?”

Delaney watched her assessingly. “When a new Radiant is marked, one of the Ferals is chosen as her mate. It happens during a ritual, all very mystical. Wulfe was the one chosen for the previous Radiant, Beatrice. From what I’ve heard, Beatrice was selfish and shallow and threw a tantrum that the goddess chose the scarred Feral for her.”

Natalie winced. “Oh, Wulfe. That’s terrible.”

“Tighe says Wulfe loved her, at least at first. The goddess gave him no choice but to love her. But he suffered for almost a century and a half with a mate who . . .” She didn’t complete the sentence, but Natalie heard the rest. “Nine months ago, Beatrice died, leaving Wulfe in even worse shape.”

“He misses her.”

“No, I honestly don’t think he does. But the mating bond between immortals is a real, physical bond that, when broken, often damages, if not destroys, the one left behind.”

“He seems . . . okay.”

Delaney nodded. “I’m not sure in what way it hurt him. Only that Tighe says it did.”

“Is there no healing from such an injury?”

“I don’t know.”

Natalie watched Wulfe as he thrust his hand into the air alongside his companions, aching for all he’d been through. “How could Beatrice not see past his scars? I barely see them anymore, and I’ve known him less than a day. He is so beautiful,” she breathed. “Inside and out.”

Delaney’s hand landed on her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here, Natalie. Very, very glad.”

Natalie met the other woman’s gaze with a smile. “Me, too.” Though her being there might be a very short-lived thing.

As the last of the Feral Warriors thrust his fist in the air, the bearded Feral began to chant. “Spirits rise and join. Empower the beasts beneath this sky.”

The other Ferals joined in the chant, their voices low at first, then louder and louder. Goose bumps raced along Natalie’s arms. Lightning flashed. The ground beneath her feet began to tremble.

Eyes widening, Natalie glanced at Delaney and Julianne.

“Watch, Natalie,” Delaney whispered.

She did, turning back to the Ferals as excitement and energy pressed all around her.

“Empower the spirit of . . .” they called in unison.

“The wolf!” Wulfe yelled.

His brothers . . . and sister . . . all named their own animals. “The hawk! The falcon! The tiger! The cougar!”

Suddenly, most of them disappeared in that familiar explosion of sparkling lights to be replaced, seconds later, by incredible, magnificent animals—a glorious African lion, a magnificent Bengal tiger, a sleek black panther, and a huge red fox. Two birds of prey sat among the larger animals as their animal kin would never dare. And the wolf she was coming to adore stood with them.

But the bald Feral—a male she hadn’t met—shouted with a mix of fury and agony and remained human. Kougar, too, threw back his head, his body going rigid as he failed to shift. And Jag stood, fully clothed, eyeing the other two with frustration and misery.

“It’s getting worse,” Delaney said beside her, her voice laced with real fear. “Kougar and Vhyper now, too.”

Remain in your animals.
Lyon’s voice rang in Natalie’s head as Wulfe’s did when he was in his animal.
Concentrate on your Radiant. Share your energy with her.

The animals milled about the circle, several nudging Kara or laying their heads in her lap. Finally, Lyon shifted back to human and the others followed, one by one. Natalie watched Wulfe shift back, then walk over to clasp the bald Feral’s shoulder. A pall had fallen, dark and heavy, on the gathering. Lyon lifted Kara into his arms, then approached the two warriors who’d failed to shift, his eyes filled with a throbbing regret.

“I never thought the ritual would do harm.”

Kougar’s face was pale. “It wouldn’t have if our connections to our animals weren’t already close to shattering. This wasn’t your fault, Roar.”

Lyon nodded, but his mouth remained tight.

“It’s more than just losing their animals, isn’t it?” Natalie asked quietly.

“Ferals who can’t shift, ultimately die.” Though Delaney’s words were matter-of-fact, Natalie heard the underlying thread of fear.

Natalie reached for Delaney’s hand and gave it a squeeze, her gaze finding Wulfe where he stood with his friends. How could so much power and beauty, so much goodness and gentleness, be snuffed out just like that? It was wrong on so many levels. The Feral Warriors, these powerful immortals, might soon be no more. And while she understood that the ramifications of that were far greater than the loss of a handful of fine, strong males, that was the only part of it that she could truly wrap her mind around.

As she watched Wulfe pull on his jeans, then grab his T-shirt and turn to her with eyes as deep as the ocean, she knew her loss would be far, far more personal.