CHAPTER 20. Skye shielded her face from the blowing snow as Paenther ushered her into the foyer of Feral House

Skye shielded her face from the blowing snow as Paenther ushered her into the foyer of Feral House. The hail had ended, but Mother Nature had yet to forgive the Ferals for the death of three Mage. Souls or not, the Mage were a part of nature as no other creatures could ever be.

Behind them, Tighe carried his mate, who was protesting loudly.

“Tighe, I’m fine! ”

But the tiger Feral ignored her as the four ducked into the house and shut the door against the blizzard.

“Let me down, Tighe. Now.”

“What happened? ” Lyon demanded as he strode into the foyer, Kara close behind him.

Paenther’s big hand brushed at Skye’s hair, dislodging a small shower of wet droplets around her shoulders as he met the gaze of his chief. “Foxx and Jag are missing, Delaney was attacked and knocked unconscious—”

“But I’m fine. Tighe, put me down! ”

“—but she’s fine. We found two dead Mage when we got there and killed a third after learning Birik means to sacrifice Foxx, Jag, and Vhyper at midnight tonight. Did I miss anything? ”

Tighe grunted. “Nothing but the fact that you still can’t shift without the help of your witch.”

Lyon’s expression turned hard, his gaze flying from Paenther to Tighe and back again. “Hell. In the war room. Now.”

“I’ll ask Pink to bring coffee.” Kara turned toward the kitchen. “You all look like you could use something warm.”

Paenther stroked Skye’s head, then slid his arm around her and ushered her down the hall, following Lyon.

As they entered the room, Skye looked toward the big window, surprised to see that the snow had stopped as abruptly as it had begun, leaving several inches on the ground. Mother Nature seemed to be over her fury.

Paenther pulled out a chair for her, and she sat at the big table. Instead of sitting beside her, he stood at her back, a strong, protective force behind her.

He loved her.

Tighe and Delaney took seats across from them. Wulfe and Hawke sat at the end.

Lyon paced. “How did Jag and Foxx get captured? ”

“We don’t know. We found three live Mage and two dead when we got there. And no Jag or Foxx. There’s no telling how many Mage they ultimately had to take on.”

“They still shouldn’t have been captured. They’re Ferals, for goddess sake! ”

Kougar joined them, remaining by the door as Lyon’s hard, worried gaze raked his warriors.

“The Mage are no longer the enemy we once knew, Roar, ” Tighe said quietly. “Dark power is damned strong.”

Lyon growled, the sound of a lion rumbling from his throat. “Tell me about the sacrifice.”

Paenther’s hands cupped her shoulders. “If the Mage I killed is to be believed, they’ve taken Jag and Foxx to the caverns. Birik intends to sacrifice them at midnight tonight during a moon feast, along with Vhyper.”

Lyon’s gaze dipped, and he met her gaze with an amber intensity that felt as if he tried to see deep inside her. “Can he raise power this way? Dangerous power? ”

She braided her fingers together in her lap. “I believe so, yes. Birik’s a snake enchanter. Vhyper’s death will help him tap into his gift. The deaths of the other Ferals, along with many snakes, could be dangerously potent.”

“Enough to free more Daemons, or even Satanan himself? ”

She desperately wanted to give him the answers he needed, but she just didn’t have them. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Lyon frowned and looked over her head at Paenther. “We have to get into the cavern and we have to do it now. Are you healed? ”

“No. The Shaman’s not-a-friend, Ezekiel, taught her to pull good power instead of dark, but it didn’t work with her magic bound.” Paenther’s hands left her, and she glanced over her shoulder to see he’d crossed his arms over his chest. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m ready.”

“No.” The word came out of her mouth like a shot.

Paenther’s gaze dropped to her, a hint of displeasure in his eyes. But Lyon had to understand even if Paenther was too stubborn to admit it.

She turned to meet Paenther’s gaze. “You won’t survive it.”

“Beauty…I’ll be fine.”

“That mountain is warded with magic, Paenther. There’s no telling how much more damage it might do to your connection with your animal. And if you get captured, they’ll put you in shackles again. Your animal can’t take it, Paenther. You’re going to lose him.”

“There’s no choice. I’m the only chance Vhyper and the others have. No one else has been able to find that mountain.”

“What about Skye? ” Tighe asked.

Skye whirled to face him, but she shook her head. “I don’t know where it is. Until this past week, I’d had no contact with the human world; nor had I been off the mountain since I was taken there as a child. If someone can get me to the mountain, I can find the cavern with ease. But I don’t know where the mountain is.”

“Was there a town nearby? Anything you might remember? ”

“Nothing I could see from the forest. Just farmland. And the one small country store where I met Paenther. If there was a human town nearby, I never heard it discussed.”

Tighe’s gaze swung to Lyon. “So, Paenther can lead a team to the mountain, then wait behind.”

“Like hell.”

Hawke tapped his fingers on the table. “If the magic around that area was so strong we were getting disoriented just trying to find the Market, there’s no reason to believe we’ll be any more successful getting up the mountain and into the cavern. We’re almost certainly going to need a guide.” His gaze swung to Skye.

Paenther’s hands squeezed her shoulders. “She’s not going near that place again.”

Hawke didn’t back down. “It might be the only way for us to get in.”

“I can lead you.” Skye said the words before she lost her courage.

“Not without me, ” Paenther said behind her. “And as soon as we’re at the cave’s entrance, you’ll run right back to the Market.”

A lion’s growl rumbled in Lyon’s throat. “And what about you, B.P.? What if she’s right? What if the warding damages you further? ”

Paenther met his chief’s gaze with stubborn determination. “There’s no alternative. I’m the only one who’s been inside that cavern or knows what Birik looks like. Besides, Skye’s not going without me.”

Stubborn Feral. He wouldn’t survive it. Skye shoved to her feet, forcing Paenther to back up. “There is an alternative. I may be able to heal him. Now. Before we go.”

Lyon’s eyebrows rose. “I thought your power only came at midnight.”

“My power is at its height at midnight. But I raise my power through the animals. Maybe if I call the forest creatures, I can raise enough to help him.”

“Could radiance help? ” Kara asked, walking through the door with a tray of coffee mugs.

“A power raising.” Hawke tapped the table in front of him. “We need to call the power of the beasts. The power of the panther.”

Lyon scowled. For long minutes, he paced silently, his face hard, his amber eyes alive with a thousand thoughts.

Skye stood there, waiting for his acceptance of her gift. She could help Paenther, she knew she could. But he had to give her a chance.

Lyon finally stopped and turned to face Paenther. “She’s a Mage witch, B.P. A witch who’s already demonstrated a disturbing power over our animals. If she’s not what she pretends to be and seizes control, or uses the power she draws to incapacitate us, she could destroy us. If the Ferals go down, Satanan wins. Are you positive…positive…you can trust her? Without a shadow of a doubt? ”

Skye clasped her hands in front of her, waiting for Paenther to tell them what he’d told her. That he loved her. Of course he trusted her.

But the room rang with an ominous silence. He made no such declaration. He said nothing at all. A chill stole over her skin.

Slowly, she turned and saw him watching her with a myriad of emotions in his eyes. But the only one she felt, the one that drove a stake through her heart, was the doubt.

He’d said he loved her. How could he love her when he didn’t even trust her not to betray him and all he cared about?

Pain ripped through her chest, tears burning her eyes.

He didn’t love her. He didn’t even know her if he thought she could ever willingly betray him.

She shoved past him and ran for the door.

“Skye…” Regret laced Paenther’s voice. But he didn’t try to stop her.

With a sudden, desperate need to get outside, she ran through the house and out the door, into the yard. She stood in the snow, holding herself tight, tears slipping down her cheeks as she shredded the foolish dreams she’d woven in her head since the moment Paenther told her he loved her. She’d let herself believe, hope, that his loving her would change everything. That he was finally able to look past what she was, if not quite forget.

He’d said he loved her. If he loved her, he should trust her, shouldn’t he? But he didn’t. He couldn’t.

Because of what she was.

The cold wind froze the tears on her cheeks, the chill seeping deep inside, spreading a spiderweb of cracks across her heart.

I love you, Paenther. I can help you. But I can never be other than what I am.

Paenther stared out the window to where Skye stood, creatures flocking around her. Dogs and deer, squirrels and cardinals, they went to her, pressing against her, seeking her attention. Offering her comfort.

But for once she didn’t touch them, didn’t acknowledge them. Her arms wrapped around her middle as if she didn’t even know they were there. Never had he seen anyone look so alone. And his heart broke. He’d done this to her. He’d caused her this pain.

“I hurt her. I doubted her.”

Lyon had demanded his promise that there was no chance she could betray them. But before he could give it, memories had flooded his mind, tearing out his guts. Ancreta running toward him that day just before she captured him, her gown torn, her cries tearing at his heart. And the way Foxx looked at Zaphene, poor lovesick Foxx with his starry eyes, head over heels in love with a Mage witch who’d spun her web over him so thoroughly he’d killed Beatrice, his Radiant, without ever knowing he’d done it.

For one horrible moment he’d wondered if he was Foxx all over again, snared by a witch’s web of magic. How could he risk the lives of his men, of his brothers, on a Mage witch? Any Mage witch?

But how could he doubt Skye?

Lyon came to stand beside him. “Knowing what I do of your background, I’m amazed you’ve been able to trust her at all.”

“I do trust her, Roar. I can’t always get past what she is. But I know who she is. She’s one of the purest souls I’ve ever met.”

As they stood together, watching the creatures gather around her, Lyon murmured, “They say animals and children see the heart of a person. There’s a lot at stake here, B.P., but we don’t have many options. If I’ve learned anything from Kara, it’s that sometimes you just have to trust your heart.”

“I trust her with my life, Roar. If my life were the only one at stake, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

Lyon clasped his shoulder, drawing his gaze. “You’re my second for a reason, B.P. If you trust her with your life, that’s enough for me. I’ll call the Shaman and get him back here to unbind her magic. Then we’ll head out to the goddess stone.”

Paenther felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. And at the same time, an incredible lightness of spirit. Goddess, he loved her. What was more, he knew her.

He clasped Lyon’s shoulder in return, then turned and hurried out of the room.

Sometimes all you can do is trust your heart.

And his heart belonged to Skye.

Skye stood staring into the woods, unseeing, as the animals gathered around her, seeking a comfort she didn’t have to give. Tears continued to skate down her cold cheeks, but she couldn’t stop them any more than she could stop the cracks from forming over and over in her heart.

She felt rather than heard Paenther approach. He walked too silently for her ever truly to hear him.

“Skye.” He said her name softly before sliding his hands on her shoulders from behind. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” The thing was, she couldn’t blame him for being cautious when so much was at stake. It was her own fault, and the fault of her foolish heart, for reading too much into his declaration of love.

He turned her to face him, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze, not when the tears refused to stop. But he pulled her into his arms anyway, one hand at her back, the other sliding into her hair as he lifted her face to his. With eyes swimming in regret, he brushed away her tears.

“Don’t cry, Beauty.” His face dipped, and he kissed her without hesitation, without doubt, with a fierce tenderness that claimed her, body and soul. A kiss of possession. Of declaration. Of promise.

Finally, he pulled back. Shaken, confused, she kept her eyes closed and clung to his waist, not even remembering reaching for him.

“Look at me, Skye.” As she looked up, his hands rose to frame her face. “I trust you, little witch. With my life.”

She sighed. “Paenther…it’s okay. I understand. You have a lot of reasons not to trust a Mage.”

“I do. You’re right.” He stroked her jaw. “But you’ve never given me any reason not to trust you.”

Her mouth pursed ruefully. “Other than the fact that I enthralled you and captured you? ”

To her amazement, a small smile flickered across his face. “Other than that. I love you. I trust you because I know you. I’ve seen the goodness in you from the beginning even if I had a hard time believing such beauty of spirit could possibly have been born a Mage. I trust you with my life, Skye. I only hesitated because…” He sighed and pressed his forehead to hers. “Trust comes hard for me. And these men are my family. My brothers. Until you, they were the whole of my life.”

She clung to the love in his voice and in his words. “I’d never do anything to hurt them. Or you.”

He pulled back to look down at her. “I know that.”

With her fingertips, she traced his mouth. “You’ve become my life, Paenther. I can’t let you suffer if I can help you. I can’t let you die if I can do something to save you.” I can’t live without you. But the last she kept to herself. Because, despite his declarations of love, she realized now that not once had he talked about the future, most importantly, a future that included her.

He stroked her damp cheek. “Lyon has called the Shaman to unbind your magic. We’ll do the power raising as soon as you’re ready.”

“Lyon agrees? ”

“He does.”

“That’s good.” But a host of butterflies took flight in her stomach. She’d wanted them to give her a chance, but now that she was getting it, she was suddenly overcome with doubts of her own. What if she couldn’t pull it off?

Paenther looked at her quizzically. “What’s the matter? ”

“What if I forget the words? ”

He kissed her forehead. “I remember them. We’re going to make this work. Together.”

A head pushed between them, that of a big black Lab looking for attention.

“Jealous thing, ” Skye scolded fondly, laughter in her voice.

Ignoring the dog, Paenther kissed her one more time, sweeping his tongue into her mouth, as she savored the heady taste of him. But the dog refused to be ignored, and she started to laugh.

With a chuckle, Paenther released her and stepped back. “Go ahead. They deserve a little of your time, and the Shaman won’t be here for at least an hour. Not with the sudden turn of bad weather.”

She saw the glimmer of humor in his eyes and laughed. How was it possible to love another person so much that she honestly wondered if her heart would simply stop if his did? As she turned to her animals, her joy flickered and died beneath the weight of her fears.

What if she couldn’t help Paenther at all?