CHAPTER 24. No sooner had he shifted into his animal form and leaped onto his feet, than Paenther found himself surrounded by Mage wielding knives

No sooner had he shifted into his animal form and leaped onto his feet, than Paenther found himself surrounded by Mage wielding knives. They couldn’t enthrall him in this form, but if he didn’t move fast and lethally, they’d rip out his heart before he ever got a chance to attack.

The only way to beat a Mage in battle was to remove his hands so he couldn’t enthrall, and that was exactly what he did. He leaped at the nearest opponent, clamped his jaw around the Mage’s wrist and ripped his hand off his arm. The bastard would grow another within the hour, but for now, that was one hand that wouldn’t enchant or wield a knife against him. He only had to dispose of about fifty-nine more.

Jag! Paenther called telepathically. Find Skye and the Daemon blade and get out of here!

No way.

Beauty?

Searing pain tore through his abdomen as a blade slid between his ribs. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the jaguar in the middle of a battle as fierce as his own.

Beauty?

Where was Foxx? If he’d already gotten to Skye…

That’s an order, Jag!

Jag’s snort sounded in his head. Tough shit, Geronimo. You’re not expendable. We’re leaving this place together, or not at all. How many Mage do we have in here?

Thirty something. And two turned Ferals.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. We’re fucked.

Paenther grunted. Get free if you can and find Birik. He’s the only one who has to die.

Roger.

Paenther tore off another hand, and another, as a blade sliced through his right hindquarter. He stumbled beneath the pain and muscle damage. He’d heal, if he got the chance. The Mage were bearing down hard.

His gaze searched frantically for Skye. Beauty?

No answer. And there was no sign of Foxx.

In his heart, he knew the young Feral who’d fought by his side now fought for his enemy.

And he had Skye.

Skye? The beloved voice rang in her head.

Paenther.

Beauty! Where are you?

I don’t know. Murmured voices sounded all around her, but she was still struggling back to consciousness and had yet to open her eyes. How long ago had Foxx grabbed her, knocking her out? Now she lay on her back on a thick rug, still naked, as she’d been when the ritual had begun.

Paenther, are you okay? Is Jag? So many Mage.

We have our hands full—or our mouths full, as the case may be—but we’re holding our own. I’m fine now that I know you’re all right. I’ll find you, Skye. When you figure out where you are, tell me. I’ll find you!

Skye opened her eyes slowly, a little at a time, taking in her situation, her surroundings. Her heart sank as a familiar gleaming, sumptuous decor filled her sight.

I’m in Birik’s apartments, Paenther.

The chambers gave away nothing of their cave roots. The walls had been painted and hung with bright red and yellow silk; though thick stalactites clung to the ceiling, they’d been sealed against the moisture that pervaded most of the rest of the cavern. Gilt furniture filled the chamber, ornately carved tables laden with decorative crystal and power orbs.

On the walls hung the heads of animals, beasts whose lives Birik had sacrificed in the hunt for more power. The heads included several black bears who’d come to her in the woods over the years, a couple of wildcats, and four stags, with their huge racks of antlers. Each one had been drawn to her gift. Each had died at Birik’s hands as she’d danced in their blood.

She hated him. Hated him!

“What are we doing in here? ” Foxx asked. “Why aren’t we out there fighting? ”

“Seal the doors! ”

As Birik’s voice broke through the others, she froze, then slowly turned her head.

Birik sat on a large throne at the far end of the room, his three most powerful sorcerers on one side, Vhyper and Foxx on his other. In an arc around them, stood twelve sentinels, each armed with half a dozen blades. Birik’s private guard.

Paenther…She quickly told him what she saw.

Birik looked at the young Feral with the disdain he held for all Therians. “You’re in here instead of out there because I won’t have you destroying them. Or helping them.”

His cold gaze flicked over her and stilled. “You’re awake.”

Skye struggled to her feet and forced herself to face him.

Birik stepped down off his throne and crossed to her, clamping his hand around her neck the moment he reached her. “You freed them. How did you learn to remove the shackles? ”

She couldn’t speak through the hand cutting off her air.

“Mind-skinning, ” Foxx replied for her, his voice bored.

Birik squeezed. “You helped them.”

Foxx snorted. “She’s B.P.’s girlfriend. If she weren’t Mage, he’d probably make her his mate.”

If she weren’t Mage. The words cut, yet she knew they were the truth. Even if they managed to make it out of here alive, there was no future for them. Paenther could never take her as his mate.

Birik’s grip tightened until she could barely stand, could barely see through the pain. A fraction more and he’d crush her windpipe or snap her neck. “You willingly spread your thighs for that piece of animal trash? ”

Fury erupted through the desperation. He wasn’t trash! The Mage had always considered themselves superior to the Therians, yet it was the Therians, the Ferals, who acted with honor and courage. Who fought to save the world instead of destroy it.

She speared him with her gaze, something she had not had the courage to do in too many years. The flicker of surprise in his eyes pleased her.

Skye! Paenther’s voice cut through the pain. I need a distraction. Pull the power, for me, little witch. The good power.

Can’t…remember.

I’ll say it with you.

As Birik’s hand threatened to snap her neck, Paenther’s voice began chanting in her head. The words Ezekiel had taught them.

Skye closed her eyes, mouthing the words, saying them in her head as she pulled her power, the true power, through the only warm-blooded animal in the room, the one inside Foxx.

Pain sliced through her chest as her cantric objected, but with the pain came a warm rush of energy. Gathering the power close, she let it grow and grow, then opened her eyes, trapped Birik in her gaze, and threw it at him.

Disbelief flashed in Birik’s eyes a split second before he released her and flew backward, crashing into the table behind him. Crystal and power orbs shattered as the table collapsed beneath his slender weight.

Behind her, the door splintered, deep growls filling the room as the two jungle cats leaped inside. A jaguar and a black panther, the beautiful black panther she’d fallen in love with.

Skye, behind you!

She whirled too late. Birik hadn’t stayed down and now his arm went around her neck, yanking her against his chest as his knife slid deep into her chest on a river of fire.

“You blast your power again, and your heart goes with me, ” he said loudly enough for all to hear. “And if your Feral makes another move, the result will be the same. If you move, cat, she dies.”

Paenther froze, poised to spring at the Mage whose blade was sunk hilt deep in Skye’s chest.

Beauty!

Paenther, no. Don’t stop. Kill him!

He’ll kill you without hesitation, I can see it in his eyes.

My life doesn’t matter.

It matters. You matter.

The trouble was, how in the hell was he going to save her without getting himself enthralled in the process? A knife between Birik’s eyes, another in that wrist. Tricky, since he had to be in human form to throw.

Jag, can you free a knife or two from these bastards?

Nothing I’d enjoy more, Hiawatha. But unless you’ve learned to throw with your tail, you’re seriously risking enthrallment.

Just get me the knives, Jag. I’ll do the rest.

Without hesitation, Jag went on the attack, tearing the blade hands off the closest two sentinels and tossing the metal. In a flash Paenther shifted and grabbed the knives.

But as he prepared to throw them, he froze, caught in some kind of magical net. Too late, he saw them, the three sorcerers on Birik’s right staring at him with eyes of evil, murmuring beneath their breaths. Pain sliced through his head and down through his body.

Jag, get out! They’ve caught me. Get out before they trap us both.

Shit, the jaguar muttered, but the shout of the guard told him Jag had done as he’d commanded for once.

“Let the jaguar go, ” Birik said. “The others will catch him. And if they don’t, I don’t really care. This is the one I want.”

Pain leaped inside him, scorching him from the inside out, but he watched with tearing relief as Birik slid his knife from Skye and pushed her away from him.

Skye fell to the floor, struggling for breath, but her heart was still in her chest, still beating. To an immortal, that was all that mattered. Her head turned, and she met his gaze, those blue eyes pained. For him.

“What are you going to do to him? ” Foxx asked with a bored drawl. Paenther turned to study the young Feral he’d known for three years, still trying to figure out if he were merely being controlled by evil or if he had in fact been turned. At the moment, though, it didn’t seem to matter. Not unless Foxx was one hell of an actor. Because he seemed utterly in league with Birik. “Are you going to kill him? ”

“Kill him? No. I’m merely taking his soul. I have three Ferals at my disposal now. When they catch the jaguar, I’ll have four. I’d never believed catching all the Ferals was a possibility, but I’m beginning to realize, your foolish loyalty to one another might make it ridiculously easy. As long as I have you, the others will come to me. And when I have you all, and have taken all your souls, you’ll open the Daemon blade the way it was meant to be opened and free Satanan once and for all.”

Like hell. But he was right. The Ferals were loyal to a fault. The others would mount rescue attempt after rescue attempt until they succeeded or were all caught. Just as the seventeen had all those years ago, and died, their animals never to return. It wasn’t in the nature of a Feral to abandon his friends and brothers. And it was that very loyalty that would be their undoing.

The pain began to swirl in his head, a strange-colored fog encasing his mind and body. Sharp, invisible hooks dug into him, pulling. He found Skye, locked his gaze with hers, holding on against the magical forces trying to remove his soul.

Pain and fear for him bled from her eyes.

With a swift and terrible understanding he knew the moment he lost his soul his love for her, for anything, would die. He’d hurt her as he became a tool of evil, a weapon against the men he’d sacrifice his life to protect.

His body would continue to live and to kill, but the man he was, the man capable of love and sacrifice, would die.

As the pain overtook him, he yelled to the heavens, pouring out his rage and despair.

Skye stumbled to her feet, her wounds nearly healed, her heart crumbling beneath the weight of the terrible crime Birik was perpetrating on the man she loved. On the Ferals. On the world.

Vhyper stood well behind Birik, now, a man with a cold, emotionless face, his hands clasped behind his back.

Skye went to him.

“He loves you, ” she said quietly. Desperately. “He risked everything to come back here to save you.”

“He’s a fool, ” Vhyper said coldly. But something flickered in his eyes. “There’s nothing I can do.” His voice was different, warmer, filled with pain. The good man.

Risking everything, she gripped his arm. “You’re the only one who can save him, Vhyper. Ancreta made you what you are. She caused the injury inside you that let the Mage get their claws into you. Now they’re going to destroy Paenther.”

Vhyper’s gaze looked elsewhere, but the fact he hadn’t shaken her off or hit her gave her hope he was listening. But listening wasn’t enough.

“Vincent! ”

His gaze snapped to hers, a look of terrible struggle in his eyes.

“Don’t let Ancreta win, Vincent! ”

Skye saw the moment the cold rushed back into Vhyper’s eyes, dousing the humanity. With a casual flick of his wrist, he backhanded her, sending her slamming against the wall. She slid to the floor, her head pounding, her body aching. But she felt the creature inside Vhyper rear up, hissing and spitting. Not at her. At something within him. An invisible foe. A battle between good and evil in its purest form raged inside the viper shape-shifter, each seeking possession of his body. His mind. His soul.

She tried to rise, but her head spun dizzily, and she sank back to the floor and crawled close to him, trying to murmur the words to give him power, but they wouldn’t come!

Paenther! But Paenther was no longer in his animal form and couldn’t hear her telepathically. If she called to him out loud, she’d only attract Birik’s attention to herself and possibly to the battle going on inside Vhyper.

Her head and body aching, she struggled to her feet, where Paenther could see her. Where she might be able to catch his eye and beg his help.

But when his gaze turned toward her, his eyes held no warmth, no love. Only pain.

And the cold emptiness of the soulless.