Obsession Untamed (31 page)

“Where did you meet her?”

“We both wound up with the same foster father. I grew up in a Therian village in Denmark. When I was nine, my mother had a premonition of a Mage attack. The Mage in that area, at that time, were trying to wipe out the Therians.”

“Why?”

“A superiority thing we’ve suffered from the dawn of time. One of the women in our village had married a human a few years before, so my mother took me to her and asked her to let me stay there for a while. She promised she’d come back for me as soon as it was safe.”

Delaney’s soft hand stroked his chest. “She didn’t come back, did she?”

“No. A few months later, the woman I was living with died of a mysterious illness. She was Therian, so of course it was no illness. It had to have been
Mage magic of some kind. I was too young to understand fully what was going on, but I had a feeling…Iknew my mother would never come back for me. So I lived with the human, Anders, and his young son, helping with the farm.”

“Did he know what you were? That you were immortal?”

“I was never really sure. In hindsight, no. He couldn’t have known. When I was fifteen, his fourteen-year-old niece came to live with us. Gretchen. She was…incorrigible. Full of mischief and laughter, and I fell head over heels in love with her. Three years later, we married. Amalie was born a year after that.”

A soft kiss brushed his shoulder. “What happened?”

He looked down at her dark head and lifted his hand to touch the cool sleekness of her hair. “Why are you so sure something happened?”

She lifted her head to meet his gaze, her heart in her eyes, and he knew she felt the pain in his chest. So he told her.

“I was marked by the goddess to be the next Feral Warrior.”

Her eyes widened. “Literally?”

“Yes and no. By the goddess, I mean Nature. There’s not a real woman or anything. But the marking is literal.” He touched the four claw marks that scored his right nipple. “I woke up to these after a hell of a dream I can’t remember. I kind of knew what they meant. I’d heard of the Feral Warriors and how they were marked, but I’d never seen
one. That night, as we got ready for bed, I wanted to make love to my wife.”

Delaney’s breath sucked in audibly. “Your eyes changed.”

Tighe nodded, the old pain driving a stake through his heart. “She screamed.” He looked across the shower, his sight caught far in the past. “I thought she saw something behind me, something threatening my family. That emotional rush turned me completely feral. Not crazy, like you’ve seen me, but still feral. I was horrified as claws unsheathed from my fingers, and fangs grew in my mouth. She ran from me. She ran from our cottage screaming for help, yelling that there was a demon in her home. The villagers attacked me, hacking at me with knives and axes. If I’d been human, I’d have died. I managed to get back in my skin—back in my human form—and tried to explain, but they weren’t listening. I had no choice but to run that night.

“The next morning, I snuck back into the village. I had to talk to Gretchen. I knew she loved me. If I could just explain, everything would be okay. But the moment she saw me, her eyes filled with such terror. Such terror, D.”

Delaney looked up at him, and he met her gaze as she reached for his hand. “That’s why my terror sets you off, isn’t it? It’s that memory.”

“Probably. I was furious with her, but mostly…I hurt, D. She’d betrayed me. Betrayed everything we’d meant to one another. She started screaming again and ran from me, and I let her go. I under
stood it was never going to be okay. But as I left my house,my home, and started back through the garden, I heard Amalie. I turned around to find her running toward me.Toward me . She was crying for me. Gretchen’s uncle snatched her up as the other villagers armed themselves, ready to drive me away a second time. All the while Amalie kicked and screamed, reaching for me, the tears streaming down her face.” He covered his eyes against the burning that wouldn’t stop. “I turned and walked away. I turned my back on her, D. I never saw her again.”

“Tighe.” He felt Delaney’s strong arms go around his waist and her damp head press against his chest. “There was nothing else you could have done.Nothing . She knew you loved her,” she added softly.

His arms went around her and held fast. “Did she? I never went back. A newly marked Feral starts to feel a pull, a need for radiance that will eventually lead him to Feral House, but it took me nearly a year and a half to find it, up in the Highlands of Scotland. Not long after I arrived, Lyon moved us to Ireland because of all the problems with the Mage. I immersed myself in my new life, shutting out the pain of the old. We were engaged in constant battle with the Mage, and after a time, we moved to Spain, and finally across the ocean to come here.

“The first time I considered trying to go back, we were discussing leaving for the New World. I needed to see Amalie again. Just one more time.
It seems ridiculous, maybe, but I still thought of her as five. In my mind, she’d stayed five all those years. When you never age, when no one around you ever ages, you tend to forget that others do. And it’s all too easy to lose track of time. I finally stopped and did the math and realized nearly a hundred and twenty years had passed. My little Amalie was long gone. I don’t know if she lived another year after I left her, or another hundred. When I pulled that child from the fire, all I could think, all I could wonder was how many times my own daughter had needed me that I wasn’t there to protect her.”

“I’m sorry, Tighe.” Delaney held him, stroking his back, until the shudders left him, and the memories uncurled from his heart.

“It was a long time ago,” he said, finally feeling like he could breathe again.

Delaney straightened and met his gaze. “I’m sorry for you, but I’m sorry for them, too. Poor Gretchen. She’d probably never heard of Therians, let alone Feral Warriors. All she knew was stories of demons and devils and bad things. Your changing like that would have scared the crap out of anyone.”

She ran gentle fingers through his hair, holding him with her gaze. “Don’t blame her, Tighe. It wasn’t her fault.” Leaning forward, she laid a feather-light kiss upon the corner of his mouth. “But it wasn’t your fault either.”

He sighed. “I tried to forget. Ihad to forget. But not a day goes by that my traitorous eyes don’t remind me what I am.”

A soft hand stroked his cheek. “I love what you are.”

“I saw your eyes, D. When I went feral.”

“Well,yeah. Under the circumstances, I had reason to be afraid. But, for heaven’s sake, Tighe, it’s your own fault you scare us humans. You guys are so damned secretive, no one knows you even exist. So of course we’re shocked when you suddenly do something no human can do. But now that I know,I’m not afraid. Unless you go feral again. Then all bets are off.”

He marveled at her courage. Even then, even when he’d been lost in that chaos, she’d pulled him out. She’d faced the worst he had to give and not run.

“Turn into a tiger for me, Tighe.”

He stared at her. “Now?”

“Rightnow. I want to see you shift when I can pay attention. When I can touch you.” Her expression changed, turning guarded. “Are you dangerous when you shift? When you’re a tiger? I mean, to me?”

“No. It’s still me in either form. Even in the feral form, I’d never hurt you if I weren’t handicapped by half a soul.”

“Then do it, Tighe. Shift for me. Please?”

“Delaney…” He shook his head. “You don’t want this. Like you said, you’re not used to this.”

“Ah, but what I said was, I didn’t understand it the first time. You looked damned dangerous and, as it turned out, you were. It’s different now. I understand what you’re doing. And I want to see it
happen when I can really watch. I’ve never touched a tiger.”

“If you get scared, there’s no telling what will happen.”

“Then don’t do anything without warning me. No pretending to bite my head off or anything.”

This was not a good idea. What if Delaney didn’t handle his shift as well as she thought she would? If she got scared, he could lose it again. He could kill her this time.

Even if he didn’t lose it, could she really accept ananimal as her mate?

But in her eyes he saw such certainty. Such strength. And she wanted to see him shift. Shewanted to. Wasn’t that all he’d wanted from Gretchen? To be given a chance to explain?

He could give Delaney that. What she wanted. What they both wanted.

All he had to do was trust her to handle it.

Deep in his heart, he did.

Delaney’s pulse raced with excitement as Tighe rose to his feet and led her into the gym.

“Stay here.” Tighe backed into the middle of the room, giving himself room, and her space.

Then, as she watched, the man she loved disappeared in a breath-catching shimmer of colored lights. A second later ahuge, gorgeous tiger stood in the place where he’d been. The very tiger she’d seen for such a brief moment before.

Delaney’s heart pounded. Staring at the beautiful, deadly creature, adrenaline shot through her
system, instincts bred over eons of human evolution warning her torun.

But she didn’t. Because the dangerous animal wouldn’t hurt her.

A tiny smile played around her mouth as her hand went to her chest. “My heart’s racing, Tighe. But it’s not from fear. Not much, anyway. This is so beyond incredible. Can you hear me?”

Of course.His voice sounded in her head.Do you think tigers can’t hear ?

Her eyes went wide. “Did you really just say that?”

D…

“Nod.”

He bobbed his head.I feel just like one of those damned dolls sitting in the back of a car window.

“You didn’t tell me you could talk in my head.”

Telepathic communication is possible between shifted Ferals and whomever they choose. Very convenient when we’re on the hunt.

“I’ll bet.” She took a step toward him, her pulse leaping. “You don’t mind if I touch you, do you?”

There’s nothing I’d enjoy more.

But she hesitated, her cavewoman instincts screeching that he’d tear her limb from limb. She took another step, caught her breath on a laugh, then walked slowly, cautiously to the amazing creature. But as she reached for him, as her fingers slid into his fur, a low growl rumbled from his throat.

Delaney snatched back her hand. “You said you didn’t mind.”

Sorry. I guess…I expected you to be a little more afraid. It’s happened before.

To Tighe’s surprise, she made a sound of disgust and, with no hesitation, wrapped her arms around his tiger’s thick neck. “Gretchen would have accepted you, you know.” She rubbed her cheek against his ruff. “If the situation had been different. If you’d been alone and able to discover your changes together.”

Her words slid into him like warm syrup, filling the holes inside him, erasing the cold.

“I imagine the whole thing scared you nearly as much as it did her.”

Yes. It probably did. I didn’t actually shift until much later, after I reached Feral House, nor did I have a mirror to see myself. But I could see my claws and feel the fangs. I wasn’t at all sure what was happening to me.

“It was a tragic set of circumstances all the way around, Tighe. But she loved you. Up until that day, you’d never doubted her, had you?”

Never. That’s why her betrayal cut so deep.

“She didn’t betray you. She didn’t understand what was going on. Her uncle and the other villagers were simply trying to protect themselves and their families from a creature they couldn’t comprehend. You’d have done the same, Tighe. With Amalie at your side, you wouldn’t have taken any chances. You’d have attacked first and asked questions later.”

With a deep mental sigh, he knew she was right.

Thanks, brown eyes. I’m seeing that day in a
different light. A brighter light. I’ve been blaming Gretchen, blaming humans all these years. For their fears. For their close-mindedness. Perhaps unfairly.

Delaney released him and rose to walk around him, sliding her fingers through his fur from the base of his neck to his tailbone. She moved behind him and brushed her fingers along him as she returned to his head. Then she knelt in front of him, her fingers sliding through his ruff. Her eyes sparkled with excitement even as they flowed with a depth and clarity he’d rarely seen in any eyes, human or Therian.

“Can you taste my emotions in this form?”

Not as well, but yes.

“Am I afraid?”

I hear your heart pounding like it’s about to take flight.

“But am I afraid?”

No.

“Right answer. I’m…awestruck, Tighe. Exhilarated. Completely enchanted. I have goose bumps because I’m staring into the eyes of one of the most beautiful, powerful,dangerous creatures on this planet, and in his eyes I see the man I adore.” Her eyes gleamed with emotion. Softly, she added, “I see the man I love.”

Harsh joy barreled through him, taking down his heart in a single blow.

Brown eyes. I need to hold you. Step back.

When she did, he shifted back into a man, then stood and swept her into his arms. His mouth covered hers, and he kissed her, tasting the truth of her
words in the passion of her lips and the tenderness of her fingers in his hair. Hearing it in the beat of her heart. A heart beating in time with his own.