Upshifting into his full-sized cougar, he flew down the stairs four at a time. Light began to reach him from below after a single turn, growing brighter as he descended, revealing the jeweled inlay work in the walls, creating magnificently intricate floral designs. One part of his mind wondered at the artists who'd created the place, but his only concern was finding Ariana.
A flash of pain, Ariana's pain, burst from the mating bond, making him crazy with the need to reach her.
After more than a dozen turns of the stairs, he leaped into a chamber and came to a startled halt.
What the fuck? Jag pulled up beside him.
Melisande stood alone in the large, circular chamber. At first, he thought her feet had been cut off and she stood balanced upon the remaining stumps. But she was somehow fused to the mosaic floor.
His gaze rose to her face, to the defiant fury that couldn't mask the terror in her eyes. He shifted into his human form, Jag doing the same.
"Where's Ariana?" Kougar demanded.
"You shouldn't be here. You have no right to breach the sanctity of the queen's chambers." But her words held little real heat.
Kougar strode to her, in no mood for her attitude. "Tell me!"
"She's in the lower chamber."
"Show me how to reach her."
This time, her ire rose. "It's forbidden to all but the queen." Even terrified half-out of her mind, she remained defiant.
Kougar's patience was at an end. He went feral, his claws and fangs descending, though he held himself back from attacking her by the barest measure. There would certainly be no lifting this one off her feet.
A distant scream rang from deep below. Ariana's scream.
"Melisande." The growl ripped through his voice.
Her resistance visibly melted, the fear for her queen getting the better of her where her fear for herself had not.
"You can't follow." Melisande lifted her hand to forestall his reaction. "I can open the door, but the temple won't let you through it. It won't even let me pass." Disgust sliced through her expression. "And you're not even Ilina."
High above, a shout sounded, followed by the smashing of stone.
"We're about to get company," Jag warned.
Melisande's temper snapped, anger fueled by pure terror. "You've led them to us!"
"Put a muzzle on it, blondie." Jag held his hand out to Kougar, palm up. "Knives? I'll hold them off." Of the two of them, only Kougar retained his clothes and weapons when he shifted.
Another distant cry of pain rang out, followed by a burst of agony blasting down the mating bond deep within him.
Kougar tossed two knives to Jag and whirled on Melisande. "Open the door!"
The blond mist warrior began to chant softly in the musical Ilina-speak. Behind the altar, a shimmering door appeared. Kougar raced for it, desperate to barrel through, but all too afraid Melisande had spoken the truth. He pulled up, attempting to slam his hand through instead. And hit solid rock.
"I told you." For once, Melisande's voice held no smugness, only a twist of defeat.
But Kougar wasn't about to give up. Again, he heard Ariana cry out and felt her pain in that mating bond he'd been trying so hard to keep himself cut off from.
The mating bond.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and followed that bond with his mind, reaching down through the decrepit, caved-in cord, trying to touch her in some way. As he focused on her through the bond, he reached for the door again. And again, hit only stone.
From the other end of that bond, he felt her pain, her fear. And something else. A rising darkness. As if she was losing control of the poison.
Goddess. He pounded at the door with both fists, then shifted into his cougar and tried to leap through, only to be knocked back on his haunches. He sat there, his head ringing for an infuriating moment before he leaped to his feet and shifted back to man. As he'd done above the stairs, he kicked at the barrier over and over with his foot; but this one showed no intention of crumbling.
The damned temple wasn't going to let him in.
Like. Hell.
Once more, Ariana's scream rang from below. Fear for her tore at his throat. The need to reach her rose until he thought it would suffocate him.
"Let me reach my mate!" A roar of fury and possession and frustration blasted up from his chest and out his throat, echoing through the chamber, pounding at the walls. "She's mine!"
He slammed his fist against the door again and again, then stopped suddenly as a weird crawling energy hit his scalp and washed down his body. Deep in his mind, a voice spoke to him. A voice he didn't know. A woman's.
Then you shall both suffer.
His gaze flew to Melisande. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Turning back to the shimmering, unbreachable door, he knew. The temple itself, or the queen whose spirit resided within, had heard his claim and bowed to it.
In a spray of light, he shifted into his cougar and flew through as if the stone had never been. As before, he landed on tight, spiral stairs, this time of stone. The air changed as he descended to the lowest of the chambers, taking on the scent of lightning and lily of the valley. Of fear and pain.
Ariana's pain.
With his cat's agility, he tore down the stairs, a longer set than the last ones, twisting deep into the earth. With each twist, Ariana's pain grew inside him.
She cried out again. And again.
Finally, when he thought he couldn't stand it another minute, he burst into the chamber he'd seen in his dream. And into a scene of nightmare.
Ariana stood within the circle of pillars, in the center of the knee-deep pool, naked. Bloody stripes crisscrossed her breasts and thighs. Stripes that weren't healing.
As he watched, a bolt of lightning shot from the top of one of the pillars to slice across her abdomen. With a cry, she threw back her head, her face a mask of agony. She swayed unnaturally on her feet as if she were being held upright by an invisible force.
He felt her pain as if it were his own. Shifting into a man, he ran to her and jumped into the pool as another bolt struck her low across the back.
"No more!" he shouted.
The water plastered his pants to his calves and soaked into his boots. As he reached her he saw a flash of light against the ceiling and shifted to put himself between it and Ariana. Pain sliced across his shoulder blade, an electric current that raced through his body, setting every nerve ending on fire. Biting down on a groan, he wrapped his arms around Ariana's chilled, bloody body, curving himself around her. Protecting her as well as he could.
"Kougar." His name on her lips was little more than a gasp. "You can't be here."
"I'm getting you out of here."
"No. Can't . . . leave."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another bolt flash, and shifted to take that blow, too. The lightning tore through his left hip, slicing his pants and his flesh halfway to the bone.
Fuck.
Within the cage of his body, Ariana began to soften, her breath easing.
"Have you accessed any of the ancient knowledge?" he asked, but she didn't answer. "Ariana?" He tried to lift her into his arms, but she was caught fast by an invisible force.
Another bolt flashed and Kougar spun, Ariana tucked within the curve of his body. Whatever held her to that pool allowed him to turn her, but not remove her. Fire exploded across the backs of his thighs.
Goddamn that hurt.
He caught the next one across his left shoulder. The fourth tore through the back of his skull. He could barely think, barely breathe. His entire existence, his purpose for living, narrowed down to one thing--keeping the bolts from striking the woman in his arms.
How many attacked him, he didn't know. Time ceased to exist. He was so dazed with pain that he didn't realize the attack was over until Ariana collapsed, nearly falling to her knees before he caught her.
With a wary, cautious breath, he swung her up into his arms, then leaped clear of the pool before another bolt could flay them. He headed for the stairs, wanting only to get her the hell out of there. It occurred to him that he had no idea if she'd learned what she needed to know.
But at that moment, Ariana's safety was his only concern.
Chapter Twelve
Ariana rose to consciousness slowly, disoriented, her body ablaze with pain. Kougar's familiar scent and the feel of his strong arms grounded her, dispersing her fear, and she sank against the warmth of his chest as she tried to remember where she was. And why.
They were climbing upward. Climbing stairs. Twisty, spiral stairs.
The temple.
With a jerk, she came fully awake, shifting in his arms, hooking one arm around his neck and pulling herself up with a blast of pain. "Kougar, no! I can't leave. It's not done. I've learned nothing."
"It attacked you."
"Morwun demanded pain as her price. Kougar, I have to go back."
But he wasn't listening, and her strength had never been a match for his. Especially now. She hurt, as if every cell in her body had been lit on fire. Her head, too heavy to hold up, fell against the side of his neck as he took the stairs at a fast climb. Even her hands and feet were beginning to prickle in the way they did when the darkness inside her grew hungry.
In her dazed mind, small memories popped forth like warm puffs of air. The metallic smell of her own warm blood as she cut her wrists to paint her body for ritual. The pleas and screams of an Ilina maiden as she curled her fingers around the traitor's heart and pulled it from her chest. The sweet pleasure of release as she rode a male she didn't recognize. Because the memories weren't hers, but those of the queens who'd come before. Scattered, confused knowledge that might prove to be of some help if she could make sense of any of it.
Moments later, Kougar burst through the warded door and into the upper of the queen's chambers, the room light and airy compared to the one below. Melisande stood where Ariana had left her, ankle deep in the floor, while Jag fought back would-be invaders at the base of the upper stair, his bare back gleaming with sweat.
"Mage?" she asked.
"Yes." Kougar's arms tightened around her. "They followed us down here."
"I can seal the door." How she knew that, she wasn't sure, but she began to whisper the ancient chant that came to her. Seconds later a wall appeared between Jag and his opponents.
The Feral sprang back in the nick of time, but the Mage surged forward. A mistake. A yell of agony filtered through the wall as his hand, sticking out through the solid stone, dropped its useless knife to clatter on the floor below.
Jag whirled, his expression fierce until it landed on her. "Did you do that? How about a little warning next time, sister? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that our only way out?"
"You've acquired new knowledge," Kougar murmured against her temple, a fine thread of expectation sharpening his words. He pulled back, and she met his gaze.
"Not enough. Not all."
"You don't know that."
"Yes. I do. I have to go back."
The air felt queer, almost bubbly, against her skin. She tightened her hold on Kougar's neck, excitement lifting her pulse. "I can feel the magic in here, the magic that trapped Melisande." Closing her eyes, she let the knowledge flow into her. "It will trap any Ilina turning from mist to flesh." She opened her eyes again, meeting Kougar's gaze. "Which is why it didn't trap me, too."
"How do you know?"
"I couldn't read the magic before. Now I can. I can block it." Softly, she began to sing one of the Ilina songs of enchantment. Slowly, she felt the magic in the chamber dissolve and the strangeness leave the air. "It's done."
"Fail." Jag nodded toward Melisande. "Peter Pan there is still trapped like an ex-Mafia boss in cement shoes." He sauntered over to Melisande, squatting at her feet. Wrapping one large hand around her ankle, he gave a small tug. "Caught fast." He looked up at the mist warrior, whose complexion had turned pasty white. "Are you sure your feet are still in there?"
Melisande scowled. "They're in there. And the moment they're free, I'll prove it to you by kicking you in the balls."
"Yeah, yeah, that's what all the girls say."
"I don't have the knowledge to free you, Mel, but no one else should get caught. If I come up with the magic . . ."
"Screw magic," Jag muttered, rising. "What we need is a jackhammer."
Kougar tightened his hold on her. "He's right."
Melisande's gaze shot to Ariana's. "You can't let them destroy the temple."
Ariana sighed. "Call Getrill, Melisande. You're a lot more important to me than the temple."
Melisande met her gaze, fear written all over her face. She was afraid Ariana was mistaken, that Getrill, too, would become trapped. Ariana could see that truth in her eyes, even if she didn't say the words out loud.
"Call her, Mel."
Melisande frowned but did as she asked, and a moment later the freckled Getrill safely formed from the mist. As her gaze took in Melisande's entrapment and Ariana's weakness, her face turned hard, her hand going to her sword.
Ariana raised a hand, reading her thoughts all too well. "The Mage set the trap, Getrill. The Ferals protect us."
The maiden relaxed only slightly.
"Take Jag back to Feral House--"
"No." Kougar interrupted her. "Jag won't be of any use by the time he gets back here." He turned to Getrill. "Knock on the back door of Feral House and tell Lyon I need a pickax and a sledgehammer. ASAP."
Getrill's wary gaze swung to Ariana, who nodded in agreement. The Ilina turned to mist and disappeared.
