"What are you doing?" His voice sounded strangled to his own ears.

Her sweet mouth lifted into a small, womanly smile. "Reveling in my power."

"By touching me?" ….

Her blue eyes lifted to caress him. "Do you feel anything when I touch you?"

"Always." He had to clench his hands at his sides to keep from reaching for her, to keep from cupping her slender waist and sliding his hands up over her rib cage, over her breasts.

"What does it feel like?" Her palms pressed flat against his cheeks as her gaze dropped again to his mouth. He saw the intent in her eyes plain as day and knew he had to stop her. But, heaven help him, he wanted to kiss her. He was dying to kiss her.

She tried to lower his head, but he shook her off, lifting his chin.

"No, Kara." He knew he should push her away, but he didn't have the strength.

"What does it feel like?" she persisted. "Do you feel the buzz of power like I do?"

"Yes." The word came out choked, as one glowing thumb slid against his lower lip. He was frozen in a battle between his beast and his honor, one trying to break free to claim her, the other fighting to push her away. Neither won, and he stood immobile, letting her touch him even as he managed… barely… to keep from touching her.

Until she slid her thumb into his mouth. His beast leaped free of his restraint. He felt his fingers and mouth ache in warning. For one terrible moment, Lyon thought he was going feral.

His control was too thin. Kara was playing with fire in two ways, one of which could get her killed if he lost control as completely as his men had.

He grabbed her wrists, yanking her arms over her head and turned her, pushing her face first against the rock wall and pressing himself tight against her, pinning her.

"Don't move."

"What are you doing?" Her pulse raced beneath his hands, her breathing fast and labored.

"Don't move."

Instinctively he'd known he couldn't push her away or try to escape her himself. His beast would have fought to reach her. Now he had her. He had her. His body pressed against her. But with her back to him, he couldn't kiss her. And clothed he couldn't take her. Not unless he lost all control and ripped her clothes from her.

Pressing against her like this eased his inner torment, his beast's desperate need to touch her, to feel her against him, her hair brushing his cheek, her soft buttocks nestling the part of his anatomy that craved the feel of her most.

He pulled the air into his lungs, breathing the scent of her with each hard breath, drowning in the feel of her even as he struggled for control.

Little by little, his beast calmed until he was certain he was in control again. He released Kara's wrists, pushed away from her, and stepped back before she tempted him again.

She turned toward him slowly, warily, her radiance fading and disappearing as he watched.

"What happened, Lyon?"

He couldn't tell her how her beauty had nearly driven him to the point where he could have harmed her, without wanting her all over again.

"Nothing."

"Lyon…"

He silenced her with a wave of his hand. "I'll tell you later." He turned his back on the confusion in her eyes and started for the walk. "Let's go, Kara." What he'd told her earlier held true. He wasn't letting her out of his sight again. But he'd been a fool to allow himself to be alone with her. His control was shot. Another Feral might help him keep the wildness at bay.

Or protect Kara if he failed. Damn, but he needed to get away from her altogether.

As they walked to the car, he pressed his fist against the ache in his chest. She made him want things. Things he'd known little of and never cared about before. Smiles. Laughter.

But the goddess had known what she was doing when she gave Kara to Vhyper. Vhyper, once he was himself again, would make her laugh. He'd make her smile. He'd make her happy in a way Lyon never could.

The sooner he remembered that, accepted it, and quit wishing for things that could never be, the better. Because if he didn't, this obsession he was developing for Kara was going to make his life a living hell.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

The drive back to Feral House was short and silent: Kara could feel the fear rising inside her as if someone had opened her up and was pouring it in. With each rotation of tires, her pulse increased. Her mouth went dry. Her stomach clenched with misery both real and forced as she held on to the hope that Lyon would figure out what was doing this to her.

Before she found out in the dark one night. Alone.

Tears burned her eyes at the horrible return of fear and the loss of the brief hours of pleasure she'd known on the rock. The freedom. Lyon's company. His smile.

He sat beside her, silent and brooding, as he drove them back to the place she least wanted to go. If only they could have stayed out there in the wind, beneath the open sky, with the sound of the rushing water filling her ears instead of the thudding of her heart.

If only she could have stayed out there with Lyon.

But after that last incident, he'd been hell-bent on getting away from her. Her cheeks heated as she remembered the way she'd touched him after he'd told her no. He hadn't stopped her, but neither had he encouraged her to continue. Yet she had. Until he turned her and pressed her against the wall.

He'd been close to losing control. She'd felt it, felt the hardness of the erection he'd ground against her backside.

God, she'd wanted him. As he'd pressed against her, she'd longed for whatever he'd wanted to give her. With the rush of power had come an incredible joy, the combination turning into a raging need. For Lyon.

A need he'd shared. He'd given her no doubt about that. But he'd refused to give in to it.

Because she belonged to somebody else.

As they drove into the drive, Lyon could feel Kara's fear rising exactly as it had earlier. He frowned. What if she was right? What if this wasn't natural?

"Kara, we're going to do a little experiment."

She looked at him dubiously. "What kind of experiment?"

"Close your eyes. Tightly."

She glanced at him for a moment longer before he watched her golden lashes sweep down over her eyes.

"Now what?"

"Nothing. Just keep them closed for me while I drive around for a few minutes."

He felt her relax against the seat, but her fear didn't ebb. Until he drove out of the driveway. But that didn't necessarily prove anything.

Lyon drove to the end of the street, then turned around and drove into a drive two houses down from Feral House with a drive he knew to be of similar length to their own. As he curved around in front of the house, her emotions remained level and unaffected. Then suddenly began to spike, but with worry, not fear.

"Are your eyes closed?" he demanded.

"Yes."

"What are you worried about?"

"We're in front of Feral House, aren't we? Yet when I can't see it, I'm not afraid."

"Keep your eyes closed. We'll try it again."

This time when he drove to the end of the street and back again, he drove into his own drive. And her fear quickly began to rise.

"You can open your eyes, Kara." He flipped open his cell phone and called Paenther. "Meet me in my office in five."

"What's the matter?" Kara blinked at him.

"The second time, I didn't pull in here. I pulled into a neighbor's drive. That's the time you didn't react."

"You believe me," she breathed.

Her relief was so acute, he reached for her and squeezed her shoulder. "We've probably got a dark charm in the house. It happens from time to time."

"What's a dark charm?"

"A Mage spell attached to some item that finds its way into our house. It'll cause us problems for a couple of days before we find it and destroy it, or until the magic peters out. This one's strong, though, to be causing you this much anxiety when you're not even wearing it. But it makes sense why the fear disappears when you're away from the house."

"Could the dark charm have caused Wulfe's problem?"

"Good question, but no. Unascended as you are, your natural defenses against magic are virtually nonexistent. Not so ours. No dark charm has the power to rip a Feral loose from his humanity. The Mage simply don't have that kind of power anymore."

He parked the car and turned off the ignition, then reached for Kara's hand, beating back the rush of fear from her body. "Once we find the dark charm, you'll be fine."

His own relief was huge. She wasn't weak of mind or spirit but simply a victim of a minor Mage attack. One he could easily counter.

Lyon released her, then went around the car to Kara's side. The moment he opened the door for her, a blast of fear rolled off her, slamming into him like a sound wave. She shrank back into the seat, then grabbed his hand like a lifeline when he reached for her.

"Please tell me you felt that."

He nodded. "I did. Definitely magic-born." His hand tightened on hers as he fought to help her battle the vicious emotion.

Lyon steered her up the front walk and down the front hall to his office, his hand at the back of her neck, siphoning her fear. As he pulled the emotion from her, she calmed, her body relaxing beneath his touch.

Kara looked around as he ushered her into his private sanctum. "Nice. Now this is more like it."

"In what way?"

"It looks like a man's room."

"It is. Beatrice stayed out of here." He really looked at the room for the first time in a long time. It was, and always had been, his favorite room in the house with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the large hearth, his mahogany desk, and the dark-painted walls.

"It feels like you."

"It's my sanctuary." A sanctuary that would never be the same, he realized, as she slipped from his hold to peruse his collection of books. His gaze drank of her beauty, mesmerized by the blond, wind-tossed wisps that curled around her face where they'd escaped the confines of the elastic. Her scent would linger here, in his memory if not in truth. Nowhere would he be safe from thoughts of her once she'd turned to Vhyper.

The fear began to rise in her again. As he felt it, she was already moving back to his side. He ran his palm beneath her ponytail and over the silky skin of her neck.

Her face tilted up to him, her blue eyes concerned. "What does it do to you when you help me like this? Does it hurt you when you take my emotions?"

His gaze caressed her features one by one, the dark gold lashes sweeping up from her eyes, the curve of her brows, the high soft line of her cheekbones.

"It doesn't hurt."

"Do you feel them yourself when you take them from me?"

"No. Not as you feel them. There's an energy in emotions, especially strong, negative ones. I feel it like a low current. Not pleasant, but not painful." His thumb traced her jaw beneath her ear. "Knowing that I ease your discomfort gives me pleasure."

Her gaze softened, her lips lifting in a small, sweet smile that set up an ache deep in his chest. "Thank you."

At the sound of a throat clearing behind him, Lyon turned, dismayed to realize he hadn't even heard Paenther's approach. The black-haired warrior stood in the doorway now, his gaze flickering between him and Kara, his mouth tight with a disapproval he gave no voice to.

"There's a dark charm in the house that's been affecting Kara, B.P. Organize a full search."

If Paenther was surprised, he didn't show it. He nodded and turned to leave. "Vhype."

Paenther's greeting had Lyon's head snapping up just as Vhyper froze in the doorway.

Gold eyes watched him caress Kara's neck. "Get the hell away from my mate."

Lyon released Kara slowly, $ deep growl escaping his throat as his beast rose. Lyon fought back the wildness. "She needs my help, Vhyper."

"I'll just bet she does. The same kind of help you gave her during the Pairing?" The snake's eyes began to turn feral red.

"Stay in your skin, Vhyper."

"Go to hell, Chief." Wicked, curved, snake's fangs sprouted from his mouth. "Give her to me."

As Vhyper closed the distance between them, Lyon shoved Kara behind him, his beast leaping in protective fury, snarling beneath his skin.

His fingers burned, but he fought the feral anger, balled up his human fist, and smashed it beneath Vhyper's jaw in a hard uppercut.

The snake's head snapped back, two trails of blood trickling down his mouth from where his fangs pierced his lower lip.

"Back down now, Snake," Lyon snarled. "Get back in your skin, or you're joining Wulfe in the prison."

Vhyper hissed at him, his red eyes spitting with anger.

"You wouldn't."

Lyon leaned forward until he was fully in Vhyper's face. "Watch me. If you're not in control, you threaten the safety of the Radiant, which endangers us all."

"So this is how you stay away from her, Chief?" His voice was low and hard. "With your hands all over her? And you condemn me for losing control? Not a man in this house would blame me for taking you down for this insult." A low sound rumbled from his throat. "You have no right to touch her, no right to keep me from touching her."

His beast roared in protest.. She was his to protect. His.

But, dammit. What Vhyper said was true.

It didn't matter. He wasn't letting her go. His teeth clenched and unclenched in a low, rhythmic violence as his innate fairness battled with his beast's hyperprotectiveness and the primitive instinct that told him not to let her out of his sight.