He pulled back, leaving her wanting, and gripped her head, his gaze boring into hers. "I love you. I've lived more these past days with you than I have in seven hundred years. Live for me, Kara. You have to live."

She smiled, tears gathering in her eyes. He loved her. What's more he knew it. "I'm not going to die," she whispered, despite the fear beginning to lap at her courage.

"No. You're not."

He shoved his tongue into her mouth once more, nearly sending her over the edge, then pulled back and turned her around to face the three men.

To her surprise, Jag leaned forward to kiss her cheek.

Paenther did the same on the other side. "Stay with us, Kara." He pulled out his knife. "I'll make the cuts shallow. Give me your hand."

He made a tiny cut in her palm, then a mirroring cut in Tighe's. Tighe held out his hands to her. "I'll hold you steady." When she placed her hands in his, he kissed her forehead. "This is going to work, Kara. We're not going to lose you."

Jag and Paenther knelt on one knee on either side of her. Paenther sliced each of their palms, made small cuts in each of her ankles, then tossed the knife into the grass.

Kara looked over her shoulder, needing to see the man she loved more than life, meeting Lyon's gaze for perhaps the last time. His eyes caressed her and loved her as hers did him.

"Turn around, sweetheart," he said softly. "Tighe."

While Lyon gripped her hips, Tighe stepped back, forcing her to bend over.

Paenther murmured odd words, intoning the ritual chant.

Her pulse began to race with an odd mixture of embarrassment, excitement, and fear. Lyon's hands squeezed her hips gently, reassuring her, sending a cascade of warm, damp need to her throbbing center.

"Call the fire, Kara," Lyon said softly. "But don't go radiant. Not until I say."

Tighe squeezed her hands, telegraphing his tension, a tension she suspected they all shared. She didn't want to die. Not now. Not when she'd found her place. Her heart.

She took a deep breath, finding her courage, then concentrated on pulling the fire.

"Done," Tighe said. Tendrils of blue flame leaked out between their clasped hands.

The sound of Lyon's zipper sliding and the faint rustle of clothing behind her sent her pulse into orbit. She felt him lift her dress, felt the cool breeze waft over her bare flesh. Lyon's fingers curled around her hips.

"Spread your legs, Kara."

She did as he asked, the men's hands retaining their grip on her ankles. She felt the damp tip of Lyon's erection slide against the hot center of her need. Then he slid inside her with a single perfect thrust. Kara gasped and arched at the rush of pleasure.

Lyon pulled out, then pushed himself into her again, filling her, his entry slow and careful, as if he wanted to savor every moment, every touch. He pulled out, then pushed into her again and again until her body quickened and she was on the verge of shattering.

"Now, Kara," Lyon said, his voice strained. "Call the radiance. Now."

She could barely think. Struggling against the thick swirl of pleasure, she drew the fire in one hard pull at the very instant Lyon thrust hard into her, sending her over the edge. Her body tightened and burst on an incredible release, the radiance rushing through her in a torrent of heat, licking at her skin, filling her with a powerful blend of pleasure and strength, life and rightness.

A scream tore from her throat, pure triumph.

A scream mirrored in the triumphant yells of the men. As Lyon pulled out of her, the hands holding her fell away and she opened her eyes to find three huge, feral cats shimmering to life before her. Chills raced over her skin.

It worked! She was alive. She grinned and whirled to Lyon.

And watched in horror as he collapsed to the ground. Not a lion. A man. A man who appeared to all the world to be dead.

"No!" She fell to her knees beside him as her fingers flew to his neck, searching for a pulse that wasn't there.

"Lyon."

"Roar." Tighe dropped on the other side of him, a man once more. "What happened?"

"I don't know," she cried. "It worked. I thought it worked."

"Look." Paenther grabbed her wrist and yanked up the sleeve of her gown, exposing the armband Lyon had given her, the lion's eyes glowing bright amber.

"Shit," Jag said.

Kara looked at Tighe, her blood turning to ice. "He told me this is the way it's done, but it's not, is it?"

Tighe shook his head. "Dammit, Roar."

Her gaze flew from one man to the next. "How do we help him?"

Jag just shook his head.

"We don't," Paenther said, releasing her arm. "Not even a Feral can survive a blast like that without the means to channel it. He sacrificed himself rather than risk your life, Kara."

"He loved you," Tighe said, simply, his voice hollow.

Kara couldn't believe it. They were giving up. "There's got to be a way!"

Tighe's eyes burned with pain. "If only there were."

Kara's mind went white with shock as if all the color had drained from the world.

"We've got to stop those Daemons," Jag said.

"Go." She flung her arm out. "Don't let him have made this sacrifice in vain."

Around her, the three men shifted back into a life-sized tiger, panther, and jaguar, and leaped away. As she watched, through a haze of pain, they crashed through the doors into the underground chambers and disappeared.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-two

Kara turned on Lyon, her anguish turning to fury. "I hate you for this! It would have worked, Lyon. I know it. And if it didn't, I'd have been the one to die. It should have been me. Me."

Tears blurred her vision and ran down her cheeks. "Oh, God, Lyon, how am I supposed to live without you? I love you, dammit. I love you."

She was buzzing like a power station with enough energy running through her to light up half the state of Virginia, yet she couldn't save the man she loved.

Lyon needed her power. He needed….

Her mind started to spin. He needed his heart jump-started.

She ripped the silver band off her arm and curled it around his far larger one. Her pulse began to thrum. Humans came back from stopped hearts all the time, didn't they? There had to be a way to use this power to help him. Dammit, she wasn't going to let him go without a fight.

She sniffled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, then ripped his shirt open.

Blood. She needed blood to blood, a conduit for the power. A knife. She leaped up and retrieved the one Paenther had tossed in the grass. Sparing no time, she sliced two deep cuts in Lyon's chest and matching cuts in her palms, then dropped the blade and straddled Lyon, pressing her palms to his chest, mingling their blood.

She was running on instinct now. With her shins and bare feet on the ground, she called to the Earth and was amazed at how easily she went to radiance now that she was ascended. Power burst through her, nearly more than she could contain. She struggled to control it, then focused it through her hands and into Lyon.

"Please, Mother," she prayed to the Earth. "Please give this warrior life again. Help me save him. I need him, I love him."

Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Lyon, come back to me," she choked, and on a wave of fury and desperation, pulled more power and more and more until her skin glowed so brightly she had to close her eyes against the near-painful brilliance. She grabbed the knife and reopened the healing cuts on her hands, then slid her palms into the seeping blood on Lyon's chest, cuts that weren't healing. With a scream of fury, she poured everything she had into him, over and over until she was drenched with sweat.

"You're not going to die!" she screamed. "You're not!"

"Kara." The sound of her name from Lyon's lips was the sweetest she'd ever heard.

"You're alive," Kara gasped. She was glowing too brightly to be able to see him.

She felt his hands sliding up her hips, their grip weak. "Passion and pain," he whispered. "Blood and sex."

"Sex." My God, how was she to do it with him when he was barely alive? But as she tried to scoot past his loins, she came upon a massive, hard erection. "Gotcha."

She rose onto her knees, pulled the dress to her waist, and took him deep inside her again. As she rode him, she grabbed the knife, cut her palms and reached for his chest, clasping her hands to his own still-open cuts.

Mind spinning, she remembered how he'd had her pull the radiance as she came. With an effort, she released the glow and let her skin go dark as she pressed down on him, released him, then pressed down again. Lyon's hands fell from her hips.

Her heart clutched. She shouldn't have released the radiance. He needed the power and now he was too weak.

"Lyon, kiss me. Make me come." She leaned low and covered his mouth with hers, sliding her tongue between his lips.

She felt him stir, felt the gentle slide of his tongue and the almost instantaneous face of fire to her core. She kissed him, rode him, pressed her bloody hands to his open chest and rose, gasping with the growing pressure between her legs. Cresting.

As the orgasm exploded, she reared up, pulling the power harder than she ever had before. Light flared, lighting the entire backyard, turning night today.

Strong hands gripped her hips. "Kara," Lyon groaned, taking over, pushing hard inside her. "Goddess, but I love you." He thrust into her until she came again, screaming. And suddenly the man beneath her began to change.

With a gasp, Kara dove sideways into the grass and watched as the man she loved turned into the king of beasts, an exquisite, full-maned lion. He rolled onto his feet and shook, then looked at her, joy and love shining in the amber eyes she'd come to know so well. She scrambled to her feet and ran her hands through his mane.

"We're going in together."

He shook his massive head, but she ignored him and climbed onto his back. "You told me you were never leaving me behind again. I'm taking you at your word. Besides, I'm not helpless, in case you hadn't noticed. This is my fight, too. And your men may need my help."

The lion beneath her lifted his head and gave a roar that shook the ground and could have crumbled less sturdy buildings, but when his emotions washed over her, she felt the strength and warmth of his pride in her. And his love.

Kara patted his lion's shoulder. "Let's kill us a witch, my heart." Grabbing tight hold of his mane, she held on as he bounded forward and leaped through the mangled remains of the doors, to the deep bowels of Feral House. And into the heart of the battle.

Kara took in the scene of devastation in the dim, smoky dungeon. Horror ripped along her spine at the sight of three strong Feral bodies littering the floor, headless.

Bloodless.

Not Ferals. Clones. Thank God.

Zaphene stood back from the action, dressed much as she'd been the first time Kara saw her, in a slinky dress and high, strappy heels, her red hair loose and stylish, her gaze locked on Kara with malice and dismay. A chill rippled over Kara's flesh, the icy shadow of remembered terror as she met the witch's copper-ringed eyes.

Her pulse skittered, her body flushed cold, then hot as fury slowly overtook the fear. This woman, this… thing… threatened everything she'd come to hold dear. Lyon. The other Ferals. The world.

And Kara wasn't helpless anymore.

"Get them!" Zaphene shrieked at the clones. "I want them alive."

Kara's quick gaze scanned the room, looking for Vhyper, remembering now, all too well, how he'd strung her up and stripped her down, then directed the clones to shove the blades deep inside her. Her courage steadied as she saw no sign of him.

Jag and Paenther were engaged in battle with two clones each. Tighe was nowhere to be seen. But at the sight of their leader returned, the two great cats let out long, feral cries.

Kara could almost feel their gladness and the leaping of their spirits.

As she watched, Paenther flew at one of the clones, taking a blade deep in his gut as the second clone rushed him.

Beneath her, Lyon's muscles bunched. Get down, little one. Lyon's voice sounded in her head. Be safe.

She slid quickly off his back and watched him join Paenther. With a single, massive paw, he knocked Kougar back, then leaped on him, grabbing the Feral's head with his massive jaws and ripped it clean off his body.

The violence of the act sent shock jangling along her nerve endings until the startling absence of blood jerked her back to her senses. Not Kougar. Draden clone.

As the Wulfe clone beat off Lyon with a sword, Kara saw a flash of blue and turned to see Zaphene hurrying toward the door.

"The witch! She's escaping."

Paenther lunged after her, leaving Lyon to battle the Wulfe clone.

Kara turned to find Jag battling valiantly, but the two clones were getting the better of him, Jag's fur was matted with blood, one hip partly cleaved from his body. He needed help.

While one clone, a draden who looked exactly like Lyon, hacked at the sleek animal, the other attempted to avoid Jag's raking claws and tie him with a thick rope. Her heart fought with her mind as she watched the twin of the man she loved attacking this animal she knew to be a friend. When a vicious swipe of the Sword nearly took off Jag's other hind leg, she moved, fury sweeping caution to the winds. That cat was hers. They weren't going to harm him.

She remembered something Lyon had said about, a Radiant who'd thrown fire. Focusing inward, she pulled the power into her palm and threw it, hard, watching it land well short of its target, disappearing in a puff of smoke as it hit the floor. But she wasn't deterred.

Magic, she reminded herself, worked… well… like magic.