“If we can pull off the acting job,” Delaney said softly.

He squeezed her shoulders. “We’ll do it. Midnight?” he asked the others. When he received a round of nods he said, “Midnight it is.” Then he took Delaney’s hand, careful not to meet her gaze. “Let’s go up to my room where we can concentrate.”

A long shot, Lyon called it. And Tighe feared he was right. But it was the only shot they had. As he led Delaney from the room, his arm tight around her shoulders, apprehension knotted his gut. But it couldn’t obliterate the hope that burned inside him.

Because he still had a chance to come through this alive. Not a great one, perhaps, but a chance.

If he did survive the night, the next task on his agenda was convincing Delaney to stay in his world instead of going back to her own.

He pulled her close and kissed her hair. One challenge at a time.

“You ready?”

Delaney shuddered, glad for Tighe’s arms tight around her. They’d gone over what they needed to say and practiced it five times, now. But the thought of actually doing it was setting butterflies to flight in her stomach even as it covered her skin in goose bumps.

Because the goal was to let the clone see them. To let him see her. And the thought of bringing that evil presence into the room with them was making her ill.

“He won’t be here, D. He’ll just be watching.”

“Have you started to read my mind now?”

His lips brushed her hair. “Not your mind. I can feel your emotions as if they were my own. The nervousness. But also the aversion. And the fear.”

“My fear doesn’t bother you anymore?” But it didn’t. She could feel his emotions, too.

His hand ran slowly up and down her arm. “All these years, fear has reminded me of that time with Gretchen. You stole its power over me today, D.”

She tried to smile, but was too nervous to pull it off. “I’m glad.”

“Me, too. But enough stalling. We need to issue this invitation, or he won’t make it in time. Then we’re really screwed.”

She took a deep breath, trying to disperse the ants crawling over her skin. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Slowly, he turned her around in his arms. She expected him to look into her eyes, to draw in the clone. But instead he kissed her, strengthening her even as he calmed her. Smart man, he pulled back before the kiss got out of control and stole all thoughts from her head. Including the ones she needed.

Running his palms over her cheeks, he stared into her eyes.

And she felt the clone.

Her heart started racing. Tighe’s grip on her tightened.

“D,” he said softly. “It’s me, sweetheart. I know every time you look at me, you see him.”

His words were a gentle reminder they were on camera. He’d told her just to think of it as a television camera. And she was going to blow the plan completely if she didn’t play it right.

She gazed into his eyes, opening her heart, feeling Tighe’s love engulf her, calm her. Yet looking into those green eyes, badly streaked with black, her heart clenched as she was reminded of just how little time they had left. Of just how critical it was that she pull this off.

With a determination born of desperation, she gathered her wits and her thoughts. And said her lines with all the raw emotion in her heart.

“What are we going to do, Tighe? How are we going to save you?”

“Kougar has a plan. He’s figured out what went wrong with one of the Daemon traps he tried down by the river last night. He needs more Ferals, more power. Everyone’s going at midnight tonight. Everyone but me.”

She reached up, stroking his jaw. “Why not you?”

“We never leave Feral House unprotected if we can help it. And with my soul deteriorating, my energy’s the lowest right now. If it doesn’t work without me, they’ll call me, and I’ll have to go.”

“Once they trap him, will they kill him?”

“They’ll bring him to me to kill. We’re not sure how far the soul can travel, but we’re taking no chances.”

It was done. They’d said all they had to say. But they hadn’t discussed the last part, how to end the vision without simply turning away.

Tighe leaned in and kissed her, slowly at first, then with increasing passion, stealing the fear that lurked in her mind, stealing all thought. He pulled away, and without looking at her, tucked her head against him.

“I love you,” he murmured softly.

“And I you.”

She wrapped her arms hard around him and prayed for a miracle. Prayed for Tighe’s life to be spared so he could live another six hundred years, or another six thousand.

Even as she knew she could never be part of them. Even if she saved him, she’d lose him.

Because she could never stay there with nothing to do, no purpose in life, growing old and wrinkled, watching her perpetually virile, perpetually young husband’s interest in her die. No, she wouldn’t be able to bear it. It was better to go back to her life, to the place she belonged, even if it meant feeling a hole in her chest where her heart used to be.

His world could never be hers.

Tighe pulled Delaney onto the bed with him and peeled off her clothes, then his own, needing to make love to her one more time. Every move was slow, unhurried. He wished those moments could last an eternity.

While she kept her eyes closed, afraid, he knew, of engaging the clone, he touched her, loved her, with infinite care. First with his hands, then his mouth, and finally with his body as she spread her thighs, and he sank deep into her heat, filling her. He felt their hearts engage in a sensual explosion of heat and love.

Her eyes flew open, widening.

“The bond,” he murmured.

A look of amazement creased her passion-drugged features. “It’s stronger than before.”

“From what I’ve heard, it’ll grow even stronger over time.”

Her eyes contracted with pain, with the reminder, he knew, that time was the one thing they might not have. She closed her eyes again.

“Look at me, D.”

“But…”

“Look at me. It’s your eyes that strengthen me.” He slid into her again and again, slowly, loving her with his body. And with his mind, his heart. His soul.

Afterward, he pulled her into his arms and held her as the hour until midnight slowly counted down.

Tighe was sitting on his bed, watching Delaney strap on her ankle holster when a knock sounded on his door. It was ten to midnight.

Hawke opened the door and stuck his head in. “We’re heading out. Give us twenty minutes.”

Tighe nodded, rose, and went over to the man who’d been a friend for well over a century. Understanding and deep friendship moved through Hawke’s dark eyes as he met him halfway, embracing him hard.

“We’ll get him, buddy. This isn’t the end.” But despite the positive words, worry riddled his eyes.

“I hope to hell you’re right.”

Hawke left, with a nod to Delaney.

When she finished tying her boots, Delaney straightened, her gaze carefully not meeting his. “I’m ready to kick some Daemon ass.”

He never tired of watching her, never failed to marvel at her strength and resiliency. She was a vision of beauty and power in the jeans and long-sleeved tee she’d borrowed from Kara, the gun strapped boldly at her waist. She’d twisted her damp hair into a knot at the back of her neck, accentuating the feminine shape of her head and the long, graceful line of her throat.

Goddess, but he loved her. “You know guns won’t kill him.”

A savage smile lifted her mouth. “I’m fully aware of that, sport. But when I’m armed, I feel ready for anything. I could take on the world if I had to.” She shrugged. “Just maybe not this world.”

Tighe chuckled.

Delaney scowled. “I hate not being able to look at you.”

“I’m drinking my fill of you, brown eyes.”

He watched her gaze slide up his legs, lighting tiny fires along his skin as it went. “Maybe I’ve been a little too cautious.”

“If that gaze of yours travels any higher, you may blow the whole operation, Agent Randall. You’re going to make me forget everything. Everything but that sweet body of yours.”

Her worry rolled over him, quieting the teasing. He went to her and took her in his arms, holding her, calming both of them as much as either could be calm when so much was at stake. If the clone didn’t bite, what would they do?

Finally, he pulled away, again, careful not to meet her gaze. “It’s time for act two.”

With a deep sigh, Delaney nodded and preceded him out the door and down to the foyer, where Kara waited. Kara gave Delaney a big hug, then came to him, sliding her arms around him. He hugged her tight. As he held Kara, he asked, “Are you ready, D?”

“As ready as I can get.”

He released Kara, then turned to Delaney, took her into his arms, and stared deeply into her eyes, all the way to her heart. The warmth rushed into him. He nearly closed his eyes to drink the sweet intensity of her love, but he forced himself to hold her gaze.

Slowly, he repeated the second batch of lines they’d rehearsed. “I have to go, D. The trap isn’t working. They need me to add my power to theirs.”

“Be careful, Tighe. I love you.” The fear in her eyes was real. As was the love.

Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her thoroughly. When his mind told him it was time to pull away, to leave, as they’d planned, his hands wouldn’t let go. What if their plan failed? What if he never made it back to her before his soul was spent?

Goddess, but he needed just one more kiss. But then he’d need another and another. With a massive force of will, he cupped her cheek and pulled away.

Tears glistened in her eyes. “Be careful.”

“Always.” Then he turned and left Feral House, stepping into the cool night wind.

As he ran across the circular drive at a slow jog, his body was tense and ready for the fight for his life. He just prayed he’d timed this right, that the clone would come for him before the draden, before he had to shift. Prayed that he’d come for him at all. Because if he didn’t…

Tighe clenched his hands as he ran. He might have just held Delaney for the very last time.

Tighe? Hawke’s voice rang in his head. Was there a part of this plan you didn’t tell us about? The part where Delaney runs out of the house on her own?

Tighe slowed, his mind scrambling. No.

I’ll get her.

Out of nowhere, a dark cloud of draden descended, blocking out the treetops. Shit. He was going to have to shift. As he transformed into his animal on a rush of power, Wulfe’s curse rang in his head.

The damn draden are attacking the animals!

No sooner did Wulfe’s words register than the draden bit right through his tiger’s fur. Dammit. Just as they’d attacked Hawke and Kougar by the Lincoln Memorial.

Tighe’s blood went cold, understanding slamming him in one fell blow. It’s the clone! The clone can control the draden. His heart clenched with fear, his mind screaming with pain. Goddess help her. He’s controlling Delaney!

Chapter Twenty-nine

Tighe fought back the draden, gut clenching, terror pounding through his brain as he sent his heart outward, seeking Delaney.

A hundred times brighter than their old connection, the bond that bridged their hearts showed him the way. With draden clinging to him, he took off through the woods, following his sense of her, feeling her confusion and fear.

Goddess stone, he sent out to the other Ferals. He’s taken her to the goddess stone.

We’ll get there as fast as we can, Hawke said. We’re fighting for our lives right now, buddy. The draden have got us good.

Abruptly, his tiger’s vision went black. He careened to a stop, slamming shoulder first into a tree. Draden tore at his tiger’s flesh, but the only pain he felt was in his heart and mind. Because he couldn’t reach her. And the only reason he’d be getting a vision was if the clone was about to feed.

Delaney’s mind fought to draw her weapon, to fight, but her body remained still and trembling before the monster who wore Tighe’s face.

“What have you done to me?” She stood before him on a wide, flat rock high above the Potomac, the cool wind whipping at the loose tendrils of her hair.

As she’d waited in the foyer of Feral House, armed and ready for whatever came, she’d felt this sudden, inexplicable need to leave. At first, she’d thought it had something to do with the strange new connection she had to Tighe and feared he’d needed her, so she hadn’t fought it. But the moment she was outside, her feet took off as if they had a mind of their own, and she’d felt him. The clone. Controlling her.

Inside her.

He reached for her now, cupping her face in his hands, shooting cold through her body as his face took on an expression she’d often seen on Tighe’s. As if she were the most precious thing in the universe.

“What have you done to me?” she demanded a second time.

His mouth turned up in a smile that froze her from the inside out. “I’ve made you my channel key.”

She didn’t know what he meant by that. And was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.

“I see the questions in your eyes, fair Delaney. A channel key is made by infecting a human with a bit of Daemon consciousness. And letting it grow.”

She stared at him. “You’re taking over my mind?”

“No, just a small piece of your will. Enough to use you for the key’s true purpose.”

Her insides quivered with dread. “Which is?”