Isai waved his hand to the crumbling chamber, and it remained intact without so much as a small bit of dirt falling to the floor.
Anatolie retreated for the briefest of moments and then struck again, this time at her throat, wrapping hands around her and squeezing. Isai’s hands got there before hers, destroying the illusion by simply covering the hands with his and removing them. The two countered illusions and strikes for the better part of an hour, then Anatolie was suddenly gone.
Julija knew it wasn’t over and she found herself holding her breath again, looking at the man in front of her. Waiting for the axe to fall on them. She heard the snarl almost before Isai.
6
Isai had given the shadow cats his blood. He felt the difference in them immediately. Pain amounting to agony stabbed deeply at both cats. The two became enraged and looked for a target. He wasn’t the target because Anatolie hadn’t yet gotten Isai’s blood from his two sons. He turned, placing his body squarely in front of Julija’s as he rose, pinning the male cat with a predator’s stare. He reached for the animals at the same time, mind to mind.
The high mage was in a fury. He struck at the two cats, directing them to find Julija and hurt her. Rip her to shreds within an inch of her life. They could take her life’s blood until there was little left. He wanted her alive, but just barely. More, he would not let up on the agony the cats suffered until the job was done.
Anatolie stabbed at their minds over and over, deliberately hurting them, taking pleasure in it. Both cats could feel the mage’s enjoyment of the cruel act. He wanted them to know he liked hurting them, and that he would continue until they did as he ordered.
“Merge with me, Julija,” Isai instructed. He kept his voice very low, soothing even in an effort not to provoke the cats any further.
She did so without hesitation, filling his mind with—her. She was feminine, but very strong. He could feel her power sliding up against his and then merging completely. Her hand bunched in his shirt at the small of his back. He was utterly aware of her, every breath she took, every small hitch as she fought to maintain their connection when her father’s cruelty was torturing the two cats she’d come to care for.
“We are going to concentrate on Blue first. We have to drive Anatolie out of him and build a barrier fast. We will not have much time. He will try to kill Belle, so we will have to be able to quickly get to her and throw him out.”
“Isai, perhaps I should take one cat and you the other.”
“We will be far more powerful together. Your father is extremely formidable. He is already in control. We have to surprise him with speed and attack.”
“Hurry,” she urged. “Isai, what he’s doing is so painful to them. I hate that anyone would hurt an animal like that. It’s not right.”
He didn’t point out that hurting her wasn’t right, either, but her father had no problem doing so. Anatolie clearly didn’t consider Julija his daughter, not in the way most fathers would think of their child. She was a possession. He had created her for his use, not out of love. In his mind, he could torture her and use her for feeding because she existed to serve him, just as the cats existed to serve him.
“Blue,” he said very softly, pulling the cat out of his fight to keep from obeying.
The shadow cat was all shadow and red glowing eyes. It took one reluctant step toward Julija, its body shuddering with the effort to keep from attacking her. The black fur was gone as were the roped muscles, leaving only a shimmering transparent shadow, insubstantial, but very lethal.
“We will stop him,” Isai promised.
He took the lead, leaping into the cat’s mind, Julija completely merged with him. He caught Anatolie unawares.
That which is bound, acting in pain.
I call to the heart, to that which remains.
The bond that was forged through evil and spite,
I now clear the cord to give you clear sight.
Bound there were two, now become one.
Separate the evil so no harm will be done.
Immediately the two hurried to weave the spell to build a shield for the cat.
Shadows upon me, be trapped by light.
Return to your darkness, never find sight.
Together they intoned the last of the protections so Anatolie couldn’t cause Blue any more pain.
I send you back from whence you have come,
Never to cross over or shadows become.
Blue shook his head repeatedly, the red beginning to fade from his eyes.
Belle lifted her head and screamed in agony. Anatolie had done exactly what Isai had prophesized. He’d redoubled his efforts to strike at the female, forcing her to comply with his demands. Belle stalked Julija, trying to get around Isai, who kept turning to face the cat, making sure to keep his body between Belle and her intended victim.
Belle began to whirl about in circles, becoming more and more agitated. Discipline allowed Isai to finish the spell to place a barrier in Blue’s mind.
Scatter, dissipate, disperse, dispel,
I free you now from evil’s spell.
The moment the shield was there, he leapt into Belle’s mind and attacked Anatolie.
The cat screamed and launched herself at Isai, mostly to get through him to Julija. Isai caught her in his arms and tossed her back across the cavern. In her insubstantial form, Belle was light. She nearly hit the wall on the other side of the chamber.
Anatolie fought hard to stay in the cat, directing her back to the attack, lashing at her over and over with stabbing pains through its skull. Belle rushed them again. Blue intercepted, slamming his body into hers to drive her off her feet, giving them a few moments without distraction.
I see you, Carpathian. Anatolie used the shadow cat to speak. The voice sounded eerie and high-pitched.
“Strained,” Julija whispered. “He’s a good distance away and he’s guessing.”
“Answer him. Take the forefront. I’ll boost your energy, so it seems seamless and easy for you to communicate over such a distance.”
“It is easy,” Julija informed him with a little sniff of disdain.
Father. It is true I am mostly Carpathian, but you made me that way. You insisted on a Carpathian mother and that gave me the power of the mages and the power of the Dragonseeker. For that I must thank you.
As long as she talked to her father, he was distracted from his brutal attack on the shadow cat. That gave Isai time to study her father’s position.
You cannot defeat me, daughter. Come home and all will be forgiven.
I will be punished with pain the way you are punishing these animals for doing exactly as you programmed them to do. They found me and attacked, yet you continue to punish them.
The stabbing pain in Belle’s head eased as Anatolie considered how best to answer his daughter. He wanted her to comply, and harming the cat was clearly making her aggressive toward him.
I don’t want to hurt you or these animals. You need to come home.
Isai kept very still, studying the other man. He didn’t want to give away the fact that he was boosting Julija’s energy and that she had the capability to defeat the high mage in the battle for the cat.
Isai knew Xavier had known the threat to him came from the Carpathian people, nowhere else. He had been the one to befriend them centuries earlier and give them the foundation for their safeguard spells. He had thought to always be their benevolent master, but the Carpathians weren’t a lazy people. They’d begun to develop the spells themselves, adding to the basics Xavier had taught them. Coupled with their fighting skills and their ability and willingness to pool knowledge, Xavier had begun to fear and envy them.
Xavier’s grandson, Anatolie, perhaps his greatest masterpiece, was no different. He had created Julija to serve him. To serve the other mages. They needed Carpathian blood to keep them alive well past years of longevity. He hadn’t thought that she, with what he considered to be very diluted mage blood, would become powerful in her o
wn right. It had to have been disturbing to him that she was born with the high mage’s mark, but he’d dismissed that as a birthmark only because it suited him. Once he realized that she had the potential to be far more powerful than he was, Anatolie was bound to do everything in his abilities to either get her back or kill her.
You know what will happen if I come home. Crina hates me. She makes my life a living hell. She left me locked up for over a week with nothing to eat and little water to drink. You’ve seen her, and you’ve never stopped her.
Isai hadn’t considered what it would have been like for Julija growing up with her stepmother. The woman had allowed Anatolie to get a Carpathian girl, one they’d taken prisoner, pregnant.
She continually shows me how she killed my mother. You were there, and you did nothing to stop it. I was a little girl and it was a terrifying ordeal for me. You let her, Father. You watched her hack up my mother as she lay helpless from your spells.
Isai glanced quickly over his shoulder at Julija. Her voice trembled, and tears burned in her eyes, clogged her throat and trickled down her face. He knew she wasn’t aware.
Crina had far overstepped her role. She did then and there was no stopping her. Carpathians are our mortal enemy. You know that. She also was jealous. Your mother was a beautiful woman and clearly you remind her of that. If you prefer, I will dispose of her. She has long been a thorn, but she has her uses. If it will make you agree to come home, I will strangle her right now. Or feed her to one of the shadow cats in your brothers’ shed.
Anatolie made the offer callously, so casually, for a moment Isai didn’t believe what he was hearing. He had a line on him now. Belle had settled since the high mage had begun to try to cajole his daughter into returning to him. Anatolie didn’t seem to understand that a woman like Julija wouldn’t want her father to kill her stepmother for her as if the death would be a gift.
Isai slid the pad of his thumb across the back of her hand in warning. He was about to strike. She might not want to harm anyone, but he wasn’t of the light. Darkness dwelled in him, surrounded him and would for all his days.
In his mind he built an image of everything he knew about Anatolie Brennan. The man was a master of illusion, fitting into his community and yet wreaking havoc on those around him when they got in his way. Isai struck hard, driving his fist through the mage’s chest wall, fingers open and scraping through flesh and bone to get at the heart.
Anatolie screamed, and did the only thing possible: he leapt out of the cat’s mind. Barnabas will come for you. You will return with him.
Julija still had a hold on Isai, her fingers twisted in his shirt. He felt her body jerk slightly at the threat and then a shiver consumed her.
Isai and Julija immediately built the shield for the female cat, a strong enough barrier that would keep Anatolie out, no matter what he did.
Very slowly, Isai turned to Julija. “Who is Barnabas?”
She lifted her feathery lashes and looked up at him with her dark chocolate eyes. There was fear. Trepidation. Wariness. “He is an old enemy who delights in tormenting me. He will do whatever Anatolie commands. Nothing is beneath him.” There was contempt in her voice.
She turned her head to escape his scrutiny, but he framed her face with his hands and turned her back to him. He studied her set expression. He was still in her mind and she was holding herself very, very still, as if, when she moved, she might shatter.
“Who is this man to you?”
She couldn’t turn her head, but her gaze landed on the center of his chest.
“He is nothing to me.”
That was both truth and a lie. She stepped back away from him and abruptly landed in the chair when it hit her in the back of the knees. Blue pushed his head onto her lap, sensing she was upset. Belle came toward them, slinking across the chamber, uncertain of her welcome after she had fought to attack them. Julija held out her arms, and the female completed the last few feet in one jump, her black fur once again sliding over the shadowing body, making her whole.
“It is unwise to lie to your lifemate,” Isai cautioned, but he paced across the room, giving her space. She’d already gone through a traumatic situation with her father. He wasn’t about to add to it. In any case, she was unclaimed, and he wasn’t going to force his claim on her. She had deliberately kept quiet knowing she was condemning him to death or worse.
Julija reached up to her throat and stroked one finger over the scar there, the one that covered the terrible gash that had changed her voice forever. “I hate this scar,” she said softly. “Your friend Sandu healed the wound, but it was so severe that it left this scar. Sergey wanted to make certain I was killed, or couldn’t speak, so one more male Carpathian hunter wouldn’t have a lifemate.”
Isai remained silent. She hadn’t needed Sergey to do the very same thing, but he didn’t remind her of that. He could feel sorrow beating at her, but her emotions were all jumbled up. Shame. Anger. Sorrow. All three mixed together. She didn’t look at him but sank her fingers into Belle’s fur and rubbed one cheek down the cat’s spine.
“I thought I was in love once. A long time ago.”
Isai’s heart clenched. Not because she didn’t deserve to love someone, but because whatever had happened scarred her far worse than Sergey’s talon had. He wanted to put his arms around Julija and just hold her to comfort her but from the way she held herself so stiffly, averting her face from his, he knew better. She didn’t want to be touched. She was willing to share her body intimately, but not her feelings. She didn’t want to care about him or have him love her.
She rubbed her chin on Belle’s fur. “I was so alone. And so young. My stepmother was particularly nasty to me and my father was cruel. My brothers had each other, but I couldn’t even have friends. Anatolie made that very clear. In any case, who wanted to bring anyone home when you had the stepmother from hell?”
Isai remained very quiet. She rocked herself gently back and forth, unaware that she did so. That small action told him she needed the comfort she rejected. It took great effort not to go to her. He might not have claimed her, but she was still his lifemate and every cell in his body needed to make things better for her.
“Barnabas taught a seminar on medieval spells, useful ways to combine sex and torture to get your victim to cooperate any way you wish. I was the youngest student and the only female in the class. My father was adamant that all three of us, my brothers and I, go to the seminar. He said the understanding of pain combined with sex and how it could be used against one was needed by every mage. Afterward, Barnabas and I went for coffee. I was upset. The things he taught turned my stomach. He was . . . sweet.”
He could imagine how anyone remotely nice would appear sweet after the way her family had treated her. He remained absolutely still, afraid if he drew attention to himself in any way, Julija would stop sharing. She didn’t want to, and he couldn’t imagine why she’d decided to tell him about the man when she had made it clear she didn’t want to revisit what had to have been a difficult and painful time in her life.
Isai didn’t like the way she’d met Barnabas. Why would her father insist she attend such a seminar? That made no sense to him.
“We ended up dating for several weeks. Just meeting and going for coffee or a drink. I really liked him. He liked animals and just about everything I liked. We would sit and talk for hours. Oddly, I wasn’t attracted to him sexually, but I wasn’t that attracted to anyone. That didn’t seem to matter to him. He treated me like a friend and never once pushed beyond that boundary.”
He could have told her she wasn’t physically attracted to other males because she held the light to his darkness. Her body was waiting for his. He remained silent.
“In any case, somewhere along the line, I suddenly was on fire, desperate for sex.” She rubbed her chin along the cat’s spine again, her hands still in the fur. “I burned day and night. I was scared, because to go from being reluctant to have sex to thinking of it every waking minu
te, I knew a spell had to have been cast. That, or I was drugged, or both.”
She fell silent for a long time. Her hands trembled as she petted the cat. The animal was far too big to remain in her lap. He knew the weight on her small frame wasn’t good for her, but he kept silent, feeling privileged that she’d told him as much as she had about her past.
“I went to Barnabas because I didn’t know anyone else that I trusted. I told him what was happening to me and that I feared it was a spell or drug. I had no one else in my life to turn to and he listened carefully and didn’t make fun of me. Or laugh. He was so caring.”
For the first time, Julija looked up at him and there was accusation in her gaze. That mixture of shame, sorrow and anger. He didn’t like her viewing him like that, but again made the decision to remain silent. What was the use of defending himself simply because he was a man? He needed to know what he was fighting against.
“I let him talk me into being with him. I don’t know what I was thinking. I just wanted the burning to go away, and he was always amazing and sweet when everyone around me was cruel and ugly.” A sob escaped, and she jammed her fist into her mouth as if that could stop the flow of tears.
The air stilled in the cave and all at once it seemed impossible to breathe. Julija coughed, one hand going defensively to her throat. Isai waved his hand to send a small, cooling breeze through the chamber. He could see the fine sheen on her skin. Tremors rocked her body.
Isai couldn’t stand it. She was suffering needlessly. He wanted the explanation for her treachery, for her refusing to allow his claim on her, even more than he wanted his next breath, but her misery and grief were genuine. He couldn’t have that. He was so close to understanding her. So close, but there were things far more important than his understanding. Just her physical reaction told him she had a reason for refusing him.
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