Jag went feral with a growl, then sheathed his claws and slunk back into his chair.

Lyon ignored the surly warrior. Jag had become a Feral long after Lyon became chief. From the day he'd arrived at Feral House, Jag had pitted himself against every man here. Lyon had tried everything from serious talks to harsh punishment, and nothing had ever changed. For a reason Lyon couldn't fathom, Jag seemed to thrive on the enmity of his companions. The more they hated him and punished him, the more it pleased him.

Lyon had long ago given up trying to change him and ignored him instead. For as long as his patience held out.

He grabbed an empty plate and sat at the end of the table, where he could watch the door. In case Kara came down.

As if he could ever not know where she was.

Wulfe shoved two platters his way. "Anyone else sleep like hell last night? It's got to be the lack of radiance. I haven't gotten a decent sleep in nights."

Lyon didn't bother to answer. He'd slept little last night, but he knew the reason. He began loading pork chops and roast beef onto his plate His stomach was demanding food, and he sure as hell meant to feed it.

"Where's Vhyper?" Lyon asked when the worst of his hunger pangs had been quelled.

"Haven't seen him," Jag muttered. He eyed Lyon from beneath needling brows. "Wondering what kind of a lay the new Radiant is?"

Lyon's hand spasmed around the serving fork, his claws erupting to clink against the handle. Kougar's hand weighted his shoulder, pulling him back to his sanity.

Jag just smirked.

Teeth grinding, Lyon forced himself to loose his grip on the serving fork, pushing back the beast that longed to escape his rigid control. Dammit to hell, Kara wasn't his. He had no right to feel this outrage, this Possessiveness. Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down.

He looked to Paenther. "Get Vhyper."

The warrior nodded and left. Slowly, the conversation started again. Pink brought out more platters, and the meal was relatively pleasant, though Kara never stirred.

Lyon was nearly finished when Wulfe gave a deep growl and cleared his plate, Foxx's, and Jag's from the table with a single, furious sweep of his arm.

Jag snarled, but Foxx leaped at Wulfe, taking him crashing to the ground in a flurry of fangs and claws.

Lyon let them go for a good minute or two. Getting their anger out was often the only way for them to get back in their skins. Then he rose to put a stop to it.

"Enough!"

Foxx broke away from the fight, but Wulfe tackled the younger warrior and the battle resumed full force.

"Wulfe!" But the man didn't seem to hear him. Bloody hell.

It took both Kougar and Jag to tear the huge warrior off Foxx, but Wulfe continued to try to fight them.

Lyon stepped in and pinned Wulfe to the ground. "Get back in your skin."

Slowly, slowly, the fight went out of Wulfe, and he sheathed his claws, his fangs retracting.

Lyon stared into the now-human eyes of one of his best fighters. "What happened?"

Wulfe shook his. head hard, as if trying to clear it, then threw off Jag's and Kougar's hands. Lyon stepped back and let him rise to his feet.

"I don't know." His scarred face tightened with a frown, "I lost it."

"You can say that again," Jag muttered.

"Are you back in control?" Lyon demanded.

"Yes."

Lyon put his hand on Wulfe's shoulder, surprising himself. Surprising the warrior.

"Get some rest, Wulfe. You need it."

The warrior nodded and hooked his arm around Foxx's shoulders. "Sorry, cub."

"Don't call me cub." But Foxx slung his arm around Wulfe's shoulders in return. As the pair started for the door, Paenther returned.

"What happened to you?" Foxx asked.

"Nothing." Paenther looked as bad as Wulfe and Foxx, though his cuts were well on their way to healed.

Lyon scowled. "Well?"

Paenther glanced at the door, not turning back until Wulfe and Foxx were out of sight.

"I found Vhyper in bed with Zaphene and reminded him he had a mate," Paenther said quietly, rubbing his hand over one of the cuts on his face. "Didn't seem to like that."

"Damn him. He disrespects Kara. Steals from Foxx." Despite his anger, a small, jealous part of him was pleased that Vhyper had sought out a woman other than Kara. He'd kill the snake if he ever hurt Kara, but she had yet to want him. Foxx, on the other hand, would care very much that Vhyper had turned to Zaphene instead of his mate. "If Foxx finds out…"

He was used to fights, sometimes vicious fights between his warriors. They were, after all, half-animal. But generally, there was a reason for the scuffle. And if he demanded control, they found it. Always.

With the lack of radiance, that appeared to be a thing of the past.

How much worse was this going to get before they got Kara ascended? This kind of loss of control, and inability to get it back, was dangerous. To the Ferals and anyone near them.

Including their Radiant.

"Where's Vhyper now?"

"Nursing a concussion," the warrior said with a hard grin.

Lyon pulled out his cell phone and punched the snake's number. "In my office, now," he barked when Vhyper answered.

He snapped the phone closed and turned to his second. "We've got to get Kara ascended, and I don't want Vhyper near her."

"He's her mate," Paenther said simply.

"He's out of control. I won't have her harmed."

The prepping didn't have to be by the Radiant's mate, but usually worked better if it was. If for no other reason than it built a trust between them they'd need when it came to the Ascension itself. But those two had a long way to go to establish any trust. And there was no way he was putting Kara in any danger.

"I need you to prep her, B.P."

Paenther shook his head. "I'm not sure I'm in any better shape than Vhyper. He jumped me, but I went feral first. My control is razor-thin at the best of times. And these are not the best of times. I'm not the one you want with the Radiant right now, Roar. How about Hawke? Or Stripes?"

"Not Tighe." He'd seen the way Tighe watched her. Lyon was certain he wouldn't hurt her, but his jealousy stirred, thick and hot. "Has Hawke shown any signs of losing control?"

"Not yet."

"Then send him."

"What about you? You've got a good connection to her."

Lyon's jaw clenched. "That connection needs to break." He had to stay away from her. Because his own control was close to snapping in an entirely different way. A way that would dishonor them both, and that was a thing he refused to do.

Kara stood beneath the hot spray of the shower, shaking. Her heart hadn't quit thudding all night except for the minutes when Lyon had touched her. Her chest ached. Her stomach hurt as if the threat of stabbing from both nightmares had horribly come true. And there had been a second nightmare.

After Lyon brought her back to her mom during the night, she'd sat by the door for more than an hour before she'd finally forced herself to get in bed and try to go to sleep. And she had, eventually, only to suffer through another horrible dream, almost identical to the first. Like before, she'd been hanging, naked, from the ceiling. This time though, instead of one robed figure closing in on her with a bloody knife, there'd been many of them. Eight. Maybe ten. Coming at her from all sides. She'd tried to scream and only woken herself up again.

And, like before, the fear hadn't fallen away with the end of the dream. It was as if she were somehow locked in the nightmare, caught halfway between that world and this. Awake in this one, but fully aware that the other waited for her, ready to suck her back the moment she closed her eyes.

Kara shook even as the hot water turned her skin red with heat. Something was wrong. This wasn't natural. Something was making her feel this way, and she'd be damned if she was going to hang around until she fell into that horror-movie world for good. Yet Lyon wasn't going to let her go.

When she was through with her shower, she dried her hair and pulled on jeans. She was shoving her arms into a green cotton sweater when a knock sounded at her door.

Hope lifted, then plummeted as an unfamiliar voice spoke.

"It's Hawke, Radiant. Are you up?"

She'd thought it was Lyon.

"I'm up," she called, and went to open the door.

Hawke stepped back from the door, his stance casual and unthreatening. A smile lit his features, softening them. "I'm glad to see I didn't wake you. Lyon's asked me to teach you to pull the energies from the earth."

Kara blinked. "Teach me what?"

Hawke's smile turned wry. "It's the first thing you have to learn to do before you can ascend. We'll go out to the river to work on it."

The river. Her pulse leaped. She knew there was some kind of water around here, or the place wouldn't be called Great Falls. Surely, going to the river meant leaving the house. And that was all she wanted to hear.

"I'm ready whenever you are. I just have to put on my shoes."

"Why don't you get some breakfast first?"

Kara shook her head. "I'm not hungry. I'd rather get started." She was too wound up to eat. Besides, she had no desire for a repeat of last night's dinner. The flamingo woman. Zaphene looking at her like she was a bug that had just crawled out from under a rock. No thanks.

Hawke nodded with approval. "Good, then. Let's go. You'll want a jacket. The wind's kicking up."

Kara grabbed the windbreaker she'd worn on the plane the night before last, her fingers clenching nervously around the rubbery fabric. This might be her only chance to escape this nightmare once and for all.

"Sit down, Vhyper," Lyon said, as the bald warrior appeared in his door.

Vhyper crossed his arms over his leather vest and propped his shoulder against the doorframe. "I'll stand." His demeanor was calmer than usual, his eyes cold, reminding Lyon of his own culpability in this untenable situation. Vhyper had watched him kiss Kara, bringing her to full orgasm in his arms, moments before the goddess chose Vhyper to be her mate.

If the situation were reversed, he'd be tempted to rip the snake's throat out. He had to remember that.

"What happened during the Pairing wasn't Kara's fault," Lyon told his warrior. He rose and moved around to the front of his desk, to prop his hip on the corner, "I was too heavy-handed when I ripped her from her life. With nothing familiar, she turned to me. She just needs time to get acclimated here. She needs you to be patient with her."

Vhyper raised a single dark brow. "Is that why she came when you kissed her?"

Lyon scowled, then released a frustrated breath. "I may have screwed up the Pairing. My only excuse is that my finder's senses went on overload with her. It doesn't happen often." Hell, he wasn't sure it had ever happened. Not like this. "I… got into it. Kissed her. The passion I was calling in her accidentally turned toward me."

He looked at the other man sharply. "That doesn't excuse the way you treated her last night."

Vhyper shrugged. "She's mine."

Lyon felt his fingertips tingle, and he rose slowly, clenching his fists against the feral anger sparking inside. "She's ours. Our Radiant. You hurt her, and you won't be alive for her to be yours."

Vhyper's jaw clenched, his eyes turning colder before he broke eye contact and glanced toward the window. "I didn't rape her, if that's what you're worried about. I knocked her out when she fought me, but all I did was lay her on my bed with the intention of trying to start over with her when she woke. I decided I didn't have the patience for it, yet, and took her back to her own room."

"And stole Zaphene from Foxx."

Vhyper turned back to him with a cool shrug. "Stole is a powerful word, Chief. She was interested, I was frustrated. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"And you attacked Paenther when he pointed out that you had a mate."

"It was none of his business."

"How can you say that?" Lyon's patience snapped. "You're out of control, Snake. The goddess has blessed you with the most beautiful Radiant we've ever had."

"Sounds like you're jealous, Chief."

Hell yeah. Lyon scowled. "Start acting worthy of her. It won't take much to win her over if you use some kindness and your usual brand of humor. No more barbarian tactics."

"A little hard to win her over when you're pushing her off on other men. I saw Kara leave with Hawke."

"He's going to prep her for the Ascension."

A sharp light entered Vhyper's eyes. Something a little cruel. "You don't think she'd welcome my help right now?"

"No. I don't. And stay away from Zaphene. I don't want a war starting between you and Foxx. I've seen enough fangs the past couple of days. Find your control, Vhyper, and hang on to it."

Vhyper stared at him. "And what about your control, Chief? The control that slipped so badly you couldn't keep your hands off the woman you were preparing to find her mate? Are you staying away from her yourself?"

Lyon's fingers tingled. He clenched his fists harder and nodded. "I am."

* * *

Chapter Nine

Kara stared down at the rushing water far below as the Potomac River pounded over the rocks that littered its path. The falls, they called it. Great Falls. She'd envisioned Niagara or some other 'vertical drop of water. Instead, these falls were horizontal, a rip-roaring rapids ride for any soul brave enough to try.