Binding Ties
Page 57

“Anything new?” asked Joseph from a few feet away. His sword was drawn and his watchful gaze was on the land around her.
“I’m finding the same scents as before.”
“Try using my power this time.”
“I’m not exactly sure how.”
“You’re smart. You have good instincts. Just listen to them.”
The truth was, she didn’t like the idea of becoming dependent on another person. She’d already tied her life to his. Asking her to lean on him for things she’d always managed on her own grated against her sense of independence.
He let out a faint sigh of impatience. “You’re the same woman you were before you took my luceria.”
“Will you please get out of my head?”
“Not a chance. You were born for this, Lyka. There’s no shame in doing what you were created to do.”
“It’s a lot easier to say that when you’ve grown up knowing what your position in life was going to be from day one. I grew up thinking I’d find some way to be a Slayer—stay with my own kind.”
“You are with your own kind. You were just wrong about who that was before.”
If they went down this road, she was going to get pissed, and right now she couldn’t afford to get angry at the man who held the power she needed. Like it or not, she had to suck it up, lean on Joseph, and take the blow to her ego. She might not be able to find Eric on her own, but she would find him. As long as that was the outcome, she could accept whatever she had to do along the way. That’s what Eric would have done for her.
Lyka closed her eyes to focus her senses. Just beneath the skin under the luceria, she could feel Joseph’s power sparking and eager to do her bidding. She’d grown used to the soft warmth coming from the necklace, but now that she gave it her attention with the intent to use it, the supple band began to heat.
She shivered against the sensation and immediately tried to block it out. Instead, she concentrated on the dancing strands of magic waving around, trying to get her attention.
Lyka grabbed onto a bundle of them and pulled them into herself. Instantly, her body let out a giant sigh of relief, as if she’d been starving to death and had just put the first bite of steak in her mouth.
As her cells rejoiced at the fuel she fed them, she pulled in a deep breath through her nose.
The difference in her sense of smell was like the difference between jumping through a backyard sprinkler and shooting down a three-story water slide at an amusement park. Everything was amplified, nearly choking her with the potency of it.
She gagged on the stench of demon, but forced herself to take another breath.
Eric. His scent was everywhere. And now that it was amplified, she could smell something even more familiar than her own brother.
Herself. Parts of his scent were identical to hers, thanks to their shared maternal blood.
She dropped to the ground and sniffed again. Eric hadn’t been here for the battle. There wasn’t enough of his essence here for him to have fought to protect the young here. He’d been taken from somewhere else.
Lyka pulled in more of Joseph’s power, revving up her senses even more. The animal in her was unfamiliar with what she was doing, and that made it uneasy. Fearful. Angry.
She felt her teeth lengthen, her skin tingle and itch, her fingernails grow and thicken into sharp claws.
“Lyka?” Joseph’s voice was filled with worry. “Are you okay?”
Her voice sounded odd, coming out around too many teeth. “You’ve been in my head, Theronai. You know what I am. What I can do.”
“Yes, and I accepted that, but this is not . . . normal. Even for you.”
She looked down at her hands. Her fingers were short and thick, tipped with sharp claws. A fine layer of golden fur covered her skin. She’d seen some of her kind shift this far into their animal forms, but she’d never been able to do so. Until now.
Joseph’s power. It had to have something to do with her sudden change.
She looked up at him, seeing surprise and a huge helping of worry in his hazel eyes. He tightened his grip on his sword as if she might lunge at him at any time.
Lyka tried to tell him that she wouldn’t hurt him, but the wind shifted, and she caught scent of something.
She took off toward the woods, ignoring Joseph’s worried voice behind her.
A few hundred yards into the dense woods, there was a clearing. In that clearing was the nexus of smells she’d been hoping to find. Eric, several children, fear and determination. Plenty of demon blood.
This is where he’d fought the demons to protect the young. And based on the bloody drag marks through the brush, this is where he’d fallen.
She took off, following that path at a dead run. The sound of her clothes ripping distracted her, but she didn’t slow down. Thorny branches tugged at the loose fabric, but she didn’t dare stop, not when she was hot on the right trail.
There wasn’t enough blood lost for Eric to have died. And the young were mostly unharmed. She couldn’t smell much of their blood, though she could detect the distinct stench of fear next to the sweet innocence on every leaf and twig that had grazed one of the young’s skin.
The trail went on for a mile through the woods before it emptied out onto an old farmer’s road. She’d lived in this area long enough to know the terrain, and this road hadn’t been used in years. Deer had woven a narrow trail along the road, but there were small trees growing up to reclaim the path. Those trees had been knocked down recently, and the tire marks of some kind of all-terrain vehicle were visible in the mud. She could smell exhaust fumes and rubber tires trampling over the scents of grass and trees.
Joseph ran out of the woods behind her, breathing hard. He came to a dead stop, his jaw slack with shock. “Lyka? Are you in there?”
She had no idea what he meant for a second. And then she saw one of her hands. It wasn’t a hand anymore. It was a paw. A big one. She had four of them, along with all the other parts of a tiger.
A little streak of panic lit through her. She tried to open her mouth to ask him what had happened, but all that came out was a mewling growl.
“It’s okay,” said Joseph, sheathing his sword. “I can feel you freaking out, but I’m sure this is all completely normal. Just keep those claws and teeth to yourself, and everything will be just fine.”
He reached through their link with a timid kind of reluctance, as if he worried what he might find on the other end. When his thoughts touched hers and that instant flare of recognition lit between them, his shoulders drooped in relief.