she believed him, though she figured he was probably forcing trust into her while he was taking the other emotions out. as she eased her hand away from her body, the pain exploded. breath hissed into her mouth between clenched teeth.

lyon took hold of her wrist and lifted her mangled hand to his mouth.

she looked at him in disbelief. "kissing it is not going to make it feel better." no matter how much her preschoolers believed otherwise.

her words seemed to amuse him. "i heal through my tongue."

"your... ?" she gasped as her aching thumb slid into a cocoon of warm silk. his velvet tongue stroked her skin, stealing the pain, sending shivers of heat flowing into her blood.

her eyes widened as she felt her body begin to melt. her breath quickened with a desire that shouldn't be there. a desire she didn't want.

he watched her with sharp eyes as he released her thumb and took each finger into his mouth, one by one, healing the flesh, easing the hurt, ensnaring her in a web of restless need. her fingers healed, he pulled the back of her hand to his mouth and stroked his warm tongue over the cuts until the only pain remaining was from the raw tears on her palm.

when he turned her hand and pressed her palm to his mouth, fire leaped deep inside her, a living ache centered low in her body, at her very core. an ache that built and grew with every stroke of his tongue.

"lyon..."

her breaths came in small gasps as the pressure between her legs built. she was racing toward....

no. this wasn't right. her mother lay dead only a few feet away. she clamped her knees together, fighting the rising tide, and lost. the orgasm broke over her in a sudden rush, tightening her womb in spasms of hot joy. wave after wave of glorious sensation ripped through her, release singing through her veins. the best...the absolute best....

with a shudder of pure perfection, she collapsed against the coffee table and met lyon's shocked gaze.

"oh, god." she buried her face in her free hand in a. useless attempt to hide from the utter mortification. how had she gotten so excited from such a simple touch?

she hadn't. not by herself. she peeked between her fingers, then lowered her hand and glared at him.

"you did that to me. you're a master of manipulation, aren't you?"

he opened his mouth, then closed it with a snap, "we need to get going." his voice was gruff, almost strained, as he released her hand and rose to his feet. "the draden found us once. they'll find us again."

kara shuddered and stood, happy to drop the subject of her small sexual overreaction, even as aftershocks tightened her womb, refusing to let her forget.

"what about my mom?"

"she's dead, kara. we can leave her for others to dispose of in a more traditional manner, or we can bury her now. your choice. but we can't stay. the longer you're here, the more likely other draden will find you. and there's no protection."

kara opened her mouth to argue, then sighed, feeling her control over her life slipping from her hands. she was going with him. tonight. not only was it no longer safe for her here, but she had to know who she was. what she was. and there was only one way to get the answers.

lyon.

"you found her," tighe called, hopping down from the cockpit of the small cessna several hours later.

lyon nodded as he ushered kara across the dark tarmac. the rain had finally stopped while they'd dug the grave for kara's adoptive mother. he'd called tighe to come get them, deciding to leave his bmw behind. after the evening's events, he'd given up any thoughts of driving cross-country with the woman. they faced the danger of another draden attack, of course. but the bigger danger, he'd realized, was to himself.

he'd always been somewhat sensitive to others' emotions, but he seemed to read kara's extraordinarily clearly.

sweet goddess, all he'd done was heal her injured hand, yet with every stroke of his tongue, her excitement had risen, driving his own right along with it until he'd been on fire for her. when her passion broke, he'd nearly lost it in his pants. since he hadn't... quite... he was still hard as a rock and painfully aware of her. her sweet scent, the curve of her jaw, the fine silk of her skin.

goddess help me. the last thing he wanted was an obsession for any woman, let alone the chosen one. yet every time he touched her, he felt need power through him like a charge of pure lightning.

when they reached the plane, tighe greeted him in the usual fashion, extending his hand as they clasped one another just below the elbow in a slam of hard flesh.

tighe looked at kara curiously as he bowed his head. "radiant."

"i'm... kara." wariness and exhaustion laced her voice. "kara macallister."

tighe threw lyon a questioning look over kara's head.

"she's the one," lyon confirmed. "she was raised human, with no knowledge of the therian race."

tighe whistled low. "that's awkward." he took kara's suitcase from lyon, then turned to kara, flashing a pair of dimples that had slain too many feminine hearts to count. "so, it was a bit of a surprise to you, huh? being chosen to live with a bunch of sh-"

"tighe..." lyon warned, silencing the man with a look. she wasn't ready for any more surprises. "kara's had a tough night."

tighe nodded. "understood." he slipped on his dark shades, then slung his arm across kara's stiff shoulders, ushering her to the plane.

something dark and jealous deep inside lyon sprouted claws. there was only one reason tighe put on sunglasses in the middle of the night. he was becoming aroused. when this particular warrior's interest was piqued by a female, his eyes turned from emerald green man's eyes to golden cat's eyes. a change that would send a human woman screaming into the night. or a woman who had been raised human.

a growl rumbled low in lyon's throat.

tighe glanced back with a questioning look, then dropped his arm with a smile that conceded nothing. he followed kara up the steps, leaving lyon to follow.

"would you like to ride up front with me, kara?" tighe asked, closing the hatch. when he took kara's hand, lyon sprang, pulling her down beside him.

"leave her alone."

tighe stared at him for one startled moment before his face broke into a grin. "looks like the pairing ceremony may not be necessary after all, eh?"

"like hell." what was the matter with him? he was acting like his beast had already claimed her. but she wasn't his and probably never would be. hell, he didn't want her to be.

but the thought of anyone so much as touching her burned a hole in his gut the size of his fist.

lyon dug his hand in his hair, raking it off his face.

he was so screwed.

kara stared out the window of the land rover as tighe pulled off the narrow, thickly treed road onto a long drive. though dawn was breaking to the east, the heavy blanket of trees held the morning at bay like a shield against the encroaching light. and made the approach to her destination, possibly her new home, dark and unsettling.

in the front seat, lyon and tighe discussed their ongoing war against the terrifying draden. tighe turned toward lyon, his strong face animated. with his fashionably short, sun-bleached hair and wicked smile, he was every bit as good-looking as lyon, though in an entirely different way. though both men were far larger than most, lyon had the broad shoulders and chest of a linebacker. tighe had the sleek, muscular build of a quarterback and an overabundance of sexy charm.

but it was lyon, with his intense amber eyes and air of command that pulled at her. and when he glanced back, meeting her gaze, made her breath quicken and her pulse kick up. was this attraction real, or yet another thing he was forcing on her?

kara clenched the fingers of her entwined hands, pressing them against the tense knot of her stomach. what am i doing, coming with him? the refrain had echoed like a litany in her head since the plane took off from the small airfield hours ago. her first plane trip had whisked her away from everyone and everything she'd ever known. everything.

kara pulled her jacket tighter around her. with each passing minute, the events of the night seemed more and more unreal. talking with immortals, or almost-immortals. fighting a creature who could fly through a pane of glass without harming it yet tear her flesh to shreds. burying her mom... who was not really her mom.

the ache of grief had settled in her chest, aged and mellow as if she'd been living with it for months, if not years.

how could any of this nightmare be real?

yet it was. even as she questioned the insanity that made her agree to this trip, part of her shook with the nervous excitement of discovering who and what she really was.

ahead, scattered lights peeked through the trees until the car drew close enough to illuminate the whole of the house. feral house, they called it. the home of the feral warriors. and their radiant.

the house was nothing short of a small mansion-three visible dark brick stories with dormers on the top floors and black shutters at each of the windows. in the dark, the house appeared cold and forbidding like something out of a gothic novel. all it needed was a rollicking thunderstorm and a few crows to make it a perfect setting for a horror movie.

the thought did nothing to ease the apprehension twisting her insides into knots.

the drive widened and curved in front of the house and was lined with expensive-looking cars. a couple of low-slung sports cars, a hummer, and a yellow porsche among them.

tighe parked the land rover behind a red convertible and glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "welcome home, kara. we're a lot to take in all at once." he grinned, the smile carving deep dimples into his cheeks. "but you'll grow to love us."

"i'm sure," kara murmured, but the thought of living with nine men like these two was enough to take her breath away.

lyon held the car door for her and ushered her out into the damp morning chill. she glanced at his profile as they started up the short brick walk to the house. "are there draden here, too?"

"they're everywhere we are. but the house is protected. you're safe."

"why haven't i ever heard of them before?"

"humans can't see them and generally don't attract them. the draden feed off therian energy. lost among the humans, with your energy untapped, you were safe enough. until i showed up. you'll be safe here as long as you stay inside at night."

"they're nocturnal?" kara followed him up the wide brick steps to the front door.

"yes." lyon ushered her into a circular, high-ceilinged foyer dimly lit by a pair of electric sconces. twin stairs curved to the second floor, framed by ornately carved wood railings, then traveled up to a third. her wide-eyed gaze traveled down, following the line of chain from which hung the biggest chandelier she'd ever seen, teeming with hundreds of crystals. her gaze slowly descended farther, taking in ornately papered walk covered with paintings of gardens and flowers, coming to rest on the magnificent scene painted on the wood floor beneath her feet. like something out of an ancient temple, naked men and women played hide-and-seek in a woods teeming with unicorns and centaurs and all manner of mythical creatures.

feeling as if she'd stepped through the doors of a small palace, she met lyon's gaze. "how many women live here?"

"pink is the only female, besides the radiant, who resides here on a permanent basis. some of the men bring in girlfriends to stay for a time, but none of the men are currently mated. pink does the cooking and keeps the house." he led her across the painted floor to the right-hand stair. "why? looking for allies?"

"no, though a friend would be nice, i'm trying to reconcile the fancy decor with a house full of males. i expected wood paneling, maybe some stags' heads on the walls."

tighe made a half-choked sound behind her. "we're not much on mounting animal heads." he started up the stairs. "i'm going to catch a few more hours of sleep."

lyon nodded and turned back to kara. "believe me, the decorating was beatrice's doing, not ours. beatrice was your predecessor. the previous radiant."

"what happened to her?"

"she died six months ago."

"how?" kara frowned. "i thought you said we were all but immortal."

"we're not indestructible. we can, and do, die. beatrice fell asleep with her window open. the draden got to her before we knew what happened."

"i'm sorry."

lyon nodded. "no one lives forever. not even therians."

kara shivered at the thought of being overpowered by those horrible little fiends, their teeth ripping her to shreds as they sucked the life out of her. definitely not the way she wanted to go.

lyon swept his hand outward, encompassing the foyer. "you're free to redecorate any way you like."

redecorate. the thought was so absurdly mundane she almost laughed out loud. she was in a strange, unsettling house full of powerful males who claimed she was their chosen one. she didn't know who they were, who she was, or what they really wanted from her.

the wallpaper could wait.

she followed lyon up the stairs and down a long, dark hallway lit only by the faint glow of dawn. lyon seemed to have no trouble finding his way in the near dark as he led her to the end of the hall and into one of the rooms. he flipped on a bedside lamp, illuminating the biggest bedroom kara had ever seen. the decorating was so overwrought, it made the foyer seem plain by comparison. a mammoth tester bed draped in burgundy velvet and gold silk sat in the middle of a room papered in a busy pattern of lush foliage and birds. even the ceiling was plastered with heavy gilt scrollwork and painted with fat, playful cherubs.

"this was... beatrice's room?" kara asked.