Freeing a Tiger's Soul (Tiger Series) (2 page)

“Krisione is my name.”

“What are ye?  I don’t ken of yer kind.”

“I am one of the fair folk.”

Krisi stood stiffly as Euan pursed his lips in thought.

“What happened to ye fifteen years ago?”  He said in a low voice as his dark eyes bore into hers.

She gasped
and stepped back
.  “I was tainted with darkness.
”  She pulled up the hem of her tunic to reveal a dark scar just under her ribs on her right side.
 
“
How could you know?”

Euan let his eyes roam over the glorious figure before him.  Her hair glistened like spun silver and her face was as flawless
as an angel
’
s
.  She wore soft breeches made of an unfamiliar material and a long pale green tunic.  Her soft doe boots reached her knees and she had a beautifully carved bow slung over her shoulder.  She was thin, but muscular and Euan knew she was a warrior as well as he knew he was one himself.  He knew he could speak to her in a frank manner and decided to be honest in the matter she had put before him.

“I know because I have suffered from that taint for fifteen years.  It has all but driven me mad!
”  He stood to his full height, towering over Krisione.
 
“
The only time I have not suffered is in your presence and ye have denied me!  Why should I accept ye now when I am beginning to deal with it
on my own
?”

Tears streamed from Krisi’s glowing blue eyes. 

“I do not know.  I will accept what you wish, but know that I have no place without you.  I have been given into your keeping because I am to be your
life
mate.  It is the will of God and I must do as you bid me.  I have no will that is not your own.  I am at your mercy.
  I beg you to be kind in your
judgment
.
”

Krisi lowered her head and stared at the ground as Euan pondered her words.

Euan wanted to strike out and hurt this fair creature as much as she had hurt him.  He felt the darkness pressing him to harm her and he knew that he must do all he could to fight against it
.

“I
cannot be with ye lass.  I no longer ken
how to be what you need.  I am too broken and too weary.  The darkness pushes against my will
at all times
. 
It fights against anything that might bring me a measure of joy. 
I am compelled to harm ye and I cannay fight it.  Ye must leave me lass.  Go to the keep where ye can be safe from me
and my evil soul
.”

Euan began to shake with the force of his needs.  He wanted to hold this fragile looking creature and bury himself within her and he wanted to rip her head from her body at the same time.  He could no longer force the darkness back an
d it was engulfing him as he collapsed
at her feet.  This was not like the other times
he had felt her close by
when serenity had covered him.  Now it was all he could do not to attack her.
  T
he darkness feared her and her light.  It knew that she was his reason for living and his strength and it wanted to consume him.  Without her he would falter and fall.  Without her the darkness would win his soul.

Krisi registered the change in Euan and fear gripped her heart.  The darkness had been eating him for fifteen years.  How would he ever survive this
without going insane?  She watched as his body shook with the force it took him to control his rage and she turned and fled
from
him.

The forest was pierced by the sound of his grief stricken roar and she only ran faster.  If he lost control he would soon be hunting her and she needed to be far away before that happened.

2

Krisione made it to the walls of the great keep before she heard a roar behind her.  She flung herself inside the gated and into the arms of the man she had thought to have left in the forest.  She screamed and tried to escape his grasp, but he only held her more firmly.

“What is the matter?  Who are you and what pursu
es ye
?”

“You!  Set me free!  Please do not harm me.
  I am your mate!
”

“Nay lass I have no mate.”

“Euan?”

“Nay.  I’m Evan.”  Evan studied the girl in his arms and recognition sparked in his mind.  “Krisi?”

“Yes.”

“You have grown up since I saw ye last.”

Krisi smiled at the man who looked so much like her mate.

A mighty roar split the air and Krisi screamed again as she turned to see a huge male tiger gazing at her.  His eyes shown with a darkness that frightened her and
his coat was almost completely black. 

“Euan?”

Evan asked in confusion.
 

“What are ye doin’ here?”
  He asked, his tone light and cheerful.

The tiger turned his head in the direction of the man’s voice and something flic
kered in the depths of his dark
eyes.  He seemed puzzled until his eyes fell once more upon the small figure clutched in the other man’s arms.

A menacing rumble shook the ground as Euan paced toward the couple.

Evan stood holding the Fairborn girl and wondering why his brother would seek to harm her.  He had never known Euan to be aggressive in any manner and now it was as if he sought to devour this girl. 
He pushed the Krisi
behind him and stepped into the path of his brother.

“Run.”  He said as he started to change.

Krisi did as she was told and shivered in fear as she heard the clash of two large predators.  She flung herself into the great hall and stood panting as tears coursed down her pale face.  Cara McNeal turned with wide eyes as she beheld her young guest.

“Krisi!  What is the matter?
  Did you find Euan?
”  She stopped when she heard a crash and the roars from outside.  She clutched her throat and ran for the doors, but Krisi grabbed her wrist.

“No, you mustn’t go out.  He is mad.  Euan has gone mad!”

“Oh God no.”  Cara said as she shook off Krisi’s hold and bolted for the door.  Cara’s young daughter followed close behind her mother and Krisi knew that
if either lady was injured
Euan would be killed.

“Please, she begged.  Do not go out.  It would mean his death if he harmed either of you.”

As she spoke she heard the great boom of Liam McNeal’s great voice.  He had felt the fear of his loved ones and was coming to investigate.

“Cara!  Where are ye lass and what has frightened ye so?”

Deaglan was on his heels and they both heard the sounds of battle from the bailey and quickly pulled their women to safety.  Both men shifted forms and threw themselves into the fray.

The battle was quickly concluded and Euan was subdued.  Liam looked sorrowful as he ordered his longtime friend and
trusted
warrior secured in a tower room until a decision could be made on his fate.

Evan stood naked, bloodied, and fighting for breath as his tears ran freely down his face.  He watched as his brother was chained and forcibly lead away from the baily.  He sank to his knees in the blood soaked dirt and let his grief take him.

No one dared to approach Evan as he wept softly for his brother.  There was no one who could lessen his pain.

Liam shook his head at his wife as she started to make her way to the weeping warrior.

“Nay lass.  Le
t him have his grief.  Do not fear.  H
e will not allow it to rule him.  Let him alone now to cope with it in his own way.”

“He needs comfort Liam.”

“That he does lass, but that is not something ye can give him.”

Cara nodded grudgingly understanding that it would be too hard for her mate to watch her comfort another man, especially one with no mate.  She smil
ed faintly at her daughter, Angelica
as
she passed.

“Mam, ye cannot expect that I will leave him there to suffer alone.  It is cruel.  Evan has ever been as family and I will go to him if you do not.”

A low warning growl rumbled in the room, but Angelica refused to acknowledge it.  She had been angry at Deaglan for days and ignored him completely.

She made her way into the Baily and knelt beside Evan who was still weeping bitterly.  She placed her small hand on his naked back.

“Evan.  You should not grieve so. 
He is not condemned.  He will be well cared for in the tower room. 
We will find a way to help him.  I swear it to you.  There must be a way.  Krisi is of the Fairborn.  She will find a way to help him.  She is his mate, you know she is.  You mustn’t lose hope.”

Evan looked up at Angelica and was struck with her beauty.  Her hair shown as fire in the early morning light and her eyes were a deep amber.

He cleared his throat, embarrassed that she had seen his weakness.

“I thank ye lass.  Yer words are a comfort to me.”

Angelica threw her arms around Evan and he accepted her embrace until she was pulled from his grasp by an enraged Deaglan.

Evan didn’t get the time to apologize before Angelica launched a small fist at the warrior’s jaw.  It connected with a smack and Deaglan’s eyes widened.

“Keep your great meaty fists off of me!  I will not allow you to handle me!”

Angelica jerked free of Deaglan’s grasp and rushed into the cool interior of the keep.

Evan found himself chuckling when his eyes met those of his friend.

“What heave ye done to rile her so?”  Evan asked.

Deaglan’s cheeks mottled with a faint redne
ss and Eva
n
only laughed harder.

“’Tis nay my fault.  The lass
is too headstrong for her own good.
  I have done naught, but be a respectable mate.
”  Deaglan insisted.

Evan pulled himself to his feet unembarrassed by his nudity
although Deaglan had covered himself with a long cloak
.  “I see that you will not tell me what it is she is being headstrong about.”

Deaglan looked sheepish as he stared at the ground.

“She wants to change.”  He confided in a low voice.

“She is only fifteen.  She cannay
expect
ye to take her at such an age.  She will need to grow a bit don’t ye think?  Three more years at the very least I would think.”

“Aye.  I agree with ye.  Liam says five, but I cannay wait that long for her.  She is driving me mad.”

“Ye have not touched her have ye?  She will be worse when she begins to awaken.”

“Aye.  I have tried to keep her at arm’s length, but she is insistent that there is no need for us to wait.  We are mated as firmly as we can be without the act being done, but she is insisting on that as well.
I fear Liam would have my balls
on a spike if I cannot control myself.”

“Aye he would.  Perhaps ye should mark her.  It would give her a measure of change if not the full ability.”

Deaglan shook his head.  “Liam will nay allow it.  He thinks that the act and the marking should be done at the same time.  He was furious at me for a week for even suggesting it.  He swore to send me to the wolves for a whole year if I asked again.”

Evan laughed at the truth in the statement as he walked inside and up to his chamber to dress
thankful for once that he did not have a young mate
to tend to
.

3

Krisi sat in her the chamber that she was always given when she visited Cara.  It was a lovely room with a huge bed hung with dark blue curtains.
  Krisi often sat in the window and gazed out to the forest where sh
e knew Euan had made his home.  She had even walked the parapets on occasion hoping to catch a glimpse of him in his glade.
 

She had been too young to go to him when she felt the pull of her mate.  Her father had forbidden her to be anywhere near the man who would be her future.  She had stayed away, but she had stayed near too.  She wanted to feel his arms around her, but she knew that in his madness it would not be wise.  The darkness that had almost killed her all those years ago had attacked him too through their mating bond, which no one knew existed.  No one knew of his turmoil until she had seen it in his eyes and felt it ripping through her very soul.  She feared the darkness and she was too frightened to help Euan.  She felt useless and wept bitterly for her shortcomings.

She heard the sound of the horn in the baily and knew it signaled approaching horses.  She hoped it would be James or even Eva.  There had been a grand party planned to celebrate the birthday of Angelica as well as the rescue of Eva MacKinnon and the peace treaty between wolf and tiger.
  Fifteen years had passed in peace between the once bitter enemies and Liam felt it was cause to celebrate.
  The party was to take place here at McNeal castle because of the vast lands that surrounded it.  The guests would be able to change and hunt with little fear of discovery from the outside world.  Many prominent families were to attend.