Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) (48 page)

She felt Quinn’s approval of the command, so she did as he requested, the blade flashing to life in her hand. Quinn wrapped his hand around hers where she gripped the handle and steadied the blade.

Gideon walked over to her, then opened his hand and pressed his palm down on the blade.

She instinctively tried to pull the sword away, but Quinn’s grip on her was too tight, and he didn’t let her.

Gideon held the blade until blood trickled from his palm.

The other warriors followed, one by one, until they all knelt before her on the rich oriental carpet. Gideon nodded at her. “Your turn.”

She tensed. “Mine?”

The corner of Gideon’s mouth turned up briefly. “Yes.”

Quinn grabbed her wrist and turned her palm over, his gaze flicking to hers for permission.

She leaned back into his chest and closed her eyes. “Okay.”

There was a sharp prick in the palm of her hand, and she snapped her eyes open as blood trickled over her skin. Gideon was first, clasping her wrist with his hand. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, the blood from her palm smearing onto his skin.

“You belong to all of us now, Grace Matthews.”

Then he released her, and Kane reached out. She locked wrists with him, and he repeated the words. Then Ian and Ryland. Gabe. Zach. Thano.

Then they fell silent. Waiting for her response?

Quinn’s hand tightened on hers.
Accept their declaration, sheva
, Quinn whispered in her mind.

She nodded. “I am honored and I accept.”

Each warrior bowed his head in a show of respect, and tears stung the back of her eyes. “You all are my family now, aren’t you?”

Gideon smiled. “Yes, we are.”

She watched the men as they rose to their feet one by one, their broad shoulders and muscular bodies towering over her.

Quinn took her hands and turned her to face him. “If you die, a part of all of us will die with you. We will be with you always, for eternity. You will never be alone again. Not anymore. Not in life, and not in death. Forever, an Order member will be your escort through the Afterlife and all eternity. You are one of us.”

Her heart swelling, Grace looked back at the men. All of them were smiling. Deadly killers, covered in blood. Grinning like dorks. Even Ryland. Her men. Her guys. Her family. She finally had a home.

She smiled back as Quinn’s hands went around her waist. “If you guys keep this up, I just might end up loving all of you.”

Ryland gave a groan. “Well, shit. I take it back, then.”

She laughed as the deep sound of male laughter echoed through the room.

Quinn leaned forward. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh like that,” he whispered. “It’s beautiful.”

She turned to smile at him, and was met by his mouth as he caught her lips in a kiss that made desire flare to life deep inside her

Something soft hit her in the back of the head. She broke the kiss as another pillow sailed toward her head before Quinn knocked it away.

“Get a room,” Thano said.

Quinn grinned. “I hate to say it, but the kid’s finally right about something.” He took her hand. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

Thano winked at her. “We’ll get you if we need you.”

Gideon nodded. “And we’ll keep an eye on Ana, don’t worry.”

Grace saw Nate’s knife still sitting on the table, the one they’d found on Ana, and she realized that it wasn’t over. Even Dante had said the worst was still coming.

Quinn’s hand went to her lower back, and she smiled up at him at the kindness and love in his eyes as he returned the smile, realizing that whatever came now, she could handle.

Because she’d found her place. She wasn’t alone. Quinn would always be there for her. In her heart, in her soul and in her life. She smiled up at him as he took her hand and led her out of the room. “I love you.”

He gave her a wicked smile full of sensual promise. “If you love me now, just wait until I get done making love to you properly. You won’t believe what I can do in an actual bed.”

She laughed and linked her arms around his neck as he swept her up. “You’re impossible.”

He bit her neck playfully. “And you love it.”

She smiled as he carried her over the threshold into a gloriously decorated guest bedroom. “I must admit, I do.”

He grinned at her, those dark eyes dancing with laugher and lightness that she would never have predicted when she’d first met him on that rainy night. “I do, too, sweetheart. I do, too.” He kicked the bedroom door shut and tossed her on the bed. “Naked mud wrestling is about to become your number
two
fantasy, my love.”

Grace giggled as she scrambled back on the bed, watching him peel off his shirt and reveal his rock-hard body that was all hers.

This was going to be good.

(The Order of the Blade: Primal Heat Trilogy, Book Two)

(dark paranormal romance, available April 15, 2012)

Lily ducked past her assailant and sprinted up the cement stairs, her bare feet slapping on the concrete, her heart thundering in her ears as she vaulted up the steps toward the open door. She jumped through it then whirled around and threw it shut, catching a glimpse of the Calydon warrior as he came after her. She slammed the bolt home then tore down the hallway. There was a shuddering explosion behind her as the Calydon burst through the wooden door. She skidded around a corner as her mind whirred. She’d never make it to the kitchen. She needed to stall him—

She screamed as a heavy, sweaty body tackled her and her chin smashed on the wood floor. Her head rattled with the impact as she was flung onto her back, and Lily saw the Calydon leer at her chest. Lust flared in his eyes, the raw, uncontrollable sexual greed of a Calydon. She jerked her gaze down and realized he’d torn her shirt when he’d tackled her.

Terror, raw visceral terror, tore through Lily, and for a split second, she was too numb to move, too terrified by the memories, by the moment, by what had happened before. Just like this. Again. God, not again.

He reached for her breast, and the sight of that hand coming toward her jerked Lily out of her stupor and galvanized her into frantic self-defense, a chance she hadn’t had all those years ago. “No!” she screamed. She slammed her foot into his crotch as hard as she could.

Her attacker shouted and doubled over, and Lily scrambled out from under him, lurching to her knees—

He grabbed her ankle and dragged her back toward him, his grip crushing her leg. “I have to bring you back alive and able to perform,” he ground out as he tried to catch his breath from her blow. “But those are all the limitations I have on what I do with you.”

She fought, she kicked, she tried everything, and she was no match for his strength as he yanked her across the floor, back toward him, toward the lust gleaming in his eye—

Oh, crap.
His eyes.
They were glowing red, pulsating with evil, and her heart stuttered.

He’d gone rogue.
He’d crossed the line from sanity into raging, crazed killer, a beast who would feel no pain, have no empathy, ravage mercilessly until there was nothing left. There was no compassion, no humanity left in this warrior. No matter what his orders, she was doomed now. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself.

Again. It would all happen again. Just like before—

“Get off me,” Lily screamed, scrabbling desperately for a handhold to try to get away from him. Her fingers hit a table leg and a cord. Tears streaking down her cheeks, she yanked on the cord and covered her face as a lamp crashed down on both of them, shattering glass everywhere. Oblivious to the glass, he grabbed her other calf and hauled her until her legs were around his waist, her back slicing across the broken glass as she fought him, desperate, frantic—

“Get the fuck off her!” An enraged bellow blasted through the hallway.

Her attacker didn’t even flinch, lunging for her skirt with the furious insanity of a rogue Calydon. She pounded on his shoulders, then heard the whoosh of wind behind her. Lily looked up as a throwing axe spun past her head and slammed into her assailant’s chest. The fatal blow flung him backward against the wall, a gaping wound opening over his heart.

Lily scrambled back, barely noticing the glass sinking into her hands and her feet as she struggled to get away from him. He hit the floor with a thud, and the axe yanked itself out of his body and sped back past her head. She heard the slap of it hitting someone’s palm.

Another Calydon.

She whirled around, and her breath caught. At the end of the hall stood the largest Calydon she’d ever seen. He had to be close to seven feet, and he was wearing all black, even his heavy boots and his tee shirt that barely covered his broad shoulders.

Everything was dark about him, except his dusty blond hair hanging raggedly about his angular face and the shiny metal throwing axe in his right hand, stained with blood on one of its blades. His face was wrenched with fury, his blue eyes raging, his stance wide and ready, prepared to take on all threats. He was darkness, he was danger, and he was death.

His eyes weren’t red, but Lily could sense he was far more dangerous than the Calydon that lay motionless behind her. This new warrior radiated danger and heat and something she couldn’t identify. Something that eased the terror beating at her. Something that calmed her need to flee. Something that made her want to rush over to him and throw herself in his arms, just to feel his body against hers...

Oh, crap.
What was wrong with her?

He held up a hand for her silence and cocked his head, and Lily realized he was listening for others. Oh, God. Others?

She lurched to her feet, staggering as a wave of dizziness caught her and she nearly went down. She braced her hands against the wall, holding herself up as she stumbled away from him, toward the kitchen. Glass cut through her feet, and a cry of pain slipped out.

“Lily!” he commanded. “Don’t move!”

Lily
? He knew who she was? Was he also working with Frank? Had he killed her rogue assailant to ensure she made it back to Frank?

The Calydon was striding toward her, his face dark with fury. Energy was swirling off him, and his well-defined muscles were taut with rage. He was terrifying, but at the same time... he was pure, elemental beauty. He was pure grace, reminding Lily of a wild cat loaded with sinewy muscle and a lightning-fast strike that would bring instant death to his enemies, but one that would curl around her and protect her, keeping her safe, claws safely sheathed just for her.

He was all male, a testosterone-laden specimen of strength and aggression, a threat to all she was as a woman. He was ruthless temptation calling to her deepest, darkest desires, the ones she’d hidden away even from herself. In his presence, everything that made her female flared to life, longing for this man, this warrior, this
enemy
.

Lily backed up as he neared, holding out her hand in a pathetically useless attempt to stop him.

“My name’s Gideon. I’m here for you.” His voice was forceful and unyielding, but to her surprise, he eased himself to a stop several yards away from her. He spread his hands as if he were trying to appear harmless. Hah. There was
no chance
he could ever be mistaken for anything harmless, and it wasn’t simply the weapon in his right hand or the axe-shaped brands burned into his forearms. Danger bled from his pores, darkened his expression, weighted his broad shoulders. “Don’t run,” he said. “You’ll slice your feet.”

There was no remorse in his face for the body on the ground behind her, yet at the same time, heated desire brimmed in his eyes as he studied her intensely. He was a Calydon, a warrior of hot passions and cold death, both of them hopelessly intertwined. His overwhelming presence was stirring up heated feelings of longing deep within her, even as her heart froze in fear at all he was, for how her life could fall at his hands in a split second.

Lily tugged her torn shirt closed over her chest, knowing it would do nothing to protect her from the raw sensuality pulsing from him, from the painfully intense yearnings rising within her, responding to his call, desperate to fall into the fire he was already kindling between them.

She’d met dozens of Calydons in the past. She’d always felt their pulsing sexuality, their intense stares that made desire rush through her, preying on her heritage and how it called her to their kind, but this was
different
. With all those others, she hadn’t felt anything for them. It had been easy to turn them away, to ignore the beastly desires of her kind.

But Gideon was different. He was stripping her raw, branding her with his gaze, making her body ache with need for him, for all that he was and could offer her.

His eyes darkened, and she knew he could sense her reaction, the need pulsing so strongly within her.

Her cheeks flared with embarrassment, and she began to slide along the wall away from him, using it as a support to keep herself vertical. She winced as her foot landed on something sharp, and she jerked her foot off the floor, brushing off the glass by running her foot over her calf.

Gideon’s jaw tightened, and his hand went up, as if to grab her, but he stopped himself when she flinched. “Lily. There are more Calydons outside that my teammate is dealing with.” There was an urgency to his voice. “We need to go.” He snapped his fingers impatiently. “Come on. Now.”