Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade) (18 page)

Jordyn's throat tightened at his words. She knew that Walter had loved her, and she hated that their bond had destroyed everything they'd had. God, she
hated
that
sheva
bond. Slowly, she lowered the gun, her hands suddenly starting to shake. Eric carefully slipped it from her trembling hands, his brow furrowed. "I got it," he said quietly.

"I need to find my friend," she said. "That's all I need." She couldn't get Rhiannon's expression out of her mind, the look of fear when she'd said she was coming back to face José. She couldn't let Rhiannon go through what she'd experienced, especially since Rhiannon wouldn't have Tristan to help her through it. "If you can help me, please tell me."

Rohan didn't respond, and Eric put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm going with her," he said shortly. "If you know where this guy is, tell us."

"You will die if you go after him," Rohan said again.

Jordyn swallowed. She'd died before, and she didn't want to do it again, but she wouldn't let Rhiannon face him alone. "That's my choice, not yours."

Again, there was no response, and she became frustrated. "Nevermind. I'll find a way." She turned around, startled when Eric handed over her backpack, as if he'd been simply waiting for her to turn around. He had already strapped her gun back in place.

"They won't help," he said simply. "They have issues."

She shrugged on the backpack, and her shoulders were screaming with pain almost immediately. Eric's eyebrows went up, and she turned away, refusing to let him see she was tired. "Let's go."

Eric fell in beside her as they headed past the group of Calydons, and into the darkening jungle—

"Wait."

She and Eric both turned at Rohan's command. "What?"

"Night is coming. You won't survive in the jungle at night. We would be honored to host you at our camp tonight."

She shook her head. "No, thank you—"

Eric touched her arm, and bent his head, so that only she could hear. "We should do it," he said quietly. "The jungle isn't safe at night, and I might be able to get a lead on José if we stay. Rohan knows more about him than he's telling us."

She looked up at him, unable to keep the worry off her face. "I don't trust Calydons anymore," she said. "I don't want to stay with them." She hated to admit it, but she had baggage with Calydons now. She'd seen how bad they could get when they turned rogue, and she still had nightmares of glowing red eyes hunting her.

"I know you don't. But to save Tristan and Rhiannon, it's our best option. I'll never leave your side, I swear."

She bit her lip and looked back at the hooded warriors. "They're creepy. I can't even see their faces."

"They're all skinny computer geeks. That's why they dress like that. No one would be scared of them otherwise."

She snorted. "They have awfully big muscles for skinny computer geeks."

"It's stage makeup. They're very talented at deception." Eric was so deadpan, that she couldn't help but laugh softly.

He was right. She wouldn't serve Rhiannon if she were dead, or spent the next twenty years of her life wandering through the jungle completely lost. "Okay."

He nodded. "Okay." He slipped his hand around her elbow, drawing her close to him. "We accept your invitation."

Rohan nodded, and as a single unit, all the warriors rose to their feet. "You will follow me."

Jordyn stiffened as the warriors flanked them, a tight group around them as they headed into the forest. Eric kept himself close, and she couldn't help but be grateful for his proximity, even if he was an arrogant womanizer who was too sexy for anyone's good.

"Rohan," he said suddenly, breaking the tense silence. "I
will
be leaving in the morning with Jordyn."

The taller warrior looked in Jordyn's direction, and said nothing.

Eric's fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around her elbow, and she realized that the morning exit might not be as easy as she'd hoped. Which was fantastic, because the pursuit of Rhiannon wasn't challenging enough on its own, without five overgrown flunkies trying to stop her. She would be so appreciative if they made it even more difficult to find one small woman in the middle of a jungle. Really. Such thoughtful guys.

Men. She could definitely live without them...and yet it appeared she was going to spend the night with six of them.

Because
that
was every woman's dream.

Not.

By the time Rhiannon had set up camp hours later, Zach had gotten nowhere.

For three hours after the fire, they'd hauled ass through the jungle, and he hadn't figured out a damned thing about how to get his fire back.

He'd tried igniting six different plants, and hadn't so much as given them a steam bath, let alone set them aflame. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. The big zero. None of which were going to be much help when they finally faced down José.

How the hell did he get his fire back? It was bad enough that he'd lost the essence of what defined him, but to know that Thano and Rhiannon were going to pay because he wasn't stepping up was weighing on him even more heavily.

He could practically hear the clock ticking, as Death rubbed his hands together, gleefully counting the hours until he added a couple more souls to his stable, souls that Zach could save with the snap of his fingers if he wasn't dropping the ball so badly.

With frustration mounting and obscuring his ability to think rationally, he'd finally abandoned his questions, sinking back into observation mode so he could figure out the best way to accomplish what he needed given their limitations. So, instead of playing with fire like he needed to be doing, he'd spent the rest of their trek observing Rhiannon and learning from her actions, as she'd led them relentlessly through the thick jungle, barely pausing to check her path. She was clearly at home in the woods, and already, he was learning the secrets of the jungle...but he knew it wouldn't be enough to take on José.

Like him, Rhiannon was edgy and tense, always looking over her shoulder. There was fear in her dark eyes, a grim awareness of the danger hunting them both.

And, to make matters even more complicated, he was discovering that there was a level of physical connection between them that was inopportune, inconvenient, and distracting as hell. He knew it wasn't one-sided, which made his own need even stronger. Several times, he'd moved close to Rhiannon during a particularly treacherous part of the jungle, and he hadn't missed the flashes of desire that crossed her face when his arm brushed against hers.

And that moment when he'd caught her arm when she'd tripped? She'd rewarded him with a tiny smile of vulnerability and appreciation before she'd pulled free. The woman was loaded with emotional baggage, and he found himself wanting to know every damn secret she carried.

He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her statement that the fire god was hunting her, a fact that had jacked up his adrenaline sky-high all day, ready for an attack at any moment. This was all wrong. He should be focused on the offensive, luring José to follow him so he could set a trap, but instead he'd been screwing up with his own fire, and obsessing over how he could protect the woman who was acting as his guide.

He needed to protect Thano, but somehow, someway, Rhiannon had gotten under his skin and he needed to keep her safe as well. Rhiannon might be a warrior, but she also brought out his protective instincts, which he hadn't experienced in a long time. Last time he'd responded to a woman like that, the situation had been devastating.

Shit. He didn't need to go back there. He needed to focus on Thano, and not another woman again. But as hard as he tried to distance himself from his attraction to her, he'd stayed close behind her all day, ready to react if anything happened.

And now, after almost a full day of trekking through the jungle with her, and breathing in the delicate, feminine scent as it wafted behind her, he'd pretty much used up all his self-control. He wanted answers, he wanted fire, he wanted to focus on the mission, and he wanted his damned hard-on to get a life. At the minimum, he at least needed to get information about José and the jungle, but Rhiannon had been in no mood to talk, refusing to go into detail about José or what was going on.

Now that they were settled for the night at their campsite, however, he was going to get the answers he needed from her. There had to be a solution he'd overlooked. He just had to find it.

When she'd set up camp, Rhiannon had taken the same tactic as Rohan. She'd selected a campsite next to a river and had set up torches on the other three sides. By the time night fell, they were protected by fire and water. Rhiannon, however, was not settled.

She was pacing the perimeter, an arrow nocked in her bow as she searched the trees.

Zach watched her as he roasted the fish that she'd caught for their dinner. He'd been perfectly capable of catching a fish and setting up the perimeter, but he'd sensed that she needed to do it herself. She hadn't wanted his help, and she'd worked tirelessly, almost frenetically, as if she were trying to outrun something that only she could see.

"What's out there?" He tossed the question casually at her, but his body was taut and ready to fight if anything came after them. It was time to get answers, to slowly and carefully pull back the layers she was hiding beneath. "José?"

"Probably not José. He doesn't waste time hunting. He'll have sent more of his team. Like the one you stopped from attacking me earlier today." She was moving easily, her body lithe and muscular, but there was a weariness to her frame that belied how relentlessly she had been pushing herself all day. "They hunt at night because it gives them an advantage if no one sees them coming." She glanced over at him, fear etched deeply in the lines of her face. "They like to create a sense of terror in the jungle. People fear them because they can't see them. Every morning when people get up, they count their family to see if anyone was taken during the night. No one fights them, because they don't even know what they are." She turned sharply, as if she'd heard something, and then relaxed again. "Most people in the jungle think that they are half-man, half-monsters. Only people like me know what they are—"

She cut herself off, as if realizing she'd said more than she'd intended.

Giving her a moment to think she had space, Zach turned the fish on the spit, studying her even as he kept his senses attuned to the jungle around them. He'd been assessing her all day, laying the plans to get her to talk. Why had she stopped herself from telling him more? Why was she so guarded? He wanted to know about her personally almost as much as he wanted to know about the fire god that could save Thano, and who was hunting her. "What are 'they?' Calydons like the guy hunting you? Or something else?" He thought of the fire he'd seen in the woods the previous night, and a grim sense of focus settled over him.

She didn't answer his question, instead resuming her pacing along the perimeter. "It was unusual for Luther to be out during the day," she mused aloud. "Why was he out there?" She glanced at Zach to see if he was listening. When she saw him watching her, she bit her lip, and fell silent, but it didn't take much for him to connect the things she wasn't willing to say.

"Luther?" he asked, though he was pretty sure he knew who she was referring to. "Who's Luther?"

"The man who tried to take me." She slanted a look at him. "The one you almost killed."

He raised his brows. "Almost? You don't think he was dead?" Yeah, granted, Luther's body hadn't vanished the way dead Calydons did, but the young ones always took a while to disappear. He replayed his strikes again, and shook his head. "It was a killing blow."

"No." She was quiet again. "He'll be hunting us again."

"Again?" He considered that. Though he'd been certain he'd finished Luther off, this was Rhiannon's jungle, and he wasn't going to discount her knowledge of their situation...but hell, if that hit hadn't killed Luther, they were up against some serious opponents. He turned the fish in the campfire, his jaw clenching as adrenaline simmered through him. He would be ready, and he would use tonight to get the information he needed from Rhiannon. "So you think he knew you were there. Or coming, at least. That's what you're wondering, isn't it? If he stumbled across you, or if he was already hunting you?"

She looked over at him, unable to hide the stark terror in her eyes, fear so deep that something primal and fierce roared to life within him. Instinctively, he rose to his feet, the need to protect her raging through him.

He understood her edginess. She didn't think it was a fluke that Luther had found her. She was pretty damn sure that José and his team already knew she was back, and that they were closing in on her. His brands began to burn in his arm. He'd already been highly focused on their surroundings, using his preternatural senses to sift through all the sounds and scents of the forest, but now he went on even higher alert. "Why? Why does he want you?"

She looked over at him, and for a long moment she said nothing. Finally, her lips parted, and he thought she was going to reply. Then she shook her head and turned back to her vigilant stance, but even as she stood there he could see her legs trembling and knew she was exhausted. How long had she been on the run? How long could she keep it up? He knew damn well that a warrior pushed beyond his limits was a warrior who ended up dead.

He strode over to her. "I'll take watch. You do the food and take a load off."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "We can't relax. Luther can get through this. They all can."

"What
can't
they get through?"

She shook her head. "Nothing—" she cut herself off, whirling around suddenly to stare out into the jungle.

Zach eased up beside her, peering past her. "What is it?"

"There is one thing that could help," she said softly. Tentatively she let go of her bow with one hand and held her palm out toward the woods. Zach felt a shift in the air pressure immediately, as if it had come alive and was swirling around them. He tensed, readying himself to call out his weapons as the wind began to hammer at them.