Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) (36 page)

Ana felt a sudden crash of heated desire in her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he locked his arms around her back and lifted her off the railing, sliding them both to the floor of the balcony. Her shirt was off by the time she made it down there, as was his, his mouth on her breasts, his hands unbuttoning her jeans. His body was hard and muscled above her, his mouth stirring up feelings of such heat and such intensity—

He tossed her pants aside, and he shifted off her long enough to shed his jeans. He rolled onto his back, setting her across his hips so she was straddling him. The heat of his body pulsed against her, his skin flush against hers.

He gripped her hair and pulled her face down to his, his tongue demanding, his mouth hot and wet. He tasted like mint, like male, like erotic spices and danger. His erection was hard between her legs, pressing against her core. His hips were moving beneath her, creating hot friction and wetness between her legs, while his mouth continued to devour hers.

Elijah’s hands were clenching her hair in an unrelenting hold she knew she could break, even though it felt like she couldn’t. But she wasn’t going to pull away. She wanted to be held by him. She wanted to be locked against his body and feel his kisses and his hands skimming over every inch of her.

His hands slid over her back and down her butt, then slipped inside her. Ana’s body jerked as desire spiraled through her, and suddenly, she couldn’t wait anymore. She sat up and lifted her hips, meeting his hooded gaze as he guided her down onto his shaft. He slid deep within her, and her body clenched at the delicious sensation of sinking so intimately onto him.

Elijah fisted her hair again, pulled her down and kissed her hard as he began to move his hips. He whispered her name in her mind, a sound of such heat and passion and
need
that her heart swelled in response. A whisper of a moan echoed from her and she sat up, pulling out of his grasp so she could sink even deeper on him and take him all the way into her. She braced her palms on his chest and began to move.

“God, yes, Ana.” Elijah threw his head back and grabbed her hips, his fingers holding tight as she controlled their movements.

She realized that he was allowing her to take control. This wasn’t about his domination, his power, his control. He’d given it to her, despite all that he’d been through, despite all the demons that chased him and his need to try to fight his way back to the warrior he used to be, despite the power she had over him to send him spiraling into hell...despite all that, he’d handed all control over to her.

He trusted her
.

Something tightened in her heart, and little tremors began to shoot through her body, and she forgot about everything but the feel of him inside her, his hands cupping her breasts, his hips driving beneath her, the feeling of utter connection with him. Of safety and protection, but also more. Something so much more, and she realized suddenly that she trusted him, too, truly and completely. With her life, with her heart, with
everything
. He was stability, he was foundation, and he would be there for her.

“Of course, I will,” he growled just as he grabbed her around the waist, tossed her on her back and drove deeper into her, his chest brushing her breasts. Her body tensed, and the climax slammed into her. She shouted his name as her body arched beneath him, and then he was thrusting frantically. His body went rigid, and he gasped.
Ana. My dear, amazing Ana.

Then Elijah collapsed on top of her, his face in her breasts, his chest expanding with his heavy breathing.

Ana wrapped her arms around his head and held him tight against the racing of her heart, knowing that what they’d just done had been more than sex, it had been more than the bond. It had been a connection, something dangerous and scary and truly beautiful in ways that words would never be able to express.

Elijah lifted his head to look at her, his green eyes dark with desire and satisfaction. “You are my world, Ana.” His voice was raw and naked and honest, and it hit her right in her heart.

“Elijah—”

He shifted suddenly, and she felt his erection spring up against her thigh, already prepared for more. Lust was boiling in his eyes. She saw his sudden determination and knew he was going to take her again. Right then. Hard, hot sex with no mercy. Excitement flared up inside her, and she shuddered in anticipation at the image of him pounding into her.

“God, yes.” She grabbed for him at the same instant he lunged for her, his erection hard and throbbing against her belly.

Jesus, Ana
. His groan was loud and raw in her head, his mouth hot on her breasts, teeth, lips, tongue. He sank into her, and she screamed at the intensity of the connection. It was more than what she’d felt before. Intense. Darker. Violent. He thrust deep, and the orgasm tore at her instantly, ripping through her like a brutal storm, and Elijah bellowed as he climaxed just as violently.

Darkness pulsed over Ana. She heard the rumble of dark male satisfaction and hot masculine desire in her mind. She felt it reverberate in her soul.

And it wasn’t Elijah.

She fought against the urge to melt into his body. “Stop! We can’t! He’s here—”

“Fuck him.” Elijah kissed her again, until she stopped fighting and let herself melt against him.
I need to feel you respond to me.

There was a vulnerability in Elijah’s voice that made her throat tighten, and she fisted his hair and kissed him back until he groaned and broke the kiss. He leaned his forehead against hers, his hands tight around her waist. “We’re not safe from him, Ana. Anything we do that satisfies one of the stages of the bond will seal your bond with him if he’s merged with us. The only reason we felt him that time was because he got too caught up and we sensed his lust. If you call out my weapon, it’ll be the same thing as calling out his. If I kill to save your life, it’ll be the same thing as him doing it.”

Ana stared at him, the full impact of what he was saying settling on her. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah. I’ve heard of this happening before between blood-bonded Calydons, which is one of the reasons most stay away from the blood-bond. Once they do, they’re in danger of meeting their
sheva
not only with the women they actually encounter, but any women their blood brothers meet while they are merged.” Every muscle in Elijah’s body was rigid, and his body was vibrating with energy and adrenaline.

Elijah was at war. She could see it in the focus on his face, in the readiness of his stance, in the coldness of his eyes.

“We’re out of time.” His voice was grim. “Ezekiel’s coming for us, and our only chance is to preempt him.”

“Dear God,
how
?” She felt like they were at his mercy, just toys for him to play with at will. How could they ever stop him?

Elijah kissed her again, a fierce kiss of ownership, as if he needed to stake his claim to her, and she was completely okay with that. “We go to him,” Elijah said. “Like I suggested at the mansion. We tell him we’re considering his offer, and we put ourselves in his home, in his life, in his fucking mind until I figure how the hell to kill him.” His grip tightened. “And you’re coming with me. I will
not
leave you unattended as long as he’s alive.”

She swallowed. “We’re going now?”

“Soon. I need to talk to the Order and make plans. You have time for a shower if you want one.”

She looked down at the crusted blood on her and nodded numbly. “I always prefer a shower before I present myself to a psychotic killer who wants to make me his concubine.”

Elijah met her gaze, amusement flickering deep inside somewhere beneath his shadows, just before he cupped her face and kissed her, a deep hot kiss that made her insides crumble, a kiss of commitment and caring that made the panic fade, replaced by a determination and courage to do whatever it took to succeed. Elijah broke the kiss and ran his thumb over her lower lip, his gaze dark and intense.

He didn’t offer reassurance that they’d survive.

And she didn’t ask for it.

Empty words meant nothing.

***

Once Ana was in the shower, Elijah leaned his forehead against the bathroom door, listening to the rhythm of the water and the small sounds as she moved around. God, he wanted to be in there with her. Her eyes had been so shadowed when she’d walked in, and there were still faint bruises on her face. A jagged cut on her cheek. Ezekiel’s marks on her arms. He cursed softly.

God, the hell she’d been brought into.

He took a deep breath.
I’ll make it safe for you again, Ana. I promise you.

She touched his mind.
I don’t need safety. I just need you.

You have me.
His priority was to the Order, but she was his life. Because she was his
sheva
? He suspected it was far more than that.

Elijah laid his palm on the door for a second, then willed himself to turn away. He strode across the room, reaching out for his team.
Quinn. Gideon. You guys there?

We’re here. Recovered.
The response of his teammates was instant, and he knew from the intensity of the connection that they were ready for war as well. He could feel their focus, the sharp humming of their minds.

Has Lily come up with any more info for us?
Elijah yanked open his top drawer to find a fresh shirt. As he grabbed the first one he could see, his fingers brushed against something cold and metal.

He frowned and tossed the clothes aside, then tensed when he saw what it was. It was the medallion he’d worn around his neck his whole life, until he’d taken it off the night he’d gone after Quinn. He had no idea what it meant, but he’d never removed it before that night, absolutely certain it was important.

He’d forgotten about it since his recovery, until now. How had he forgotten about something that had been a part of him for so long?

Elijah tangled the metal links of the chain around his fingers and lifted it, letting it dangle. As he’d done so many times before, he studied the markings on it.

He felt the heat of it in his hand and recalled the look on his father’s face when he’d pulled it out from behind a brick in the back of the fireplace. The medallion had still been warm from the fire, the metal tarnished and covered with centuries of accumulation.

His dad had been afraid of the medallion. Elijah could still smell the scent of fear as his father had given it to him, and then wiped his hands afterwards, as if he could free himself from the taint of touching it.

Elijah closed his eyes and pressed the medallion to his chest, opening his mind, trying to recall what his father had said when he’d handed him the medallion. It had been so long ago. He’d been a mere boy, and it had been only days before his father had been killed in a hunting accident, taking with him whatever knowledge he had about the medallion. His father had said it had something to do with destiny...fate...
Ezekiel.

He suddenly heard his mother crying, sobbing, begging his father not to give it to him, to hide it and keep it locked up...

Elijah? You there?
Gideon’s voice interrupted the memories.

Elijah opened his eyes and looked at the medallion, etching an image of it in his mind and sharing it with Gideon.
Show this to Lily. Ask her what the words on it mean.

Your medallion? You remembered what it means?

I think it has to do with Ezekiel.
Why had he taken it off the night he’d gone to kill Quinn? After six hundred years of wearing it constantly, why had he removed it when he’d been in such a state of insanity?

He flipped it over in his hand to look at the back, and lifted it closer to study the carved scene, the details so minute he wouldn’t even be able to make them out if it weren’t for his superior Calydon eyesight...and for the first time, he considered that might have been intentional.
For your eyes only.

He remembered his father’s words then.
For your eyes only. When it is time, you will know.

His father had never looked at it. No one in the family had. It had been sitting behind that brick, waiting for Elijah, for who knew how long? And where had it come from? His father hadn’t known, and neither had his mother. But they’d both known to fear it.

So what the hell was it? Elijah peered more closely at it, trying to make sense of the multitude of lines...a mess he’d never been able to sort out. It looked like a random assortment of markings that meant nothing and portrayed nothing. Like it was a puzzle, where he was supposed to look for the hidden image