Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) (40 page)

“Of course.” Kane’s energy crackled through the air like hot wind on a desert night, and the team immediately moved together until their shoulders were touching. They had to be physically connected to Kane in order for his power to work on them.

Quinn held out his hand to Grace. “Kane’s going to transport us. Are you coming?”

Her face hardened with resolve, but she ran over and slipped in between the warriors. “I’m coming.” There was no warmth in her voice anymore. Just fury and reserve, and Quinn knew he’d failed to be the man she’d wanted him to be.

Shit. He was trying here. What the hell did she want from him?

The air began to hum as Kane prepared to teleport them to Ezekiel’s prison. Quinn caught Grace’s arm and forced her to look at him. “We need to be on the same team right now,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Don’t shut me out.”

There was such soul-deep pain in her eyes, anguish that tore at his soul. “I have to, Quinn. There’s no other way.”

“There’s always another way,” he gritted out.

“Then you be the one to choose a different path,” she snapped. “Caleb and Ezekiel fought for love so powerful that it transcended everything. That’s why they were so unstoppable, because they fought with their hearts. You guys fight from duty. It won’t be enough.” She slammed her palm into his chest. “Don’t be a fool, Quinn.”

Anger rippled through him. “I’m not a fool, Grace. I’m your best damn chance.”

“They aren’t mutually exclusive, Quinn.” She glared at him with exasperation. “You have it in you to be more,” she said. “I know you do. Break the rules, Quinn. It’s the only way.”

He shook his head. “You’re asking me to be weak.”

She raised her brows. “Am I? Are you so sure about that?”

Before Quinn could answer, the woods vanished in a blur of energy, and Kane relocated them to Ezekiel’s prison.

* * *

Grace stumbled as her feet reformed on the hard earth, and only Quinn’s grip kept her upright, her chest still falling through the vortex that had caught her when the world had disappeared.

They were in the Columbia Gorge, a huge area of cliffs, mountains and river, like a miniature grand canyon. Huge walls of old red clay rose before her, no windows, no doors. The prison? A faint glow emanated from it, leaving no doubt that it wasn’t simply clay that was holding Ezekiel hostage. Little pieces of clay were crumbling, falling to the ground.

Surrounding them were acres and acres of dying vegetation. Leaves were brown and spotted, plants were curled with disease, and the pungent odor of death and rot permeated her nostrils. Even the ground was crusty and rancid under her feet and she felt her skin crawl. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to get away as fast as she could. There was something terrifying and evil here, and she could feel it working its way beneath her skin.

Quinn’s hand settled on the back of her neck, and she didn’t shrug him off. Somehow, even an overly heroic warrior destined to break her heart and gallantly sacrifice his own life didn’t seem like such a bad choice when compared with what was permeating the air around her.

Grace moved closer to Quinn, relieved when he looped his arm around her neck and positioned her in the shield of his body. They exchanged no words, but the message was clear enough between them. They might not agree, but that wouldn’t change whether she could count on him to stand by her.

Ian strode into sight as he rounded the north corner of the prison. His gaunt face and disheveled clothes were covered in red clay, as if he’d been scaling the walls. “The structure is weakening.” He gestured at the dead vegetation. “This destruction is from Ezekiel. His evil’s leaching out. But I can’t find a single explanation for what’s going on.”

Grace hugged herself and shivered as the men’s tension jacked up. All this was from Ezekiel, with the walls only weakened? What would happen if he actually got out?

Quinn cursed. “There’s no clue as to what’s causing it?”

“I can’t see a damn thing.” Ian’s sai was clenched in his fist, the three-pronged blade glinting in the sun. “But there’s something else going on. Something’s been stalking me since I got here.”

The warriors immediately fanned out, weapons out and ready, and she sensed a vibration in the air as their adrenaline kicked on and they searched with their senses.

“Is there an illusion?” Quinn asked.

Grace did a quick check of the men, using Quinn’s mental connection to each of them. “Just Gideon’s, but it’s fading already. Nothing in the air.”

“Then let’s check it out,” Quinn commanded his team. “Start with what’s on the other side of the ridge. The air feels heavier in that direction, but I can’t identify exactly what’s causing it.”
Grace, I need you to stay here until I can make sure it’s safe.

She could feel the threat as well, a thickness in the air, and she knew he couldn’t afford to be distracted by her.
Okay. Be safe.

He winked at her, and then, without a word of further instruction, the warriors split into two groups and moved out, with Thano staying behind with Grace, his halberd out. The long staff with the intricate double blade on the end was intimidating, and his grip was relaxed, a man at ease with his weapon. “Take cover.” Thano pushed her against a small cliff, then spread his legs and gave her his back, clearly standing guard over her.

Grace’s heart started to pound. “You should go help them.”

“Let me do my job,
sheva
.”

The tension in his voice was unmistakable, and there was no endearment in his use of the word
sheva
, unlike when Quinn used it. She pressed her body into the cliff and then she heard a crack so loud it sounded as if lightning had exploded just over the ridge. “What was that?” she asked. “It was too loud to be a weapon.”

“Not too loud to be a hundred weapons being called out at once,” Thano said.

“A hundred?” From over the bluff came the swell of a battle cry, followed by the reverberating clash of weapons. Sparks flew in the sky, like fireworks of hell. “Quinn!” She started to run toward them. “It’s a trap—”

“Stay here!” Thano shoved her back. “Don’t call out Quinn’s sword, or you’ll leave him defenseless. If you distract him, he can’t fight.” Thano sprinted off in a blur and disappeared over the crest, brandishing his halberd and sounding his own battle cry.

Grace frantically looked around for something she could use as a weapon to defend herself if the battle came near her. She grabbed a rock, hefting it to her hip, because that would so help save her life if some Calydon came streaking toward her with a battle axe in his hand.

Sheva. Are you safe?
Quinn’s distracted voice floated in her mind, and she caught a flash of pain from him.

I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, please!

He checked out immediately, and Grace sank down against the cliff, gripping her pathetic little rock tightly. She listened to the battle raging just over the hill, wincing at each scream of death, and praying it wasn’t one of the men she knew.

Then excruciating pain exploded in her gut, and she gasped and doubled over, knowing it was Quinn’s pain, so intense that it had blown through the shields he’d put up to keep her out of his mind while he was fighting. He’d just been hit.
Quinn.

There was no response.

“Quinn!” She scrambled to her feet and ran.

She gaped at the destruction from the mountain as the earth was incinerated by its fury, as the volcano’s rage swept down toward them. Her face began to burn from the heat and the wind became even fiercer. A glow rose in the distance...the melted rock, sweeping toward her, to wipe them out...

She heard the screams of men as the boiling rock hit them, incinerating them, sucking them into its cauldron. The odor of burning flesh stung her nostrils, making her stomach turn. Grace tried to scramble up the rock face, away from the rolling tide of melted rock. She jammed her fingers into the crevices, desperately trying to gain traction as the heat burned through her clothes. She lost her grip, falling to the base of the cliff as the crush of melted rock swept toward her. She threw her arms up in a useless defense...and then the world went black.

Utter silence.

The pungent odor of death vanished, replaced by nothing.

Pain was gone too.

She was in a world of nothing. A void.

Was this death?

No. It’s me,
Quinn said.
You risked your life to save me, and it strengthened our bond enough for me to tighten our connection. I can manipulate your senses the same way I can manipulate mine. I’ve blocked them for you, so the illusion can’t hurt you.

God, Quinn was alive. Touching her.
You’re okay? But I saw those weapons—

You acted in time.

Grace’s relief that he was safe shook her to her core. She felt the tears deep inside her and knew they were falling on her cheeks, even though she couldn’t feel them.

Sheva
. The tenderness in his voice struck her, and she felt something inside her break at the endearment that felt so heartless.

No. Don’t call me that. I’m tired of all this crap about duty. My name is Grace Matthews, not some nameless woman to mate with. See me for who I am, Quinn. Feel who I really am. I’m not a magical bond. I’m me, dammit! I deserve more.
Grace knew why she’d called that illusion, why it had been so powerful. It had come from the very depths of her soul, triggered by all the emotions she felt for him. The fact that after all that, she was still simply a
sheva
to him? No more. She wouldn’t accept it anymore.

She felt Quinn’s regret.
You do deserve more, Grace, but I can’t give it to you. I’m not wired like that. Right now, we need to focus on the mission. The Order needs you. Your sister needs you.

Her sister. God, he was right. She couldn’t leave Ana just because she hated the rules Quinn lived by.

I heard you accept your death and put your sister’s fate in my hands. You trusted me with her.

She bowed her head, knowing she would do it again. Despite everything, she would trust Quinn with the one thing in life she held most dear.
I had no choice.
She’d had to save him. She couldn’t have let him die.

As you said earlier, there is always a choice, Grace. There is always a choice.

I hate you for making me care.

You should hate me, but you don’t.

She sensed his smile in her mind and wanted to hit him, to pound at his chest for seeing through her lies.
Damn you, Quinn.

Curse me all you want, Grace, but you changed the rules today when you offered your life for a greater cause. It’s exactly what I’m willing to do. We’re the same, Grace.

No! It’s different! I did it for you! For love! Not to fight off some stupid enemy—
Grace stopped as soon as she realized what she’d said. Did she really love him? Was it true?

She felt Quinn’s wonder and shock, sensed him probe her mind for the truth of her words.

Screw that. Grace slammed up her shields to keep him out of her thoughts, and to keep herself out of them as well. Loving him was a path she refused to travel. She was too smart for that. She was a survivor, not a lovesick female willing to put her heart out there for dreams that would be crushed.

Grace had saved Quinn because if one of them had to go solo, he had a better shot at saving her sister than she did. That was why. Not because of the aching loss that had torn through her at the thought of him dying. Definitely not because of that.

Quinn’s frustration rumbled through her.
Don’t shut me out.