Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) (40 page)

“Oh, crap!” She stumbled backward, but Ezekiel caught her arm and cut off her retreat. His grip was unyielding and relentless, and she fought harder, panic rising as the warriors bore down on her.

Elijah swore and tried to fight his way toward her, but he was fully occupied with the mass of warriors attacking him. She shot a frantic glance at Ezekiel, her heart racing. “You’re going to let them kill me?”

He shot her a wide smile. “No, of course not.”

And then, before the significance of that statement could sink in, he stepped up beside her and called out a sword. The lead Calydon neared her and raised his spear to plunge it through her throat. His eyes were black with lethal intent, and she saw her death in his eyes.

Ana screamed, and Ezekiel thrust his sword straight into the Calydon’s heart.

The warrior dropped at her feet, his eyes staring sightlessly at the sky. Dead. Because of her. “Oh, God.” She stumbled back, horrified by the sight of another male dead, his life ripped from his body because of her. “Not again.”

“No!” Elijah’s outraged roar ripped through the air, and Ana’s forearm seared with heat.

Terror shot through her. Heat? The brand? Another stage?

“It is done!” Ezekiel shouted, and the Calydons ceased their attack instantly, dropping to their knees with their heads bowed. He smiled triumphantly at Ana as she sank to her knees in horror. “I killed to save your life, Ana. Another stage of the bond. Done.”

Elijah whirled toward them and sprinted over to her as she held out her arm to look at it, her arm shaking so much she couldn’t even see the marks. Elijah caught her wrist and steadied it enough for her to see a line form, traveling down her forearm parallel to the other line that had been the start of Ezekiel’s weapon.

Bile burned in her stomach, and Elijah’s hand tightened on her arm. His eyes blazed with fury as he turned toward Ezekiel. His muscles were straining with the effort of not attacking Ezekiel straight out. “You bastard.”

Ezekiel grinned, triumph dancing in his eyes. “You think I can stand back and not bond with my
sheva?
As I said, we will share her. Now come.”

He began to march across the field, stepping over the bodies of the Calydons he’d sacrificed, and Ana stared at Elijah, her heart racing. “Elijah, I can’t do this—”

“I know.” His grip was like a vise on her arm, his jaw flexing. “Fuck, Ana, I know.” His eyes were dark. “I’m taking you back to the Order. They’ll keep you safe and I’ll deal with Ezekiel.”

She shook her head once. “He’ll kill them all to take me. You’re the only one who can protect me against him, because he doesn’t want to kill you.” She couldn’t keep herself from shaking, her stomach roiling at the feeling of sewage coursing through her at the tightened bond with Ezekiel.

“Come along, kids,” Ezekiel called out. “I have a busy night.”

Elijah wrapped his hand around hers, dwarfing her hand. He cupped her chin, his hand so gentle against her skin, his body corded with fury. His green eyes were full of such anguish and torment, his soul breaking before her. “I can’t sacrifice you to him.” His voice was like steel. “It’s against everything in my body and soul to expose you to him.”

She clung to him, desperate for his touch, for his support, for connection with him. Only him. “I know.”

There was no need to say more. As impossible as it was to go forward with their plan, they both knew their only chance at beating Ezekiel was to stay where they were and to risk her. He would find her no matter where she went. There was nowhere to hide from him.
Nowhere
.

Elijah closed his eyes for a minute, then hugged her against him. She sank into his body instantly, the hard planes of his muscles enfolding her. She pressed her face to his chest, breathing in his musky scent, letting it ease the tension in her heart.
I believe
.

In what?

In you
.

He pulled back to look at her. No longer was there stubborn rejection on his face at her declaration. His eyes were full of questions, of desperate hope for answers.
What does that mean?

It means I believe we can win.

Something flickered in his eyes. Longing? Regret? He laid his palm against her cheek, his skin so warm.
You do, don’t you? Even with the medallion?

She leaned her face into his touch, breathing in his strength and his passion.
It’s just an old, metal coin, Elijah.
The chain glimmered around his neck, and she wanted to rip it off. She went to grab it, and he closed his hand over it to block it.

It’s so much more than just metal
. His resistance was back, tainted by that damned coin.
You know it is.

Throw it away.
She searched his face, opening her heart, showing him how much she cared, allowing him to feel the very depths of her commitment to him, to them.
Make this about us, not something that happened two thousand years ago.

“Now!” Ezekiel sounded angry again, and she shuddered at the blast of evil he sent her way.

Elijah gave her a grim look as he took her hand. Together, they headed across the dead grass toward a tall, gray building with barred windows, cement walls, and a turret.

It looked almost like an ancient castle.

Or an ancient prison. She swallowed at the thought, at the memory of being trapped by Nate. Of being locked down again in a world of such horror.

Elijah tightened his grip on her hand.
I’ll be with you the whole time, sweetheart. You’re not alone this time.

She held onto him fiercely.
You have to believe, Elijah.

He looked at her, and she saw the doubt in his gaze, fed by a lifetime of indoctrination as to the legends of his kind.
I’ll give my life for you
.

That wasn’t believing, and she knew, in her heart, that they would never survive without faith. Destiny’s greatest power was that the Calydons believed in her. Their belief gave destiny power, in the same way that Ana’s illusions had power only because people believed they were real.

And as long as Elijah believed they were bound by fate, they would be.

And he believed.

Ezekiel let out a roar of outrage, and too late, Ana realized he’d been in her mind and heard their conversation. Now Ezekiel knew that they were there to betray him. “Elijah!”

Elijah’s throwing star slammed into his palm with a crack as Ezekiel flashed between them, grabbed them both and flashed again. Before they could blink, they were locked in a cell, and he was nowhere to be seen.

No longer honored guests, they were now his prisoners.

They were at the mercy of a man who had none.

He wanted to kill them all, every last one of them, including Quinn, for endangering Drew and letting him get kidnapped. But fuck...revenge was nothing compared to getting Drew back safe. He knew he had one choice. He couldn’t take them out until he knew where his son was.

Son of a bitch.

Vaughn let his heart start again, resumed the rest of his normal body functions and allowed his form to take shape as he rose to his feet, revealing himself. Quinn was looking right at him even before he exposed himself, and the Calydon gave him a brief nod.

The scarred warrior next to Quinn swore. “Where the hell did he come from?”

Vaughn met Quinn’s eyes and nodded back, then he started down the hill toward the bastards he didn’t trust, couldn’t afford to trust, and was doing it anyway.

***

Elijah paced the small room Ezekiel had locked them in. The walls were thick with a foul coating that made him not want to touch it. Even the floors felt dirty, although they were immaculate to the eye. It was as if there was a taint over everything, making his skin crawl. Every time he got near the off-white wall, he got painful flashes of blinding light in his head.

Like bombs exploding…or mental partitions crumbling, allowing him to think of the hell his life had been...his sister...all the people he’d killed...not knowing what was real...

He swore and swung away from the wall to face the room.

There was nothing in their cell except a bed and a bathroom. Ana was sitting on the bed, rubbing the brands on her arms. Her tension was eating at Elijah, making his stomach turn with acid. Her worry and fear was making his head pound, and he knew the stress was getting to him. He was so fucking worried about her he couldn’t think straight. He could barely concentrate on getting them the hell out of that room before Ezekiel came back for them...for her...

Fuck!

Pain shot through his skin, and Elijah looked down at his arm, expecting to see one of Ezekiel’s blades cutting him.

There was nothing there. His skin was intact. But he could still feel the sharp cut of a blade.

He was feeling a knife that wasn’t actually there.
Oh, shit.
Illusion or reality?
He didn’t know.

Ana’s head snapped up and she looked at him, her eyes wide with knowledge. “Elijah?”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.” He carefully eased up his shields so she wouldn’t be able to sense what was going on in his mind. It would worry her even more, knowing that he was losing it again. Hell, it was worrying him.

She frowned. “You’re not fine.”

He finally stopped pacing and looked at her. At her black curls falling over her shoulders, the golden tint to her skin, the healing cut on her face, and the cast still around her ankle. God, she was beautiful. And she was
his.
He knew it in his core, and it humbled him. It also ate away at him because he was failing her. “I was supposed to keep you safe, and I brought you here. I allowed him to brand you. Hell, I haven’t even healed you yet.”

Her silver eyes were haunted, yet determined. “We can’t sleep at the same time, so you can’t bring me into your healing sleep.” She rapped her knuckles on the cast. “It protects me anyway.”

His skin prickled again, and he walked over and sank to his knees in front of her, sliding his hands up her hips around her waist and dropping his face into her lap. His body nearly sagged with the relief of touching her. She gave him peace, on every level of his being.

Her arms went around his head, her fingers entwining in his hair. “I can feel Ezekiel in me now.”

He ground his jaw. “I can, too.”

“He’s lonely.”

Elijah lifted his head to look at her. “You’re bonding with him emotionally?” Just saying it made him pulse with anger. The idea of Ana feeling affection for Ezekiel made his forearms burn with the need to call out his weapons. It made his body throb with the urge to throw her down on the mattress and stake his claim to her. It made the ache in his head worse.

Shit, he had to stay calm. He had to stay focused. He could not snap now. If he did, it would be the ultimate betrayal of his responsibility to keep her safe.

Ana made a noise of protest. “Oh, God, am I going to want to have sex with him? I can’t. The thought of it—”

“No!” Elijah grabbed her and hauled her against him, his grip hard. “No! You won’t!