Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) (46 page)

He bellowed his protest, lurched to his feet and charged across the room, moving faster than he’d ever done in his life. He caught her around the waist, felt her grunt from the impact and bolted. Just ran. Had to get her away. Had to protect her. She struggled against him, and he tightened his grip, knowing that the monster behind them could never be allowed to have her.

There was a roar of rage behind him, and he didn’t look back even as the power in the room rose. He just held Ana tight and used his throwing star to clear the way. Bodies fell, and he didn’t care. Didn’t matter. Just had to get her safe. Her arms suddenly went around his neck and her legs went around his waist. “Elijah!” There was such emotion in that one word, such passion, such need,
such love
that it snapped through the haze consuming his mind.

And suddenly he knew. He knew it was Ana in his arms. He knew the monster was Ezekiel. The demons were gone, and he knew, with sudden certainty that they would never come back. He’d broken through himself and found his way. He wrapped his arm around her and felt tears fill his eyes.
Ana. You did it. You brought me back
. He didn’t glance back as he shouldered through the door, splintering it and bolted around a corner.

“Wait, wait! Stop! Look!” She shoved her arm in front of his face, and for a moment, he didn’t know what he was looking at. Then he saw the brands on her arms, and he staggered to a horrified stop.

“Fuck,
no.
” Bile retched in Elijah’s stomach and he wrenched his gaze to her face, her beautiful silver eyes that now lived for someone else. For a monster.

Her eyes filled with tears. “I live for him, Elijah, but it’s you I love.” Her arms tightened around his neck. “He’s calling for me. I have to go—”
Elijah, his sheva can kill him
. She started to struggle against his grip. “I have to go.”

Elijah tightened his arms around her, easily resisting her struggles while her desperate whisper echoed through his mind. Of course, she was right. She could kill Ezekiel. She was the one destined to do so. “You can kill him only if he goes rogue.”

“Let me go!” she protested, pushing at his chest. “I need to go back to Ezekiel!”

Elijah’s heart tightened at the look in her eyes. Of such utter desperation and anguish, from being parted from Ezekiel, but also from being parted from him. Somehow, her feelings for him had survived her bond with Ezekiel. He felt the presence of Ezekiel in his mind, and he sensed the ancient Calydon calling to him as well. Ezekiel was trying to bring Elijah back, and he wanted to go.

Elijah actually took a step toward the other room, toward his kin, and his arms loosened to allow Ana to return to Ezekiel.

She slid down his body and landed lightly on her feet. “He’s calling me.”

He nodded. “Me, too.”

“He’s too strong.” The air was thick now, noxious, and sounds of the battle were fading. Was the Order all dead now? Destroyed by themselves?

Elijah ground his jaw, but Ana didn’t move any closer toward Ezekiel. She didn’t take a single step, her fingers lightly resting in Elijah’s hand. Her eyes were bright. “He’s coming for us.”

Elijah turned his head, and saw Ezekiel step around the corner. He was in his own body now, a hard, weathered body that matched the millennia of suffering in his eyes. He had Drew by the throat and was dragging the boy along with him. Drew’s skin was gray and mottled, almost black from Ezekiel’s touch.

Ezekiel tossed the boy at Elijah’s feet. “I can kill with my mere presence again, poison whoever I want, but this is for you.” He gave Elijah a proud smile. “You will have the honor, my brother, my kin. You will end the legacy of the Order and stand by my side. No woman to come between us anymore, but we will find you another.” He raised his hand to Elijah, palm up, and extended his other hand to Ana. “Come to me, both of you. There will be no more loneliness for any of us.”

Loneliness.
Elijah felt Ezekiel’s emptiness, his unbearable need for companionship, and he knew in his core that he and Ana could give it to him, could make him whole. And Elijah needed it, too. He had no family, no history, no place.

Elijah fell to his knees and bowed his head to honor his ancestor, and felt Ana kneel beside him. He felt her own loneliness and desolation reaching for Ezekiel, who could make them both whole, give them a place, give them what they needed—

Elijah.
Ana’s voice was a brush in his mind, a desperate plea.
It’s you who is in my heart. It will always be you.

Ezekiel stiffened and cocked his head. “Ana. I command you to come to me. Now. I need you.” And he did. His need was evident in every pore of his body and soul.

Ana sighed and stood up. She took a step toward Ezekiel, and then something snapped inside Elijah. “No!” He leapt up, tackled Ana and brought her down on the floor, tucking her beneath him to protect her fall.

Before she could fight, before Ezekiel could react, Elijah kissed her. He kissed her with everything he had in his heart.
I love you, Ana.
He opened his mind and heart to her, as he sank his mouth onto hers, letting her feel his love, his need for her, his desperation for her.
You make me whole
.

For a minute, she fought against him. Thoughts of Ezekiel were dominant in her mind, and Elijah felt Ezekiel’s satisfaction.

No, Ana. It’s not Ezekiel you love. It’s me. Elijah. It’s always been me.
He tangled his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss as he settled between her legs, his tongue searching for hers, his body growing hard for her, for only her
. I love you, Ana.
He kissed her more fiercely, holding her still with the weight of his body.
You know you love me. Just say it!

“Okay, that’s enough,” Ezekiel said. “It’s clear you lost the girl. Let’s move on, brother, and—”

I love you, Elijah.
Her arms suddenly snapped around Elijah’s head and she kissed him back more fiercely than he’d been kissing her. Her legs locked around his hips and she pulled him tight against her. She clung to him with all her strength, kissing him with the same desperation he was feeling.
It will never be him. Ever. It will always be you.

Ezekiel’s scream of rage blistered through the air, and Elijah didn’t move. Didn’t turn around. He simply kept kissing Ana and moving his hips against hers. He let out a small groan of satisfaction as he slid his hand over her ribs and cupped her breast through her shirt. “You want me,” he whispered, loud enough for Ezekiel to hear. “My heart and my soul.”

“Always,” she gasped, as she arched her back, the sweet scent of her arousal rising in the air. His body responded, and he grew even harder, knowing it was for him, only for him.

And so did Ezekiel. “Mother
fucker!
You will both die!”

Elijah continued to kiss Ana, and she continued to kiss him back, but his mind was on Ezekiel, and so was Ana’s.
He’s rogue
, he told her.
He has gone rogue because he just realized he lost you. It’s the
sheva
destiny that a Calydon will meet his mate, then lose her and go rogue. He is condemned to die by his
sheva’s
hand. That’s you, sweetheart. Destiny has come for you both.

Her arms tightened.
I know.

Only you can stop him. It’s your destiny.
Her fate was also to die after she killed her mate but there was no fucking chance Elijah was going to let that happen—

There was a scream of rage, the loud crack of weapons being called out, and then Ezekiel lunged for them, his eyes burning a fierce red, like the fires of hell were alive in his very soul.

Ana called out Ezekiel’s knife and Elijah called out his throwing stars at the same instant. Together, they plunged their weapons into Ezekiel in a simultaneous strike of self-defense.

Attacked by the weapons of those he loved, by his kin, the ultimate betrayal hurt Ezekiel as nothing else ever had. He staggered to a stunned stop, his hands on his chest as blood fountained from his chest and throat, streaming down Ana’s arm, as she stared at Ezekiel in horror, her mouth open, her face white. “Oh God, Ezekiel—”

Elijah grabbed her hand and pried it off the handle of the knife as Ezekiel fell forward. Elijah rolled them both out of the way as Ezekiel hit the floor, screaming in agony.

Ana struggled out of Elijah’s grip and crawled next to Ezekiel as he lay gasping on the floor. She pressed her hands to his face as tears coursed down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she cried.

Elijah fought his own grief for Ezekiel as he sank down next to her and pulled her onto his lap. Desolation ripped through him, and he set his hand on Ezekiel’s shoulder. “My brother,” he said.

Ezekiel’s eyes were glazed with pain, with the onset of death, as he looked at them both, such betrayal in his eyes that Elijah felt his own heart shred. “My family,” he whispered. “I would have honored you forever.”

Ana caught Ezekiel’s hand and held it to her chest. “I know. And we’ll still honor you.”

Elijah nodded and squeezed Ezekiel’s shoulder. “We will.” And he knew he would. As evil as Ezekiel was, he was family, all the family Elijah had, and his actions had been driven by a place of such desperation, such loneliness and such isolation, all feelings that Elijah understood so well.

As did Ana.

Ezekiel gave a slight nod. “The chasm has been bridged. I am at peace with my family.” His eyes closed as he gave a sigh of relief, of freedom. Elijah had a split second to sense his death and then Ezekiel’s body shimmered and disappeared almost simultaneously with his death, indicating exactly how old he was.

Ana turned and threw her arms around Elijah’s neck and pressed her face to his throat. Her body was shaking, tears were streaming down her face, and Elijah wrapped his arms around her, preparing to do whatever it took to bring her back from the precipice. She’d killed her mate, and now she was destined to die, broken and devastated by what she’d done.

Yet she continued to cling to Elijah, holding so tight.

“Ana?”

She shook her head. “I feel so terrible for him. He was so lonely. Did you see the memories from his childhood right before he died? With his father beating him?”

Elijah nodded and stroked her hair. “I saw it.”

“His entire life was about suffering.”

“I know.” Elijah kissed her hair, his own heart heavy with grief. “But he has peace now, because he knows we both will grieve for him, even knowing what he’s done. He touched us.”

“It was what he wanted,” she whispered. “That was all he wanted, to be made whole again.”

“I know.” Elijah caught her chin with his hand and lifted her face to his. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and her eyes were bright with grief, but not devastation. He frowned and thumbed a tear. “You’re okay?”

She blinked and then frowned. “I guess I am.” She sat up, not moving off his lap. “I mean, I’m sad for him, but I’m not losing my mind with grief. He needed to die—”

“Yes, but you’re his
sheva
—”

She looked down at her arm, and he followed her glance. Ezekiel’s mark was gone, and in its place was Elijah’s full brand. Something swelled in his chest at the sight of it, at the absolute rightness of it. “How—”

“I saved your life at the same time I saved his.” Ana touched her arm, tracing his mark, her face glowing with disbelief and joy. “I had to save him first, so the bond completed with him first.” Ana looked at him, her eyes shining with happiness that made his heart swell in response. “Now that he’s gone, everything we’ve done came back.” Tears filled her eyes. “We’re bonded, Elijah. Truly bonded.”

You’re mine. Forever.
Elijah fisted her hair and kissed her, too overwhelmed to speak. He simply put into his kiss everything he was feeling, how badly he needed her, how much he loved her, how he breathed for her. Her arms went around his neck and she kissed him back. For the first time, there was nothing between them. Just total commitment, forever.

After a long moment, Ana pulled back slightly, a small frown between her eyebrows. “So, how come we’re not going crazy or rogue or any of that stuff we’re destined to do once we complete the bond?”

He grinned and hugged her tight. “I’m sure it’ll come up, but I have a theory.”

She raised her brows. “What’s that?”

“What happened with Ezekiel makes it pretty damn clear to me that love is more powerful than the bond or destiny.” He kissed her again, knowing he could kiss her every day for the rest of his life, and it wouldn’t be enough. “As long as I don’t piss you off too badly, I think we’ll be okay.”

“Drew!” Vaughn crawled through the doorway, his shoulder twisted and mangled as he dragged himself along, and suddenly Elijah remembered the young warrior who was on the ground behind them.

Drew lifted his head with a groan, and Elijah caught him under the shoulders and helped him sit up. “Vaughn?” Drew mumbled.

“Is it you? Really you?” Vaughn’s voice broke as he neared them.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Drew’s voice was raw and harsh. “It’s all me.”

Elijah lifted Drew into Vaughn’s arms as the man collapsed next to the youth. Sobs shook the older man’s body as Drew fell against him. “God, I love you, Drew.”

“I love you, too, Vaughn.” But along with the exhaustion in Drew’s voice was strength and hardness that told Elijah that Drew had been changed forever by what he’d been through. He wasn’t a kid anymore. He was a man, and he had a past to overcome.

Elijah set his hand on Drew’s shoulder. “If you ever need anything, just ask.”

Drew gave a short nod just as a loud female shout echoed from the other room, and Ana’s panicked gaze shot to Elijah’s. “
Grace
.”