Read Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) Online
Authors: Stephanie Rowe
Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) (46 page)
Grace.
Tears burned in Quinn’s eyes.
I love you, dammit. I can’t live without you. I need you. Feel my heart. It’s breaking for you.
There was a tremor from her, and he caught his breath, and then the moment was gone. His chest felt like someone had sunk a dagger into it and his voice broke, his concentration began to shatter as panic started to consume him.
Dammit, Grace! I need you!
We all need you, Grace
. Gideon reached out for Grace, using Quinn’s link to touch Grace directly. Gideon’s intense healing strength flowed through Quinn, filling Grace with his power.
The Order needs you. You need to come back to us.
Quinn opened his mind to give Gideon more access to Grace, and then was shocked when Kane chimed in.
He’ll be a total ass to live with if you die, Grace. Spare us the burden of having to kill him because he’s such a pain in the ass.
Then Kane’s power flowed into their sleep.
Quinn’s throat tightened at the support from his Order members.
Do you feel that, sweetheart? They all need you. You’ve won them over. You belong with us. Come back.
He stopped, blinking back the tears as her life force became even fainter
. Come on, Grace. I love you. Can’t you hear me?
He turned his mind to Gideon, desperate and lost. He’d never felt helpless or impotent in life, but he was losing it, losing his chance, losing her.
I don’t know what to do, Gideon. Tell me what to do.
Then Thano was there, sending his own healing strength.
If it’s Quinn that’s driving you to die, I’ll be glad to step in his place. I’m here for you,
sheva
.
Ian joined them, his powers heavy with his own grief, but reaching out for Grace.
Don’t let it end like this, Grace. You have a chance I never had. Don’t give up.
And then there was Ryland. He said nothing, but Quinn felt his presence as he lent his own strength to the sleep.
Quinn was completely overwhelmed as the five warriors joined together, offering their healing sleep to his
sheva
. His Order members, sworn by oath to destroy the very woman they were trying to save. Their power surged through Quinn, so strong, so adamant that Grace not die. Warriors, demanding her recovery, allowing her no room to refuse.
And still her life force weakened, and grief roared inside him.
It’s not enough! There has to be more!
Quinn.
Gideon’s voice was raw with regret.
I don’t know what else we can do.
Agony ripped through Quinn, and he roared with anguish, holding her cold body against his as he thrust every last bit of his soul into her. Everything he had. Everything.
The stench burned Grace’s nose and made her eyes water. She stumbled over the dirt road, and tripped, landing next to a man with his neck twisted, his eyes staring blankly. He was wearing tattered trousers of an ancient style, no shoes or shirt. His ribs were sunken, as if he hadn’t eaten in months. “Oh, God.”
By the side of the road stood a small shack, held together with boards and branches. Another body in the dirt. Grace noticed a small child peering around the door, her eyes wide with terror. Then the child bolted out the front door and sprinted away from the cottage, dirty legs and bare feet flying as she raced down the street, crying and screaming in an ancient language Grace couldn’t understand.
Grace staggered backwards.
Quinn? Where are you?
She couldn’t hear his voice anymore, couldn’t feel him calling for her. There were bodies all around her. Decay. Rot. Doom. Hopelessness. The ravages of war. It was destruction. It was death from thousands of years ago.
Quinn!
Someone clasped her shoulder and Grace spun around, her hands going up to protect herself.
“No, Grace. You don’t need to fear me.” A huge Calydon warrior was standing before her. His hair was black with gray streaks, cut short against his head. He was wearing blue jeans and boots. A gray T-shirt was loose around his muscular shoulders. His dark green eyes were kind, but they were also cold, so much like Quinn’s. His forearms were bare, and she could see brands burned into his skin. Spears. His grip was warm on her shoulders, real. His touch was a comfort, chasing away the horror surrounding her. “My name is Dante.”
“Dante?” She frowned, confused. “You’re dead, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
Oh…that couldn’t be a good sign. “Am I?”
“Mostly.”
“
Mostly
? What does that mean?” Tears filled her eyes as she thought of Quinn. She’d never see him again—
“Look around you.” Dante gently turned her and gestured out at the carnage around them. “What do you see?”
She swallowed hard, trying to blink back her tears, trying to steel her heart against the grief, the terror, the desolation surrounding her. “Death.”
Dante turned her toward the fields. “The crops. Do you see?” His hands caressed her shoulders, and she was able to catch her breath again, and some of her panic eased.
She knew he was numbing her pain, and she gratefully accepted it as she stared across the fields. They were acrid and dry, acres and acres of brown, withered stalks. The ground was dry and cracked.
“The people are starving to death. Turning on their families. Killing their children.” Dante’s voice was hard. “Do you see?”
“I see.” Oh, yes, she saw it. She felt the desolation and loss in every cell of her body.
“This is what life was like when Ezekiel was free, before he was imprisoned. His taint spread across the lands, consuming all goodness and life wherever he touched. He’s rising again, and now he’s two thousand years stronger than he was when he was imprisoned.”
Oh, wow. That wasn’t good. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Because you are part of the new future. You and Quinn have changed the course of destiny, and the future is now open.” His voice deepened and she felt a change in the air, a clarity, and suddenly she could feel Quinn’s spirit again. Not just Quinn. All of the Order.
Quinn? Can you hear me?
But there was no response from him.
“The world is growing dark again,” Dante said.
There was a shift of surprise from Quinn, and she heard him whisper Dante’s name in confused awe. The other men had the same response, and she realized Dante had brought them all together, and he was talking to all of them. “There is a new future, and you all are a part of shaping it. You must all join together and rise, and create a new destiny for the world. You could still fail, but there is a chance now. The fight is upon us, and it is yours to win or lose. Quinn and Grace created a crack, and now you all must pry it open before it closes forever. Before the world descends into a darkness from which it cannot be retrieved. Gideon, you must learn from Quinn and Grace, for your time has come to step forward.”
Dante’s energy rolled through her, filling her with light and strength. He fastened his gaze on Grace. “It’s time for you to go back.”
Her heart leapt. “To Quinn?”
He nodded. “You’re part of our new destiny. If you die, it will break the fragile thread that is being woven. You must go back.”
Relief rushed through her. “You’re sending me back?”
He touched her face, his fingers gentle and warm. “No, you have to find your way yourself. I can’t do that.”
Oh, come on. Seriously? “I have no idea how to get back. I’ve never been almost dead before.”
“You do.” He laid his hand over her heart, and a warmth filled her. And then he was gone.
She looked around, and saw the village was gone as well. There was nothing around her except sparkly blue light that bounced around her in all directions, disorienting her. “Dante?”
There was no reply, just the faint sound of bells in the distance, coming at her from all directions. The bells were calling to her, beckoning her, and her spirit began to drift toward them.
Oh...she had a bad feeling about those pretty little bells. She focused all her thoughts, all her energy, all her love on the man she loved.
Quinn. Are you there? I need you to guide me.
There was no response, no sense of him, and she drifted further, the bells getting louder.
Yeah, please, no bells today, thanks so much.
Grace imagined her spirit coming together with Quinn’s, becoming one. She embraced her love for him, for all that he was; a warrior, a killer, a man of honor and courage.
Dante had shown her a truth, and now she finally understood Quinn’s commitment to the Order, to the greater good.
I’m there with you, Quinn. I believe in all that you are.
And she did, with every fiber of her soul, she knew she loved him and everything he was without reservation. To be willing to harden himself against his love for her to protect the world from the horrors of Ezekiel…she finally understood.
She admired him and the strength that enabled him to make such a sacrifice, and the power of his love that had enabled him to thwart destiny and let Nate live.
I love you, Quinn, truly and completely.
Grace?
Quinn sounded so hopeful, so desperate, so disbelieving that she wanted to shake him. And then hug him and never let go.
Yes, it’s me! I need your help.
She clung to the thread holding them together.
I love you, Quinn.
There was a whisper of hope from him.
I offer my life for you, Grace. Accept my gift. Take all my strength and use it to heal yourself.
His voice was blurred with tears, with love, with forever commitment, and her heart swelled in response.
The bells began to fade, and the blue lights started to blink out, one by one.
I’m coming back, Quinn. Don’t let go of me.
Never,
sheva
. Never.
The world began to tumble and spin. Sounds blurred and faded and grew, and suddenly the hard warmth of Quinn’s body was beneath her, his arms tightly around her, his lips pressed to her temple.
She was back.
* * *
Quinn knew the moment Grace’s spirit had returned to her body. Disbelief and elation swept through him. He kissed her and tightened his arms around her as life flowed through her body again.
God, woman, never do that to me again.
“She’s safe now,” Gideon said. “We’ll finish with Nate.”
They departed, giving Quinn and Grace privacy. Quinn opened his mind and his soul and let her feel his love, showing her his raw need for her. It was so powerful the way it beat through him, unlike anything he’d ever experienced. It was electric, like life shooting through him with fierce abandon.
I love you, too, Quinn.
Her voice was a quiet, exhausted whisper in his mind.
He rested his forehead against hers, skin to skin, too drained to do more than simply hold her. He managed a smile, his body shaking with relief.
I think we beat destiny.
Of course we did. It was only a fairy tale anyway. No truth to it at all.
He placed his hand over her arm, over his mark that would forever be in her skin.
No truth at all?
Not a bit.
He felt her struggling to wake up, so he released her from the healing sleep and opened his eyes. She lifted her head from his chest and blinked at him, her cheeks glistening with raindrops.
Raindrops. He’d forgotten they were in the woods, and it was raining.
“You brought me back.”
He wiped the moisture from her cheeks, his thumb drifting over her cold skin. He’d never seen a sight as beautiful as her face, those silver eyes, gazing at him with such love and such life in them. “Dante brought you back. I heard him. He came back for you.”
“He came to speak to all of us.” She kissed him softly. “But your love brought me back. Happily ever after now?”
He ran his fingers through her hair, untangling the strands, desperate to touch her wherever he could, afraid to hurt her when she was so barely healed. “Shit, I hope so. I can’t go through that on a daily basis.”
“Me either.” She pushed off his chest and rose unsteadily to her knees, then winced as she pressed her hand to her belly. “We have to find Ana.”
“My team’s on it.” He was instantly on his feet, carefully helping her up. She leaned into him, and he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her gently, reveling in the taste of her mouth, the warmth of her lips, the fullness of who she was. She pressed herself against him, returning the kiss with a passion that declared her never ending need for him.
His hands slipped around her lower back, and he lifted his head. She met his gaze, and he saw the worry on her face as she clenched the waistband of his jeans. “Until we actually stop Ezekiel and save Ana, we haven’t truly beaten our destiny, have we? We could still lose everything. That’s what Dante meant, right? That we created a crack but could still fail?”
“No. We made it this far.” His jaw tightened. “We’re not going back.”
She met his gaze, and he saw the determination he admired so much rise to the surface, chasing away her exhaustion, and he knew they could do it.
They had to. He couldn’t accept anything less.
* * *
Gripping Grace’s elbow firmly, Quinn helped her walk over to Nate. The Calydon was pale, his breathing shallow, but his jaw was set and his eyes were narrow. Mud and blood caked his clothes and skin, and he was surrounded by a bunch of pissed-off Order members.
Quinn’s fury rose, his fists curling with rage at the sight of the man who’d sunk the blade into Grace. Then she set her hand on his shoulder, and he glanced down at her, feeling his insides unfurl again.
“He won’t talk,” Gideon said. “I don’t think he cares if he dies.”
Grace knelt beside Nate. “Where’s my sister?” she demanded with the fierceness of a woman who had been through more than she could take. “Tell me where she is!”
His mouth curved into a slight smile, and his body jerked as if he were entering the throes of death.
“No!” Grace grabbed his shoulders with desperation. “You can’t do this. Where’s my sister?” She started pounding on his chest, screaming at him, and Quinn finally pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her.
He pressed his lips to her hair as he met Gideon’s gaze. His blood brother shrugged, saying that they’d exhausted all resources to get him to talk. “We’ll find her, Grace. We will.”
Holding her tight, Quinn studied Nate, looking into the eyes that were so black and so evil that he almost recoiled. Those weren’t the same eyes he’d seen on Nate at the bar. Those were the eyes of ancient death and centuries old evil.
Those were the eyes he imagined Ezekiel would have.
Quinn opened his mind to Nate to see if he could pick up anything. He instantly caught a faint vibration he recognized. “The fool has my sword with him.” He called to his sword, and Nate clutched at his back as Quinn’s sword wiggled free of a sheath on his back and flew into Quinn’s palm. “He kept it against his skin so it wouldn’t disappear and return to me.”