Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5) (15 page)

"No!" Sarah leapt between them. "You can't! I need you! Both of you." She pressed her hand to Kane's chest, and held out her other hand to Ryland, her heart beating frantically. She could feel Ryland's despair and lack of hope. It plunged inside her, nearly devastating in its intensity. "Stop!"

"The angel's right," Thano said. "We can't do this without you, Ry, and if you're about to turn into a monster, your timing is right." He toed his boot against one of the Calydons still on the ground. "We've got a battle, and we might need a monster on our side to win it."

Sarah stared at Kane, worried that he still hadn't moved, hadn't responded to Ryland. The two warriors were facing each other, their gazes locked on each other as if they were communicating silently. "Kane?" She touched his chest again, and he started, jerking his gaze toward her. For a moment, he looked confused, and then he took a deep breath.

"I'm not walking away from this." He shot a long look at Ryland. "You kill yourself, and who's going to protect the angel when I turn into Los Muerte?"

Ryland's eyes glittered, but then he looked at Sarah. The intensity of his gaze was almost scary. He said nothing, but nodded once and walked out of the cave into the night.

Thano let out a low whistle. "That dude's in bad shape, Kane. We need to watch him."

"I know." Kane stepped back as the Calydon he'd blood bonded with began to stir. He grabbed Sarah, and the three of them moved into the shadows at the rear of the cave. They went deathly still, and she felt Kane do a faint mental push to direct the Calydons' attention away from them.

The one Kane had blood bonded with woke up, shook his head, then roused the other three. The quartet quickly slipped out of the cave, still holding the wounds the Order had inflicted upon them. The moment they were out of sight, Kane stepped forward. "Let's go." He took Sarah's arm and led his team out into the night to track the male Kane had blood-bonded with.

Sarah caught her breath as they emerged from the cave, and she was hit with the full darkness of the evening. She was really outside the village in the night, a target for all who had been trying to kill her. She glanced around as Ryland materialized out of the shadows and took his place by her left side. Kane was on her right, and Thano was tight on her heels. A triangle of protection by three massive warriors as they escorted her into the midst of the very hell that had been trying to kill her and her kind for the last thousand years.

Her heart started to pound, and then she felt Kane's hand settle on the back of her neck.
Sarah.

She glanced up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was searching the night vigilantly as they moved forward.
What?

When you called out my weapon, that completed another stage of the bond. We're getting close.
His satisfaction vibrated through her, the male appreciation of claiming his woman.

She swallowed and placed her hand over the brand on her arm, knowing that she was being pulled inextricably into his web. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to get out. A part of her loved it and felt the absolute rightness of it...and another part of her thrummed with a fear so ingrained that it was almost paralyzing.

The bond will keep you safe from me. I can't hurt my
sheva
.
He brushed his fingers over the back of her neck and sent her a mental push of warmth.

But beneath his strength, she felt a ripple of uneasiness. Kane's.

Because he was no longer so certain that he wasn't meant to kill her.

Sarah thought of the bruises on her neck, and prayed that she was right to trust him.

* * *

An hour later, Kane crouched low, peering over the cliff as he watched his quarry descend into the valley flanked by the forest. The earth seemed to descend into a V, and at the bottom of the crevice was pure darkness, so thick that even Kane's preternatural vision couldn't penetrate it. The Calydon they'd been following seemed to literally vanish into the crevice.

"Where's he going?" Thano asked. "You think there's a beauty salon down there? Maybe he's getting a manicure."

"Probably," Kane replied. "What else do you have to do in these woods other than get beautified?"

"No." Sarah was crushed up against his side, sandwiched between him and Thano so tightly that not even a breath could come between them. Ryland was at her back, guarding her from anything coming up behind them.

Their trip through the woods had been uneventful. Nothing had come after Sarah or the rest of them. But the woods had been too silent, devoid of even the smallest animals. They were being hunted, and they all knew it.

"I've been near it during the day," Sarah said. "It's pure evil. I can't even get close to it without getting violently sick. The only ones who can get near there are the men. The women all get sick, but I'm the worst." The townspeople had all heard rumors about the existence of the place, but no one had ever been able to find it. Sarah had searched for it for years, always during the day. And then one day, she'd stumbled across it, and she'd known instantly what it was. The evil had crept over her like some insidious taint, and she'd barely made it back to the village before falling into a fever that had lasted for weeks.

She'd never gone back, though she'd spent many hours watching it from afar, trying to figure out what it was and what she could do about it.

"Oh..." Thano said, anticipation humming in his voice. "That sounds like just the kind of place we like."

Kane looked over at her. "Did Mason or Jacob ever go in there?"

Sarah nodded, remembering all too well how she'd warned them to stay away. "They couldn't sense anything wrong with it. They went in and out all the time, and said there was nothing in there but grass and plants. They didn't believe me that there was something wrong with it."

Kane looked at his team, and Thano and Ryland both nodded. "We need to go in there."

Sarah grimaced, and a cold chill shuddered over her. "I don't know—"

You can do it.
Kane's voice washed over her, and she felt his strength wrapping around her.
I can shield you, and you've got the water. And if you start to crash, I'll get you out.

He was right. She knew she wasn't on her own this time, and she did need to get in there and find out what was going on. Sarah took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." She pulled the flask off her belt and poured some in her hands to rub it over her skin. Her skin tingled when she did it, energy surging through her.

"Let me." Kane poured some into his hands and ran his palms over her arms. His touch was like fire, electric and sizzling, and she instantly sucked in her breath.

"Hell," Ryland stepped back, his face contorted. "I can feel the lust between you guys. Jesus, Kane, she's an angel. You can't think about her like that."

Sarah felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
He can sense that?

Ignore him.
Kane poured more water in his hands and ran his hands over her head, drenching her hair. His touch was hot and sexy, and she had a sudden urge to simply throw him down and attack him.
He's got some issue with you being an angel.

Ryland and Thano turned their backs, staying close, but giving them privacy, which embarrassed Sarah even further.
It's not like we're having sex.

Kane's eyes were gleaming as he ran his hands over her hips, spreading water over her jeans.
Sweetheart, every time I touch you, I can remember every detail about having you under me, about making love to you, and feeling our bodies and spirits intertwined. So, yeah, we're not having sex, but it's there, in the currents in the air, in the electricity jumping between us, in the heat burning my palms, and they can feel it just as much as we can.

Sarah swallowed, her heart thudding in her ears.
We're in the middle of the woods, Kane, about to go down into the crevasse of hell, or whatever it is. How can there actually be chemistry leaping between us right now? I'm an angel! I'm not a sex maniac!

Kane laughed, a deep, rolling sound that seemed to catch her embarrassment and roll it up into a cocoon of warmth.
You're my
sheva
, sweetheart. It comes with the territory.

It does not! It was never like this with Mason!

Kane's eyes darkened, and a flicker of something dangerous lit them up.
It's a damned good thing it was never like this with Mason. And if it was, you'd better keep that from me.

Sarah stared at him, her insides curling into a warm knot at the lethal expression on his face, on her behalf.
You're jealous of a dead man who betrayed me so badly I almost died?

No.
Kane poured the last bit of water down the back of her neck, the water trickling over her spine like invisible fingers caressing each vertebra.
I want to kill the bastard who betrayed you, but I want you to be thinking about only me when it comes to getting naked.
His fingers clamped around the back of her neck, hauling her against him.
You may have had a man before, a child, a family, but you are the only thing I've had in my entire life worth living for, so I can't even begin to handle the idea of you looking past me at someone else, even in your mind.

His desperation was so fierce, so raw, so unbearably agonized that Sarah forgot all her fear, all her embarrassment, all the noise in her head, and it simply became about Kane. She knew what it was like to be lost, to be buried in loneliness, to go to bed at night and feel the silence of the world closing in on her. Unlike Kane, she had a past, yes, but everything that had mattered to her had been stripped away, leaving her as isolated and alone as Kane was.
Kane.
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. It wasn't a kiss of desire or lust, it was the only way she could show him that she
got
him.

He growled and yanked her against him the minute she kissed him. His kiss was raw and possessive, so full of need and desire that it burned through her like fire, igniting every cell and spiking through her very soul. It was even more than the night they'd made love, because this time, she was kissing the man, not a gallant, sexy rescuer.

His hands went to her hips, and she could feel his erection grinding against her belly. It got hot fast, hands moving, kisses wandering, her heart racing—

"Stop it!" Ryland roared with fury and yanked them apart. "Just fucking stop it!"

Kane whipped out his flail and Ryland called out his machete, and they locked weapons instantly, both men tense with the need to kill.

Sarah froze, afraid to move and trigger them.
Kane. He didn't hurt me. It's okay.
She could feel Kane's intensity raging though him, his instinct to protect her, which was great, of course, and far better than an instinct to kill her, but there was so much violence laced through his energy that she knew there was serious danger going on.

"Hey, old guys." Thano moved between them, but she could see he was moving with caution, and he was keeping his hands free to call out his weapons if he needed to. "We all know you're both fucked up, but the angel that we've all sworn to protect is going to get killed if we don't all play nice with each other and take out the bad guys instead of the team."

Ryland swore, and his gaze went to Sarah. Not taking his gaze off her face, he sheathed his weapon, making it clear to all of them that it was Thano's reminder of Sarah's situation that had brought him back. He wasn't doing it for Kane.

Kane, however, didn't stand down. "Do not covet my woman," he said, his voice rippling with such anger that chills popped up over Sarah's skin. "Unless you want me to kill you."

Thano set his hand on Ryland's shoulder. "You know he's right," he said quietly. "There's no Calydon alive that could watch another male with a hard-on for his female and not react. What the fuck are you doing, man? She's his
sheva.
You shouldn't even be able to notice her as a woman, let alone
want
her."

"She's an angel," Ryland said, his voice grim.

"So?" Thano asked.

Ryland finally looked at Thano, and there was something in his eyes burning so fiercely that Thano actually lifted his hand to call out his weapon. "So, she is my salvation. She's my only chance."

"No." Kane stepped between them and carefully placed the flail at Ryland's throat. "She is my salvation, Ryland. Not yours. Never yours."

Ryland's eyes flashed. "No one claims an angel for their own."

"No?" Kane grabbed Sarah's arm and shoved up her sleeve, showing Ryland her brand. "Those are my marks, Ryland. No matter what you think about how the world should be, destiny has chosen her for me. That doesn't mean she doesn't serve the greater good, because we all do that every damn day. But as a woman, she is not available, and if you can't get that, we have a major problem because I'm no damn saint, Ry, and we both know it."

Ryland stared at her arm, his lip curled in a snarl. Sarah felt a brush of darkness from him, something evil, something terrible, and then he spun away. "Let's go then," he snapped, striding down the slope straight toward the crevasse.

For a moment, no one moved to follow him.

"Hell, man," Thano said. "It's impossible for him to want another male's
sheva
. How is this happening to him?"

"I don't know." Kane slipped his hand around Sarah's and gripped tightly. "But it has to stop or we're all going to be in serious shit."

"I'll talk to him. Later." Thano moved ahead of them, striding to catch up to Ryland.

Kane didn't hesitate, pulling Sarah quickly along to catch up to his team. Without a word passing between them, Thano and Ryland parted, allowing just enough space for Kane to push Sarah between them. Kane locked down her back side, setting up the triangle of protection once again.