Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (11 page)

“Why would I be afraid of you?” he asked.

She had to say it. Had to lay it out there. Now, before others from the Order came around. Now, while they still had a chance to fix it. “Because I might be your
sheva
.” Her heart was thundering when she said it. Dear God, even after preparing a lifetime for that possibility, to actually say those words was shocking. Scary. Exhilarating, which was of course, terrifying in itself.

His face relaxed. “Oh,
that.
”

“Yes, that. It’s a big deal, and that might explain why I can’t stop thinking about you...” Oy. She couldn’t even say it, unable to keep the worry out of her voice. “I’m too smart to be attracted to you, but I am. So much. I need you so badly...” She wet her lips as his eyes darkened with a sensual heat that burned deep inside her. “I’ve done my research. I know my need for you is beyond what’s natural. We’re...” She stumbled over the word. “I’m your
sheva.
”

“No—”

Lily interrupted him, her words tumbling over each other in her rush to get them out. “We could part ways right now before the bond starts forming. No one would have to know...” Her hands went to his shoulders, gripping him, as if she could force him to understand, her voice desperate. “I don’t want to die just when I got free. You have to let me go so your Order members don’t kill me. You
have
to.” She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t prepared. She hadn’t figured everything out yet. She didn’t have her plan prepared!

He shook his head, his eyes hardening with memories he didn’t share. “I already met my
sheva
a long time ago, and she was killed by the Order.”

“You did? But that’s impossible. I would have known that—” Oh, God. She did know that. How had she forgotten that? She’d spent her life researching Calydons, ferreting out all the information she could in order to avert the hell that had already been brought onto her family twice. Three times. She knew everything about Gideon.
Everything.
The fact he’d lost his
sheva
was part of what made him so legendary. How on earth had she forgotten?

But she knew why. Because she was barely clinging to the edge of sanity, and she was so strung out that she couldn’t even think rationally anymore. Because the one fear that had haunted her for her whole life, the terror that had defined her and everything she’d done, was the very real possibility that she was genetically predisposed to being a
sheva
.

She’d been waiting for it, watching over her shoulder for twenty years, waiting for that fate to snatch her up and spit her out. The way she’d responded to Gideon had been so precisely what she had been dreading that it had triggered her deepest terrors. She’d panicked, dismissing all the information she’d worked so hard to acquire to give her power.

Gideon was right. He’d already met his
sheva.
So, then what was going on? Was she imagining her response to him? Maybe it was just some reaction because he rescued her, right? A little bit of relief, combined with her magic’s natural attraction to Calydons? Yeah, maybe—

“I’m safe, Lily. Destiny isn’t coming after us, no matter what we do.” Gideon’s gaze went to her mouth, and she felt heat flare inside her.

Not just heat. A burning, raging need that threatened to consume her. She felt the enormity of his presence. His raw masculinity crawled beneath her skin, wrapping its way around her, drawing her toward him.

Oh, crap. This wasn’t good. “If I’m not your
sheva
, then there has to be an explanation for how I feel—” She gasped as he dropped his head and pressed his lips to her throat. She shoved at his shoulders, writhing at the intense need that small action had raised inside her. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she resist him?

Fear licked through her, the first real fear she’d had. What if she couldn’t stop him? What if it happened again, like before? She went cold, ice cold, and the scars on her wrists and ankles began to throb, as if they were still fresh, as if she was bound again, just like she’d been all those years ago. “Stop!”

He lifted his head, his blue gaze intense. “What’s wrong?”

“You scare me!” She wriggled out of the bag, wincing when she accidentally brushed his erection with her hand. “Oh, God. Sorry.”

Gideon pulled back, and let her go, but she saw the tension in his body and knew how difficult it had been for him to release her. He wanted her just as badly as she craved him. The last time anyone had looked at her like with that much interest, it had ended so terribly. So awfully.

“It’s not just that I want you.” She hugged herself as she stood on the arid ground, the sand leaching through her thick socks. “I feel like I’ll lose total control if you kiss me even once, and you’ve got this look in your eyes…you’ll do the same, won’t you? Lose control? You’re
sure
I can’t be your
sheva?
” Maybe it would be better if she were his
sheva
. If she were, then his instincts would prevent him from hurting her. They might be strong enough to keep the situation from spiraling. Without that protection, without her ability to keep him at a distance, there would be no stopping him once he got a taste of her magic. He would kill her. It would be just like before—

“I’m absolutely positive you’re not my
sheva
.” He pulled himself out of the bag and rose to his feet, starkly magnificent in his nudity. His body was lean, yet heavily muscled. His stomach was carved, his shoulders wide with a power that made her shudder. She could see cords of muscle beneath the skin drawn tautly across his thighs, and the dark hair on his chest teased the golden hue to his skin. He made no attempt to hide how badly he wanted her, and her stomach knotted with desire as her gaze fell below his waist.

“Lily.” His voice was husky, curling into her belly and sending liquid heat coursing through her.

Fire burned through her at the raw lust on his face. Passion and fear. Hot and cold. He was twisting her up, and she couldn’t resist him. She was losing the battle. She knew she was. Despite everything she knew and all the lessons she’d learned...she was falling...

“I
know
I’m going to lose total control if I kiss you, and I don’t care.” He slowly crossed the hard ground, coming to a stop just before her.

Her breath started coming faster. “But I do care. I—”

“I’ve never felt like this. You make me feel alive.” He cupped the back of her neck with his hand and tugged her toward him. “I won’t hurt you, Lily. I swear it.”

She braced herself and her hands went to his chest to block him, to try to keep distance between them, but the minute her hands touched his bare skin, her resistance vanished, consumed by her need to feel him against her. “Gideon—”

His mouth was hot and wet as it closed over hers in a kiss designed to make her his in every way.

The moment his lips touched hers, she knew she was in trouble.

Lily mumbled his name as her hands went to his hair and she pulled him down toward her, kissing him frantically. He could feel Lily’s desperation, internalizing it until he didn’t know which were her emotions and lust and which were his. All Gideon knew was that it was wrecking him, torturing him because he couldn’t get enough. Couldn’t satisfy it. Couldn’t get his brain around how badly he needed her. Every inch of her body...he had to touch her, to taste her...

“I need you.” He fumbled with the hem of her sweatshirt, his hands shaking as he spread his palms over her ribs, a soft groan falling from his lips as he felt her heat beneath his hands. Her skin was soft and fragile, so perfect he couldn’t stand it. “I have to taste you.”

“Yes,” she whispered, her voice a throaty tremble that rolled beneath his skin like the hot wind on a summer night.

Gideon dropped to his knees in the sand and tugged up her sweatshirt. The flat expanse of her belly… hell and damnation. All his. This unbelievable, amazing woman was his. He flanked her waist with his hands and slowly, reverently, kissed her belly.

She made a noise of passion, a small, sexy whimper of desire, and wrapped her arms around his head, holding him to her stomach.

Hell, yes.
Gideon tightened his grip on her hips, holding her captive as he kissed his way across her torso. She smelled like woods and the fresh scent of spring water…but that wasn’t all. She smelled like desire, like a woman on fire. He knew her desire was only for him. He could feel it in her emotions, her intense connection to him, to no one else. His name was imprinted in her soul, his scent swirling through her body, his kiss calling to the side of her that made her a woman.

“God, Gideon,” she whispered. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

“Never.” Her stomach quivered under his touch as he swirled his tongue into her navel, his hands roaming her back, her stomach, and her ribs. He slid his palms upward over her smooth skin to the soft curves of her breasts. Lily sucked in her breath as he rubbed his thumbs over them, and her nipples hardened. Raw heat rushed through him, not just his, but both of theirs, mixed, on fire—

His lower body jerked, and he realized he was about to lose it. Literally. Son of a bitch. “Hang on.” He jerked his mouth off her and set her back away from him, trying to regain his control before he made an ass of himself.

“No, no, don’t stop.” Lily reached for his shoulders, and he felt another pulse jolt through him as he grabbed her hands, intercepting them before she could reach him.

“Don’t touch me,” Gideon gritted out. Hell, he had to get control of himself. Desire and lust were plunging through him. Hers, his, five hundred years of holding his shit together was all coming down around him, driven by her, by her kiss, by his need to take her, to kiss her, to make love to her—

“I
have
to touch you.” Lily’s throaty whisper caught him in the gut, and he yanked her down to him to kiss her again, unable to resist her. She fell to her knees before him, her body slamming against his chest, and her hand going between his legs before he could stop her.

Her fingers clasped around his cock, and his body’s response was instant, totally out of control. The orgasm shot through him like a sword lancing him right through the chest. “Lily—” He dove into the kiss, taking her, owning her as the climax roared through him.

He roared and bucked against her, knocking them both to the ground. Their kiss was frenzied and frantic as she kept her grip on him. Helpless in her grasp, Gideon kissed her desperately as his body shuddered again and again. The final crest tore through him, and he bellowed her name as he locked her down against him and rode the orgasm out. The waves continued to ride him relentlessly, taking him until there was nothing left.

For a long moment, minutes, hours, he didn’t even know how long, they were still, both of them breathing heavily. Sweat trickled down his back as his body fought to reclaim itself from her. Gideon swore and dropped his head, leaning his forehead against her throat. His arms wrapped around her waist as he sagged on top of her, utterly spent.

Lily’s arms were around his head, holding him to her. Her heart was hammering as rapidly as his, a frenzied beat against his chest.

They didn’t speak. They didn’t move. Just two beings trying to find their footing after being stripped of everything that made them who they were, after connecting with the other so intensely that there had been no dividing line between them.

Gideon swore under his breath as the reality of what had just happened began to settle in. With a groan, he lifted his head to look at her. Her moss-green eyes were at half-mast, the face of a woman still caught in the throes of desire and passion. His cock became hard again, growing against her belly. “All you did was touch me, and I went,” he said, still shocked by the realization. “I feel like I’m fifteen again. One touch by you and all my control vanished.” His muscles were still spasming from the orgasm. What the hell had just happened?