Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (14 page)

Regret flickered in his eyes. “Only if you refuse to help. It’s your choice.”

“Oh, come on, Gideon. Don’t insult me like that. There’s no choice here!”

He gritted his teeth. “There’s always a choice, Lily, even if it doesn’t feel like it.”

She shoved his arm off her. “Damn you, Gideon. That’s a lie, and you know it.”

Sometimes, there were no choices.

Sometimes, there was only hell.

Gideon flexed his jaw against the pain that wanted to spring up at the thought of Elijah. His death was so recent that the pain was still raw, culling grief so powerful that it was resistant to Gideon’s iron-willed attempts to bury it.

You up yet?
Quinn asked.

Yeah, we’re fine. Could use a ride. Is Kane available to teleport us back there?
Gideon walked over to Lily, unwilling to leave her isolated. Her head was bent, accentuating the bones in her too-thin shoulders. She’d suffered so much already, and he was going to bring more down on her.

He really was the bastard she’d accused him of being, wasn’t he?

You want to bring Lily here?
Quinn hesitated.
You want to risk exposing her to Kane? I thought we weren’t bringing her in.

Every female was a risk for an un-bonded Order member, and if she were Kane’s mate, the connection would flare up the minute they connected. Something dark and dangerous spilled through Gideon at the idea that Lily might be Kane’s
sheva.

Lily turned sharply toward him, as if she could feel his response. She raised her eyebrows at him, showing no fear.

Gideon ground his jaw and touched the ends of Lily’s hair, needing that contact between them. He knew he had no choice about whether to bring Lily in. His oath required he take advantage of all resources, and that included Dr. Davenport. But it wasn’t simply his oath. It was the promise he’d made five hundred years ago, a promise drawn in blood and innocence.
Kane’s the only one who can teleport, and I need to show her the stone. She might be able to decipher the writing on it. She’s Dr. Davenport.

He felt Quinn’s surprise at Lily’s identity
. Damn. You’re right. She could be the expert we need. I want the stone protected here, so I’ll send Kane as soon as I can. He’s out right now checking on a couple things, but he’ll be back shortly. You safe there?

Keeping one hand on Lily, Gideon tuned his senses to the forest around them, searching for any sounds or scents that were off. He caught nothing out of the ordinary. A cluster of ferns was brown and dying, a grim reminder of how Ezekiel had decimated even nature when he’d been free two thousand years ago.
We’re fine. Keep the others away until I get her sequestered
. He sent Quinn a mental image of their location, then cut off communication.

He turned his attention to Lily. “I have someone coming to pick us up and take us to our temporary headquarters.”

She lifted her head from the tree to look at him. “An Order member?”

“Yeah.”

Her hair was dry and clean now, flowing over her shoulders in rich blond waves that caught the morning sunlight. Even wearing the baggy sweats, even with the tense set to her body, she was beautiful. He knew how soft her hair was, how silky her skin was, and it was taking all his self-control not to haul her against him and bury himself in those decadently soft tresses.

In her very essence.

He met her gaze and for a moment, desire flared in her eyes. It was quickly chased away by a cold wariness. “I can’t go.” She turned to face him, leaning her back against the tree. “I’ll make a deal with you, Gideon. I’ll help the Order research the stone, and I’ll try to translate the writing on it. But you have to let me keep my space.”

His eyebrows shot up at the undercurrent of tension in her voice. There was more to her request than she was admitting. He could feel the cool drift of her evasiveness. “Why?”

She met his gaze. “In my research about Calydons, I discovered that certain families are more likely to be mates for Calydons. My grandma was an Order
sheva
, which means there’s a good chance I’ll be one too.” Caution flickered in her eyes. “Since I’m not yours, I could be someone else’s. I refuse to put my life at risk like that.” She lifted her chin, new strength surging into her stance. For the first time since he’d retrieved her, he saw indicators that she was reclaiming her old self, the strong, intelligent woman who had traveled the world, undaunted by the enemies she stirred up. “I won’t give the Order a reason to kill me, and I refuse to get sucked into the
sheva
destiny.”

Gideon was in complete agreement with her about not getting her hooked up with any other Order members. Just the thought of her being with Kane... Yeah, no thanks on setting her up to bond with anyone else. “We’re stranded in the desert. You have any other suggestions, I’m all in.”

“I want to go home,” she said. “I just want to go home.”

He closed his eyes against the sudden crash of her loneliness in his gut, and his body ached for her. Her emotions tugged at him, ripped through his shields until he couldn’t think straight.

He opened his eyes and looked into her face, saw the desperation in her eyes, felt the years of despair welling inside her and knew exactly why he’d worked so hard to shut down his emotions. His mentor, Dante, had taught him to build walls to keep himself emotionally detached from the hell he inflicted on others.

But Gideon had no defense against the kind of pain she was feeling right now and sending into his core. He cursed, and ran his hands through his hair, trying desperately to figure out how to raise his shields against her.

But he couldn’t.

Lily turned away again, folding her arms over her chest, and he felt her fear. More than fear. Terror, ingrained over years and years. Of him. Of his kind. Of his mission. Of his team. He cursed, realizing why Dante had worked so hard on his training. It was absolutely fucking impossible to do his job when he could feel her emotions.

She turned to face him, her forehead furrowed. “Stop it.”

He frowned. “Stop what?”

“You’re making me feel bad for you.”

He blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“I can feel how upset you are.” She pressed a hand to her belly. “Right here.” Her gaze went to him, her eyes wary. “It makes me want to come over and hug you. To tell you it will be okay. To do whatever you want me to do, just to ease your torment.” She laughed softly. “Imagine me needing to comfort an Order member.”

He was so shocked by her statement that he didn’t know how to respond.

Her face became even more cautious. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Are you an empath?” he finally asked.

“Me? No.”

“But you’re feeling my emotions? You’re internalizing them?”

She nodded. “You’ve been inundating me with them this whole time. You’re projecting them onto me—”

“No, I’m not. I don’t have that capacity. I only receive others.”

She stared at him, her eyes widening. “That’s impossible. I wouldn’t be able to feel your emotions, unless-”

“No. You aren’t my
sheva.
There’s no chance. We both know that.” He ran his hand through his hair anyway, unsettled. “You
must
be an empath.”

She shook her head. “I’m just...human.”

He heard the hesitation, saw the question in her eyes and all his senses kicked into alert mode. “You’re more than human, aren’t you? What are you?”

She lifted her chin. “Just human.”

He cocked his head as things began to click into place. “That music was you, wasn’t it? In the river?”

Her eyes snapped to his. “
What music
?”

“Bells.”

She paled and sucked her breath. “
Bells
? You’re sure?”

“Dead sure.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Bells,” she whispered with a groan, muttering to herself as she turned away. “He heard
bells
. It had to be
Gideon
who heard my bells. I was hoping I was wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

She said nothing as she closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun. The sun glinted through her hair, making the strands come alive, as if they were glowing.

“
Your
bells?” He frowned as he thought about that, studying her as she pulled off her thick socks and buried her toes in the damp sand of the Oregon high desert. Bells. Why was that significant? Memories tugged at his mind, and he tried to recall what he knew. “How do you create the music of bells?”

“Don’t ask. Let it go.” She pressed her palms against the tree. Her body visibly relaxed as her feet sank into the earth, and he heard a distant, faint tinkling of bells again.

“Bells again,” he said, a thought beginning to tug at his memory. He’d heard about those bells before. But how?

“Damn it.” Her voice was throaty, almost musical. “I can’t stop them.”

“You can’t stop the bells?” The call of her glistening hair was too strong. He walked across the sandy ground until he could touch the silkiness, until he could thread his fingers among the strands. Longing heated her eyes, and she didn’t move away as he slid his arms around her waist and pressed his face to her hair.

He pressed his body against her backside and set his hands on her hips, nuzzling her neck as he started to sway back and forth. He breathed in her scent, this time recognizing it for what it was. The delicate scent of new earth, the freshness of spring, the emergence of the sun after a rainstorm.

And then he knew. The earth. The music. His response to her. He just knew. It all made sense. “You’re Satinka, aren’t you? That’s why I want you so badly. Earth magic.”

Lily stiffened. “No, of course not.”

“No?” He kissed the side of her neck, grinning when she let out a small noise of desire. Yes, he felt it now, the intense power growing between them. “Calydons and Satinka. Each powerful on their own, but together...they are so much more.” He nudged her hips, coaxing them to sway in a slow seduction. “Every Calydon’s fantasy, but extremely rare after all the Calydons drained and killed them off hundreds of years ago...”