Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (8 page)

“Cut it out,” Ian snapped. “I can smell your lust all the way up here, and I don’t need to deal with that shit right now.”

Lily started with surprise, then felt her cheeks flare with embarrassment. Gideon winked at her, and she realized that Ian wasn’t the only one privy to the desire coursing through her at this ridiculously inopportune time. “God, this sucks.”

“It’s not you he scented.” Gideon touched Lily’s hair, his fingers drifting lightly over the ends. Then he clapped his hand on Ian’s shoulder in a silent apology that got a nod from Ian, and the tension was gone from the air as suddenly as it had appeared.

“Bridge construction up ahead,” Ian reported. “Three minutes.”

“Ready.” Gideon released Lily to unzip one of the duffel bags.

Lily peered out the windshield, then gasped when she saw the red brake lights lining the street several miles ahead and the flood lights from the road crew as they worked on the bridge. “Oh, no.” Behind them, their pursuers were closing in quickly.

They were trapped. Lily’s heart began to race. “I can’t go back there,” she whispered. “I can’t.”

“You won’t.” Gideon thrust a black jacket at her. “Put this on and zip it up. Fast.”

She didn’t ask for a reason; she just jerked off the seatbelt then yanked the jacket on. Her fingers were shaking so badly she barely managed to get her arms in the sleeves. Gideon had his on and zipped before she’d managed to get the ends of her zipper matched up. The sleeves hung way past her hands and she had to shove the collar away from her face so she could see. He took care of her zipper, then grabbed a nylon harness out of the duffel on the floor. “Turn around.”

She bit her lip and spun around as he quickly fastened the harness over her shoulders and around her chest, looping one strap between her legs, moving so fast that she didn’t have time to be embarrassed by the flood of heat that rushed through her when his hands brushed against her bare thigh, the skirt riding up from the straps.

“Two minutes.” Ian flicked a button on the dash, and a police siren began wailing from the truck. Blue lights reflected on the hood.

Up ahead, Lily saw people begin to scatter, clearing the way for the truck speeding toward them, so no one would get hurt. What ordinary Calydon would have a truck equipped with a police siren?

Suddenly, all the pieces fell into place. The way Gideon and Ian had fought with such dominance when they’d been so outnumbered. How her attacker had vanished into the desert rather than risk Gideon’s wrath. She realized Gideon’s protective instincts weren’t actually that he had some special connection with her. It was what he was trained to do, what the Order of the Blade was trained to do.

“Protection of innocents at all costs,” she whispered. Was that what Ian and Gideon were?
Order members?
Her stomach turned. “You’re with the Order of the Blade?” Her blood ran cold as Gideon checked her harness, and she shoved his hand away frantically. “You’re Gideon Roarke? You’re
that
Gideon?”

The warrior who had destroyed her family? The murderer who had haunted her nightmares for years?
That Gideon?

“Yeah, I am.” His blue eyes hardened as he donned the mask of the cold, heartless warrior she knew he was. Gone was that rush of heated connection between them. He sucked it all back in, and became the man who killed so ruthlessly. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I’m your only damn chance to evade the assholes chasing us, so get it together and stay with me. You can hate me later.”

Lily’s breath was racing and her chest was starting to close up. How had she not figured it out? Ian Fitzgerald. Gideon Roarke. Order members for the last five centuries. She knew everything about them. About Gideon. About the man who’d murdered her family.

This man she was entrusting her life to was
Gideon.
She batted at his hands as he reached for the harness again, and she tried to pull the harness off. She had to get out. Not Gideon. She couldn’t put her life in
his
hands. “No, you don’t understand. I can’t—”

He grabbed her shoulders and forced her still, his blue eyes penetrating. “For hell’s sake, Lily,
cut it out
. I’m on
your
fucking side! I’m trying to keep you
alive
, so stop fighting me.” He growled. “I swear I’ll knock you out if that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

She stared at him, into his intense eyes, and saw the truth of his words. He wasn’t going to hurt her. Not right now. He was her only chance. Oh, God. She
had
to trust him. But how could she? “I don’t know if I can trust you—”

“What do you know about the Order of the Blade?” Ian asked.

She shot a wild glance at him, grateful for the interruption as Gideon grunted and went back to adjusting her harness, muttering about how it was too loose. “Order of the Blade,” she recited, using the opportunity to try to calm down, to shut out all she knew about Gideon. To stop thinking about what he’d done to her family—
No. Don’t think about that. Not right now.
“The Order is an elite group of Calydon warriors who’ve taken an oath to protect innocents from rogue Calydons. The Order members are ruthless killers who are willing to trade the life of one innocent to save many.” Her mouth became dry as her gaze slid involuntarily toward Gideon.

He scowled as he yanked on the buckle. “I’m not about to trade your life for anything right now, so stop worrying about it.”

“It’s so much more than that,” she said, her voice raspy in her throat. “You killed—” She couldn’t even say it. Not with her life in his care right now. She couldn’t afford to think about it. “Rogue Calydons are at least insane when they kill innocents, but you guys do it on purpose.”

“You’re too damn skinny.” Gideon ignored her comment as he unbuckled the harness, tied a couple knots in it, then buckled her back up. “Next time you get kidnapped, find someone who will feed you better.” The nylon cut into the glass still wedged in her back, but she was too freaked to protest.

Lily swallowed. “Yeah, sure, I’ll try to keep that in mind.” She focused on his eyes, on how intensely he was concentrating on securing her into the harness. He’d come to her rescue tonight, more than once. She reminded herself that Ana had trusted Gideon enough to send him after her. He was
Gideon
, but he was also more than that. And it was this extra bit, this protector side, that she needed to focus on right now.
Let him help you, Lily. You need him.

Ian had turned his attention back to the road, trying to work his way around the stopped cars. Behind them, the headlights of their pursuers encroached ruthlessly, getting closer and closer. She was trapped, sandwiched between two demons closing in on her.

Gideon tugged at the front of the harness, the back of his hand brushing against her breasts. “Shit. Still loose. It’ll have to do. Try not to fall out of it.”

“Try not to fall out of it?” Oh, that just didn’t sound promising. Her gaze snapped to his grim face. “I really don’t think I liked that order.”

Gideon flashed her a grin as he fastened the other end of the harness around his wrist, giving it a hard yank to test the buckle. “I doubt you like any orders.”

“One minute.” Ian’s voice rang out.

Lily’s heart started hammering out of control, thundering in her ears. “One minute until what?”

“All you need to do is trust me. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Trust you.” God, to ask the impossible of her. “I can’t—”

He glared at her. “You have to, Lily. You have no other choice.” His voice was hard and confident, almost arrogant.

It pissed her off, but at the same time, it eased some of her panic. For some unknown reason, Gideon had taken her well-being as his mission. As brutal as he was, he was the best at what he did, and she knew it. He could kill with ruthless ease, but right now, he was turning that same competence in her favor.

She had to take it. She wasn’t a fool, and she knew what her choices were. Gideon was her only chance. “Don’t kill me,” she whispered.

Outrage darkened his features, and he leaned forward, his blue eyes blazing with intensity that had no place in the cold warrior he was supposed to be. “I will never fucking hurt you. Do you understand?
Never.
”

He meant it. This brutal, deadly killer meant it. She felt his promise in her very heart, in the intensity of emotion he was pouring into her. Tears filled her eyes, and she was suddenly overwhelmed by the gift he’d just offered. Protection. Safety. Help. She knew enough not to trust him long term, to know that there were limits, but right now, in this terrible moment, in a twist of events that she never could have foreseen, Gideon Roarke was there for her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

His face softened, and he brushed his fingers over her cheek, the softest, most intimate gesture. She wanted to cry for the offer of that kindness.

“Thirty seconds,” Ian said.

The emotion vanished instantly from Gideon’s expression and he sat back. He strapped the other duffel around his upper body, and she realized it was far more than a simple bag. It was well stocked, secure against his body, a good eight inches thick all the way around. A fanny pack for warriors. Perfect for dangerous outdoor activities she wanted no part of.

“Twenty seconds.”

“Turn around, Lily,” Gideon ordered. He jerked his head toward Ian. “Have Quinn contact me once it’s safe.”

“Will do.”

Quinn Masters. Another Order of the Blade member. She was part of an Order mission? How had that happened?
Please, God, let me survive them.
Gritting her teeth, Lily turned so she was sitting sideways in the seat, facing the door. She tensed when Gideon locked his arm firmly around her waist and pressed himself up against her back. His body was flush with hers, pinned against her as if he was using his body to protect her from something terrible.

The road flashed past, and he pushed them both closer to the window, until they were right up against it. Oh, man. She did not like what her instincts were telling her. “Tell me we’re not going to jump out of a moving truck.”

“We’re going to jump out of a moving truck.”

Lily’s heart kicked into overdrive, and she gripped his wrist. “This is going to suck, isn’t it?”

He braced his free hand on the doorframe above her head. “Depends on your definition of suck.”

“It’s pretty broad.”

“Then yeah, this is going to suck.”

“Five seconds,” Ian announced, sending chills down Lily’s spine.

The truck tires bounced over the entrance to the bridge, smacking hard on the rough pavement as Ian whipped around the stopped cars. He drove straight over the part of the bridge that was being worked on, driving perilously close to the edge that was currently without a railing.

Gideon reached around Lily and shoved the door open.

“Seriously?” Lily jerked back as the road flew past the bottom of the truck, the night dark beneath the bridge, the edge of which was only inches away. “You’ve got to be kidding.” She dug her fingers into the doorframe, her heart pounding so loudly she could barely hear the crashes as Ian smashed through the safety barrels.

“Not this time, sweetheart.” Gideon’s arm tightened around her, his thighs scooted under hers, and he pried her hand off the door and pinned her arms around her belly.

“Are you sure we can’t outrun them?” She was a professor, damn it. Not the kind of woman who leapt out of moving trucks in the middle of the night. Or in the middle of the day, for that matter!

“I’m certain. Don’t scream. We don’t want anyone to notice we’re doing this. The Calydons on our tail need to follow Ian so we can get away.”

“Oh, God. This is a terrible plan.” Lily shrank back against Gideon’s chest, fighting to get her hands free so she could grab the doorframe. The stubborn man didn’t let her go. Suddenly, the fact he was built like a solid wall of muscle and was twice her size didn’t seem like such an appealing trait. “I’m not going.”

“Go.” Ian’s voice was so calm she almost didn’t hear him.

But she did hear him. So did the arrogant crazy warrior holding onto her, apparently, because Gideon grabbed the doorframe with his free hand and shoved them both out.

A scream welled up in her throat, and it took every last bit of restraint she had to hold it in as they free-fell into the blackness. She scrunched her eyes shut, her fingers digging into Gideon’s arm as he controlled their jump.