Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) (2 page)

Dead. Gone. Because of her. Alive today only because Frank Tully had revived him for future abuse, to help Nate with their twisted goal of freeing the most powerful evil in history from the prison that had kept the world safe for two thousand years.

The false image she’d created that night had been so terrifying that it had broken the man who’d already suffered so much. She’d killed Elijah every bit as completely as if she’d been the one to wield the knife that had sunk into his throat as he’d held her and given his life for her. For her! God, why had he done that? He didn’t even know her!

Tears filled Ana’s eyes and she fisted her hands.
Dammit, Elijah! You shouldn’t have done it.
There were too many deaths on her hands, too much blood staining her palms, and she knew it had to end now. It had to end with Elijah. Somehow, someway, she had to give him the gift that her existence had stolen from so many others: life, hope, and a future. But God, she was failing him. He could be dying right now, beneath her feet, sucking in his last breath while she stood there unable to help him.

Her heart aching as if there were a thousand daggers plunged into it, Ana looked back over her shoulder at the rest of the team. Besides Gideon and Quinn, four of the others were also searching the sinkhole, but without the blood bond, she knew it would be hard for them to sense Elijah.

Ryland Samuels was still standing guard at the top of the barren hillside above her. He hadn’t moved from his perch for the last three days, guarding the sinkhole while they waited for it to settle enough to search it. Dark, angry energy rolled off him, and she shivered, wondering how long before Ryland went rogue and his team had to kill him. Most Calydons didn’t go rogue until they met their
sheva
, the soul mate destined to destroy him, but they all knew Ryland would need no such trigger. He was a dark and deadly energy, swirling so close to the edge.

Beside him stood Kane Santiago, the only warrior left who seemed able to connect with Ryland and bring him back. An intricate array of scars stood on display on Kane’s bare torso, exposed to the world in hopes that someone would see the markings and be able to tell him what they were from, to enlighten him about his past. The two warriors were stoic and still, weapons out, feet spread, shoulders broad and regal. Deadly combatants, their heavily muscled bodies were rigid and primed, their eyes alive and dark in readiness for war as they searched the endless dry desert and cliffs for Ezekiel’s approach.

Ezekiel would be coming soon, and when he did, they would all die unless they could find Elijah, assuming he was still alive. Even an immortal warrior like Elijah could still be killed...

Not killed...murdered...Oh, God...how well she knew all the ways to murder a Calydon warrior... How many deaths had her illusions caused because she had been too weak to stop them? Too pathetic to be the woman she was supposed to be? She could still hear the screams of those warriors, the agonizing wail of death and terror she’d fed them—

Nausea churned in her belly and Ana felt sweat break out on her forehead.
Stop it, Ana. You don’t have time to think about what you’ve done. Focus on Elijah.

Ana fisted her hands and willed her body to keep moving. She started down the slope, skidding on the loose dirt as gravity pulled her relentlessly downward. She tried to call up the mental link Elijah had opened between them before the tunnels had collapsed and buried him, but her focus kept wavering, her head pounding with exhaustion.
Come on, Ana! You can do this!
Quinn had coached her on how to build a mental bridge, but so far, she hadn’t been able to summon even a flicker of response from Elijah. Was she doing something wrong, or was he dead?

Her stomach lurched and her concentration snapped. Oh, God. If Elijah was dead—

Ana stumbled on a rock and fell hard, skidding down the incline. Her head struck hard, and she clawed at the rocky earth and dragged herself to a stop.

“You okay?” Quinn called out.

“Fine.” Ana spit sand out of her mouth and tried to push herself back to her knees. Pain spiked through her right hand and her arms gave out. She fell back to the ground with a groan, her cheek wedged against the rough earth.

Ana scrunched her eyes shut, fighting against the loss of hope threatening to consume her. What if Elijah was still alive, slowly dying in a dirt grave because she didn’t have the strength to find him? Suffering the slow onset of hell because she’d failed him so many times after he’d given his life to keep her safe? Damn it. She wasn’t going to let him die!

Ana dug her hands into the rocky soil and summoned all the energy left in her body, concentrating on Elijah. She visualized her mental energy traveling through the parched soil, touching every living being in the earth, searching for the one male with whom destiny had chosen to bond her. Destiny had linked the two of them, thrusting them into a connection fated to end only in their destruction. Ana would not let him die simply because he’d been cursed as her soul mate.
Elijah. It’s Ana. Tell me where you are.

She conjured his husky voice in her mind, letting the deep tones roll across her. She concentrated on the strength of his body and the thickness of his muscled arm as he’d tucked her against his hip to protect her when death had been coming for them both. She vividly recalled that brief moment in Elijah’s arms, when she’d realized this stranger was going to stand and protect her despite the risk to his own life. For the first time since her parents had been killed, since Nate had kidnapped her, since hell had taken over, she’d felt safe.

For that one minute, she’d no longer been alone. In that beautiful moment, she’d forgotten all the nightmares that haunted her, the reality that she had to keep everyone at bay to protect them from her. She’d forgotten she shouldn’t allow anyone to take care of her. In Elijah’s strong arms, she’d simply given herself over to him, to the strong, powerful guardian who looked at her as if she was worth the entire world to him.

God, what a moment that had been, seeing her worth blazing in his haunted, tormented eyes. It still beat in her heart, a moment she’d clung to so desperately when there was nothing else to keep her going during the beatings, the deaths, the hell…

Ana focused on that moment, on that feeling of safety, warmth and connection Elijah had given her. She thrust the emotions out across the dirt beneath her, unable to keep the desperate longing out of her mind when she called out for him yet again.
Elijah!

Silence.

She felt her heart slowly begin to crumble, falling into a thousand pieces of hopelessness, guilt and loss. Despair overwhelmed her, and she succumbed to it, letting the grief and desolation fill her mind and her heart...and then she felt a pulse of energy.

A protective energy. A male energy. Searching for her. Reaching out for her with fierce comfort and strength.

Elation flooded her and she buried her hands in the dirt, desperate to get closer to him. Ana’s heart pounded with hope as she stripped away her defenses and plunged her entire soul into the connection.
Elijah!

Ana.
His voice was like a great warmth blossoming through her mind, a gift from the heavens that she’d almost given up hope of ever hearing again. The agony of relief shook her, and she bowed her head, fighting the sobs at the feel of his mind linking with hers.

The weak, barely audible vibration came up through the earth, almost exactly where she was lying, and she knew he’d pulled her to this spot.

Elijah was right below her.

“He’s here! I’ve got him!” Tears spilled down Ana’s cheeks and she lurched to her knees. She clawed the earth, ripping her fingernails on the rocks, frantic, desperate. Her finger tore open against a rock, but she didn’t even feel the pain. She dug faster, her muscles burning, her hands so ineffectual against the packed rock. “Dammit! Come on!”
Elijah! We’re coming! Don’t give up!

Strong hands grabbed her and flung her aside. She stumbled backward as Quinn and Gideon shoved past her and thrust shovels into the rocky shale, their muscles bulging as they pounded through the earth. There was a roar of triumph as other Order members abandoned their positions and sprinted across the sinkhole toward them, shovels clenched in their fists.

The males attacked the spot where Ana had been digging, and the earth began to fly. They ripped through the tons of dirt, their muscles flexing as they moved with superhuman speed, shovels flying as they drove down mercilessly, working with the perfect synchronicity of a team that had been together for hundreds of years.

Ana scrambled out of the way, hope pounding at her as the warriors tore through the ground. Their faces were grim. So grim. They were already fifteen feet down and moving fast.
Elijah! We’re coming!

But there was no response from Elijah this time, not even a flicker. There was only a void where Elijah’s presence had been, and Ana knew with sudden certainty that he had used the last of his reserves to contact her. Her hope flickered, and real fear began to pulse inside her. What if they weren’t in time?

No, they had to be! “Quinn? Gideon? Do you sense him?” With their blood bond, they would be more sensitive to him than the other Order members.

Quinn didn’t even look up, his face covered in dirt as he assaulted the earth. “No.”

“Me either.” Gideon was the deepest in the hole, his muscles taut beneath his skin as he dug. His blond hair was ragged, covered in a day’s worth of dust and grime.

Oh, God. Was Elijah dead? Ana dropped to her knees and buried her bleeding hands in the dirt, sending all her mental energy into the soil that already carried a faint rancid tint from Ezekiel.
Elijah. Don’t give up. We’re coming for you.

“I can hear a heartbeat,” Gideon shouted. “He’s near.”

A heartbeat?
Ana started to shake. “Don’t hurt him! Be careful!” She clutched the rim of the hole and watched as the males dug more carefully, until they finally tossed the shovels aside and used their hands, still removing dirt with such efficiency it was astonishing.

“I feel skin!” Gideon shouted.

“You found him?” Ana leapt up and the edge of the hole crumbled beneath her feet. She lost her footing and catapulted headfirst down the edge of the hole. She crashed hard into Kane’s scarred back, and he whirled on her. Black light flashed above his forearm and a loud crack exploded as he called out his weapon from the black brand tattooed into his skin. The double spiked flail appeared in his hand so quickly Ana didn’t even have time to suck in a breath before the spiked metal balls were headed toward her face.

“Shit!” Recognition flashing in his dark eyes, Kane averted his blow at the last second. His weapon slammed harmlessly into the earthen wall behind her with a thud that made the ground shake, and little rocks tumbled down from above, showering them both.

“Sorry,” she squeaked. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Kane swore and yanked his weapon out of the wall of dirt. “Hell, Ana, we’re all on edge here. Watch yourself.”

She knew why they were on edge. Ezekiel would be coming after them at any moment. It was a race to rescue Elijah before doom descended and consumed them all.

“Elijah!” Ana shoved past Kane to where Quinn, Gideon and Zach Roderick were down on their knees, rapidly clearing dirt from Elijah’s inert body. She could see his thigh and one shoulder, covered in clay and deathly still. Her heart stopped for a split second, stunned by the decimated condition of the warrior who had pulsated with such strength, fire and determination such a short time ago. She’d brought him to this?
Dear God, Elijah. I’m so sorry. I won’t let you die, I promise.

Fierce determination chasing away the shock, Ana scrambled across the loose dirt and knelt beside Elijah’s shoulder. She quickly began clearing the dirt from his face.

A loud crack made her start, and she jerked her gaze up to see that Thano Savakis had called out his weapons from the brands on his forearms. He was standing directly above her, the three pronged tip of his halberd poised over Elijah’s head. Thano’s second halberd was over Elijah’s heart. Ana realized Kane’s flails were poised over Elijah’s exposed belly. “What is wrong with you?” She shoved at their weapons, but they didn’t move them.

“We’re just taking precautions,” Kane said quietly.

She saw their grim willingness to kill their own teammate if they had to. God, what a legacy they had as members of the Order of the Blade. Calydon warriors who lived and died by their oath to protect innocents from rogue Calydons. To fulfill the Order of the Blade mission, they killed ruthlessly, repeatedly and without remorse, and had been doing so for hundreds of years. Even if it was one of their own who had to die.

“He’s not a monster,” she said, moving her shoulders protectively between Thano’s weapon and Elijah’s heart.

Gideon pushed her back firmly. “He was the last time I saw him. If he’s in the same state as he was then, he’ll try to kill us all, and he’ll succeed if we’re not ready.” His blue eyes were heavy with regret and worry, and she realized he feared they were going to have to slay his best friend right there. “Stay out of the strike zone, Ana, or you wait up on the hill.”

Ana clenched her fists. “Elijah is not insane. He spoke to me, and he knew who I was. He’s not going to attack any of us.” Ignoring Gideon’s scowl, she turned back to Elijah and helped Quinn clear the dirt away from Elijah’s head, viscerally aware of the weapons hovering above her. She would not let them kill him, and she tensed her muscles, ready to block their path to Elijah’s heart if he needed protection.
Elijah, they aren’t the enemy. Let them help you.

Her fingers brushed against his skin, and energy leapt into her, a pulse of fire and heat. “He’s alive!” Her nerves humming from the shock, Ana dug even more frantically, her fingers flying gently over his face as she wiped the dirt away from his mouth.

Quinn worked silently beside her as Gideon and the others unburied the rest of him. Elijah’s face began to emerge. She saw the strong angle of his jaw, the roughness of his whiskers, the face she’d seen in her dreams for so long. His skin was pasty brown from the damp clay, his dark hair caked with mud. His eyes were closed, his face expressionless with the silence of death. “Oh, God,” she whispered, her hands faltering in horror. He’d been buried alive
.
“How could he possibly have survived?”

“I can hear his heart,” Gideon said. “It’s slow, but working.” He looked up at the Order members standing guard. “He could wake at any second. Be ready for him to attack.”

There was a pulse of assent in the air, and Ana tensed, feeling their utter commitment to slaying one of their fellow Order members. She laid her trembling hands over Elijah’s forehead and bent close, resting her cheek against his cold skin.
Elijah. Can you hear me? I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.