Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) (26 page)

“As long as we don’t complete the bond,” Quinn agreed, “destiny won’t be triggered.”

“Okay, so we can do this.” She took a deep breath, then crawled back across the bed and climbed in next to him. She needed the comfort of his body against hers, of his arms around her. “We’ll stop and pick up some Band-Aids and gauze pads in case we get into a bleeder situation so there’s no accidental blood exchange, and we’ll be good.”

He chuckled and the bed shifted as he eased down beside her. “We save the world by having an ample supply of gauze pads. Sounds like the birth of a new legend to me.”

“I think bucking the
sheva
destiny would be a good legend to initiate.” She stared at the ceiling, too tense to relax. Her forearms were throbbing. Her imagination or real? Not that it mattered. The marks on them were very real.

She was his. There was no denying how much better it felt to be snuggled against him than separated from him. It was terrifying beyond words, but at the same time...she had a place. For the first time since her parents had died, she had a place in this world she could count on. She had a foundation that couldn’t go anywhere. Granted it was a tenuous place with a real potential downside, but that didn’t change the fact that in the moment, for the first time in too long, she belonged. She was connected to someone who would stand by her no matter what. It was like a gift she’d long ago given up ever having again.

“Yeah, it would be a good one to start.” Quinn took her hand and leaned over her. His dark hair was tousled, his brown eyes serious, his shoulders powerful and strong. “You need to understand something, Grace. I’m hardwired to protect. It’s why I was selected for the Order, because I’m willing to kill friends to save innocents.” He laid his hand over her heart. “You fall under my protection.” He tapped the mark on her arm. “You’re number one, now. Keeping people safe is what I do, and you get all of me. Got it? Count on me. It’s okay. I’m tough as shit, and I believe I’m tougher than destiny.”

Grace pressed her lips together as her throat tightened with emotions she had tried so hard not to feel. She knew he meant it. She wasn’t alone anymore. She really wasn’t. He was there for her.

“Grace? I’m not moving until you tell me that you understand.” He managed to look slightly annoyed. “I’m one of the most deadly badasses who has ever walked the earth, and as your mate, I will take it as a personal insult if you refuse to believe how well I can protect you.”

She burst out laughing then, the tension rushing out of her at the affronted look on his face. “You’re so insane.”

He grinned, a smile that made his eyes crinkle. “But tough, right?”

She held out her hands in capitulation. “Fine. So tough. Unstoppable.”

“Perfect. That’s all I needed to hear. I need to know that my woman isn’t afraid.” He kissed her quickly and then tossed back the covers and hopped out of bed. Just the sight of his bare backside as he stepped over the stack of bags. Oy. She was turning into a lust-craved maniac. Was Quinn right that it wasn’t the bond? That it was just her? Maybe she really was some sort of sexual goddess of desire, and she’d just never met the right guy before. That was always a possibility, right?

Would it be a good thing or a bad thing if her mind-boggling attraction to him was all her own doing? Grace wasn’t sure. “How is it that you manage to make me laugh when I’m about to cry?”

“Habit.” Quinn flipped aside his jacket and found his jeans. “I do it with my team all the time. Tension relief always helps with focus.” He picked up his pants, shoved his hand in the pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a small, round rock. “Never had to have sex to clear my head though. That’s a first.”

She propped herself up on her elbows, thoroughly enjoying his shameless nakedness. His muscles were taut and strong, his wide back angling down to strong buttocks and thighs that were sheer bulk and strength. She sighed, a totally girly moan of appreciation. She had to admit, she had good taste in choosing him as the man to awaken the wanton hussy she was apparently always meant to be. “Yeah, well, I’ve never let a guy I just met rip my clothes off. Firsts all around.” Her gaze settled on what the stone he held. “That’s Elijah’s
mjui
?”

“That’s it.” His right arm flashed with black light, and his sword appeared in his hand with a loud crack that made her cover her ears. “Only a Calydon weapon can access a
mjui
. We’re a very elitist bunch when we die.”

She scooted forward, curious. “How do you read it?”

“With violence, of course. What else?” Quinn set the stone on the floor, then raised the sword. It cut through the air with a swish as he brought it down, the blade easily piercing the stone. Blue smoke began to emanate from the rock. “It’s like magic.”

“It’s beautiful.” Grace edged closer to watch. The smoke was a vibrant, swirling miasma of blues and greens as it spiraled toward the ceiling. The faint scent of pine and woods filled the air, as if they were back at The Gun Rack again. “Did it absorb the smell of the woods?”

“Yeah.” Quinn crouched beside it, watching it intently. “It came from the earth at that spot, so that’s what it’s made of.” The stone began to turn blue, the same color as the smoke. “It’s ready.” Quinn lifted his sword and plunged it into his thigh.

“Quinn!” Grace gasped as he twisted the blade in his thigh with a grunt of pain, then yanked it out of his leg. “What are you doing?”

“I told you, sweetheart. Violence. It’s our way.” He winked at her, as if he didn’t have a gaping sword wound in his thigh. “Blame Ezekiel. The bastard condemned us
.
” With a nonchalance she couldn’t imagine, Quinn picked up the glowing stone and placed it on his leg where the wound was pulsating with a weird, black glow. It wasn’t bleeding, not quite, but it was raw and ragged. He placed his palm on the stone, then shoved hard with a grunt, forcing it into the hole he’d made in his leg.

“Oh.” She sat up, holding her hand to her chest. “That hurts.”

“Nah. It’s all good.” Sweat beaded on Quinn’s brow as he wedged it into his body, and his jaw twitched, but he made no other indication of how much it had to hurt.

The rock pulsed in his thigh, the blue making his entire quad glow as if it were on fire with turquoise flames. There was a faint humming noise, and Quinn’s jaw flexed with pain as he pressed his palm to his quad. “Come on,” he muttered. “Accept me.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“The
mjui
has to choose whether to release the truth. It’s fighting me, which it shouldn’t because I have Elijah’s blood in my system—” The light suddenly faded, and his leg returned to a normal flesh color as the injury sealed itself up with a soft whooshing sound. “Done.” He stood up, showing no indication of what had happened, other than a jagged red scar on his thigh. He palmed his sword, and it vanished from sight.

Her own forearm burned as his sword returned to his body, and she rubbed her skin restlessly. “I can’t believe you stabbed yourself.”

Quinn gave her a flippant look. “And to think you doubted how tough I was.”

She managed a strangled noise that couldn’t quite qualify as a laugh. “Seriously, Quinn, you didn’t need to do that to convince me.”

“I always need to impress my woman. It’s a guy thing.” He gave her a grim smile, showing his resignation about the monster he was. “And now you fear me.”

“No.” Grace would never judge Quinn for what he had to do. She knew all too well that a tough situation could force someone into brutal actions just to survive. She realized her hands were clenched and she quickly relaxed them. “I just wasn’t expecting you to shove your own sword in your leg. What happens now?”

“I dream.” Quinn walked over to the bed, still naked, and clearly not caring. His face was hard and focused, concentrating on the battle they were facing. No passionate lover now. Just warrior. “I dream of Elijah’s death.”

Grace scrambled out of the way as Quinn climbed into the bed and stretched out. “I’ll be out for a few hours. When I wake, we’ll head out to meet Gideon at the fishing cabin.” He stretched his long legs over the comforter, like a predator easing off for an afternoon siesta. “My instincts are telling me it’s safe for me to sleep. Illusion check?”

Grace did a quick scan. “Same as always. You’ve got a hitchhiker but nothing that seems to be active.”

Quinn nodded, closed his eyes, clasped his hands over his abdomen and relaxed. His breathing slowed almost immediately and she realized he was already asleep. She studied him as he slept, inspecting the new scar on his thigh and the brand on his forearms, realizing the truth of what he was.

He wasn’t simply a man who had saved her from an illusion and agreed to help find her sister. He was a Calydon who lived by his sword, whose destiny was to kill. A man who had been murdered by his best friend. He knew betrayal. He knew isolation. His fate as a Calydon was to die by violence, to spend his life fighting until it destroyed him, whether it was his
sheva
or in battle. He was violence, he was warrior, and he brought into her world everything she didn’t want. Sex with a stranger. Blood exchanges. Turning her into a killer? Into his
sheva
? Into a woman who thrust herself into his bed without a thought for protection, for sanity or for her future?

God, what was she doing with him?

Grace hugged her knees against her chest, knowing full well why she was with him
.
She was saving her sister, and the cost didn’t matter. Quinn was her last resort, and she had nothing left to lose. Without him, her sister was dead, and if that happened, nothing else mattered.

But as her gaze dropped to Quinn’s face, and she studied his dark eyelashes resting against his cheeks as he slept, Grace knew that the longer she stayed with him, the more personal it would become. Already, she knew it was a lie to try to claim it was only about her sister. It wasn’t any more.

Would the bond eventually trump her goal of saving her sister? Would her need for Quinn tear her away from that which mattered most to her? Was the very man who was the answer to her prayers actually going to be the cause of her losing everything?

Grace rubbed her hand over her new marks, and knew she could no longer convince herself to believe that everything would work out. She didn’t know what would happen. She didn’t have the answers. Not anymore.

All she could do was try, but would that be enough?

She bowed her head and thought of Ana, and prayed she would somehow be strong enough to survive it all and save her sister.