Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) (29 page)

His eyes began to sting, and he pressed his face deeper into the curve of her neck, his throat raw, his chest aching. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Her fingers stroked his hair, holding him close as his body began to shake.

“There are supposed to be three of us. It’s always been the three of us.” His voice was raw. “Now, there’s just Gideon, and he’s an asshole most of the time.”

“I’m the asshole?” Gideon’s amused voice shattered their intimacy.

Quinn jerked his face out of Grace’s hair at Gideon’s interruption, turning sharply. The fog was so thick he couldn’t see even the hood of the truck, let alone Gideon. Quinn hauled his grief back in its cage and peeled his hands off Grace as she scooted back to her side of the truck.

Quinn opened his door, and Gideon materialized out of the darkness and fog. He hooked one arm over the frame and leaned down, his bulk filling up most of the doorway as he peered into the interior of the car, his face unshaven and his blond hair damp from the moist night. His blue eyes settled immediately on Grace. “Hey.”

She lifted her chin and gave him an unflinching inspection, even though Quinn could hear the pounding of her heart. “Hey, yourself.”

“And you are?”

“Grace Matthews.”

Gideon sniffed the air and tensed, a reaction so subtle Quinn wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been waiting for it. Ever so casually, Gideon leaned further into the car and inhaled again. Then Gideon’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at Quinn. “You marked her.”

The sword in Quinn’s forearm tingled. “Yeah.”

Gideon’s eyes slid toward Grace again, then he held out his arm to call out his weapon. Quinn grabbed Gideon’s forearm and threw him back onto his ass, moving with lightning speed.

Quinn jumped out of the truck and kicked the door shut behind him. “You hurt her, and I’ll kill you.” His sword was straining under the skin, desperate to leap out and sink itself into Gideon’s chest.

Gideon vaulted back to his feet, dripping mud, a glistening double bladed throwing axe with a spiked handle clenched in his hand. “Listen to yourself, Quinn. You’re defending your
sheva.
The bond’s changing you. I already lost Elijah.” His voice was hard and lethal. “I’m not losing you. Step aside and let me kill her.”

Quinn heard Gideon’s words, and somewhere deep in his mind they registered as a truth. It wasn’t his way to openly threaten his blood brother. He knew Gideon was right, that he was changing for Grace. But it didn’t matter. He would not back down from protecting her, and if he had to kill Gideon to make her safe, he would.

The thought rocked Quinn back on his heels. Son of a bitch. He was ready to take out the one man still standing that mattered to him?

He saw Gideon’s determination to save him, to cut down Quinn’s
sheva
before Quinn went rogue, fulfilling the promise they’d all made to each other five hundred years ago. Quinn knew he would battle for Grace’s safety every bit as hard as Gideon would strive to kill her. Hell. He had to defuse the situation quickly and come up with a reason for Gideon to back down. “Grace needs to live if we’re going to defeat Ezekiel,” he said evenly, keeping his voice cold and reserved, as if he had no personal stake in whether she lived or died.

Gideon paused, his blue eyes alert, ever the loyal Order member. “Why?”

“We’re taking on at least one, maybe two Illusionists who are strong enough to force Elijah to kill me. Grace is an Illusionist, and she can help us deal with it. The Order needs her.” He opened their link and showed him Elijah’s death.

When he finished, Gideon was staring at him. “He didn’t need to die.”

“And she doesn’t either.”

Gideon’s eyes narrowed. “How far along is the bond?”

“One stage. It’s under control.” Quinn shot his friend an arrogant grin, just to show him exactly how sane he still was. “You already know I think it’s all a crock of shit anyway, this destiny thing. I’m not going rogue, my friend. You can count on it.”

Gideon’s jaw flexed, and for a long moment, tension hung in the air between the two warriors. Quinn’s sword burned in his arm, but he didn’t call it out. He waited, knowing that any sign that he was becoming overly aggressive would trigger Gideon into a pre-emptive strike.

Gideon finally gave a quick nod of his head. “I agree that she might be able to help us, and you aren’t rogue.” He sheathed his axe. “She’s safe from me for now, but if I get any hint you’re going rogue—”

“Enough of this crap.”

They both turned around to find Grace standing about ten feet away from them with a gun aimed at Gideon. Quinn recognized it as one he kept stashed in the back of his truck, just in case he ever needed to fight a battle when he was out of swords. Desire rushed through him at the sight of her with his weapon. Yeah, that was his woman, facing down against one of the most deadly Order members in existence.
Nice, Grace. You know I want you more now.

“Shut up, Quinn.”
Refusing to accept the intimacy of their mind-to-mind connection, Grace gave them both a grim stare. “While you guys have been wasting time discussing whether I get to live for another day, whoever it is that’s been tracking Drew is getting closer and my sister is possibly being forced to murder someone else. Stop with the macho positioning, admit you’re glad to see each other still alive, and help me find my damn sister!” Her voice cracked at the end, and Quinn felt her courage falter at the thought of her sister, but she didn’t lower the gun or stop scowling.

I haven’t forgotten about her, Grace. I’ll find her.

“Oh, come on, Quinn,” she glared at him with exasperation, and he tensed at her emotional withdrawal from him, the way she refused their mental connection. “You guys were talking about killing me. For real. Call me overly sensitive, but that kind of takes the romance out of a relationship pretty damn fast.” She scowled at them both, frustration evident in her voice. “How could some stupid legend from two thousand years ago compel otherwise sane and powerful warriors to make such idiotic choices and waste time in such asinine discussions when there’s so much at stake?”

Grace.
He waited until she looked at him.
I will not let you down. I promise.

Weariness flickered in her eyes, and he knew the moment she stopped fighting him. “I swear to God, Quinn, sometimes I want to shoot you.”

He smiled. “I know. Most people do. It means you like me. I’ll take it as a compliment.”

His beautiful woman rolled her eyes, but the tension was past. “Of course you would. That’s a guy thing, right, to think it’s great when someone wants to kill you? No wonder ‘asinine’ was the word that came to mind to describe you guys. Seriously.”

Gideon grinned and slapped Quinn on the shoulder. “Damn, man, I can see why you don’t want her killed. She’s not even my
sheva
and I like her.”

“You were the one who wanted to kill me.” She turned her hostility onto Gideon. “I hate it when men don’t take me seriously.” She raised the gun and shot the axe out of Gideon’s hand, barely missing his fingertips.

The smile dropped off his face. “Where’d you learn how to do that?”

“Girl scouts.” She blinked as the axe dissolved into the forest floor, then pointed the gun at Gideon’s heart.

He raised his brows and glanced at Quinn, who couldn’t keep the shit-eating grin off his face. “Does she know she can’t kill me with simple bullet to the heart?”

“Yeah, probably. But I’m sure she has a follow-up plan, don’t you, sweetheart?”

“Always.” But instead of confidence, Quinn felt Grace’s sudden drop in body temperature, and her rush of fear at the idea of killing someone. Her hands started to shake and a sheen of perspiration broke out on her forehead. “I just want to find my sister,” she said. “I promise not to suck Quinn’s blood, okay, Gideon? I don’t do the blood bond, you don’t sever my head from my body. Deal?”

Gideon stopped smiling. “You won’t have a choice. The bond will compel you.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t underestimate me, Gideon. And
don’t
underestimate my commitment to my sister.” She lowered the gun, clicked the safety on, and set the weapon onto the ground. Then she stalked off into the fog, completely unable to see where she was going.

“The shack’s off to your right,” Gideon called out.

“Right next to the steep cliff you’re hoping I walk off of, I’m sure,” she snapped, but she turned right and kept walking.

Grace.

She didn’t turn around.

I won’t let you die.

Not yet, at least.
Her voice was resigned.
I’m glad I understand the truth now about this world you’re from. I can never trust you, can I?

Dammit, Grace. You can.
Restlessness haunted him at the distance she was putting between them. He was going after her—

“Dante’s dead.” Gideon’s words stopped Quinn in his tracks. “I could sense his death as soon as I got up to the cabin.”

Quinn turned back to Gideon. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Hell.” Quinn let out his breath and stared into the woods in the direction of Dante’s shack, absorbing the news. “How are we going to take down Ezekiel without Dante? He’s what keeps half the team on this side of rogue.”

“I’m sure that’s why Dante had to die.” Gideon sounded equally grim. “Ezekiel’s laying the foundation for his escape. We’re all that’s standing in his way, so he has to weaken us. He’s clearly got someone on the outside helping him.” He met Quinn’s gaze. “Someone besides Elijah.”

“We can’t let him get out,” Quinn said, his sword burning in his forearm again, this time with a fierce intensity that was almost painful. He frowned, pausing to assess the woods. His instincts didn’t usually react to distant threats, just immediate ones. What danger was he sensing? “We have to find out how he’s bringing down the walls and stop it before he does.”

Gideon nodded. “Agreed. I sent out a call to the others. They’re all here, up at the shack. We were waiting on you, but so far everyone’s keeping it together. The threat of Ezekiel is enough to keep them focused for now—”

Son of a bitch. “They’re here? Now? With my
sheva?
” That was why his instincts had been triggered. Because
Grace
was in danger. Not him.

“They’re up at the campsite. We’ll catch up to Grace before—” Gideon was cut off by a yelp from Grace and the loud crack of a Calydon’s weapon being called into action.

Quinn was in a full sprint before the sound faded, Gideon right on his tail.