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

by Stephanie Rowe

  “No—”

  Lily interrupted him, her words tumbling over each other in her rush to get them out. “We could part ways right now before the bond starts forming. No one would have to know…” Her hands went to his shoulders, gripping him, as if she could force him to understand, her voice desperate. “I don’t want to die just when I got free. You have to let me go so your Order members don’t kill me. You have to.” She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t prepared. She hadn’t figured everything out yet. She didn’t have her plan prepared!

  He shook his head, his eyes hardening with memories he didn’t share. “I already met my sheva a long time ago, and she was killed by the Order.”

  “You did? But that’s impossible. I would have known that—” Oh, God. She did know that. How had she forgotten that? She’d spent her life researching Calydons, ferreting out all the information she could in order to avert the hell that had already been brought onto her family twice. Three times. She knew everything about Gideon. Everything. The fact he’d lost his sheva was part of what made him so legendary. How on earth had she forgotten?

  But she knew why. Because she was barely clinging to the edge of sanity, and she was so strung out that she couldn’t even think rationally anymore. Because the one fear that had haunted her for her whole life, the terror that had defined her and everything she’d done, was the very real possibility that she was genetically predisposed to being a sheva.

  She’d been waiting for it, watching over her shoulder for twenty years, waiting for that fate to snatch her up and spit her out. The way she’d responded to Gideon had been so precisely what she had been dreading that it had triggered her deepest terrors. She’d panicked, dismissing all the information she’d worked so hard to acquire to give her power.

  Gideon was right. He’d already met his sheva. So, then what was going on? Was she imagining her response to him? Maybe it was just some reaction because he rescued her, right? A little bit of relief, combined with her magic’s natural attraction to Calydons? Yeah, maybe—

  “I’m safe, Lily. Destiny isn’t coming after us, no matter what we do.” Gideon’s gaze went to her mouth, and she felt heat flare inside her.

  Not just heat. A burning, raging need that threatened to consume her. She felt the enormity of his presence. His raw masculinity crawled beneath her skin, wrapping its way around her, drawing her toward him.

  Oh, crap. This wasn’t good. “If I’m not your sheva, then there has to be an explanation for how I feel—” She gasped as he dropped his head and pressed his lips to her throat. She shoved at his shoulders, writhing at the intense need that small action had raised inside her. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she resist him?

  Fear licked through her, the first real fear she’d had. What if she couldn’t stop him? What if it happened again, like before? She went cold, ice cold, and the scars on her wrists and ankles began to throb, as if they were still fresh, as if she was bound again, just like she’d been all those years ago. “Stop!”

  He lifted his head, his blue gaze intense. “What’s wrong?”

  “You scare me!” She wriggled out of the bag, wincing when she accidentally brushed his erection with her hand. “Oh, God. Sorry.”

  Gideon pulled back, and let her go, but she saw the tension in his body and knew how difficult it had been for him to release her. He wanted her just as badly as she craved him. The last time anyone had looked at her like with that much interest, it had ended so terribly. So awfully.

  “It’s not just that I want you.” She hugged herself as she stood on the arid ground, the sand leaching through her thick socks. “I feel like I’ll lose total control if you kiss me even once, and you’ve got this look in your eyes…you’ll do the same, won’t you? Lose control? You’re sure I can’t be your sheva?” Maybe it would be better if she were his sheva. If she were, then his instincts would prevent him from hurting her. They might be strong enough to keep the situation from spiraling. Without that protection, without her ability to keep him at a distance, there would be no stopping him once he got a taste of her magic. He would kill her. It would be just like before—

  “I’m absolutely positive you’re not my sheva.” He pulled himself out of the bag and rose to his feet, starkly magnificent in his nudity. His body was lean, yet heavily muscled. His stomach was carved, his shoulders wide with a power that made her shudder. She could see cords of muscle beneath the skin drawn tautly across his thighs, and the dark hair on his chest teased the golden hue to his skin. He made no attempt to hide how badly he wanted her, and her stomach knotted with desire as her gaze fell below his waist.

  “Lily.” His voice was husky, curling into her belly and sending liquid heat coursing through her.

  Fire burned through her at the raw lust on his face. Passion and fear. Hot and cold. He was twisting her up, and she couldn’t resist him. She was losing the battle. She knew she was. Despite everything she knew and all the lessons she’d learned…she was falling…

  “I know I’m going to lose total control if I kiss you, and I don’t care.” He slowly crossed the hard ground, coming to a stop just before her.

  Her breath started coming faster. “But I do care. I—”

  “I’ve never felt like this. You make me feel alive.” He cupped the back of her neck with his hand and tugged her toward him. “I won’t hurt you, Lily. I swear it.”

  She braced herself and her hands went to his chest to block him, to try to keep distance between them, but the minute her hands touched his bare skin, her resistance vanished, consumed by her need to feel him against her. “Gideon—”

  His mouth was hot and wet as it closed over hers in a kiss designed to make her his in every way.

  The moment his lips touched hers, she knew she was in trouble.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The instant Lily’s lips parted for him, a fierce possessiveness roared through Gideon. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. Her body was warm and alive, pulsing with life and igniting flames inside him that had been dormant his entire life.

  He growled her name and tunneled his fingers through her hair, the silky locks sliding over his skin like the most decadent of temptations. Soft, sensual, breathtaking. With the groan of a man falling out of his depth, Gideon locked his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss, pouring everything he had into the unbelievable sensation of her lips, her tongue, her breath mingling with his.

  Lily made a noise of surprise at his invasion, then she threw her arms around his neck and tumbled recklessly into the kiss. She gave him everything: her body, her passion, the bright spirit that made her who she was. She clung to him, her tongue crashing into his mouth with the same desperation grinding so deep in his soul.

  Yes. He kissed her again and again, deeper and harder. He was unable to consume enough of her, needing more than what he could get, even as she met every kiss with equal passion and heat. Her hands were pure seduction, the way she was running them over his shoulders, his arms and his back, as if she couldn’t get enough of him, as if by some unfathomable miracle, she wanted him with every bit of the same heated passion.

  Gideon slid his hands beneath the waistband of her sweatpants, groaning as he kneaded the soft flesh of her bottom. Passion licked through him, like a tidal wave of pure desire, igniting every cell as it shot through his body. Her hips were curved and round beneath his hands, her body aching for him. He kissed her again, his mouth frantic to taste more of her, to somehow catch up to the desire racing through him.

  Lily made the most beautiful, feminine sound in her throat, the sound of a woman at the edge of her control. Her desire flooded him, like white hot blades lacerating his self-control. He could feel her need for him, a crushing, uncontrollable heat threatening to overwhelm them both. He was shocked by his ability to feel her passion, and her desires, and even more stunned by how it ignited his own. The intensity was beyond anything he’d ever experienced, more than he could control, more than he could conta
in.

  Gideon kissed her harder, but heaven help him, it wasn’t enough. It was a tease, a taste, but his core burned for more. He needed her skin against his, her breasts against his chest, his hands over the bare skin of her hips. He needed to be inside her making her his, and only his, binding them together for all eternity. And, God help him, he needed her hands on him. He needed to feel her stroke across his chest, her mouth kiss his stomach, her bare legs against his. Nothing between them. Nothing holding them back. He wanted it all.

  Lily mumbled his name as her hands went to his hair and she pulled him down toward her, kissing him frantically. He could feel Lily’s desperation, internalizing it until he didn’t know which were her emotions and lust and which were his. All Gideon knew was that it was wrecking him, torturing him because he couldn’t get enough. Couldn’t satisfy it. Couldn’t get his brain around how badly he needed her. Every inch of her body…he had to touch her, to taste her…

  “I need you.” He fumbled with the hem of her sweatshirt, his hands shaking as he spread his palms over her ribs, a soft groan falling from his lips as he felt her heat beneath his hands. Her skin was soft and fragile, so perfect he couldn’t stand it. “I have to taste you.”

  “Yes,” she whispered, her voice a throaty tremble that rolled beneath his skin like the hot wind on a summer night.

  Gideon dropped to his knees in the sand and tugged up her sweatshirt. The flat expanse of her belly… hell and damnation. All his. This unbelievable, amazing woman was his. He flanked her waist with his hands and slowly, reverently, kissed her belly.

  She made a noise of passion, a small, sexy whimper of desire, and wrapped her arms around his head, holding him to her stomach.

  Hell, yes. Gideon tightened his grip on her hips, holding her captive as he kissed his way across her torso. She smelled like woods and the fresh scent of spring water…but that wasn’t all. She smelled like desire, like a woman on fire. He knew her desire was only for him. He could feel it in her emotions, her intense connection to him, to no one else. His name was imprinted in her soul, his scent swirling through her body, his kiss calling to the side of her that made her a woman.

  “God, Gideon,” she whispered. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

  “Never.” Her stomach quivered under his touch as he swirled his tongue into her navel, his hands roaming her back, her stomach, and her ribs. He slid his palms upward over her smooth skin to the soft curves of her breasts. Lily sucked in her breath as he rubbed his thumbs over them, and her nipples hardened. Raw heat rushed through him, not just his, but both of theirs, mixed, on fire—

  His lower body jerked, and he realized he was about to lose it. Literally. Son of a bitch. “Hang on.” He jerked his mouth off her and set her back away from him, trying to regain his control before he made an ass of himself.

  “No, no, don’t stop.” Lily reached for his shoulders, and he felt another pulse jolt through him as he grabbed her hands, intercepting them before she could reach him.

  “Don’t touch me,” Gideon gritted out. Hell, he had to get control of himself. Desire and lust were plunging through him. Hers, his, five hundred years of holding his shit together was all coming down around him, driven by her, by her kiss, by his need to take her, to kiss her, to make love to her—

  “I have to touch you.” Lily’s throaty whisper caught him in the gut, and he yanked her down to him to kiss her again, unable to resist her. She fell to her knees before him, her body slamming against his chest, and her hand going between his legs before he could stop her.

  Her fingers clasped around his cock, and his body’s response was instant, totally out of control. The orgasm shot through him like a sword lancing him right through the chest. “Lily—” He dove into the kiss, taking her, owning her as the climax roared through him.

  He roared and bucked against her, knocking them both to the ground. Their kiss was frenzied and frantic as she kept her grip on him. Helpless in her grasp, Gideon kissed her desperately as his body shuddered again and again. The final crest tore through him, and he bellowed her name as he locked her down against him and rode the orgasm out. The waves continued to ride him relentlessly, taking him until there was nothing left.

  For a long moment, minutes, hours, he didn’t even know how long, they were still, both of them breathing heavily. Sweat trickled down his back as his body fought to reclaim itself from her. Gideon swore and dropped his head, leaning his forehead against her throat. His arms wrapped around her waist as he sagged on top of her, utterly spent.

  Lily’s arms were around his head, holding him to her. Her heart was hammering as rapidly as his, a frenzied beat against his chest.

  They didn’t speak. They didn’t move. Just two beings trying to find their footing after being stripped of everything that made them who they were, after connecting with the other so intensely that there had been no dividing line between them.

  Gideon swore under his breath as the reality of what had just happened began to settle in. With a groan, he lifted his head to look at her. Her moss-green eyes were at half-mast, the face of a woman still caught in the throes of desire and passion. His cock became hard again, growing against her belly. “All you did was touch me, and I went,” he said, still shocked by the realization. “I feel like I’m fifteen again. One touch by you and all my control vanished.” His muscles were still spasming from the orgasm. What the hell had just happened?

  Lily smiled, a smug little grin that reached inside him and plucked at something soft. Something warm. Something that made him want to smile back. He liked that arrogant look on her face, the one that showed the courageous woman inside that battered body.

  Of course, that didn’t change the fact that he’d been completely derailed by what had just happened. He’d had every intention of making love to her, and instead, he’d jumped off the ship early. Early! What the hell? Where was the rigid control he’d owned for the last five hundred years?

  Lily trailed her fingers through his hair, and then she lightly kissed his temple, a tender, affectionate gesture that rocked him as much as the orgasm had. No one was tender with him. It wasn’t a part of his life, and he didn’t need it.

  But with his skin still tingling from her kiss, he wanted her to do it again. And again.

  “Did this happen to you a lot when you were fifteen?” Lily sounded amused, and a little proud of herself.

  “Yeah, it did, actually,” he admitted, unable to keep anything from her. “It completely humiliated me every damn time.” It had happened every time he’d gotten it on with a girl, triggered by the intensity of the emotions and lust racing between them. It had continued until he’d figured out how to shut down his emotions and separate himself from what was happening around him. Once he’d learned that, sex had become a tool to sate his Calydon instincts, something he could engage in with the impartiality of an outside observer.

  Since then, sex had never been something he couldn’t control, but that one kiss with Lily had triggered an intense reaction that he’d been completely unprepared for. Even all that shit he dealt with when he was fifteen was nothing compared to what he’d just felt. This hadn’t just been sex. It hadn’t just been his empathic abilities taking over. This had been something else entirely. “I lost it from kissing your stomach. I can’t believe it.”

  Lily laughed softly and patted his cheek. “Don’t look so upset. I’ve been told I have a very sexy stomach.”

  Yeah, well, that bit of news sure helped his mood. “Who’s been checking out your belly?” he growled.

  Her eyebrows went up. “You’re jealous?”

  “Hell, yeah. I wanted to impress you with my great sexual prowess and I went off early.” Gideon groaned and dropped his head to her neck again and inhaled. “You smell so damned good, I’m getting hard again already.”

  What in hell’s name was going on? He had no defenses against her scent, against the way her body felt against him. He had no resistance to the way those green eyes glittered
with so much emotion. “I’m not like this,” he muttered. “I don’t react this way to women. Ever. I can’t stop myself when I’m with you.”

  Lily didn’t move for a second, then her muscles tensed up. She shoved at his shoulders. “Get up.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “No way. I need another chance to prove myself.”

  “No, you don’t.” She shoved harder, and he could feel the palpitations of her heart. Nervous. Worried. Panicked.

  Shit. He didn’t want her afraid of him. He immediately loosened his grip, allowing her to scramble free. The moment he lost contact with her, a cold feeling of loss settled over him. Being separated from her felt wrong. His instincts shouted for him to reclaim her, to bring her back beneath him, to finish what he’d started.

  But he made no move to go after her. She’d spent too long being trapped, and no way would he make her revisit that hell, no matter how badly he wanted to vault up and go after her. “You don’t need to fear me,” he said, unable to keep the heat out of his voice as he watched her stand up. Her body was lithe and athletic, those long legs stretching as she rose to her feet. Even in those baggy sweats and that huge sweatshirt, she was sexy as hell.

  “No?” Lily hugged herself. “I’m fully aware of your virility, and I feel like I just dodged a bullet. You just admitted that you have no control with me. That’s not good!”

  He rolled onto his back, trying to get his muscles functioning again, but they were still spent from that short interlude. Hell. Was he getting that old? “Most women would take that as a compliment that you were the only female in five hundred years to break my control.” He kept his voice even and low, trying to figure out what it was he’d said that had spooked her.

  “I would have had sex with you just then, Gideon.”

  Something carnal and male pulsed through him, and he sat up. “I’m guessing that’s a problem?” His voice was dangerously low, throbbing with the desire thickening inside him.