And then he knew. The earth. The music. His response to her. He just knew. It all made sense. “You’re Satinka, aren’t you? That’s why I want you so badly. Earth magic.”
Lily stiffened. “No, of course not.”
“No?” He kissed the side of her neck, grinning when she let out a small noise of desire. Yes, he felt it now, the intense power growing between them. “Calydons and Satinka. Each powerful on their own, but together…they are so much more.” He nudged her hips, coaxing them to sway in a slow seduction. “Every Calydon’s fantasy, but extremely rare after all the Calydons drained and killed them off hundreds of years ago…”
She shivered, and he felt her resistance fade as she accepted him. She began to move with him, her hips swaying with an invitation that sent awareness spiraling through him.
“Not just Satinka.” Her hands went to his hips, her touch a sensual caress as she held him to her, synching the slow sway of her hips with his. “Your Satinka.”
“Mine? What do you mean?”
“My magic seeks out a Calydon who is worthy of her. I’m extremely powerful, so no Calydon has ever awakened it, even though my magic has tested every one I’ve ever met. Until you. You heard the bells.” Her voice had gone soft and throaty. His body began to hum in response.
Gideon ran his hands down the front of her thighs and inhaled as she leaned back into him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Sing to me, Satinka.” He pressed his lips to her neck. “Share the music with me.”
“No,” she whispered, even as she reached behind her and cupped his butt, her body moving with his as if there was music dancing around them. “It’s too dangerous. Neither of us would be able to stop. This can’t happen.” She wiggled her butt into his pelvis, making her words a lie.
“So, it’s not all Calydons you’re attracted to. You were just looking for me.” Gideon was intensely pleased by that fact. He ran his hands over her belly, up her ribs and over her breasts, groaning when she arched against him. He began to sing. It was a melody he didn’t know, but it fell from his lips anyway. A language he’d never learned, words he didn’t understand, a tune he’d never heard, but the music still came.
Untapped, decadent desire flared inside Lily as Gideon began to sing to her. They were Satinka words he should never have known, an ancient song he could never have been taught, and yet he knew them. His deep baritone was haunting in its beauty, curling through her body, reaching deep inside her. She felt something inside her begin to unfurl, and she closed her eyes, absorbing the magic he was spinning around her.
His hands moved across her body, gliding, caressing, never stopping, over her breasts, across her belly, along the inside of her thighs, then back up. She could feel the heat from his touch through the thick cotton of her sweatshirt. Pressing her back against the front of his body, she reached back and wrapped her hands behind his head, pulling him down toward her.
“Sing to me, Gideon,” she whispered, burning for the music that was hers, that was somehow inside him now. God, it felt amazing, the way he was bringing her to life. Never had she felt like this, as if the earth had begun to dance, as if magic was filling the air and the sky, up to the heavens and out to the furthest reaches of the horizon.
Gideon continued to sing, the notes rumbling deep inside his chest as he slipped his hands beneath her sweatshirt, flattening his palms on her belly. Heat caressed her as she began to move, as his song touched that place inside her reserved only for music. His lips were warm on the side of her neck as his hips moved with hers, a slow sensual dance of indulgent pleasure, of timeless seduction.
His hands slid up her ribs and over her breasts, and she let out a low moan as desire licked through her veins, arching her back against him, her hands still locked behind his neck.
His song whispered through her mind as his hands slid down her belly, easing beneath her sweats and down to her thighs, his thumb a mere brush against her most intimate parts before it was gone. A tease, like the music he was still singing, his breath warm against her neck as he breathed life into words with his song.
They began to sway more, their bodies moving in unison, following the magic of his song, drawn into its misty web as his hands moved over her body once again. He paused to cup her between her legs for a teasing instant, and then his hands were gone again, sliding up over her belly to her breasts again, his palms branding her nipples the way his voice was searing her soul.
“Lily,” he whispered, his voice raw with a sensuality that made her shiver. “Sing to me.”
“I can’t.” Her voice was throaty and raw. “It’s too dangerous.” But God, she wanted to. The music inside her was straining to be released, to be allowed to soar. To mesh with Gideon, to tap into the power he carried. To ignite them both with the intensity between them.
He began to sing again, another tune of words that plucked at her memories, words that felt so familiar, but she couldn’t quite understand, or interpret, but she knew it was a song of seduction, of passion and her body burned in response.
His hands moved down again, sliding beneath her pants and brushing along the inside of her thigh, so close, teasing. Hot desire pooled beneath his touch, and she knew she was lost to his song, to his caresses, knew she could never turn away from the magic he was waking up in her. She could feel the music taking root within her, and then she began to sing, matching her voice to his.
The instant their voices melded, she felt her body truly come alive for the first time in her life. The wind began to swirl, licking at them. The sand shifted beneath Lily’s feet. Heat rose within her, between them. She felt the tingling of her magic as it began to rise, to truly rise, within her.
Gideon’s hips undulated, taking her with him in time to the music, his fingers sliding over her, a tease, so close as she felt something begin to vibrate in her, something light and musical—
Gideon rubbed his chin against her cheek. “I have no defense against you,” he whispered, his voice raw.
Her fingers dug into the brands on his forearms as desire pulsed within her and her music danced around her. Her body called for Gideon, and he pressed his groin against her backside. She felt his hardness against her as his hands slid down her thighs again, parting them as his body undulated to the music. “I can’t let you go,” he said, his voice raw with unbridled lust and raw need.
Lily heard the words and, on some level, she realized their danger. Gideon was succumbing to her music, but she couldn’t make herself care. Not with her body tingling with magic, not with her legs parting as he slid his hands higher along her inner thighs, his fingers a sensual caress on her skin. She groaned and let her head fall back against his shoulder, her cheek resting against the bristles of his whiskers as her magic roared to life, taking over the song they were both singing, drawing them to a place where neither of them had control, climbing and climbing until the music was rising from the world around them.
His lips trailed over her neck and his teeth caught her skin as his hands moved higher and his finger slid inside her. Her body jerked with intense pleasure and she leaned back against him, boneless and at his mercy. The ground began to vibrate, and the music became louder. It wasn’t simply the two of them singing. The wind joined them, the rumbling of the earth was their bass, the branches knocking against each other pounded at them as the very Mother herself joined in.
Gideon’s fingers began to move within her, his teeth grazing her neck as his deep voice began to vibrate with power and intensity. Her voice melded with his, beat with the rhythm of the earth, and his broad hands palmed her waist and he spun her around, then sank his mouth down onto hers, taking, taking, taking.
She welcomed him, pressing against him as the rhythm of the earth made her vibrate with life, as her skin tingled with magic and desire and him. The kisses were deep and hot, gaining strength, increasingly desperate and intense. She could feel Gideon soaking through her pores, melding with her. His voice was magic as it filled her, winding through her s
oul. She knew she wanted him. She needed him. Inside her. He was power.
As if he’d read her mind, he grabbed the edge of her sweatshirt and yanked it over her head in one swift move, and then his hands were tracing her ribs, cupping her breasts as he held her tight against him, his hips driving against her.
So much heat from his body. So much magic. Her womb tightened with heat and magic and hot desire—
“Get down!” He suddenly threw her to the side.
She hit the dirt hard and whirled around in time to see a mace slam into the back of Gideon’s head with a loud crack. His body jerked at the impact, and then he collapsed on top of her, blood pouring from his wound and into the sand. He didn’t move. “Gideon!”
Several Calydons stepped out of the trees. She recognized the one from Nate’s who had the machete, and three others. More kept coming out…eight, nine…ten…Too many.
They were there to take her to Frank. That’s when the grim truth hit her. There was no going home for her. Frank would follow her there, and take her. Her only chance was to align herself with Gideon and the Order. She had to help them fight their battle and defeat Frank and Ezekiel.
She had to go to war. Adrenaline and determination surged through her. A calm, focused presence. No more the victim. No more hiding. She was taking her life back, and she was doing it now.
Gideon groaned and tried to lift his upper body off her, his body trembling with the effort as blood continued to gush from the back of his head. She knew he’d never recover in time to beat them. They would kill him and take her. She and Gideon had no chance.
Screw that. She wasn’t going down, not when she had access to the most deadly warrior the Order had ever had. A warrior who had made an art of being cold and impassive, of controlling his emotions more than any other living creature could do.
Gideon lifted his head, his blue eyes glazed with pain as he fought to sit up. Lily grasped his face in her hands, fighting off all her instincts that were screaming not to do it, not to risk it. She’d been a passive victim for too long, thinking that simply getting up in the morning was some great victory. Screw that. She wanted it all. She wanted her damn life back, back to what it was like before the abduction when she was seventeen, before Nate’s kidnapping, before the fear had taken root in her heart.
Gideon swore and tried to lever himself off the ground, but his eyes were glazed with pain, and she knew the blow had been too hard, too precise. He met her gaze, and she saw in his face the man of honor who had saved her already. The man who burned for her. The warrior that her magic had chosen.
He grimaced with pain, and she felt the darkness as the other Calydons closed in. The time was up. She had one choice to make: either trust Gideon to be stronger than any Calydon had ever been, or turn herself over to Frank. Gideon was the first strength that had been extended her way in a lifetime, the first kindness she’d felt in years. He was her chance. Her only chance, if she was brave enough to use it.
For a split second, her mind flickered back to that hell ten years ago when the team of Calydons had fed off her magic, and a deep, long-accustomed fear rippled through her. But as she looked into Gideon’s eyes, she knew that he was a man of honor. Frank would prey on her like those men had before, and it would be a repeat. Gideon was different. She knew that. For the first time since her brother, she knew she’d met a Calydon she could believe in.
There was only one choice worth making.
Lily wanted to fight, so she chose Gideon.
She gave him her magic. She gave him the tools to save her life or to kill her.
She gave him something that she thought she’d lost forever: her trust.
CHAPTER TEN
Gideon’s arms were numb and he felt like his head had been split open, but he had to get up. Had to defend Lily. Her body was warm under his, and he could feel her skin tingling against his from the magic they’d already started to build. He could hear the whispers of fabric as their assailants approached. He could feel the darkness of their thoughts. He heard the whisper of their fingers sliding over the handles of their weapons. He caught the bitter scent of their desperate sweat.
Danger prickled over him and his weapons burned in his arms, warning him of the threats. Come on!
Gideon shoved himself to his knees as he heard one of them laugh. “The Order’s not so big and powerful now, is it?”
He tried to turn his head to look at them, and he nearly went down at the pain. They’d clipped him good. He’d been so caught up in Lily that he hadn’t even heard them coming. They’d caught him dead in his tracks. The legendary warrior caught not looking. Crap.
He had to fight. He had to save her. Gideon braced himself and summoned all the energy he had, preparing to lunge to his feet—
“Gideon.” Lily’s arms went around his neck, holding him down. “Try not to abuse this gift.”
“What—” He barely had time to register the gritty determination in her eyes before she pressed her lips to his in a searing kiss that thrust an obscene amount of power into him. The music was instant, deafening, and blinding. Bells, drums, a blistering rhythm that sent him down to his elbows as he cradled his head against the din.
But then, through the noise, Gideon heard Lily’s voice. Strong and mesmerizing, calling to him, singing to him, and only to him. He became aware of her mouth still kissing him, her hands skimming over his body, and her hips moving against him in a sensual, seductive motion. “Lily,” he growled.
He grabbed the back of her hair and held her head, plundering her mouth with his as the music rose louder and louder. All he could hear was her voice, weaving through his body, through every cell, making his body come alive.
“Go now,” she whispered. “We’re connected. Be quick.” She broke the kiss, and his mind returned to him, and he sensed the whisper of pressure behind him. He whirled instantly, his hand closing over the handle of a machete a split second before it sank into his back.
He and his assailant both paused in shock at the sight of Gideon’s hand wrapped around the weapon he’d intercepted in mid-flight. Then Gideon switched his grip and hurled it back at his opponent. It sank into the Calydon’s chest and dropped him instantly.
Gideon stared at the dead Calydon in surprise. Calydon weapons didn’t work for anyone but their owners. Ever.
He should never have been able to do that.
There was an outraged cry, and his attackers charged. With Lily’s song vibrating in his mind, Gideon leapt to his feet and called out his axe. His assailants unleashed their blades. Weapons came at him from all directions, and Gideon reacted with blinding speed, defending himself against the assault.
Power consumed him. Strength and indestructibility screamed through his body. Gideon’s mind processed everything so quickly that it was as if the weapons flying at him were moving in slow motion, lagging uselessly behind his reflexes.
The world seemed to glow with brightness as Gideon wielded his axe, blocking each weapon before it could touch him or Lily. Twenty weapons, flying at him simultaneously, with the precision of the Calydons, and yet they were powerless against him. He took them out of the air, one by one, like he was swatting softballs instead of defying all the laws of the universe.
The weapons clanged into his axe and fell to the earth. Gideon snatched others out of the air before they hit the ground and hurled them back, finding its owner with deadly precision in an impossible task that was ridiculously simple.
Attack. Defend. Counter-attack.
Effortless. Easy. Child’s play.
It was over in less than a minute, eleven dead Calydons strewn around him. Gideon threw back his head and roared, drinking in the power consuming him, the strength, the utter and complete indestructibility of his body.
“Hell, Gideon. Where’d you learn to do that?” Kane was standing on the side of the clearing, his double spike flails clenched in his fists, the spiked balls dangling at the end of the studded chains. As always, Kane was naked from the wa
ist up, his torso completely covered in scars, intricate carvings and designs. He was wearing black leather pants that were tight across his hips, black boots and a thin leather cord around his throat.
Gideon blinked and tried to focus on Kane, but his body was pulsing with such power he couldn’t bring himself down from the high. He couldn’t stop the pounding of his heart, the headiness of killing so many, so easily.
“Hey!” Kane hurled the flail at Gideon’s face, and Gideon caught it without even blinking. “Hell, man, what’s happened to you?”
“The music.” Gideon let the flail drop to the earth so he could drink in the power as Kane called his weapon back. “Do you hear it?” The bells were pounding in his ears, the earth vibrating beneath him. “Earth magic. For me.”
“Earth magic?” Kane echoed. “You mean Satinka?”
The music began to fade, and Gideon opened his mind, trying to absorb the last remnants of the magic. Needing more.
Kane cursed and raced toward him. “You’re killing her! Stop draining her!”
Killing her? Gideon spun around as Kane dropped to his knees beside Lily.
Lily. She was stretched out on her back. Her body was rigid. Her skin was deadly white. Her lips were ashen, and her eyes were staring blindly. The sight of her yanked Gideon back from his high and he sprinted over to her. He crouched beside her and pulled her onto his lap. “Lily! Shit.” Her skin was ice cold under his touch, so brittle he felt like it would crumble under his fingers.
“She’s not dead.” Kane had her wrist in his hand. “I can hear her pulse. Stop draining her now, or you’ll finish her off.”
He knew Kane wasn’t exaggerating. He could feel the life fading from Lily with every breath. Gideon swore and tried to sever his connection to her, but the music was still dancing in his head. He couldn’t stop himself from hearing it. He reinforced his mental shields and tried to shut down his mind, but nothing worked. The music was still there, calling to him, feeding him. There was no time to figure it out. He had to cut himself off from her instantly. “Knock me out.”
Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) Page 12
