Reality came crashing down on him, the brutal truth of what his brand on her arm meant. She was his sheva, and they’d already begun to cement the bond. She was in as much danger from him as his friends, more even, and yet Elijah owed her the greatest protection of all. He didn’t just owe her, his need to keep her safe raged inside him with a fierceness beyond anything he’d ever felt before.
He had to get himself away from all of them. Had to protect them from what he was, from what was haunting him. Must keep them safe. He tried to shove to his feet, and she wrapped herself around him and came with him. “No, Elijah! Not yet,” she said. “You need me to touch you—”
His legs gave out, and he fell back down, his body too battered to hold himself up. He tried to crawl, tried to drag himself across the floor. Anything to get away from them. But still she clung to him, refusing to allow him to give her the room to escape from him. Her body was warm against his. God, he wanted to stop, to fall into what she offered. Couldn’t. Had to get her away from him. The demons were too strong this time. She wouldn’t be able to keep them at bay. He would kill her. “Let go,” he growled. “Get away from me.”
“No—”
Quinn spoke. “Ana, let him go.”
“Ana?” The name hit Elijah hard in his gut and suddenly he remembered.
Ana.
He was back in that moment when he’d seen her for the very first time. She’d crawled toward him in those rainy woods, her body battered, desperate anguish on her face. Her jeans had been torn and stained, a soiled white tank top clinging to her body, showing too many bruises and cuts. God, how fragile she’d looked, how vulnerable, those delicate curves revealing the softness of a woman that brought out a need to protect so intense he’d been able to think of nothing but getting her to safety.
The stark agony in her silver eyes, the bruises on her elegant neck. He’d never forget the way she’d looked at him, with such courage in that trembling body when she’d ordered him to abandon her and save himself. He’d felt the beauty in her soul, the raw strength in her spirit, the goodness in her heart, and he’d immediately lost himself to the light she brought into his life.
Gone was his need to chase down the bastard who was controlling him. All that had mattered in that moment was Ana. In that split second, she had become the entirety of his existence.
He could still feel her skin beneath his hand when he’d picked her up and cradled her to his chest, so soft, so fragile, and so damaged from the abuse. Her vulnerability and strength had reached inside his soul and awakened the part of him that had been dormant for so long, the part of him that made him want to step outside his hell and be the man she needed.
But he’d failed her. He’d gotten himself killed, and she’d fallen back into the hands of the bastard that had hurt her so many times already. She’d been so brutalized because of Elijah’s failure. She carried his mark and the bruises that spoke of his inability to do as he should for her. And now, again, she was here, in the shadows of his demons, refusing to leave him once again.
He swore suddenly as more memories tumbled back. Holy crap. She was an Illusionist.
His stomach churned, his body shook under the sudden assault of panic, the terror of what she represented and what she could do to him. It was his own living hell, a terror that made him so fucking dangerous to all of them, a fear that obliterated reality and turned him into a monster. And the terror was rising in response to Ana’s presence, to her Illusionist heritage. “Jesus!”
He gripped his head and rose to his knees, trying to fight off the demons, the terror, but they were coming, hard and fast, ruthless and relentless. He had to get away from everyone before he snapped, before he turned on them. He knew what he would become. He’d been down this path before, and he knew what was coming for him.
“Elijah—” Ana sounded worried, making him want to reach for her, to find the safety he’d found in her arms…
No. Must keep them safe. “Get away from me. All of you!” Sweat poured down his temples, and his stomach wrenched as he ripped her off him. “Take her!” He thrust Ana at Quinn.
The instant he released Ana, panic and terror rose up and seized Elijah. The demons rushed his mind, beady black eyes, rippled callused skin the color of rotted flesh. A scream ripped out of Elijah’s throat as he threw up his arms to block the descending beasts, their fangs already wet with his blood, his skin dangling from their claws. Pain ripped through him as his abdomen was torn open by the demon, and he slammed his weapon into the monster’s head, as more specters descended. He staggered at the unbearable pain in his gut, felt the fresh blood coat his hands, and knew it was his.
“Elijah—” A grotesque horned demon of black blood and scaly poison grabbed his arm.
He slammed his throwing star hard into its flesh, his screams of terror chasing him as he fought for his life against the demons he could never defeat. He ripped himself out of their grasp and bolted for the door, knowing they would chase him, praying they would hunt him and leave behind Ana and his teammates. “Take me,” he shouted as he ran, even as his mind splintered into a thousand pieces. He felt it fragment, and bile spilled through his gut as he lost his grip on the only thing he held dear, the only thing that made him deserve to live: his sanity.
***
Ana shielded her head, tumbling to the floor of the cell as Quinn lost his grip on her after the hit from Elijah. She scrambled to her feet, slipping on the blood pouring from the wound Elijah had opened in his own stomach, when he’d smashed his throwing star into his belly, trying to kill something that no one else could see. Something that had been real only in his own mind.
Her heart bled for the nightmare in his mind, for the damage that had been done to him, by her kind, by her, by the hell that she had become. She had to help him. Had to save him. She could not let him descend into the nightmare that would never release him.
“Elijah!” She lunged for his leg, her soul crying in frustration when her fingers grasped air, missing the chance to touch him and try to bring him back. He charged the door, screaming with the terror of a man sucked into the hell of illusions too horrific to survive, the kind that had broken so many minds over the centuries.
Gideon grabbed his arm, and Elijah slammed his fist into his face, throwing him against the wall with a sickening thud. Gideon slid limply down the wall, and Elijah threw his head back and howled, an inhuman shriek of such raw terror that her own body shook with the horror of it. Then he charged for the door again and was gone.
CHAPTER FIVE
The sounds of Elijah’s footsteps echoing in the steel corridor were like the slow onslaught of doom, reverberating through Ana to her soul as the darkness in his mind took Elijah away from her. Gideon groaned, rising slowly to his feet, but Quinn was already out the door, sword in one hand, his other palm pressed over the wound in his side.
“Elijah!” Ana lurched to her feet and raced for the hallway as the loud shouts of the Order filled the corridor. She heard the earsplitting crack of multiple Calydon weapons being called out, and her heart stuttered as she remembered their readiness at the sinkhole to kill Elijah if he was too dangerous. “No!” She bolted out into the corridor in time to see six armed Order members spread out and brace themselves for Elijah’s assault.
“Don’t hurt him!” Her words were drowned out by Elijah’s earsplitting shriek of such horror, such suffering and such fury.
Elijah exploded toward the advancing Order members, his body ripped and bloody, his muscles so rigid they were standing out beneath his skin like iron wedges. His throwing stars flashed in his hands as he charged his team. His face was contorted, twisted, like a true madman, his body coiled with ferocity and strength that was beyond what any Calydon should be able to harness. She realized his insanity was giving him power he never should have had.
Elijah hurled his throwing star right at Ryland’s heart with blinding speed. It sunk deep before Ryland could block it, and he stumbled and went down, his hands fum
bling to tear the throwing star from his body.
Oh, God, Elijah was trying to kill his own friends. Tears burned Ana’s eyes as she ran down the hall, her cast sliding on the steel floor. “Elijah! Stop!”
But he didn’t. He just unleashed everything he had onto the warriors who had stood by him for centuries, men who would give their lives for him, teammates who Elijah would give his own life to protect. Her heart broke for Elijah, because she knew that he truly had no idea who he was fighting, that his mind was so fragmented that he was utterly lost. It was exactly as Gideon had described, and she saw the grim realization on his team’s faces that they were going to have to kill him to stop him.
She saw Ryland rear up to strike Elijah with his machete. “No!” she screamed as she raced toward them, desperate to get there first. To stop Elijah before everything was lost. “Elijah,” she shouted as she neared him. She was almost there, almost within reach. “Stop!” He whirled toward her, and for a split second he froze, as if something deep inside him was trying to reach for her, to break through the hold on his mind.
That split second was all she needed, and she threw herself into his arms. She pressed her face to his neck, burying herself against him. Elijah. You’re safe. It’s your friends.
His arm went around her waist and for a moment, he held her, and she thought they’d won. Then his anguished voice tore through her mind. I’ll kill you.
She was shocked by the depth of his torment, by the clarity of his fear, not for his safety, but for hers. His mind was raging with terror, with raw, visceral agony, with the fog of madness, but his fear that he would hurt her was the true Elijah, not the monster, not the insanity. Tears filled her eyes. He knew what he was doing to everyone he loved, and he couldn’t stop himself? Her heart cracked with the agony of knowing exactly how that felt. He didn’t deserve that, and she grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. No, you’d never hurt me—
Anguish tore across his face, and his arm tightened around her, as if he wanted to pour himself into her and sprint away from the hell he was facing. But he didn’t. His face darkened with determination, and she knew he was going to shut her out before the words filled her mind.
Run, Ana! His order rent her mind with its pain, and he ripped her off him, flinging her to the side, away from him.
“No!” She skidded across the floor, helplessness overwhelming her as she watched him charge Kane. Ryland shouted and jumped on Elijah’s back as Elijah tackled Kane. Ryland slammed his machete into Elijah’s chest, making Elijah stagger long enough for Kane to scramble out of range before Elijah spun around and tried to rake his throwing star across the front of Ryland’s throat. She struggled to her feet and ran back toward Elijah—
“Ana!” Gideon grabbed her and hauled her back as more blood sprayed. “You almost had him,” he said, his face gritty with determination and hope. “We need a tighter bond.” He grabbed her wrist and Ana realized what he was going to do an instant before he did it.
“What?” She tried to pull away as his blade moved toward her skin. “Wait—”
“No.” His axe sliced cleanly through her skin, pain shooting up her arm as he cut her. He looked at her as the blood began to ooze from the wound. “You know about the blood ritual?”
She stared at him, numb horror rising fast inside her. “You want me to do the sheva blood bond with Elijah? But it’s one of the stages of the bond—”
“Damn straight it is. You need to get tight with him.” Gideon’s eyes were burning with fire as he shot orders at her. “Get your arm into Elijah’s mouth so he drinks your blood. Fasten your mouth on any part of him that’s bleeding. The bond will do the rest. All you need to do is go along for the ride.”
Ana’s legs started to shake as the battle raged beside them. “I can’t tighten the bond. Illusions are causing his nightmare! If he gets linked to my mind, my illusions will kill him!” And God, how Elijah would hate her when he was sane again and realized he was bonded with the woman he despised. Plus, the sheva bond ultimately caused the male to go rogue, and God knew Elijah was too fragile to handle that. Gideon and Quinn were the only two males in two thousand years who’d had the strength to defeat the call of the completed sheva bond to turn them rogue, and there was no way Elijah could survive it. “It’s too dangerous—”
“You’re his sheva. Connecting with you will trump any negative effects of the illusions, and you haven’t done enough stages to make him go rogue.” Gideon’s eyes glittered with ruthless commitment. “I’m not going to lose him. You’re his only chance.” Gideon turned her back toward the battle and her stomach retched at the sight of Elijah drenched in blood. So many wounds. How was he still standing? Why wasn’t he dead yet? Like before when he’d died while she was in his arms—
She closed her eyes, against the sudden onslaught of memories, and her body began to shake. No, she couldn’t think about that right now!
Gideon’s hand was tight on her upper arm. “We’ll try to protect you.”
Try. But he couldn’t promise to keep her safe, not with Elijah so crazed. Insane. Deadly. She opened her eyes and looked at the scene again.
But this time, she didn’t see the blood and violence. She saw a male of honor trying to kill his best friends, a broken soul raging out of control, blind to who he was and what he was facing. She knew what that would do to them, to Elijah, if they killed each other. She knew what it had done to her, causing the death of those she loved. A fierce anger rose inside her at the thought of Elijah suffering with that burden. He’d lost too much already. No more. No more.
As she watched him fighting so desperately, she saw only the male who had saved her life, a warrior of honor and integrity, a survivor who was still functioning after torture that would have broken anyone else. Inside that violent exterior was a man who had given his life for her, a warrior who was desperately fighting to survive the brutality he’d endured, the poison that had been bled into his brain.
Ana knew the real Elijah was still present in his mind. She’d seen it in the way he’d held her, the way he’d kissed her, his need to protect her. As God was her witness, she wasn’t going to let him lose himself, not this time. Not this time.
A sense of purpose swelled inside her, chasing away the fear and horror. She clenched her fists in determination, shoving aside her concerns about the bond. “It ends now,” she whispered to herself.
“Go!” Gideon thrust her at Elijah, and she lunged toward him as Gideon shouted to his team to clear a path for her.
Elijah sensed her approach and raised his forearm to block her, to shove her away from him again. Thano body-slammed him from the side, and when Elijah turned his head to look at him, Zach caught her around the waist and tossed her at Elijah. She crashed into him and flung her arms and legs around him, prepared for him to try to rip her off again.
But Elijah didn’t even notice her. His attention was focused behind her on one of his teammates. She saw death in Elijah’s eyes, and knew he had sensed an opening. One of his friends was about to die by his hand.
“Elijah! Come back to me!” She slammed her forearm against his mouth. Pain shot through her as his teeth smacked into the wound Gideon had opened in her arm, and she pressed harder. “Drink!”
Elijah grabbed her arm to yank it away, but she dropped her face to his bare chest, pressing her lips against one of the many injuries on his body. Her mouth filled with the tangy taste of his blood, and suddenly Elijah’s body went rigid.
Mine. His hand clamped around her wrist, his other arm hauled her up against him, and he pressed his mouth to her arm, accepting her offering.
He crushed her against him as she closed her eyes with relief, realizing he was so focused on her that he was completely oblivious to the males he’d been trying to kill seconds before. It was working.
Then she felt a need building inside her, a desperate yearning, and she suddenly comprehended the magnitude of what she’d done. It was as if a noose was tightening around her, d
ragging her toward him, sucking her into his spirit, binding them tighter and tighter. Panic seized her, and she fought against his grip, suddenly terrified about what would happen to him, to her, if they tightened their bond. His arm locked ruthlessly around her with a groan of male possession. Hot desire poured through her as he took control of the situation, as he took control of her.
It didn’t matter if tightening the bond had been the wrong decision. It was too late to stop.
CHAPTER SIX
Throat…on fire…good…pain meant he was alive…
Need more…don’t release yet…
Body…tingling…good…
Head…hurts…Ana…her blood…saving him…burning his throat…
Bonding.
No.
Stop.
But Elijah drank harder, drawing the hot warmth into his body, feeling it spread through him like fire, life flowing through him, bringing all parts of his being into alignment. Clearing his mind, delivering him from the fires of hell trying to consume him.
He became aware of her arm held tightly in his grip, of her body pressed up against his, of her tongue tracing circles over a wound on his chest, and his cock went hard. His body hummed with her lifeblood, his mind sang with her energy, until he could feel her intense need for him. Her arousal…
His body tightened, and he was hit with such an overwhelming emotion he couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. He was consumed by her, by the scent of flowers and sunshine, and he ripped his mouth off her arm, grabbed her hair and tugged, forcing her face to lift toward his.
He instantly took over her mouth, kissing her hard and deep. The moment their tongues met, he tasted the tangy warmth of his blood on her lips, and he felt a sense of utter completeness swell over him. Hot desire swirled into a miasma of all-consuming heat and fire and… Mine to you. Yours to me. Bonded by blood, by spirit and by soul, we are one. No distance too far, no enemy too powerful, no sacrifice too great. I will always find you. I will always protect you. No matter what the cost. I am yours as you are mine. The words burst into his mind, clear and precise, and the impact of his whispered promise made his tension ease deep inside his soul. I offer you my life, he added.
Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) Page 5
