Then suddenly the ferns came to life, wrapping around her ankles, trapping her. Ana went rigid, fighting the urge to claw at her ankles and free them. This is an illusion. The plants are not grabbing me. The wind began to rise and whip around her, making her hair slash against her face. This is not real. I know it’s not real!
Then there was a scream, and she jerked her eyes open in time to see Elijah on the ground beside her, covered in blood. Horror welled inside her as she stumbled back, frantically trying to see through the illusion. “No! This isn’t happening!” A tree branch flew at her face. She screamed and ducked, but it changed trajectory and slammed against her throat, wrapping itself so tightly she couldn’t breathe. She gasped for air, dropping to her knees as she clawed at the branch, trying to get it free, her screams cut off in her throat.
Elijah was beside her on the ground, writhing and screaming as wounds opened over his body, blood saturating the ground until the earth couldn’t take anymore. The blood was rising over her feet, turning her cast pink as the branch tightened even more around her throat. Couldn’t breathe… Drowning in blood… Just like before… Her fingers…wet with blood…the branch slicing through her skin…choking her…
And then everything went black.
***
Ana groaned, gradually becoming aware of a searing pain on the front of her neck. She touched her throat, and gasped at the pain from her shredded flesh. With a groan, she opened her eyes, staring up at the shadowed woods from the setting sun. The branches of the tree above her head were tinged with brown, and the air smelled musty and rotted.
Ezekiel.
She shoved herself onto her elbows and searched the woods around her, but saw nothing. Elijah wasn’t on the ground beside her bleeding out. There were no branches wrapped around her throat. Her fingers were covered in crusted blood, from trying to claw the non-existent branch off her neck. Carefully, Ana touched her throat again to test the damage, but the pain was too sharp and she gave up, rolling to her knees instead.
She’d never hurt herself in her own illusion.
They were getting worse.
A low moan drifted through the woods, and she froze, holding her breath. Elijah?
There was no answer, but she caught the faint pulse of his energy, a warm, strong frequency she was beginning to recognize. “Elijah!” He was alive! Hope leapt through her, and tears of relief filled her eyes. She grabbed a nearby tree and pulled herself to her feet, gasping with pain when her foot hit the ground.
She looked down and saw blood on her cast. She must have clawed at her ankles to get free of the vines she’d thought were binding them.
The pulse of Elijah’s energy grew stronger, and this time it was laced with panic. She realized Elijah was starting to regain consciousness, and his mind was fragmenting again. I’m coming. Hang on. Using her arms to shield her face against the branches, Ana shoved her way through the bushes, urgency galvanizing her forward.
The thorns from the blackberry bushes ripped at her skin, and she blocked her face and let them stab at her arms and legs as she pushed through them. Elijah’s energy and panic were getting stronger and stronger—
She burst through the blackberry bushes and saw him strung up between two trees, bound by thick vines around his wrists and ankles. Blood was caked on his shirt, his jeans muddy and torn, his boots drenched in muck. His muscles were twitching, and his face was torqued as if he were in pain.
“Elijah!” She limped hurriedly across the uneven ground as his body went rigid and a scream began to rip from his throat. She fell against him, thrusting her hands under his shirt and wrapping her arms around his waist just as his body began to shake from convulsions. Tears of relief burned at the feel of his hot skin under her touch, and she sagged against him, needing to press every inch of herself against him. Not just for his sake, but for hers. He was alive. He was real. She hadn’t lost him.
His body shuddered, and the convulsion ended before it began. Ana. His voice was a whisper in her mind, just like she’d heard at the pit when she’d been searching for him. So full of pain, so desperate, and yet there was stark relief in it as well.
“What happened to you? Was it Ezekiel?” She tugged at the vines, but the knot was so tight her flingers slid right off it.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. The demons came back, and I don’t remember much until just now when I woke up with you holding me and chasing them away. But I remember smelling blood, and I felt Ezekiel.” He grimaced in frustration. “We need to get to the prison to figure out if Ezekiel is still there or if he was here, toying with us.” He tugged experimentally at the vines, his body regaining strength so quickly she could practically feel it burning under his skin, revitalizing him. “Someone’s playing with me, and I don’t like it.”
She shivered at the dark woods and tugged harder on the knots, frantic to get him free before Ezekiel came back, then she realized he was watching her with a heavy gaze. “What is it?”
“Did you do another illusion? I have these memories—” He looked down at himself, and she followed his gaze. “I keep expecting to see wounds erupting over my body and me bleeding out.”
She went cold. “Oh, God, Elijah. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop my illusion.”
He swore. “It’s getting worse, if you could penetrate my mind even when I’m unconscious.”
“I’m too dangerous for you.” She ran her hands over his chest, unable to stop herself from looking for the injuries she’d seen in her illusion. But his chest was intact, not a single wound. “My illusions are extremely powerful. I’m—”
She froze when his body jerked at her touch, and he released a low groan that resonated deep in her core, and made her suddenly aware of him as a male and her as a female. She quickly pulled her hands off his chest and peeled her body off his, leaving only her hand on his waist.
Elijah’s eyes were glittering and dark. “When you touch me like that, it haunts me, but at the same time, it makes me want you so badly, I can’t think.”
Ana swallowed, suddenly glad he was still tied down, because the way her body was pulsing, she knew she wouldn’t stop him if he came after her. And that would be so, so dangerous for both of them. “That was idiotic to leave me behind when you went after Ezekiel.”
“Yeah, in hindsight, it didn’t work that well, but at the time, I was thinking about killing our stalker before he could hurt you. Not used to having to hold hands when I go into battle.” Elijah’s voice was low and cranky as his gaze swept across her body. “Are you okay? When the demons rose and I realized I was going down, all I could think about was the fact I was leaving you unprotected—” His gaze went to her throat, and he swore suddenly. “You’re hurt.”
There was such fury in Elijah’s voice that Ana’s heart tightened. No one had ever been enraged on her behalf like that before. Ever. “I’m okay—”
Elijah let out a roar of fury, his body went rigid, and he snapped all the vines binding him as if they were made of paper. The instant his hands were free, he tackled Ana, knocking her to the ground.
She yelped as he landed on top of her, shifting his weight to protect her from the impact, and then his hands were flying over her, searching every inch of her. “Where are you hurt? I knew it was a bad idea to leave you.” He yanked up her shirt, swearing when he saw the marks on her stomach. “What the hell happened? You’re covered in gouges.”
She could only stare at him, in awe of the fury vibrating off his shoulders as he slid his hand down her legs, checking for broken bones. His hand got to her ankle and she couldn’t help but gasp. He jerked up her jeans and wrapped his hand around the arch of her foot as he gently lifted it and inspected. He swore again, then inspected her other leg, with the cast.
It was incredible to have him so concerned about her welfare, to be so protective of her. “Elijah, really, I’m okay—”
“You’re bleeding.” His body was vibrating with barely contained fury as he palmed his way back up her o
ther leg and then grabbed her arm. He shoved her sleeve up, his fingers probing her wrist where she’d fallen, his gaze intent on her while he tested. “Hurts?”
She nodded, biting her lip to keep from crying out in pain. “I fell on it.”
“Fell?” he echoed. “Fell. She says she fell.” He tugged down the collar of her shirt, as she tried to cover her throat.
“Don’t—”
He peeled her fingers off her neck, his grip unyielding as his gaze probed her injuries.
His eyes narrowed as he studied the raw wounds. “You did this to yourself.” He sounded shocked.
She nodded as he touched his eyes, where the claws marks from where he’d tried to dig out his own eyes were fading, and she saw the moment he figured it out, that they were the same, hurting themselves because of illusions they couldn’t defend against.
He covered her neck with his palm, as if he could heal her with his touch. “This is what happens when you do an illusion? You turn it on yourself?”
“Not on purpose.” She felt her cheeks flare with embarrassment. “I can’t control them anymore, but this is the first time I’ve really hurt myself.”
He met her gaze, his eyes shuttered. “They’re getting worse for you, too.”
She nodded. “I was so freaked out I couldn’t suppress them. I thought Ezekiel had killed you—” She tensed suddenly. “Is he still here? We can’t stay.”
She tried to scramble to her feet, but Elijah kept her pinned to the ground, his body heavy and reassuring. “He’s gone.”
She stared at him, her chest heaving. “You’re sure?”
“Dead certain.” Elijah rubbed his thumbs over her forearms in a gentle caress, as if trying to soothe both of them with his touch. “No one’s here but us.”
Ana couldn’t quite join him in his relaxation. “How do you know? How can you be so sure?”
His eyes glittered. “As I said before, I can sense him. His presence is gone.” Empathy glowed in his green eyes. “He’s gone, Ana. Gone. You’re safe for the moment.”
She nodded, and suddenly her body started to shake and tears filled her eyes. “Okay. That’s good, then.”
Elijah swore softly. “I’m sorry I left you. I should never have done that.”
“You were going after the enemy. What else would you have done?” Ana pressed her hands to her eyes and tried to will away the tears. “Elijah, I thought you were dead. I thought Ezekiel had killed you and I was next. I really thought you were dead.”
Elijah groaned and rolled off her, collapsing to the forest floor as if he were too exhausted to hold himself up anymore. He snugged himself up to her side, tossing one heavy leg over hers, and rested his hand on her belly. “It’s the bond making you need me. My fault for putting you through that.” He slid his hand under her shirt and lightly caressed the injuries on her belly. “I take responsibility for putting you in a position where you had to use your illusions to defend yourself.” He shook his head in disgust, and traced the lines on her stomach. “Every mark on your body will haunt me until the day I die.” His voice was so grim, so anguished, so furious that she had no doubt he meant every word of it, and her throat tightened.
“Thank you for saying that,” she whispered.
His green gaze studied hers. “You’re thanking me? Why?”
“Because you make me feel safe when you say that.”
“Safe?” He laughed softly. “I endanger you.”
She sighed and closed her eyes, listening to the rise and fall of his breathing. “I know that we have no future, and I know that you have some awful thing going on with Ezekiel that’s going to destroy both of us, and I’d never ask you to be my savior and rescue me from everything.” She rested her hand on his forearm, where it was still draped across her waist. “And quite honestly, I’m not capable of trusting anyone to stand by me or handing my welfare over to someone, but sometimes it just feels good to stop fighting for one minute. Like when you said that just now…you have no idea what that kind of statement does to me. So, thank you.”
He continued to play with her hair. “You deserve a mate you can count on.”
She laughed softly, relishing the feel of his caress. “I wouldn’t let myself count on anyone.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Because when I do, they die.”
Elijah frowned, tracing circles on her belly. “Like your parents?”
She nodded. “After Grace and I ran away from our foster home, I was so sad. I missed having a family and a home. I wasn’t hardwired for a life on the run, you know?” She trailed her fingers over the brand on Elijah’s arm as he rested it across her hips, needing the comfort of touching him. “I just wanted the fairytale, the happy little home and life.”
Elijah brushed his lips over her hair. “I can see that about you.”
“I met a guy when I was twenty-two. His name was Michael O’Leary. A good Irish werewolf with a huge family. I thought I could have everything I wanted. I fell madly in love with him, and what he represented.”
Elijah stiffened beside her, and his breathing became measured. “What happened?”
“I told him I was an Illusionist. I knew it was dangerous because people like to hunt us, but he was a werewolf, and I knew he could protect me. He didn’t care, and he loved me anyway. I was so happy.” She still remembered that time of her life, when she thought that she’d been given a chance to have her dreams come true. “He told his best friend, who decided I would be a very marketable commodity.”
“Shit, Ana—”
“His friend came after me one night.” She managed a small smile as she played with the hairs on Elijah’s arm. “Turns out, his friend was one of hell’s angels, literally. Michael fought him to try to keep me safe. His friend killed Michael and his parents. Three lovely innocent people died because of me. If Grace hadn’t intervened with an illusion, I never would have escaped.” She looked at him, fighting against the age-old grief and guilt that always haunted her, the memories of her parents’ bodies, of the bloodied bodies of Michael and his parents, all because of her. “Don’t you understand? People die trying to keep me safe. It’s not okay. I can’t ask that of anyone else, ever. I have to stand on my own.”
Elijah swore. “Ana, you can’t blame yourself. People who loved you made those choices to protect you. It was their gift to you.”
“It’s not right.” She gripped his arm. “When Nate killed you at the Gun Rack when you tried to save me, it broke me, Elijah. Of anyone’s death, yours was the worst. How can I ask that again? How can I let you give your life for me?”
He swore under his breath, laughing with a bitter irony that chilled her blood. “Well, sweetheart, I don’t think you need to worry about me saving your life.”
Isolation rippled through her at his words, even though they were exactly what she’d said she’d wanted. “Why not?” God, she was so pathetic. Despite all her words of bravado, the mere thought of Elijah not being there for her filled her soul with the most devastating emptiness. How could she ask that of him? How could she be so selfish as to want him so much?
Elijah laughed softly and kissed her lightly. “No, it’s not because I hate you. You need to stop thinking like that. I was talking about the fact that the sheva bond makes it impossible for a male to do anything to endanger his mate. And yet I walked away from you when danger lurked. I shouldn’t have been able to do it. Literally.”
The implications of Elijah’s statement were devastating. Despite the fact that every fiber of her being longed for him, his antipathy for her was so strong it trumped the sheva bond? Ana suddenly felt dirty, like all the filth she’d tried to ignore for so long was firmly caked on her, repelling the one man alive who should be drawn to her unconditionally. “Maybe it’s because we’ve only done two stages—”
“It doesn’t take any stages to create that protective instinct. It’s automatic.”
“So, why doesn’t it bind you? Because you hate me that much?” A
na couldn’t keep from pulling back from him, and he caught her wrist.
“No.” Elijah rolled on top of her again, his voice low and fierce. Fire was burning in his green eyes, heat brimming with intensity. “Stop saying that. I don’t hate you.”
“Yes, you do! If you didn’t, that couldn’t have happened, right?”
His face darkened, his hand closed around the back of her head, and then he yanked her to him and kissed her hard, his mouth demanding and hot, his tongue possessive and unyielding. It wasn’t a kiss, it was a stripping of all her defenses, an invasion of her soul, a statement of ownership and control and dark, hot lust.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ana felt her insides crumble the moment Elijah’s mouth closed on hers. The kiss wasn’t gentle. It was demanding and hot, like everything about him, and his strength instantly quieted the panic racing through her.
He framed her face with his hands, holding her where he wanted her, as he kissed her hard, the heat of his body sinking between her legs. His body was searing hers even through their jeans, the muscles of his thighs pressing her legs apart as his pelvis pressed into her.
His kiss was so demanding, his tongue insistent and commanding, as if he wanted to penetrate her at all levels, with no restraints, no holds, nothing. It was the kiss of a male who wanted her without reservation, in total disregard of everything between them that should make him run screaming from her.
Ana. He whispered her name through her mind, and her body clenched at the deep passion in his voice, at the possessiveness in his tone. He wanted her the way she’d dreamed of since he’d first held her in his arms, and it felt amazing.
She threaded her arms behind his neck, holding him close as she kissed him back, embracing the need and passion racing through her. For him, for his touch, for his strength, for his honor, for all that he’d suffered and would still suffer.
Elijah shifted slightly, and then his hand was on her belly, caressing her skin…sliding upwards… Oh, God. Her body tightened in anticipation as his callused hand closed around her breast, as his palm skimmed her nipple, his mouth still an assault on hers, kissing her so hard and so fiercely she felt like he’d suck her soul right out of her, and she’d give it gladly.
Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) Page 15
