Darkness Awakened

by Stephanie Rowe

  She wasn't giving up. Somehow there had to be a way they could team up and get away—

  The door opened, and Charles walked in. He'd changed out of his bloody clothes, and was wearing a pair of black leather pants and black silk shirt open at the neck to reveal several gold chains. There was still blood under his fingernails from the Calydons he'd murdered, and his eyes had that eerie glow they always had after he'd taken a life.

  Then another man walked in behind Charles. He was shorter than Charles. Wiry. He was wearing a gray sport coat, a gray button-down shirt, and black trousers. His shoes were polished to a shine, and his silver hair was carefully trimmed and styled. He was the epitome of professional.

  Then she looked into his eyes.

  They were the palest blue, like ice, utterly ruthless. So calculating and intelligent. The kind of eyes that belonged to a monster who would stand over her and carve the skin right off her body without flinching.

  She knew without a doubt that she was staring into the eyes of someone truly evil. The kind of creature who would get off on the pain he could cause her. Who would spend hours torturing, carefully and precisely, merely because he could.

  Two Calydons followed him inside and stood behind him. Bodyguards? Protecting him from Charles?

  The visitor's cold gaze settled on her, and she couldn't stop herself from shuddering at the speculation in his eyes. His eyes roamed over her body as if he already owned her, as if he was already making plans. This man was about domination, about hoarding power, about crushing for the sake of doing so. No remorse. No mercy.

  "She fears you," Charles observed, his voice tinged with jealousy. "She never looks at me like that. I've cut her dozens of times, and she never looks at me like she's terrified."

  The man smiled faintly. "You said she was difficult, but I don't think she'll be much of a problem." His voice was so smooth, gliding over her like the sharp edge of a knife. "Hello, Keira. My name is Reidar Lynch. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

  She stiffened. He was here for her.

  "So, she's Satinka." Reidar walked around her, his hand sliding over her lower back and dipping into the cleft of her bottom. "A rare magical dancer."

  Keira forced herself not to react, refused to give him the satisfaction of recoiling from his touch.

  "No sex with her," Charles snapped. "I'm saving her. She can't be touched."

  Reidar laughed. "She's no virgin, Charles."

  "Doesn't matter. No sex. Bezoar would be furious. The Satinka is my gift to him."

  Keira looked sharply at Charles. Bezoar? She'd read about him during her studies of Calydons, knew of his history, but Charles had never mentioned him before, probably assuming correctly that she knew enough about Calydon history to know what he was talking about. Two years of being his captive, two years of trying to figure out what he wanted her for...Bezoar? If that was it—

  Dear Jesus. Was he going to try to use her to bring down the Satinka protections keeping Bezoar locked up? She began to back up, her heart racing. Her legs hit the bookshelf and pressed herself up against it.

  "Make her dance," Reidar said.

  Adrenaline shot through her, and she focused all her energy inward to build her inner strength. Never would she dance for Charles or Reidar. Never.

  "She won't dance for me. I've tried." Charles paced the room. "I have to figure out how to force her to dance. Beating it out of her doesn't work."

  "Of course it wouldn't work," Reidar said. He came to a stop in front of her, and his gaze went to her breasts.

  Keira stiffened, unable to stop herself from doing so.

  Reidar laughed softly. Then he brushed his palm over her nipple, and she grabbed his finger and wrenched it back.

  Reidar cursed and bashed his fist into her cheek.

  She staggered backward, holding her face, trying desperately not to fall to the floor. She caught the back of the couch and dug her fingers in, screaming silently at the pain throbbing in her head.

  Charles grinned. "See? She's tough."

  "A challenge." Reidar rubbed his injured finger, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Turn on the music I brought. Her dancing will feed your power as a Calydon." He held up his hand as Charles started to protest. "I know you don't want to sully her, but Satinka magic comes from the sexual dance with a Calydon warrior. Get her turned on and dance with her. The magic will come."

  The thought of his hands on her made Keira's stomach turn, even though he wouldn't be able to call out her magic in this house. Her magic was earth magic, and she needed to have dirt beneath her feet, a secret the Satinka never shared with anyone.

  Keeping secrets was her only defense from people like Charles and Reidar who would try to steal her magic, draining her until she died.

  But if he touched her sexually... How much more could she take at Charles's hands?

  The music began to fill the room, an eerie aching sound that made her body want to respond. She knew instantly that Reidar had found a recording of Satinka music, an ancient melody that resonated with the very core of who she was, and her magic wanted to acknowledge it.

  "Touch her," Reidar said. "I need to see if she really has the magic."

  Charles strode across the room, grabbed her wrist and yanked her hard against him. The moment his Calydon skin brushed against hers, her magic awakened. It began to swirl to life inside her, trying to tap into his Calydon power, but it couldn't find release without having the power of the earth to feed on.

  Charles grabbed her butt and ground his erection into her stomach. Bile churned inside her, even as her magic tingled in response, a muddy, reluctant tingle, as if it didn't like Charles's energy any more than she did, but was unable to resist the touch of a Calydon.

  Then her mind became thick and muddy, and she found herself leaning into him. Her thoughts became confused, and she couldn't remember what she was supposed to be fighting. His hands slid down her back, and somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she knew it was wrong, but she couldn't think clearly enough to stop herself. The music seeped into her soul and her body began to move—

  A warning screamed in the recesses of her mind, and she struggled to surface, to think—

  But her body followed his lead, her hips moving against his as he gyrated against her.

  "It's working," Charles said excitedly. "She's dancing!"

  "There's no magic," Reidar said, his voice distant through the fog surrounding her brain. "Where's the magic?"

  "It'll come." Charles's hands slid over her breasts, and his erection pressed into her, sliding between her thighs, her flimsy skirt no protection against the heat of his thrust.

  Revulsion swelled, breaking through the mist holding her mind captive. "Bastard!" She jerked back and pounded her knee into his crotch. He screamed with rage and flung her to the ground. She caught flesh with her fingernails, then her head smacked into the table.

  She groaned and rolled over, trying to breathe.

  Reidar crouched in front of her, his icy eyes inches from hers. "Impressive, Keira. I thought he had you."

  Pain danced through her head and her vision blurred. "I'll never dance for you—"

  "The minute we're ready for you, I will bring you down and enjoy every minute of it." His voice was laced with venom and deadly promise. "You'll wish for death, and you won't get it until I'm through with you."

  She shuddered at the threat in his eyes, and knew that her time had run out. She had to get away from Charles before Reidar came back for her, before he used her to bring down Bezoar's prison. She'd never survive Reidar or the rite. But God, how could she get away? She'd tried so many times and—

  Ashley. Charles always took Ashley out with him when he went on a murdering spree. Ashley was a new factor. She had to find a way to talk to her. Now.

  Reidar and Charles were heading toward the door. "Break her, Charles. Make her weak so that by the time we need her, she has no defenses."

  "Yeah, I think I can do that." Charles's grin
was full of malevolence. He tossed a grin over his shoulder at her. "I'll be back, darling. Make sure you wait up for daddy."

  The door banged shut, and she heard the click of the lock.

  Keira curled into a ball on the floor, unable to stop the tears. She bit her lip, drawing blood as she fought to keep her sobs silent, knowing Charles was probably standing outside the door, hoping for an indication he'd finally broken her.

  Never.

  She forced herself to stand up, to set her hands on her hips, to think, to believe.

  She would be in her own house again someday. Eating dinner with her parents. Sleeping in her own bed, without lying awake at night, wondering if Charles was going to come for her.

  Not only would she survive, but she would triumph.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Ajax stepped in front of the truck as Madison gunned the engine.

  She met his gaze, looked into his eyes, and she knew she couldn't betray him.

  She hit the brakes, the truck screeching to a halt inches from him.

  He didn't flinch. He just stared at her through the windshield, his eyes dark, his body lined with tension.

  Her hand shaking on the gear shift, she jammed it into park and turned off the truck.

  The night felt huge and oppressive in the silence once the engine had been killed.

  They stared at each other, and she knew she'd crossed a line. It didn't matter if it was the right choice or not.

  She was going to trust him.

  Ajax thumped a fist on the hood and then stalked around the truck toward the driver's door. She opened it and stepped out before he reached her.

  Without a word, he held out his hand, and she dropped the keys into his palm. "I was going to betray you."

  "I know." He shoved the keys into his pocket, then reached past her and slammed the door shut. "I've been waiting for it since I first saw you on my porch." He moved closer, and she backed up until the cold metal was pressing against her.

  He didn't ask for an explanation. The way he was looking at her demanded it.

  Madison let her head lean back against the truck. "My job is to kill you and deliver your weapons to the man who has my sister. If I don't do it by the deadline, she dies. So, you are a target. But it's me they're expecting to take you out."

  Ajax narrowed his eyes, his face expressionless. "You were running, not killing me."

  "I was going to call your weapons and hand them over."

  Ajax blinked, looking surprised. "Shit. That would have worked." His expression became serious, studied. "What's the deadline?"

  "Soon. I have to call them—" She felt her empty pocket. "The phone must be back at the truck. Let me get it—"

  "Hell, Madison, you don't leave much time. Come on." He grasped her arm and hauled her away from the truck, into the woods, back toward the campfire. His grip was tight, his face grim, and Madison knew he was furious. He still had his sword out, and she sensed his attention to their surroundings, even though they weren't expecting the rest of the Order for a few more hours.

  But he didn't take her back to the campfire, to Xander and Luke. They were about a hundred yards from the truck when he swore under his breath, stopped, and shoved her up against a tree, his hands on either side of her head, looming over her. "Talk."

  She could feel his barely contained anger, and she knew he felt betrayed. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I would have told you, but I couldn't risk it. What if you didn't help me? What if you refused to let me go? I had to—"

  "Tell me why you stopped."

  She paused, startled by his question. "You don't care why I didn't tell you?"

  "I know why you didn't." He leaned closer, his voice bitter and furious. "I wouldn't have told you the truth either, if it endangered Viktor."

  She saw the honesty on his face, and knew he did understand. He understood what it was like to be unable to trust. "But you're still mad."

  "Of course I'm pissed." A muscle ticked in his jaw, and a piece of bark cracked off beneath his intense grip. "Holding back on that info could have been a fatal error. In battle, all information makes a difference, and you lied about something critical. But I understand it." He narrowed his eyes. "Tell me why you stopped the truck," he said again, the muscles in his arms flexing with the effort of keeping calm. "You thought I'd cut you a break if you came back on your own?"

  "No! It wasn't that—"

  "Then tell me what it was."

  She stared at him, and knew she owed him the truth. "I couldn't do that to you," she whispered.

  He frowned. "That's it?"

  At first, she didn't understand his question, and then she realized what he wanted to know, but that he would never ask, because he could never admit it would matter to him. Because to him, personal betrayal was all he knew. "It was because of you," she said. "Just you. You deserved more than that. No other reason."

  He searched her face. She let him look, let him see that she spoke the truth. His face softened and then he kissed her, a kiss of possession and domination, but beneath it, she felt his desperation and his vulnerability.

  His utter need for the answer she'd given him. His need for her to accept him and choose him, exactly as she needed his acceptance for herself.

  Her heart swelled as she reached for him and kissed him back, pouring herself into the frantic kiss.

  They were the same, the two of them. Broken and desperate and vulnerable.

  Dear God, she could love this warrior.

  Ajax almost shuddered when Madison's arms went around him, her fingers gently stroking the back of his neck. The minute she touched him, he knew she wasn't going to push him away.

  There was no healing at stake, no reason to be together, and yet they were both going to do it anyway.

  Simply because they needed each other.

  He slowed his kisses to savor the feel of her mouth under his, his hands already under her shirt, caressing her back. Wanting to memorize every inch of her body, in a slow luxury of loving that would take them hours and hours and hours. He concentrated on the silkiness of her lips, the way her tongue played with his, the unevenness of her breathing as he touched her.

  He drank in her scent, reveled in the feel of her skin under his. He ran his hands up and down her spine, tracing every last curve of her body, every bone, every muscle, everything that made her who she was, until he could stand it no longer. "I have to see you," he whispered into her mouth.

  He grabbed the hem of her shirt as he spoke, sliding it slowly up her hips, and over her ribs, a slow tease of seduction that made his cock get even harder in anticipation.

  Madison said nothing, but the look of anticipation on her face made him groan as he tore his gaze off her face and looked at her stomach, peeking out from under the hem of her shirt. "Even your damn belly button is sexy." He paused to kiss it, before lifting her shirt further, to reveal the curve of her ribs.

  He kissed his way along each rib, and her hands went to his hair, her fingers wrapping themselves in the strands, but not trying to guide him. Allowing him the slow inspection of her body, as if it was his to worship exactly as he wished.

  He raised her arms over her head, kissing her thoroughly as he lifted her shirt, slowly inching it up over her chest, and then her shoulders. He stopped kissing her long enough to slide it over her head, then caught her mouth again as he slid it over her arms and past the tips of her fingers.

  He pulled back from her, letting his gaze travel over her body. Over the elegant lines of her neck, the curve of her collarbone, down to her perfect breasts.

  "Ajax," she whispered.

  He looked at her face even as he slid his hands around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. "What?"

  "The way you look at me, makes me feel..."

  He kissed her tenderly as his hands slid up her ribs and cupped her breasts, his thumbs brushing lightly over her nipples. "Feel what?"

  "Beautiful."

  He smiled at the awe in her voice. "Yo
u are." Then he bent his head and kissed each breast, grazed his teeth over the nipple, felt her body tighten under his touch.

  Her whisper danced through his mind. More. He closed his mouth over her breast, slid his hand down her hip, kissing, biting, pulling her leg around him as he teased her, felt her start to writhe against him. Not enough.

  Need pulsed at him, and he bit her again, his teeth closing on the raised peak of her nipple. Her hands were in his hair, on his shoulders, her nails digging in as she arched under him, her body calling to him.

  The world began to swirl, and his body pulsed at him, needing more, needing her... He caught her mouth in his and crushed her with his kiss, losing himself in the taste of her, in the heat of her mouth as his hips pressed between her legs, his hardness driving against her, blocked only by their jeans.

  Unable to break the kiss, unable to tear his mouth away from hers, he backed her into a tall fir tree, and slid his hand beneath the waistband of her jeans. Raw lust hit him as he felt her readiness for him.

  "Ajax." Her voice was a moan of such hot desire that he forgot to think. Forgot to breathe. Forgot everything but the feel of her body everywhere they touched, the taste of her mouth, the delicate scent that was hers.

  He kissed her again, then ripped off her jeans and then his own. The moment her jeans were off, he cupped her butt and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he lowered her onto him. The erotic sensation of her body cradling his erection roared through him.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. His restraint snapped, and he drove into her, so hard and so fast that their bodies came together with a force that reverberated down to his soul.

  Madison moved to meet him, her hips undulating as he pulled back and drove even deeper, and again, both of them moving and meeting, faster and faster, his need for her escalating, spinning around him, twisting around every cell in his body, every corner of his spirit until he was burning with such need, such desperation for her, his body coiling tighter and tighter until he knew it could take no more. He caught her mouth in his and dropped his hand between them, finding her most sensitive core as he drove into her again, as far as he could, reaching even deeper with his spirit, and his mind, letting her feel his desire, his desperation.