Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (27 page)

Lily pulled herself more upright. “From what I can gather so far, the walls of Ezekiel’s prison were originally created using Satinka magic, paired with a great Calydon warrior. The only way to bring them down is the same way: Satinka magic paired with a great Calydon warrior.”

There was silence while the men absorbed that information and Gideon shifted so his upper body was in front of her. He reached out to Kane, who was leaning against the wall on the far side of the living room, his arms folded across his chest. They didn’t have a blood connection, but they could still talk across short distances.
Kane? You feeling this?

Kane looked at him.
I can sense it. I know. They’re figuring that killing Lily will end the threat of Ezekiel getting out. A clean, easy, solution to protect thousands of innocents.

What side are you on?

Dante’s.

Dante had rescued Kane from a sewage-filled back alley three hundred years ago. Kane had been covered in scars, with no memory of his life before that moment. He’d been strung out and violent, and only Dante’s counsel had helped Kane manage his anger and his sense of loss at not knowing who he was or why he was scarred.

Like Ryland, Kane had been heavily dependent on Dante and he was struggling with his mentor’s death even more than the rest of the Order was. So, it was no surprise that Kane’s only focus would be on revenge for Dante’s death. But how did that translate into their Order’s plans to kill Lily?
Which means what?

Still deciding.

“So, Frank needs your magic to free Ezekiel?” Quinn asked, his voice deceptively casual.

Gideon tightened his grip on Lily’s leg, watching Kane carefully. If Kane decided he was on Lily’s side, he could teleport them out of there instantly to a safe zone. If he didn’t decide to help them, there was going to be blood drawn, and Gideon did not want to go against his Order.

He really didn’t.

But he would.

Kane’s eyes were at half-mast and he looked bored, but his body was coiled. If all hell broke loose, Kane was their only chance to get out alive, because Gideon couldn’t take down the whole Order at once and still protect Lily.

“It means that any Satinka could bring them down,” Lily said, sliding ever so slightly toward Gideon, as if she could sense the rising threat in the air. “Not me specifically. Any of my kind.”

Ryland had stopped pacing and was looking at her. “A Satinka hasn’t been spotted for hundreds of years. You’re the reason Frank and Nate started the process. Because they finally found you. Without you, he has no power.”

“Without me, he will simply find another.” Lily’s voice was hard. Without fear, though Gideon could feel her pulse racing where he held her wrist. “You don’t know of any Satinkas, but had Ana not sent Gideon for me, you still wouldn’t know about me, either. We’re out there. Plenty of us, and Frank knows how to find us.”

“How do we find you?” Ryland leaned forward. “Tell us how.”

“You want me to tell you so you can wipe out the last members of my race? I wouldn’t do that to them.” She lifted her chin, anger flashing in her eyes. “If you kill me, it will just be a race between you and him with you trying to kill off every Satinka before he can kidnap one for the rite. It’s a race you’ll lose eventually. There are too many of us.”

“She lies.” Ryland sat back. “I can smell it. She doesn’t know of any others. We kill her, and it’s over.”

“No, it’s not.” Gideon stood up, pulling Lily to her feet and shoving her behind him. “As long as Frank’s still alive, it’s not over. Killing Lily may not even slow him down. We have no idea if he has other Satinka on tap. He doesn’t have to have Lily specifically, but we do. She can help us find the site of the rite, and she can draw Frank to us. She’s our weapon, not a liability.”

Ryland eyed her. “It would slow him down. He’d have to find another.”

“It would slow us down as well. Drew could be dying right now. Ezekiel’s walls could fall at any minute. Surely we’re strong enough to keep one woman alive, aren’t we?” Gideon threw out the challenge. “Since when do we fear one man so much that we slaughter an innocent rather than face him? Is this what the Order has become without Dante?”

“Dante held us together,” Ryland snapped. “We aren’t as strong without him. We all realize that, and we know that we’re fucked if Ezekiel gets out. It’s our job to kill one innocent if that will keep Ezekiel locked up! For hell’s sake, if Grace hadn’t been there to rescue us, we would have all been slaughtered a week ago by Frank’s army of Calydons. We’re alive because a woman saved us from a few Calydons, and you think we can protect Lily against more of Frank’s army? Fuck that. There was a day when we could, but not now. Not without Dante.”

“Grace is not just an ordinary woman—” Thano started.

“No. She’s not. Which is why we’re alive,” Ryland snapped. “But when has the Order ever needed anyone to save them? Ever? It’s never happened before, has it?”

He looked around the room, but no one had a rebuttal.

“What if Frank sends thousands of Calydons down on this house like Ezekiel did two thousand years ago before he was locked up? What then? We’re
fucked!”
Ryland called out both machetes, and instantly every other warrior in the room had his weapons out, the cracks booming through the air. The room hummed with tension and violence. “And yeah, we wouldn’t be able to protect a single woman in that situation. If you weren’t so fucked up by her, Gideon, you’d realize it too. Just the fact you’re standing there, telling us not to kill an innocent to save the world from the worst evil it has ever known, should tell us all exactly how screwed we all are. You’re our true leader, Gideon, not Quinn, and when you fall, you take us all with you. Do you understand? We don’t have shit anymore, and if that means that we’re reduced to killing one innocent because we can’t protect her, then it’s better to realize that now and do it before Ezekiel ends up free because we were too deluded to realize we’re
nothing
compared to what we used to be!”

His voice faded, and no one moved. No one even breathed.

Gideon finally spoke. “I don’t believe we’re weak. Dante still believes in us. He came back from the Afterlife to tell us that the future was up to us. He wouldn’t have done that if we’d already lost.”

“He also said it was time to create a new destiny, and maybe he meant we had to change our ways or die.” Ryland body was vibrating with rage now. “I will not let his death be for nothing. Ezekiel can’t be allowed out. Lily is Ezekiel’s ticket. That’s all we need to know. We strike, then we find Frank while he’s trying to regroup. If we let Lily live, we risk failing Dante.”

“Killing Lily doesn’t end it,” Gideon said. “Lily is our weapon to stop Frank forever. She needs to live.”

The room was silent, and he felt everyone’s attention on Quinn, who had been chosen by the weapons to be the leader for this mission. Until Ezekiel was stopped, or another leader chosen, it was Quinn who had the final word. He looked at Gideon with true regret in his eyes.
I’m sorry. I have to think about the greater good.

Gideon felt his heart freeze.
Don’t do this. It’s the wrong decision.

It’s the only one I can make. Step aside, Gideon. Don’t die for her.

Gideon felt Lily’s hand on his back, and he looked across the room to Kane.
Decision time.

Quinn held up his sword. “We will honor Lily Davenport in death, as a sacrifice to the greater goo—”

“Quinn!” Grace leapt in front of her mate and grabbed his raised arm. “Don’t kill her! Are you insane?”

Ryland let out scream of death and hurled his machete at Lily.

“No!” Gideon threw up his axe to block the blow. “Ezekiel’s winning if he breaks us up like this! We have to stand together!” He knocked aside Ryland’s machete, then jumped in front of Lily as Quinn charged her.
Don’t do it, Quinn. God help us both if you do
.

True pain flickered in Quinn’s eyes, and Gideon realized Quinn was going to kill him to get to Lily. One of them was going to die.

Then there was a flash and Kane appeared in front of him. His arms went around both Gideon and Lily, and then the world fell away.

* * *

Ana stumbled as she raced from the house, Nate’s knife clenched in her fist. In the battle, no one had noticed her grab it when it had fallen to the carpet. She could still hear the shouts and the crashes as Ryland destroyed the house in his rage at losing the chance to kill Lily. Grace was shouting at Quinn for the choice he’d made. The men were arguing about what they should have done, what they were going to do. The Order was crumbling, and she knew it was because of the man she was going to meet.

Her cast caught on a root and she fell, wincing as the knife cut her hand. Tears filled her eyes as she pulled the blade away from her skin and saw the blood well up, so many times that knife had cut her when she’d been kidnapped by Nate. So many...

“You came.” Frank kneeled beside her. “Are you crying because of Nate?”

She pulled back the tears. “I’m fine.”

“You aren’t fine.” Frank helped her to her feet, his grip supportive, but not restraining, his voice kind. “But you will be. I’ll help you heal.”

She shrugged out of his grip. “Why? Why are you interested in me?”

He smiled, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. “You aren’t ready to know yet, my dear.” He held out his hand. “Come, it is time to go. Shall I carry the knife?”

Ana hesitated, her fist closing around the handle. Was she making a mistake? She knew Ezekiel couldn’t be allowed to be freed. She understood that. She saw how evil Frank was. She knew he had to be stopped. If she gave Frank the knife, would the Order be able to stop him, or was she damning them all to a future worse than hell?

Frank waited.

Ana.

Elijah’s voice whispered through her mind, and the marks on her arms pulsed. Certainty reverberated through her, and she knew she had to go with Frank. She didn’t know why, not yet, but she had to trust her instincts and believe the answers would become clear. She set the knife in Frank’s waiting hand. “It’s yours.”

He smiled and closed his hand around the knife. “Excellent. Let us go.” He set his hand on her back and began to guide her through the woods.

She took a last glance back at the mansion, her heart tightening with fear as she left it behind.
God help them all if she was making a mistake.

* * *

“I need paper!” The moment Kane delivered them to their new location, Lily whirled around. “I need to write down what I remember about the knife before I lose it.” They were in a huge studio apartment, furnished with only a mattress on the floor of the living room. Some clothes were piled in the corner.

The only other sign of its being inhabited was the card table in the corner that had a laptop and dozens of files piled all over the floor. So much paper. Notes.

Kane strode across the smoothly polished wood floor to the desk, rifled through the piles, grabbed a pen and a notebook and shoved it at her.

Lily sat on the floor and started to write, frantically scrawling words and notations, drawing pictures of the symbols. Her lower lip was clenched in her teeth as her hand flew across the page.

Gideon glanced around, moving closer to Lily. His brands were burning as he took inventory of their surroundings. “This your place?”

Kane shrugged. “Yeah.”

“And I thought my place was barren.”

“Fuck off.” Kane stalked over to an efficient fridge humming in the corner. “Got water. That’s it.”

“Works.”

Kane tossed him a couple bottles and then propped his shoulder against the wall, watching Lily scribble. “You guys can’t stay. Dante knew where I live. I’m sure Quinn will be able to find this place.”

Gideon nodded. “Thanks for getting us out of there.”

Kane’s black eyes glittered. “I did it because I think we need Lily to find Frank and stop Ezekiel from being released. It wasn’t an altruistic concession to the fact she gives you a hard-on.”

Gideon tensed. “It isn’t like that.”

“I don’t care what it’s like. I just want answers.” Kane’s eyes went back to Lily, who seemed oblivious to the conversation. “Frank is targeting the Order. He’s trying to fragment us, and it’s working.”

“I know.” Gideon set his hand on Lily’s head while she wrote, needing to touch her. “If he splits the Order up, we’re history. Ryland was right about that.”

“You’re the leader. You need to pull everyone together.”

Gideon shook his head. “The weapons chose Quinn. I won’t interfere.”

“You already interfered when you refused to let him kill Lily.”

Gideon ground his teeth. “I wasn’t—”

“The weapons chose him when we were pursuing Ana and trying to avenge Elijah’s death. That mission is over. Even Dante said you’re up next.” Kane fastened his eyes on him. “You’re the one the men most respect, and now you’re breaking your oath and refusing to listen to Quinn. It’s going to make everyone wonder who they should be listening to, or, like Ryland, thinking they can do whatever the hell they want. It’s up to you to pull this shit together.”

“I’m not a leader. I do my job, and that’s it.”

“Fuck the humility crap, Gideon. You step up, or we all go down. You’re the one everyone’s waiting for.” His gaze flicked to Lily. “Either she comes through and proves you were right to keep her alive, or...” He looked at Gideon. “Or I fear Ryland’s explosion is just the start of the crumbling of the Order. We’ll be no match for Ezekiel, or even Frank.” He downed the rest of the water. “I’m going back. I have to see what’s going on. You got a phone on you?”

Gideon nodded.

“Keep in touch.” Kane’s gaze went to Lily again, and Gideon saw a burning question in there, one that had nothing to do with the Order. Gideon realized that there was another reason Kane had stepped up for her, even if it was one he wouldn’t acknowledge to himself. Lily was a researcher, and she might have answers about Kane’s past that he’d been searching for. Or she might at least know where to go to look for them. She might be able to find out what the scars on his body meant.

“I’ll ask her later,” Gideon said quietly. “When this is over.”

Kane gave him a sharp look. “Just help me avenge Dante. That’s all I want.”