“You’ll never defeat them.” Lily immediately reached for Gideon over their bond. Gideon? Can you hear me?
Silence. Nothing but an empty void where Gideon’s presence should be. Bitter loss, overwhelming loneliness, and utter desolation assaulted her. Please, Gideon, don’t be dead.
“How many of you are in the car?” Frank asked.
“Three of us,” the driver said.
“One to drive, two to rape her. It’s the ultimate psychological torture. Should work well on her.”
Lily sucked in her breath, and her body went rigid. The Calydon in the front passenger seat jerked his head back to look at her. There was something in his eyes…regret? Reluctance? Anticipation? Cold fingers of fear beat at her, and panic fought to take over her mind.
“I expect Lily to be thoroughly beaten down by the time she arrives here,” Frank said. “Do whatever you want to her. My only stipulation is that her mind is working fine because I will need her to translate the stone when she gets here and I need her to be able to do the rite. Other than that, break her will.”
The Calydon in the passenger seat ground his jaw. “What if she agrees to help?” he asked. “Then we can leave her alone?”
There was a pause. “Lily? Do you agree to help me?”
The Calydon in the front seat gave her a hard look, and she could feel him willing for her to agree. She looked at the one sitting next to her, and she tensed at the sight of his dark eyes fastened on her. They were brimming with lust, violence and anger. Not rogue. Perfectly sane, yet brutal.
The Calydon in the front passenger seat reached back and touched her shoulder. He gave her an emphatic nod.
Lily swallowed hard and knew she has no choice. Keeping her eyes fastened on his face, she nodded, knowing she was lying. Anything to buy her time. “I agree. I’ll help.”
Some of the tension left his shoulders.
“You lie,” Frank said, sounding disgusted. “Do you really think I’m that naïve? I know you, Lily, and I know you don’t give in. Ever.”
“No, I survive,” she retorted, furious that this psychopath thought he knew her so well. “I know when to fight and when to give in. I’m giving in. You win, you bastard.”
“She lies,” Frank said to her captors. “I need her so beaten down that she can’t resist me by the time she gets here. You three have approximately eight hours until you arrive. Get on it.”
Then there was a click, and he was gone.
The Calydon in the front dropped his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. She saw his hand flex, and she prayed he was about to call out his weapon to protect her and not slay her. She hoped that his Calydon instincts to protect an innocent were overriding whatever hold Frank had over him.
Lily shifted, testing the bonds that held her wrists, her heart thudding. If he moved in defense of her, she had to be ready. He looked over at her, then inclined his head slightly.
She tensed, ready to move.
There was a loud crack, black light flashed above his arm, and a dagger appeared in his hand. She lunged for the door—
The Calydon in the back seat grabbed her and hauled her into his lap as the driver slammed a mace into the chest of the Calydon in the passenger seat. Lily screamed as his body convulsed. Blood splattered over the windshield and the dash, then he slumped back against the seat.
She covered her mouth as the driver yanked his mace out of the Calydon’s chest, and then the dead Calydon shimmered and disappeared, his splattered blood vanishing with him, leaving no trace behind. Dead. A very old Calydon, for him to have vanished so quickly after death. Was that why he’d been able to fight off Frank’s influence?
The driver glanced in his rearview mirror at Lily. “And then there were two.”
There was no reluctance in his eyes. He wasn’t rogue, but his instinct to protect innocents was gone. Frank had done something to them. Somehow, he’d completely overridden the most basic tenet of what defined a Calydon: to protect innocents.
The warrior in the back with her grabbed her ankles and ripped the binding holding her feet together. His eyes were dark, and she saw the commitment on his face. The commitment to destroy her.
She knew in that instant that she’d never survive the next eight hours with them. Even if she lived, she would be dead. Forever. She didn’t have enough left to survive it again.
He yanked at her jeans and they came easily over her hips as he jerked them down to her ankles. Panic screamed through her mind, but she forced herself not to move, to wait. Like she’d done in the basement. One chance, Lily. You’ll have one chance. She clenched her fists, willing her trembling body not to move. Not yet.
“What are you waiting for? Start already,” the driver ordered.
“She’s not struggling. I can’t hit her if she doesn’t fight.”
She jerked her gaze to his face at the revealing comment. He wasn’t totally lost to Frank’s influence. Not totally. Something inside was resisting what he had to do, even as his conscious mind was telling him to rape her.
“Oh, she’ll struggle. They always do. Free her. Make her feel like she has a chance.”
The Calydon in back grabbed the cords binding her wrist and ripped them, freeing her arms. “Fight me.”
Lily stopped resisting the tears and let them fall, forcing him to see her as the innocent he was born to protect.
He glanced at her face and his eyes darkened. “Hell. She’s crying.”
“For hell’s sake. I’ll do it.” The driver slammed on the brakes, and Lily rolled off the seat onto the floor.
She scrambled back up as the predatory instincts of the male in back with her rose to the surface. “Fuck that. I get her first.”
Lily saw the moment his natural need to protect lost the battle. His shoulders flexed and his jaw hardened as he committed to what Frank wanted him to do. Lust rose in his eyes, and the front of his jeans swelled in anticipation. She fought back nausea, her body shaking as he released her to free himself from his pants.
The Calydon in the front seat gave a grunt of satisfaction as he kicked the truck into drive again. The instant her assailant’s hand went to his zipper, Lily slammed her feet into his crotch and shoved off him, grabbing for the door handle. She got it open, then he grabbed her feet and hauled her back across the seat.
“No!” She threw up her hand, and suddenly there was a loud crack and Gideon’s axe appeared in her hand.
For a split second, they both stared at the axe in shock, then she tightened her grip around it and swung as hard as she could. The blade slammed into the side of his neck with a sickening thud, disappearing several inches into his flesh. He screamed and yanked the axe out of his neck, and slammed it at her chest as blood poured down his shoulder.
But the axe diverted itself and harmlessly hit the seat next to her shoulder. She held up her hand and the axe flew out of his hand and slammed into hers. “Calydon weapons don’t work for other Calydons,” she snapped as she drove the spiked handle straight into his heart.
He screamed and his hands went to his chest, trying to pull the axe out. The driver was shouting, and Lily planted a foot on the end of the axe and shoved as hard as she could, pushing the axe deeper and thrusting herself out the open door in the same movement.
She tumbled out of the moving vehicle, hitting her head on the pavement so hard her teeth shook and she felt like her skull had split open. She skidded across the pavement, the abrasive ground shredding her skin like sandpaper. The tires screeched as the truck careened to a stop, then the driver jumped out of the car and raced toward her.
Lily pulled herself up on her knees, her feet slipping on the asphalt as she tried to scramble to her feet. The ground dipped and wove, and she stumbled, trying to fight the dizziness.
Then there was an outraged roar and a loud crack that shuddered through her body. Metal flashed by her head and then an axe slammed into the approaching Calydon. His death screams rattled through her, and she covered her h
ead as blood spewed from his chest and his body crashed to the ground. The axe ripped from his flesh and whizzed past her again, and everything blurred again and darkness fluttered at the edges of her vision.
“Lily!”
The sound of Gideon’s shout brought her head up. “Gideon?” She turned, her mind numb with disbelief as he ran toward her, confusion swimming through her pounding head. “You’re alive?” She blinked, trying to clear the black spots out of her vision. “I thought—”
Gideon fell to his knees beside her and hauled her against him, holding her so tight she couldn’t breathe. “Jesus, Lily. I’m so fucking sorry.”
His muscles were hard, the heat from his body wrapping around her, his scent so familiar…safe. She was safe. She stopped fighting the dizziness and slumped against him, letting the darkness take over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Gideon caught Lily as she passed out, her body so small and fragile as she tumbled trustingly in his arms. He scooped her up, breathing in the feel of her body against him. She was alive. He’d made it in time. He’d found her—
He suddenly noticed her jeans around her ankles. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered as raw horror raced through him. He’d been too late. His hands shaking, he shifted her position and pulled her jeans back over her hips. There was a fresh bruise on her inner thigh. “Jesus.” Self-loathing iced through him, like the blackest poison.
Agony ripped through his chest, and he laid his palm over the bruise, as if he could erase it, and make everything go away. As if a desperate prayer could change what had happened. He was her protector. He’d sworn to keep her safe. His duty was to be that buffer against anything that could cause her harm, and instead, her worst nightmare had come to life and claimed her. God! He was a bastard! How could he have let this happen to her? He’d made her a promise and he’d broken it.
He’d betrayed her on levels beyond comprehension.
Gideon’s jaw tightened as he fastened her jeans, his hands trembling violently as he tugged the zipper closed, images whirling through his mind about what had happened in that truck. He stood up, cradling Lily to his chest, then threw back his head and released a cry of such anguish, such loss, such self-hatred. Five hundred years of suppression and guilt burst out of him, a twisted evil that he’d been holding inside for so long. His torment shook the trees around them, shriveled the leaves, and wrapped around his heart like a black vice of hate. He screamed again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Clutching Lily against him, Gideon stood on that abandoned road, tears streaming down his face for the women who had suffered at his hand.
He was a failure in everything he stood for as a man, as a Calydon, as an Order member, and as a mate. Honor was an illusion. It was the lie he’d used for the last five hundred years to justify the way he’d failed Juliette, to give meaning to his brutality, and his need to kill and slaughter.
There was no way to make it up to Lily. To Juliette. To Lily’s mom. The past couldn’t be changed. There was no way to make it all right. God, Gideon could still see the visceral hatred in Lily’s mom’s eyes as she pounded on him, the unbearable agony and loss…
He screamed again and despised even the sound of his own voice as it bounced off the trees.
His entire existence was a lie.
*
Lily awoke to the scent of mothballs, musty air, damp earth and Gideon. Gideon! She sat up quickly and looked around. She was in a small cabin…no, more like a shed. There was a dirt floor, and she was on a portable cot in the corner. There was a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, a small fridge humming, and a few shelves with some non-perishable foods.
Gideon was standing at a small window, his shoulder propped against the wall. His arms were folded across his chest, his muscles bunched, and his forehead furrowed. His body was tense, and his leather jacket was tossed on the floor in the corner. Lily’s heart swelled with warmth as she saw him, and she remembered that moment when she’d seen him standing there on that desolate highway, with his broad shoulders, his gleaming axe, and that fire raging in his eyes.
He’d found her just like he’d promised. Lily knew in that moment, she would never be alone again. Gideon would always be there for her. Always. Her strong, powerful mate. He wasn’t intimidated by who she was, and he was strong enough to cope with her and the enemies she brought with her. He empowered her, but he also treasured her and made her feel like the sensual woman she’d fought so hard not to acknowledge her entire life. No wonder her magic had chosen him. Of course, he was the one. There was no one else. There never would be. “Gideon,” she said, unable to keep the smile out of her voice. “You found me.”
“How do you feel?” He didn’t even look at her when he asked the question, and he didn’t move a muscle.
Frowning at his lack of warmth, Lily touched her head where she’d banged it on the asphalt, but there was no soreness. No cut. She pulled her arms out from under the old faded quilt, and there were no scrapes from the pavement. She frowned, confused. “What happened?”
“I healed you while you slept.” Gideon still didn’t look at her, and his voice sounded odd. Distanced. Estranged. “Now that we’re blood bonded, I can take you into my healing sleep and clear up all your problems.” Yes, there was definite bitterness in his voice. “Hope you don’t mind I did it without asking. It pissed me off to leave that bruise on your leg.”
“It’s fine. I appreciate you healing me.” Lily tried not to think about how intimate it must have been for him to bring her into his mind and his spirit during the healing sleep of the Calydon. She found herself wishing she’d been conscious for it, able to share in the connection of such a special moment. She sighed. All she wanted to do was hold up her arms and beg him to come over to the cot, but of course, they couldn’t afford to tighten the bond anymore. They were so dangerously close already. Frank was out there, and he had to be stopped. Now was not the time.
So, instead of succumbing to her desire, Lily threw off the blanket and kicked her feet over the edge of the bed, her bare feet sinking into the earth. She sighed and wiggled her toes in the dirt, feeling peace steal over her body. “Where are we?”
“My place. It’s safe. No one knows I have it.” Gideon turned to face her finally, and she was shocked by how drawn his face was. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes sunken, and there was no fire in his gaze at all. Just emptiness. He simply looked like a man who had no more strength left in him.
“Gideon! What’s wrong?” She started to hurry over to him, but he held up his hand to stay her.
“You’ll be safe in my cabin,” he said. “I’m heading out to deal with Frank, and you’re staying here. When it’s over, one of the Order will come back to get you and you can go home. I called your parents, and told them you’re fine.” His voice tightened, and she could only imagine what her parents had said to him.
She frowned, confused by the distance he’d erected between them. “Gideon—”
“Bathroom’s in there. It’s not much, but it works.” He jerked his head toward the wall, and she noticed a door she hadn’t seen. “There’s some food in the fridge and on the shelves. It’s all you need for now. I just wanted to stay long enough to make sure you were okay.” He levered himself off the wall and headed toward the door. “Someone will be back for you when it’s over.”
Lily stared after him. “Are you kidding? You’re leaving?”
Gideon didn’t even turn around as he yanked open the door and stepped outside, slamming it behind him.
*
Gideon hadn’t even made it halfway across the forest floor before he heard the door behind him open. He tensed as Lily’s earthy scent drifted to him but he didn’t stop walking. If he didn’t leave now, he knew he’d never tear himself away from her. It had been all he could do to stop himself from opening his arms to her when she’d come running toward him, worried about him.
He had to honor her by l
etting her go. He had to give her that much. He had to keep walking. He hadn’t walked away from Juliette because he’d wanted to feel what it was like to have a sheva adore him. All he’d had to do was walk away from her, and he hadn’t.
He was doing it this time. This time, he was going to be strong enough to give Lily her freedom.
“Hey!” she shouted.
“Go back inside, Lily. You’re—” He stumbled as she tackled him from behind.
“Don’t you dare dismiss me!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs encircled his waist.
His body hardened instantly at the feel of her pressed against him, and he fisted his hands against the need to grasp her thighs and lose himself in the gift of beauty, peace and sanity she gave him. “Get. Off.”
“How can you leave me?” She punched him lightly on the shoulder. “You swore you’d be my guardian. You can’t just abandon me in the middle of the woods.”
Fury roared through Gideon. He tugged her legs off his waist and set her on the ground, his body vibrating with the effort of keeping control. How dare he even acknowledge how badly he wanted her? He didn’t deserve her, not even for one damn minute.
He could feel the darkness pulsing at him, a darkness he knew was the precursor of his rogue side. It was so close to turning him. “I fucked up,” he ground out. “Yeah, I promised to keep you safe, and look what happened? They fucking raped—” He stopped as his throat closed up, unable to get the words out.
“Oh.” Her face softened in understanding. “Gideon, they didn’t touch me. Your axe came to me in time.”
He blinked. “My axe?”
“I called it. I used it. It worked.” Lily refused to think about what she’d done with that axe. It had to be that way. She could not torment herself over it. If Gideon could live with five hundred years of slaying, she had to be okay with what she’d done to save herself. “I’m fine.”
Gideon’s brow wrinkled in confusion, as if he were struggling to understand what she’d said. “But the bruise on your thigh—”
Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) Page 27