Primal Heat 04 - Forever in Darkness

Impossible."
    Catherine rubbed her hand over her
arm. "Maybe I'm not your soul mate—"
    "No!" He lunged for her
and grabbed her shoulders, hauling her up against him. "Don't you feel
what's between us? Didn't you feel what happened when we made love? You're
mine, Catherine, and I don't know what's going on, but I swear on this very
earth that I will not stop until I find out what happened and figure out how to
bring you into my circle of protection." He swore under his breath.
"Do you understand? I will not let you die again. I will not. "
    Tears filled her eyes, and she
shook her head. "No," she said. "You don't understand. You won't
be able to stop it."
    Ian went cold at her words, at her
first acknowledgement that he was right about her dying before. At her claim
that it would happen again. At the truth that if he didn't figure out how to
bond with her, she might be right.
    He might lose her after all.

CHAPTER SIX
    Disappointment surged through Alice
at the haunted expression on Ian's face. How was it possible that what had just
happened between them hadn't meant anything? How had it not connected them? It
had to mean something! It had been so incredible.
    She knew Ian was her chance. Her
opportunity. He was the one person who had been able to get past the chains
that held her down and unleash at least a little bit of who she wasn't supposed
to be. How could that not be real?
    But there was no mistaking the fact
there was no mark on her arm.
    She wasn't his soul mate, and
without that, there wouldn't have been enough between them to harness the power
trying to destroy her. Defeat filled her heart. "Ian—"
    The door behind him exploded off the
hinges, the steel door careening right toward them. She yelped, but there was
no time to evade it—
    Moving faster than she could even
register, Ian tackled her, dragging her to the side and out of the path of the
door as it crashed into the wall he'd just made love to her against. He spun
them out of the way, using his body to shield her as the splintered debris from
the doorframe showered them. Alice ducked her head against him, then gasped
when she saw a huge, shadowed male figure burst through the door. Before she
could even shout a warning, he swung at Ian, a massive glowing claw aiming
right for his neck—
    Ian ducked a split second before it
reached him, and he shoved Alice away as he spun to face the intruder. The
male's eyes were glowing green, and he was tremendous in size, so much bigger
than she'd last seen him. His pale blue oxford shirt was streaked with grease,
his dress pants were torn, and dirt was caked on his jaw. "Flynn!"
she shouted. "It's me! Don't attack—"
    "Bitch," Flynn sneered,
and he lunged for her.
    Ian leapt in front of Flynn,
blocking his path toward Alice. She jumped out of the way as the two males
engaged, massive muscled bodies crashing against each other. "Dammit, Flynn!
Don't do this! I need you!" She lunged toward them to stop them, and
suddenly she was jerked backward.
    She spun around to see James behind
her. "Why—"
    "Are you a fool? Run! He's
going to kill you!" James grabbed her and pushed her toward the doorway to
the main bar. "Go!"
    Alice hesitated, and then she saw Flynn
rear back to attack Ian. His eyes were blazing with such fierce hatred that it
felt like a knife had been plunged into her heart. He was lost. Flynn was lost,
and it was her fault. And worse yet, without him, her last hope died, now that
she knew there wasn't enough with Ian. "Dammit," she whispered.
"I can't fail this time. I owe her—"
    Then she saw a glowing green disc
slicing through the air, right at her. She yelped and dove for the door, but Flynn's
disc cut across her belly, ripping open her skin. Alice gasped and James caught
her arm as she stumbled. "Go!" he shouted as he shoved her through
the doorway. "Before he gets away from that Calydon!"
    Gripping her belly, Alice stumbled
through the doorway into the bar, glancing back over her shoulder just as Ian
threw Flynn into the room and across the floor. Flynn hit the wall beside the
dart board, and no one even bothered to move when he didn't get up. Another
dart hit the board beside him, and a cheer went up for the bulls-eye. "Oh,
Flynn," she whispered as she slid to her knees, despair crushing her as
the poison from his disc began to spread through her body. "You
didn't." But he had. He'd tainted the disc before he'd thrown it. He'd
used his worst against her.
    James rushed over to crouch beside