Primal Heat 04 - Forever in Darkness

pain. Denial roared through him, and he
straddled her, his knees on either side of her hips. He leaned over her and
took her face in his hands. "Listen to me," he said. "You're my soul
mate, so I can heal you."
    She shook her head. "I'm not
your soul mate—"
    "You are. I knew it the first
moment that we met, when you died in my arms on the mountain side. Everyone
there knew it."
    She stared at him, a furrow of
confusion on her brow. "On the mountain?"
    Shit. She didn't remember? Not that
it mattered. He bent his head closer, his whole body stirring with the
intensity of feeling her beneath him. "Open yourself to me, Catherine. Let
me inside your soul."
    She sighed. "No, I can't. I'm
not allowed—"
    "Screw that. You're allowed to
die?" Ian stretched out beside her and pulled her against him, wrapping
his legs around hers so they were entangled along the lengths of their bodies.
He closed his eyes at the sensation of her body against his. Desire rushed
through him, and a sense of absolute rightness that this was where he belonged.
    And then it was followed by a
ripple of fear of what it would be like if he lost her again, now that he'd finally
connected with her.
    This was how it began for each of
his ancestors. Finding that woman. Finding that peace. And then the loss…the
despair… and then death by the most dishonorable, most ignominious, way
possible: suicide.
    Then her body began to tremble, and
he didn't care about the past anymore. All that mattered was healing her.
"Okay, Catherine, you need to close your eyes and relax your mind."
He pulled her closer against him, tangling their bodies together. "I'll
pull you into my healing sleep, and use my powers to heal you."
    "You can do that?" She
snuggled closer to him and laced her hands behind his neck. The tentative feel
of her fingers on his skin sent shock waves all the way through him. God,
Ian. It feels so incredible to have you against me. It shouldn't be like this.
    "Of course it should." Rightness
vibrated through him. How could this ever be wrong? He pulled her closer and
pressed his lips to the side of her neck. "Just close your eyes and relax.
Since you're my sheva , I can heal you." But even as he said the
words, doubt niggled at the back of his mind about the fact that making love
hadn't made his brands appear on her arms. What if he couldn't heal her without
that mark? "Just relax."
    Pain rippled through her, and Ian
swore, placing his hand over the wound in her belly. "Hang in there,"
he said urgently. "I can fix this."
    "Okay." But her voice was
pinched with agony and fear, weak with the effort of trying to hang on.
    Ian immediately closed his eyes and
let himself drift into the dreamlike state of his healing sleep. He reached out
for Catherine and found her spirit immediately. She was open to him and allowed
him right in. The moment he was connected with her, he felt the poison rushing
through her body, like a powerful river of black water, destroying every cell
it passed. Ian let his mind move past the poison, searching for the core of who
she was. He could do nothing for her until their connection was so tight that
it was as if they were one.
    But he couldn't find her inner
spirit. All he could see was poison, pain and fear. It was as if her soul
didn't exist, or that it was blocked from him. He swore as he felt her energy
beginning to fade, and he shoved more ruthlessly at her barriers, desperate to
get through.
    Nothing.
    What's going on, Ian?
    Nothing. It's fine. Realizing
he needed help, Ian pulled away from her and redirected his mind toward the
earth beneath them, the ground that his ancestor had been buried in. He reached
into the soil, and immediately felt the ripple of power from the males buried
in the cemetery, males that had been stripped of life before their time. He
connected with the power of his ancestors, and it surged through him, vibrating
though him.
    He called upon it, bringing it into
his body. Energy began to flow through him, like hot sparks crackling through
his body. He kept pulling it in, more and more, until his entire body was
vibrating from the force of it.
    He pulled Catherine tighter against
him, opened the connection between them as much as he could, and then thrust
the energy into her, attacking the shields that were keeping him out. She
jerked against him, and her body bowed from the onslaught of power…and it
didn't work.
    The walls were still there. Crap!
    Ian. It's not working. Her
voice was fainter now,