Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

and Elijah, you come with me. The rest of you stay."
    Quinn shook his head. "Drew stays with me."
    "Yeah, fine." Kane met Ry's gaze and understanding passed between them. An understanding that Ryland would unleash that same monster as before if necessary to save Sarah. Kane had no clue what Ryland had turned into last night, but he knew that it had been called out in defense of Sarah. Ryland wasn't Sarah's soul mate, but there was something he had going on with the angels that Kane couldn't deny.
    He was going to have to trust that, and trust his woman with the man that no one on the damn team trusted to do anything except to go rogue. Keep her safe.
    Ryland's eyes narrowed. I will.
    Kane nodded and looked down at Sarah. She lifted her chin and met his gaze. "Kane," she said, touching his arm. "I just thought of something."
    He raised his brows, unable to tear himself away from his woman. Dammit. He didn't want to leave her behind. "What's up?"
    "How are you planning on killing Luc? Your weapons didn't work on him before."
    He shrugged. "We'll find a way—"
    "I can kill him. My light can kill demons. You know it can." She sighed, and met his gaze. "I have to go. There's no other choice."
    Kane swore. "No—"
    "This isn't your decision," she snapped. "This is my town, and it's my child I have to protect. I'm going in, and you can come or not."
    "It's my child, too—"
    "Then make the right choice." Then she tore herself free of his arms and sprinted down the slope into the grass.
    Kane swore as noxious smoke rose up around her, sucking her out of sight instantly. "Jesus!" He immediately opened his blood bond connection with her and locked down on her location instantly. "Come on," he shouted. "Now!"
    Everyone grabbed him, and Kane teleported, his entire being focused only on one thing: the woman who made his heart beat. The woman who was going to get herself killed.
    * * *
    Sarah's body was screaming with pain as she landed on the seething earth. The rocks were glowing with orange heat, black with burned ash, and the air was so thick she could barely breathe.
    Her skin was on fire, and she stumbled with dizziness. She immediately unleashed a quick pulse of her white light, and it cleared an air pocket around her. There was dark smoke swirling around, and shadows undulating in and out of focus. Dark trees were waving over her head, the branches slashing as if there were a brutal wind trying to tear them out of the earth. It felt like she was in a place of eternal night where darkness was a constant protection for the evil festering beneath the earth.
    "Oh, no," she whispered, realizing that's exactly where she was. Nothing was asleep down here. Nothing was resting until sunset. Down here, the atmosphere was buzzing and humming with the lethal energy that would be unleashed onto her village when dusk hit.
    Cold pain wrapped around her ankle, and she looked down to see smoky black tendrils creeping up her leg, the same thing that had grabbed the men last night. "No," she said, and she lit up her leg. The white light burned the smoke off, freeing her. Sweat beaded across her brow, and she knew she was draining herself each time she used her powers, but she didn't care.
    She was at war now, and she would fight until the end. She pressed her hand to her belly, and sent warmth into the life she was supposed to protect. "This time, it's going to work out okay," she whispered fiercely. "This time, I'm going to get it right—"
    "Sarah!" The air pressure shifted, and suddenly Kane and the rest of his team materialized around her. He grabbed her arm, his face frantic with worry. "You're okay?"
    His fear for her safety was so intense it brought tears to Sarah's eyes. She nodded, and remembered Ana's advice. That somehow, she had to look past the exterior and know the truth about who he was. But as she looked at him, as she opened her heart to him, she saw his eyes turn black and a wave of darkness flooded her.
    Kane dropped his hand and turned away from her, staring into the woods. "He's here," he said, his voice low and guttural, unlike she'd ever heard it before.
    "Who?" Gideon moved close to Kane, his weapon out. All the men were scanning the woods. No one was moving until they had a sense of what was going on.
    Kane moved restlessly. "Luc—"
    The earth suddenly erupted below them, turning from solid footing into a seething, bubbling swamp of noxious fumes. Sarah screamed as she fell in, and all the men were sucked in with