Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

that he had just found what he was looking for: the warrior that would join him in his quest, the one who would help him give birth to the new Order, once this one was destroyed. What is your name?
    The youth looked up, searching the woods, but Warwick knew the boy would never find him.
    Who are you? The youth's response was sharp and aggressive, not giving away anything.
    What is your name? Warwick repeated the question.
    The boy stood up quickly, and gestured to Quinn, who immediately broke away from the others. "What's up, Drew?"
    Drew. Now he had a name.
    "There's someone in these woods," Drew said. "A Calydon. An old one. Older than my dad."
    Quinn swore and looked right at Warwick, and Warwick realized the warrior had somehow located him. Within a split second, the rest of the Order was on the run, sprinting through the woods directly at Warwick.
    Not that they would ever catch him. He was so much more than that. So much more than them. With a burst of laughter loud enough for the entire team to hear, Warwick whirled his mount around and raced into the woods, leaving them behind.
    Leaving them wondering what was still to come.
    * * *
    Sarah stood on the front steps of her grandmother's house, hugging herself as she watched the sun set in Akara for the first time in her life. Tears tightened her throat as she watched the sky fill with oranges and reds, so beautiful, but at the same time, she felt so empty.
    Luc Acostos was dead, and Kane had broken through the Los Muerte curse. There was no one left to poison the men of the village, and she knew that eventually people would start to come back. Jacob had been gone by the time they'd returned, and she was holding out hope that he was still alive out there somewhere, that he was finding himself again. Kane and the others were ready for him to come back and try to kill her, and they all hoped he would so they could catch him and try to help him. They had no idea how he would be now that Luc was gone. Other men had started emerging from the woods, men who had gone missing over the years. Men who were battered and confused, but finding their way back. With them would come families and people, and the town would begin to rebuild again.
    But not Jacob. Three nights had passed, and Jacob hadn't appeared. "Where are you, Jacob?" she asked. "Please come back. Please." She tried to open their connection, but all she felt was that same wall that she'd felt before, blocking her from reaching him. "Dammit, Jacob!" But even as she grieved the loss of her brother and feared for whatever he was facing, a sense of power warmed her. She'd been so certain that his betrayal and his death would destroy her by finally crushing all hope for goodness, but it hadn't. She'd found hope and faith on her own, and by finding it, she'd been able to reach out to Kane and love him, and help them save each other. Jacob and Kane had taught her that she was stronger than she could ever have believed.
    She and Kane had managed to find the river again, using the same skills they'd used before, and she was restored and healthy...but sad, because it had come too late for Jacob. For Mason. For Abigail. But then she put her hand on her belly and knew that there was hope for the future. Life was beginning again.
    Inside, Nonny was preparing food for the team, and the warriors were in deep discussion about who had been in those woods after Luc had died. Who was the male on the black horse? The warrior who had spat such vileness about the Order as he'd tried to convince Kane to kill her? Thano was still missing, and the weight on the team was heavy.
    Lily had found evidence of an angel trinity protecting the Order, and it gave Sarah goosebumps to think of the fact that there were two others like her. The Order was worried that they were in danger as well, and Lily was searching hard to find out more information about them and the Calydon on the horse.
    The Order hadn't heard from their teammate Ian, and they were beginning to suspect that his missing sheva might be one of the angel trinity...a woman who was being repeatedly murdered. Could an angel survive that? Sarah didn't know, but she shivered at the thought of that woman's suffering, regardless of whether she was part of the angel trinity or not. There was so much death and violence still to come, even though Luc was dead, happily dead. Was he finding redemption in the arms of the woman he'd loved? Was there a chance for redemption for a man like