Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

heart-wrenching desperation, despair and failure that he immediately realized was Sarah's. It was so intense it shook him to the core, nearly breaking their connection under the onslaught of the darkness still attacking him. Shit. He opened his mind to hers, knowing he needed to reach more than her mind and her thoughts. He needed to access her soul, the life that beat within her. Sarah. Let me in.
    She clung to him, kissing him fiercely, her lips moving desperately under his as the intensity of their kiss deepened. I'm trying. I'm not used to making myself vulnerable.
    He swore and pulled back, framing her face with his hands. "Sarah," he growled. "Open your eyes."
    Her eyes fluttered open, and his gut seized at the fading light within them. "I will never hurt you. Trust me," he ordered. "Put yourself in my hands, and I swear on my Order oath that I will keep you safe."
    She stared at him, and he felt the intensity of her conflict. Terror so deep it was like a cold film coating her spirit, increasing the gulf between them. He swore as he felt their connection begin to falter, as her skin began to get cold. "No!" He gripped her face, searching some sign that he was reaching her. "Come on, Sarah! Now!"
    He felt a sudden surge of determination rush through her, and her eyes deepened. "Now," she said. She grabbed him around the back of the neck and pulled him down toward her.
    He met her mouth with desperate furor. The instant their lips met, shock reverberated through his head. Violence, anger, despair, death, and light, life, hope, faith. Her emotions, her life force surged through him, yanking him toward her. Rightness exploded through him, a desperate need to connect, and his kisses turned frenzied and uncontrollable. He poured his soul into her, and then he saw it, gleaming faint and white in his mind.
    A flame.
    A tiny, white flame, fluttering in a breeze he couldn't feel. Her life force, barely holding on. It was calling to him, beckoning to him. A salvation. A sanctuary. A challenge.
    His spirit broke away from the darkness eating at him and rushed toward that white light, using it as a guide.
    "Yes," Sarah gasped, gripping his shoulders.
    "You're mine," he growled, his soul burning with the need for more of her. Her soul, her body, her mind, her entire being. He couldn't get close enough, couldn't touch enough of her, couldn't tighten the bond between them sufficiently as the dark specters screamed in his mind, fighting to hold onto him.
    Sarah was his white light. She was his life, his chance, his sanity, as he was hers. He tore off his pants, and yanked off hers, shocked by the feel of her body against him as he settled back over her. Her skin was like hand-spun silk, so soft and smooth against his skin, unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
    This kind of beauty wasn't his life. This wasn't his world. Such delicacy, such purity, such passion. He was overwhelmed by the sensations rushing through him, by the depth of the craving pulsing through him as he ran his hands over her body, as he kissed her breasts, her ribs, and her belly.
    Sarah shook beneath him, her body still trembling, the cracks still evident on her skin. Anger rushed through him, fury that she could hurt like that. What was he doing thinking that he could save her? He wasn't the man to offer tender love and delicate caresses to a woman. He was violence, he was bloodshed, and he was battle. He was a man without a past, without a soul, without—
    "Kane!" Sarah gripped his shoulders, her eyes wide with sudden fear.
    He felt it then, the last grip of her soul, leaving her body. "No!" He roared in outrage, and he dropped his hips and plunged his erection inside her, connecting with her the only way he knew how. Violent heat exploded between them, and Sarah screamed as Kane bellowed from the intensity of the connection. White light flooded the night, and Kane thrust again, and again, and again, utterly consumed by his need for her. She clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she raised her hips to meet his.
    Sarah. God, yes, this is it. Kane reached for her with his mind, and this time, he found her. She reached for him at the same time, and their souls met, a fierce connection of such passion and desire, of raging life that it shook him all the way to his very core. He was barely even aware of the darkness screaming through him in rage. All he could feel was the pressure in his chest, the burning of life through his body, life he'd