Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

hadn't felt in five hundred years.
    He thrust it all into Sarah, into her body, into her mind, into her soul, offering her every last bit of life that he had. He offered her his pain from when Dante had died. He showed her the intensity of his emotions when Dante had pulled him from the gutter. And he bared his soul to her, allowing her to see the gaping emptiness inside him, and the way everything had changed for him the moment he'd heard her voice.
    Oh, Kane. Her voice was so tender, so beautiful that his chest tightened. Soft white light flooded him, shining into the very depths of his soul, making the darkness shrink away, screaming in protest. Thank you for that gift. I will treasure it always. It is safe with me.
    Safe? Safe. He hadn't felt safe in five hundred years since he'd woken up with no past and a body covered in scars. But now, in Sarah's arms, with the beauty of her spirit filling him, he felt like he'd just come home. "Sarah." Her name was like a gift on his lips, and the moment he said it, uncontrollable passion swept through him. He drove once more, and then exploded into her. Sarah shouted his name, clinging to him as the orgasm swept through both of them, igniting the night with a white light so blinding and so intense he felt sure he would never see again.
    And that was okay with him.
    This moment...it was what he'd been searching for so relentlessly for five hundred years.

Chapter Five
    Pinned to the earth by his weight, Sarah grasped Kane's muscular shoulders as he slept on top of her. Her body was still thrumming from the intensity of their lovemaking, by the sheer force of life he'd thrust into her. They'd both crashed the minute the orgasm had taken them, plunging into the healing sleep that would restore both of them.
    The first light of dawn had awakened her. Sarah stared in awe as the sky filled with the orange glow of a new day. She'd thought she would never see the light again, and yet here she was, alive. Not completely healed, not safe, but she'd been given the gift of one more day.
    Thanks to Kane.
    She studied the man wrapped around her, his arms and legs entangled with hers, tucking her into the protective shield of his body. His light brown hair was tousled, the whiskers on his jaw thick, his body still tense even in his healing sleep. She knew that although he was healing himself, he was still alert, and if there was any threat, he'd be awake in a split second.
    Warmth filled her at the realization that he was there to protect her. How could this Calydon be her salvation? How could he make her safe? Like all other Calydons, he'd been created to destroy her, and yet he was the one who'd plucked her from the precipice of death, offering her his very soul. All Calydons, those from the Order and those from her village, derived their powers from demon magic. As an angel, she was the one thing standing in the way of demons, making her a primary target for them.
    Demons couldn't cross over onto the earth themselves, so they did it through those they could taint, like the Calydons, turning them into their weapons. The village of Akara was closely connected with the Afterlife, which is why it could support angels, but that meant it was a vulnerable place for demons to try to finally break through. They wanted the village, and they wanted to destroy the angels who protected it. Kane was a Calydon, which meant that his instinct, his nature, was to destroy her. But he hadn't. He'd saved her. How was that possible?
    Emotions tightened her throat as she recalled the intensity of what he'd shared with her. How immense had the void within his soul been? It was a gaping emptiness where his spirit should have been. Literally, he had no soul. How did he live like that? It had felt like someone had carved his soul right out of his body, leaving behind nothing but some paper-thin filaments to hold him together.
    But then, when they'd connected, it was as if something had come roaring to life within him. His soul? His spirit? She didn't understand how he could seem so empty, and then minutes later, find his way to such incredible passion and emotion. It was almost as if there were two different men inside him. The intensity of Kane's response when they had finally connected emotionally had been so powerful, and it mirrored exactly what she'd felt when she'd made contact with him. How was it possible for there to be something so intense between them? Even with Mason, she'd never experienced that kind