Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

him at the old lady. Her fingers dug into Kane's neck, and he realized she was shaking violently. Her voice was trembling. "Do you see an old woman with a bow and arrow? Or am I imagining it?" Tears were brimming in her eyes, and there was so much grief in her face that he felt something inside him crack.
    The void that had been trying to consume him vanished, and he felt a burning pain in his chest. Void and emptiness, or pain and violence. Nothing in between. He felt like he was losing his freaking mind. "Sarah. What's wrong?"
    "I'll give you three seconds," the old lady yelled, "or this arrow is going right in your family jewels, big guy."
    Thano snickered, and Kane called out his flail and held it over his crotch, not taking his attention off Sarah. "Tell me what's going on," Kane urged. "You want me to take her out?"
    "Take her out? Really?" Sarah grabbed his arm, bursting into tearful laughter. "She's really there? I'm not imagining it?"
    "Shit, yeah, she's there. Who is she?"
    But Sarah didn't answer. She was already out of Kane's arms and racing across the rubble. Kane swore and took off after her, knowing that she was going to make it only about ten yards before her legs gave out from weakness.
    He was wrong.
    She made it only eight.
    But he was there to catch her anyway.
    * * *
    Sarah gasped as Kane swept her up and carried her toward her grandmother. She tumbled out of his arms, clinging to her grandmother as tears poured down her cheeks. "Nonny!" She hugged her tightly, unable to believe she was holding her grandmother. "You're alive."
    "Damn straight I am." Nonny hugged her back, her thin arms like wire wrapping around her.
    "But how?" Sarah pulled back, searching her grandmother's wizened face, trying to understand how she was still there. "Jacob had your talisman in his hand. You never take it off."
    "I didn't take it off." Nonny's wrinkled face suddenly looked old for the first time Sarah could remember, as true sadness filled her eyes. "He ripped it off my neck. I think he couldn't bear to see it when he killed me."
    Sarah bit her lip, betrayal welling up inside her again. How could Jacob have been ready to kill their grandmother? She understood why he was trying to kill her, but Nonny? There was no reason for that except for the sheer, raw high of killing. "How did you stop him?"
    "I didn't." Irritation flashed in the old lady's eyes. "He was just rearing back to kill me with his sickle when you called him. He dropped me and disappeared."
    Sarah stared at her grandmother, stunned by her story. "It worked? I distracted him from killing you?"
    "Yes, it did." Nonny glared at her. "You scared the shit out of me, girl. Never call the bad guy to your doorstep again, or I'll have to take a switch to you."
    Sarah started laughing, the relief was so great. She'd done it. All that she'd suffered had been worth it because she'd protected her grandmother. "Don't ever sacrifice yourself to save an angel again. We'll beat you every time."
    "Hah," Nonny scoffed. "Look at you, so weak you can't even stand up. Why haven't you restored yourself?"
    "The fountain's dry. Kane and the others were just working on it—"
    Nonny barked with irritation. "They weren't doing anything. They were just standing around." She looked past Sarah and eyed Kane, who was still standing right behind Sarah, barely giving her any personal space at all. "Who the hell are you anyway?"
    To Sarah's surprise, Kane bowed to her grandmother. "Kane Santiago, at your service." He brushed his hand through the air, indicating behind him. "And these are my compatriots, Ryland Samuels and Thano Savakis." His eyes blazed with fierceness and satisfaction as he looked at her grandmother. "We're Order of the Blade, and we've come to help your village."
    "Order of the Blade?" Nonny stared in disbelief. "Why on God's green earth would you come here?"
    "Because we protect the earth from rogue Calydons, and you've got yourself a problem with them, don't you?"
    Sarah stiffened, realizing that she'd never thought to ask Kane why he was there. She'd been so caught up in the intensity between them that she hadn't even thought logistically about the fact that he'd appeared in her village out of the blue. Damn! Had he really come to find the Calydons? She couldn't let Kane find out what was going on in the woods. The Order would destroy everything. They would kill her brother. "We've got it covered," Sarah said quickly, her heart pounding for the safety of the men