Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

then his mouth descended on hers and he took her as his own.
    Tears filled Sarah's eyes as Kane kissed her, her heart aching as his words reverberated through her. How could he say those words? How could he mean them? How could she trust him? But it felt so right. It felt true. Her entire soul wanted to reach out to him and enfold him into her heart— "Stop!" She pushed him away, struggling to get free. "Don't—"
    "What?" He didn't let go, didn't release her, didn't give her space. His face was stark and raw, and she felt his horror at what she'd told him, at the possibility that he was who she'd said. "Why are you so scared of me, Sarah? What do you see in me?"
    Sarah heard the desperation in his voice, and suddenly she just wanted to cry. She didn't want to hold this man at arm's length anymore. He'd saved her life three times already, between her brother, her fading light, and now the fountain. He'd averted his weapon when she'd moved in front of it. He'd touched her heart. And he'd said the most beautiful things to her, the kind of things that made the aching wound in her soul want to heal.
    But how could she trust him? How could she trust another Calydon again?
    "Sarah." His grip was desperate. "You've been inside my soul. As God is my witness, what did you see in there that makes you so afraid of me? Did you see Los Muerte? Did you?"
    "No!" she blurted out. "I saw my husband!"
    Kane sucked in his breath, and his fingers dug into her arms. His voice went deathly cold. "You have a husband?"
    "No." She closed her eyes, fighting against the memories trying to consume her. "I did. He killed my parents, our daughter, and almost me." She tugged her shirt up and showed him the eighteen inch scar across her abdomen. "I was in the hospital for eleven months," she said. "He came as close to killing me as anyone has ever come."
    Kane felt shock roll through him as he stared at the raw, brutal wound transgressing Sarah's torso. There were a multitude of lines, crisscrossing in several different directions. Claw marks. Swearing, he spread his palm over her belly as if he could take away the memory and the pain. "Shit, Sarah. What happened?"
    Sarah looked at him, and he saw the immense pain in her eyes. Not just pain. Betrayal. The same as she'd felt with her brother. "Mason and I lived next door to each other in the village as kids," she said. "Back then Akara was pretty populated, and it had begun to thrive again after the destruction."
    Kane grimaced at her reference to Los Muerte, but he quickly shut it out when another wave of Sarah's pain hit him. "Sarah—"
    "No." She shook her head. "I want you to know." Her eyes were shimmering with tears. "Mason and I had been best friends since we were kids. We were so tight. Connected in our souls."
    Jealousy shot through Kane at the idea of Sarah being connected with another male, and he cupped the side of her face with his palm, needing to bring them together in the present. He was the one here now. Not anyone else. He was the one who'd made love to her until the earth had shifted. "What happened?"
    She set her hand on his wrist, wrapping her fingers around his arm to keep him from releasing her, pleasing Kane. "We fell in love when we were teenagers." She looked at Kane, searching his face for understanding. "I knew that the Calydons were hunting us. I'd grown up having to bar my doors at night to keep them out. I knew that boys who were my friends could turn, husbands, brothers...it happened all the time. Sometimes, they didn't. Sometimes they came into their powers and remained loyal, protecting the rest of us at night. Other times, they crossed that line into monsters. Sometimes it happened as soon as they came into their powers, and sometimes years later. We all knew not to trust our men."
    Kane narrowed his eyes as he digested that information. "Did they turn rogue because they were bonded with females?"
    "No. There was never a reason we could find." She closed her eyes, and he felt the sudden swell of her pain. "I knew I had to be careful, but I trusted Mason. I'd known him my whole life, and we loved each other. I knew I could believe in him, that our love would be stronger than the curse that had taken so many of the others." She opened her eyes, and tears filled them. "After he came into his powers as a Calydon, we realized I was his sheva . We bonded, and it was amazing. I felt safe with him, Kane. He was my soul mate. He couldn't turn on me, right?"
    Kane swore.