Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

out what happens to them at night to make them crazy. Tonight, it ends." She glanced over at Kane and the others, and knew this was her best chance.
    As long as they didn't go crazy, too. Oh, God, what if they went rogue once they were exposed to the village?
    Kane grinned at her, flashing a decadent smile. I won't go crazy until after we complete our bonding, sweetheart.
    Desire pulsed through her, and fear. We will never complete our bonding—
    Oh, but we will. There was no other choice in the matter.

    * * *
    Hours later, Sarah huddled beside Kane, crouched low in the cave on the side of the mountain near Akara. She watched the sun dip lower in the sky, and her heart began to pound. She hadn't been outside in the village at night before, not in her whole life. It was terrifying, but at the same time, exhilarating. This was her village, her town, and she was taking it back.
    No longer was she hiding. No longer was she quivering in fear. Kane had given her the power to stand up and fight for her village, for her brother, for herself.
    She glanced over at Kane. He was on his stomach in the dirt, hunkered down behind the rock ledge. His weapons were at the ready, a flail in each hand. His body was streaked in mud to make him blend into the night, and his muscles were taut with alertness.
    Out in those woods right now were Ryland and Thano, hunting Calydons, herding them toward Kane, trying to sweep for the darkness that Kane had sensed earlier. The powerful one. The one that had nearly brought him down by flooding him with those terrible visions, and by drawing blood from Kane without even touching him. She'd felt the darkness that had attacked Kane on other occasions, and she'd felt it earlier today. It was laced with a depth of evil and depravity that made her blood turn to ice in her body. She'd always been certain that was the energy signature of the leader. Kane and the others agreed.
    He was the one they needed to find, and Kane was going to try to find him by following a trail of blood...literally.
    Sarah looked down at the scars on Kane's arm and saw another clear spot on his forearm. The talismans were definitely disappearing. Whether he was Los Muerte or not, those talismans were on him for a reason, and she was scared of what would happen if he was stripped of their protections. What would happen if he imbued himself with tainted blood from one of Akara's rogue Calydons? She touched his arm, and he jumped, before turning his head toward her. "Your touch ignites something inside me," he said, his eyes hooded. "Every single time."
    Heat burst through her, and suddenly the cave seemed to disappear, consumed by the enormity of his presence. She swallowed and pulled her hand back. "Kane—"
    He grabbed her hand and kept it pressed against his skin. "Don't let go," he said, his voice low and sensual. "I need it."
    Ohh... Desire rippled through her, a calling for him, for his touch, for his possession. His grip was tight, his skin burning hot as if he were trying to melt through her flesh right to her soul. Involuntarily, her fingers tightened around his arm, and she felt his body shudder in response. How could she have that much power over him? "Is this from the sheva bond?"
    "Hell if I know." He bent his head and brushed his lips over her knuckles, his gaze never leaving her face. "All I know is that I've been inside this fucking shell for the last five hundred years. I feel nothing. I just exist. And yet when you touch me..." He lifted his head, his mouth almost touching hers... "Or when you kiss me..." He brushed his mouth over the corner of hers, and she went still, her heart hammering in her chest. "Or when I touch you..." He slipped his hand beneath her shirt, spanning his palm across her lower back. "My world literally changes, and I come to life."
    Sarah's breath was tight in her chest, and she felt like she couldn't get air. The current was electric between them, and Kane's emotions were rolling over her. Desire, passion, and something else. Something she couldn't read. Something so human, so vulnerable, so endearing that she wanted to cry that this powerful, rugged warrior who lived a life of such violence could be so broken inside. "Don't do it," she whispered.
    "Do what? Kiss you?" He caught her chin and kissed her, his lips so tender and gentle that tears filled her eyes. I have to kiss you, Sarah. You're like my oxygen. I don't know how to make my heart beat unless you're inside my soul. It didn't