Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

river of taint oozing through the maze of ridges on his back.
    She sat up quickly and put her hand on his back. Kane jumped and sucked in his breath, his whole body rippling. "What?" she asked. "Did that hurt?"
    "No." He spun toward her suddenly, his eyes dark with passion.
    "Oh..." She sat up, startled by his sudden reaction. "Kane, we're about to engage in battle."
    "No." He grabbed her by her ankle and hauled her over to him, his eyes blazing with lust, and something else. Something dark. Something that made chills of fear ripple over her skin.
    "Kane—"
    "Sarah," he growled, as he grabbed her around the hips and yanked her against him. "You're mine." And then he kissed her, a voracious kiss that seemed to consume her and suck her very spirit right out of her.
    Fear arced through her, and a sense of belonging so powerful she couldn't stop it. Kane felt so right, even at the same time that she was so terrified of what lay beneath the surface—
    He growled, a deep-throated growl that sounded nothing like him, and fear ran more thickly through her as he upped his assault on her senses. His kisses were a torrent of desire and aggression, flooding her defenses, arousing her to levels beyond her ability to resist.
    Then suddenly, he was in her mind, rushing her with all his emotions. Fear, lust, darkness, passion and something else...something in the very depths of his being...a light? Warmth? His real soul? She hadn't felt it before, and it slithered out of her grasp before she could access it.
    Panic assaulted her as it disappeared, as if it was her job to find it and hold onto it, keeping it from disappearing. She gripped his shoulders, kissing him back frantically, desperate to reach inside him, to find what she'd lost. She felt like she could help him, that she was supposed to help him, that she was supposed to find that light inside him. Kane. Let me in. Let me find it.
    Pain suddenly rocked Kane, shooting through his body like a violent stab. She felt his body shudder, but he didn't break the kiss. His hands went to her throat, her chest, over her breasts, as if he could lose himself in her and spare himself the pain. What is this, Sarah? Why does it hurt like fucking hell to kiss you?
    I don't know , she gasped, reeling from the pain that was hitting him. I—
    Suddenly, there was an unholy scream of terror, and Kane threw her off him, whirling to his feet as several Calydons rushed into the cave, howling a blood-thirsty cry of assault.
    Eyes red.
    Claws out.
    The night had begun.

Chapter Eleven
    Kane leapt to his feet and immediately engaged, aggression howling through him as he shoved Sarah behind a rock, out of the way. Behind the intruders, he saw Ryland and Thano, acting fast as well. The three of them worked as a team, taking down the local boys, but not killing them, not this time. Within moments all four of their targets were incapacitated, but not dead.
    "I'll blood bond with the big one," Kane said, immediately targeting the largest, oldest one. That was the one he wanted. The male was practically bleeding poison, and his taint was so thick that the air around him was churning with black and purple and a thick yellow. If Kane blood bonded with him, there was no doubt he'd get a good inside look at the source of the taint destroying these men.
    Thano swung hard and took the big guy out, and the warrior dropped. Kane sprinted to his side, and immediately jammed his flail into the downed Calydon's arm. The blood poured forth as Kane sliced his own arm open. Then, while Ryland and Thano hauled the other Calydons out of the way, Kane pressed his wound against the other male's and chanted the words of the warrior blood bond, Thano and Ryland's voices raised to accompany his.
    The moment the words were complete, bonding the two warriors, Kane's entire body began to vibrate. Searing pain rushed through him, dropping him to the floor of the cave as the warrior's blood cut through his veins like razor blades. "Jesus," Kane gasped, as his body began to shake, and his muscles began to convulse.
    "Shit, man!" Ryland was beside him immediately. "This isn't supposed to happen!"
    Pain tore through Kane, along with darkness, and visions of demons with claws and dripping fangs. Skin stretched across his body like parchment over hell itself. His insides felt like they were being clawed to pieces, his muscles ripped from his bones, his lungs torn from his chest, his bones crushed by a force so great it bowed his