Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

low whistle. "That dude's in bad shape, Kane. We need to watch him."
    "I know." Kane stepped back as the Calydon he'd blood bonded with began to stir. He grabbed Sarah, and the three of them moved into the shadows at the rear of the cave. They went deathly still, and she felt Kane do a faint mental push to direct the Calydons' attention away from them.
    The one Kane had blood bonded with woke up, shook his head, then roused the other three. The quartet quickly slipped out of the cave, still holding the wounds the Order had inflicted upon them. The moment they were out of sight, Kane stepped forward. "Let's go." He took Sarah's arm and led his team out into the night to track the male Kane had blood-bonded with.
    Sarah caught her breath as they emerged from the cave, and she was hit with the full darkness of the evening. She was really outside the village in the night, a target for all who had been trying to kill her. She glanced around as Ryland materialized out of the shadows and took his place by her left side. Kane was on her right, and Thano was tight on her heels. A triangle of protection by three massive warriors as they escorted her into the midst of the very hell that had been trying to kill her and her kind for the last thousand years.
    Her heart started to pound, and then she felt Kane's hand settle on the back of her neck. Sarah.
    She glanced up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was searching the night vigilantly as they moved forward. What?
    When you called out my weapon, that completed another stage of the bond. We're getting close. His satisfaction vibrated through her, the male appreciation of claiming his woman.
    She swallowed and placed her hand over the brand on her arm, knowing that she was being pulled inextricably into his web. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to get out. A part of her loved it and felt the absolute rightness of it...and another part of her thrummed with a fear so ingrained that it was almost paralyzing.
    The bond will keep you safe from me. I can't hurt my sheva . He brushed his fingers over the back of her neck and sent her a mental push of warmth.
    But beneath his strength, she felt a ripple of uneasiness. Kane's.
    Because he was no longer so certain that he wasn't meant to kill her.
    Sarah thought of the bruises on her neck, and prayed that she was right to trust him.
    * * *
    An hour later, Kane crouched low, peering over the cliff as he watched his quarry descend into the valley flanked by the forest. The earth seemed to descend into a V, and at the bottom of the crevice was pure darkness, so thick that even Kane's preternatural vision couldn't penetrate it. The Calydon they'd been following seemed to literally vanish into the crevice.
    "Where's he going?" Thano asked. "You think there's a beauty salon down there? Maybe he's getting a manicure."
    "Probably," Kane replied. "What else do you have to do in these woods other than get beautified?"
    "No." Sarah was crushed up against his side, sandwiched between him and Thano so tightly that not even a breath could come between them. Ryland was at her back, guarding her from anything coming up behind them.
    Their trip through the woods had been uneventful. Nothing had come after Sarah or the rest of them. But the woods had been too silent, devoid of even the smallest animals. They were being hunted, and they all knew it.
    "I've been near it during the day," Sarah said. "It's pure evil. I can't even get close to it without getting violently sick. The only ones who can get near there are the men. The women all get sick, but I'm the worst." The townspeople had all heard rumors about the existence of the place, but no one had ever been able to find it. Sarah had searched for it for years, always during the day. And then one day, she'd stumbled across it, and she'd known instantly what it was. The evil had crept over her like some insidious taint, and she'd barely made it back to the village before falling into a fever that had lasted for weeks.
    She'd never gone back, though she'd spent many hours watching it from afar, trying to figure out what it was and what she could do about it.
    "Oh..." Thano said, anticipation humming in his voice. "That sounds like just the kind of place we like."
    Kane looked over at her. "Did Mason or Jacob ever go in there?"
    Sarah nodded, remembering all too well how she'd warned them to stay away. "They couldn't sense anything wrong with it. They went in and out all the time, and said there was