Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) Read Online Free PDF Page B

when nature brought her peace and love. She kept her mind relentlessly focused on the happy memories, listening to the sound of her sister’s laughter mingled with her own. Finally, she felt her body begin to believe that everything was okay, that there was no imminent threat to her safety. Her muscles relaxed, her heart rate slowed, and the pressure in her head began to ease.
    Her shoulders shook with relief, and she slumped to the dirt, exhausted by the battle. How many more times could she beat back her illusions? It had become more and more difficult to control them since Ana had disappeared. Without being able to rely on Ana’s calming images to ease her stress, combined with the daily increasing worry about her sister, Grace knew she was fighting a losing battle with the monster she’d kept at bay for almost a decade and a half.
    “Just a little longer,” she told herself. “You can do it.” But even as she said it, doubt niggled at her and fear rippled through her. How bad would it be when she finally lost it? How many people would she kill? Would she be her own next victim?
    The wind whispered through the pine trees, drawing Grace’s attention back to her surroundings, reminding her she was invading the land of a warrior who had hidden himself away so effectively because he didn’t want to deal with people like her. People with emotional baggage, people with needs, people who wanted something from him. People who would slow him down and distract him from his brutal mission.
    She looked down the darkened road, and her hands slowly closed into determined fists. “I’m sorry to bother you,” she told the night, in case he was listening, “but my sister needs help. I won’t let you turn me down.”
    The wind rippled through the branches, like the forest was laughing softly at her, trying to chase her back down the driveway.
    Grace tugged her light-weight running jacket tighter around her body, shivering under the cold mist. She resisted the temptation to look toward the street where the farmer had dropped her off, a nice old man who’d given her a ride after her too-old car had broken down and she hadn’t wanted to wait to have it fixed. Her escort had refused to drive any closer to the lair of the man-beast, leaving it up to her to hike the rest of the way to his home.
    There is no retreat. Instead, she faced the rutted, shadowed driveway and resumed her trek towards the one man who could save her sister.
    She had one thing to offer Quinn to get him to help her. If it didn’t work, her sister was dead. And most likely, so was she.
    * * *
     
    Quinn raced soundlessly through the thick woods, his injuries long forgotten, urgency coursing through him as he neared his house. He covered the last thirty yards, leapt over a fallen tree, then reached the edge of the clearing by his cabin.
    There she was.
    He stopped dead, fading back into the trees as he stared at the woman he’d scented when he was still two hours away, a lure that had eviscerated all weakness from his body and fueled him into a dead sprint back to his house.
    His lungs heaving with the effort of pushing his severely damaged body so hard, Quinn stood rigidly as he studied the woman whose scent had called to him through the dark night. She’d yanked him out of his thoughts about Elijah and galvanized him with energy he hadn’t been able to summon on his own.
    And now he’d found her.
    She’d wedged herself up against the back corner of his porch, barely protected from the cold rain and wet wind. Her knees were pulled up against her chest, her delicate arms wrapped tightly around them as if she could hold onto her body heat by sheer force of will. Her shoulders were hunched, her forehead pressed against her knees while damp tangles of dark brown hair tumbled over her arms.
    Her chest moved once. Twice. A trembling, aching breath into lungs that were too cold and too exhausted to work as well as they should.
    He took a step toward her, and