Free Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn by authors_sort

squeezing out beneath her thick lashes. His gut tore as he saw the marks on her throat from her brother, the bruises covering her arms. Her body was trembling beneath his, so vulnerable, so fragile, so desperate.
    Her eyes flickered open, and he saw anguish in those blue depths. There was so much pain and betrayal in them. Fear. Hopelessness. The extent of her suffering tore right through his gut. "No more, Sarah," he growled. "No fucking more."
    Then he lowered himself on top of her and offered every single breath of life he had to give. It wasn't much. Hell, it wasn't much at all, but it had been enough to keep him alive after five hundred years of battle and life-threatening injury. It had to be enough to save her. He was going to make damn sure it was.
    He fisted her hair and kissed her again, and this time, he gave her everything. The kiss was intense and ravaging, and he unleashed every last bit of fury, anger, hope, life and passion he had into their connection.
    Yes, Sarah whispered. More.
    You can have it all. Kane deepened the kiss, thrusting everything he had into it. But the moment he opened himself to her, the darkness inside him roared to life, trying to hold him back, trying to stop him from connecting with the beauty of her spirit. The physical pain was brutal, like knives carving off his skin, but the depths of torment to his soul was a thousand times worse. It felt like something was trying to vacuum his spirit right out of his chest. His breath stuck in his lungs, and he fought for air, even as he deepened his kiss, reaching for Sarah with the very soul that the darkness was trying to tear away from him.
    Come to my light, Kane. Connect us. I can help you.
    A primal scream began to hammer at his mind, the wail of death and darkness trying to overtake him. He knew this was what had been coming for him for so long, and it was trying to take him now. He fought for breath, he fought for sanity, and he fought for his soul, even as he continued to offer himself to Sarah, trying to give her spirit an anchor to hold onto. Their connection wasn't just for her now. It was for him. He felt like her kiss, her touch, her skin were all that was keeping him from being sucked into the void clawing at his ankles, trying to drag him down further and further...
    Sarah flattened her palm across his chest, and white heat leapt from her, knifing right into his chest, splitting the blackness away from his lungs. He sucked in his breath frantically, his heart pounding with the violence trying to take it.
    He knew then that as much as he was her salvation, she was his. She was his only chance, and he was hers. He had no idea what was going on between them, but he knew that neither of them had a chance alone. They needed more. They both needed more. They needed each other. And they needed it now.
    He shoved at her shirt, tearing it over her head. Skin to skin, the rush leapt through him, and Sarah gasped at the contact as he lowered himself back on top of her.
    Yes, Kane. Yes . Sarah ran her fingers through his hair, kissing him as desperately as he was kissing her.
    He kissed her jaw, her throat, her collar bone, her breasts. Frantic, desperate, a race against death for both of them. He fought to reach for her with his mind, but the darkness was like a shield between them. Sarah. I can't reach you.
    You have to! This isn't enough!
    Kane felt the brush of her mind, and he was suddenly hit with an overwhelming sense of heart-wrenching desperation, despair and failure that he immediately realized was Sarah's. It was so intense it shook him to the core, nearly breaking their connection under the onslaught of the darkness still attacking him. Shit. He opened his mind to hers, knowing he needed to reach more than her mind and her thoughts. He needed to access her soul, the life that beat within her. Sarah. Let me in.
    She clung to him, kissing him fiercely, her lips moving desperately under his as the intensity of their kiss deepened. I'm