Read Online Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) by Stephanie Rowe - Free Book Online

want to toss her over his shoulder like some caveman and keep her by his side.
    Again, not a good sign for a warrior who’d had no trouble doing the “love ‘em and leave ‘em” thing for the last few centuries. Self-preservation always trumped lust…until he’d met her.
    “I’m heading out.” He opened a hidden wall cabinet and pulled out a large pack, already stashed full of everything he would need. He slung it over his shoulder, then caught a glimpse of her with her tousled brown hair and delicate frame. Something softened in his chest, something that hadn’t been soft since he’d murdered his own uncle. “You can stay here tonight and leave in the morning,” he offered in a move completely uncharacteristic of an anti-social bastard who never shared his space. “If I find your sister, she’ll tell you what happened. If she doesn’t contact you, then...” He forced himself to shrug. “It means I’m still looking.” Or it could mean he’d had to kill her sister, but shit, he didn’t want to go down that road.
    He was tired of crap like that. He really was.
    “What?” Her eyes flashed with awareness, and then disbelief. “You’re going without me?”
    “Hell, yes.”
    She set her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You expect me to sit here and do nothing while my sister’s life is in danger? The person manipulating her could make you their next target! I’m coming.”
    He headed toward the door. “There’s no chance you’re coming with me, or even coming near me again. Trust me, it has to be this way.” He grabbed the deadbolt on the front door and started to turn it—
    “Stop!”
    The urgency in her voice made his instincts ignite instantly, and he had his sword out and in his hand before he was even aware he’d done it. “What’s wrong?”
    Grace was staring at the front door, her hand over her heart. “Something’s out there.”

Chapter Four
     
    Quinn didn’t question Grace for an instant. Her conviction was too certain.
    There was a threat in his woods.
    He immediately tuned his senses to the outdoors. He heard the rain drumming on his roof, so loud he couldn’t hear anything else. The scent of moist earth and moss was so strong it blocked all other odors. He frowned, realizing that they were being magnified to block other sounds and smells. To provide cover. Was the Order already there for him? Or had Elijah come to finish the job? Or was it something else? Someone else?
    His spine tingling with anticipation, he reached for the lock to head out to investigate, driven by the need to find out what was going on—
    “No! Don’t go!” Grace grabbed his arm, jerking his focus off the woods and onto her.
    He swore under his breath when he looked into her worried face, realizing that if he went outside, he’d be leaving Grace alone. Unprotected.
    Unacceptable.
    He didn’t bother to question his need to make sure she was safe. It was too strong to ignore. “Stay here.”
    Quinn slammed the deadbolt shut, strode across the room, then threw his shoulder against the bed and shoved it to the side. He passed his hands over the knotted pine floor until he found the right location and pressed a trigger spot until one of the knots popped up. Using the knot as a handle, he straddled several boards, braced himself, then wrenched up six boards and the half-ton steel door they hid, revealing a dark tunnel below.
    He grabbed her backpack and tossed it down the hole, along with his. “This way out.”
    But Grace didn’t move, and she wasn’t even looking at him. She was staring at the front wall. “An illusion is building outside,” she said. “In your woods.”
    He paused with his hand extended toward her. “What did you say?”
    “An illusion.” Her gaze was riveted at the wall, as if she could see something visible only to her. “Something powerful. It’s building. I can feel it.” She frowned. “It’s not Ana. It’s too dark. It’s a bad one. I—” She closed her