Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) by Stephanie Rowe

the sheva destiny was crap. If there was a woman he could have picked to get bonded with, it was a woman who refused to accept it, a woman who would fight their fate every step of the way. Of course, others had tried. Shit, he’d seen Calydons and their women bleed their hearts dry trying to stop the hell coming for them, and no one had made it. Not a damn one.
    “I have things to do, dammit,” she muttered as she yanked her foot out of a deep pocket of mud. “I don’t have time for this shit. Destiny my ass.”
    Hell. Even her swearing made him hot. He started walking behind her, his amusement fading. No matter how resistant they both were to their destiny, neither of them had time to deal with it. Not right now. Not with the lives of so many people at stake.
    He had time only to go after Elijah, not to throw Grace down, rip her clothes off, and cement their bond until they were both too exhausted to move…though hell, he liked that idea. Too damn much, actually. He grimly watched the tempting sway of her hips as she slogged across the wet ground. “Trust me, I have no interest in falling in love with you either, but if you don’t stop swearing, I’m going to tackle you and take you right here in the mud.”
    She looked back at him and made a locking gesture across those decadent lips of hers. Not a word more, was her unspoken promise.
    Not that he’d take her rejection of his offer personally, or anything, but damn. His sheva could resist him? He must not be as much of a stud as he’d always assumed he was.
    Unfortunately, the fact that she’d shut him out so easily didn’t help his own urges much.
    A clump of mud dropped in front of him, landing with a squelch. He eyed the oozing ceiling with a growing foreboding that did wonders to curb his lust.
    Turned out, the fact he was taking his sheva deep into a collapsing tunnel was exactly the buzzkill he needed. See? He had everything totally under control.
    * * *
     
    Ana Matthews shivered in the dark woods, her wet tank top plastered to her body as she watched the flames finally burn themselves out, revealing the house she’d been brought here to work on. Her heart stuttered when she saw turquoise particles fall from the flames. She’d recognize that shade of dust anywhere: it was her sister’s. “Grace?” she whispered, her heart leaping.
    “Your sister?”
    Ana recoiled as Nate Tipton walked up beside her, a long, serrated knife dangling from his fingers, his black eyes alight with interest. The Calydon warrior was wearing a stained brown T-shirt, still splattered with the blood from the last Calydon he’d killed. Similar stains covered his jeans.
    It was the same outfit he’d worn the night he’d plucked Ana off a busy street. No one had noticed him take her. No one had heard her screams, even though there were people inches from her.
    It was simply as if she hadn’t existed.
    Or as if they’d been covered by an illusion...but Nate wasn’t an Illusionist. So how had he done it? Mind control? Calydons weren’t capable of mind control. It made no sense, and she had to find out, so that if she escaped...no... when she escaped, he couldn’t trap her the same way again.
    Nate thoughtfully rubbed his palm over one of the bloodstains. “Your sister’s here?”
    Ana flinched as he trailed the edge of his blade down the back of her bare arm, even though she knew the threat of violence from him was over for the moment. The illusion had happened, so there was no more need to hurt her. For now.
    She would never betray her sister’s presence to him. Never. “No, she’s not here,” she lied. “I was just thinking that she’d be shocked if she saw the fire I’d made. She thinks I’m so innocent.” And so had she. God, she never thought she could become the person Nate had turned her into.
    Nate had made it very clear what he planned to do to Ana once he deemed her usefulness over, and she knew Nate would have no reason to keep from acting his