Darkness Awakened

## Teaser

Quinn Masters will stop at nothing to rescue his rogue teammate. To save his blood brother and ensure his brand of justice triumphs, Quinn will break every rule of his kind and partner with the sensuous, courageous woman destined to be his ultimate destruction.
**They are willing to take the risk.**
Haunted by a brutal past, Illusionist Grace Matthews will risk everything to save her kidnapped sister, including putting her life in the sinfully capable hands of an immortal warrior whose ravaging kisses and intense passion propel her ruthlessly toward a fateful destiny she can't afford to believe in.

## Plot

1/2Quinn Masters is training potential Order of the Blade members when they are attacked by fellow member Elijah Ross. Everyone is killed, but Quinn somehow comes back to life after an unspecified amount of time. He discovers that one of his swords and some of the trainees' weapons have been stolen.

He returns to his home to find Grace Matthews waiting for him. She has come to beg his help in finding her kidnapped sister Ana. He is about to refuse when they both sense danger outside. As a sort of magical self-defense, Grace creates the illusion of an inferno engulfing the cabin and the pair flee through an underground tunnel. During their escape, Quinn acknowledges that Grace is his *sheva*, but he is determined not to complete the bond.

Grace and Quinn travel to The Gun Rack, a bar where a newspaper reported that Elijah had been killed after his attack on the trainees. Quinn searches the woods for Elijah's *mjui* and Grace looks in the bathroom for traces of Ana's illusions. They encounter Vaughn and Drew at the bar; Drew informs Quinn that the Order leader Dante Sinclair is dead.

Quinn takes Grace to Dante's fishing shack to meet up with the rest of the Order. There are a lot of verbal and physical fights over Grace's presence, since they have been trained to kill an Order member's *sheva* lest he go rogue. Quinn persuades them that they need Grace's powers of illusion for their mission and Grace convinces them further by actually discovering the presence of illusions in a few men's minds. One of the illusions convinces Zach Roderick to capture Drew and deliver him to Nate Tipton. Gideon Roarke pretends to side with Zach and accompanies him as a spy.

The rest of the Order deduces that Nate must be using Ana to kill Calydons, such as Drew and the dead trainees, who were descended from Caleb and his followers. Their weapons had bound his twin brother Ezekiel, the wholly evil original Calydon, so presumably weapons from the descendants could free him. Grace and the rest of the men travel to Ezekiel's prison to investigate and are ambushed by an army of Calydons. With Quinn's help, Grace finally embraces her dark side and unleashes an illusion of a volcanic eruption. She kills all of the enemy warriors; the Order members are shielded by Quinn. Meanwhile, Gideon has notified them that Zach is taking Drew to The Gun Rack.

The group amasses at the bar a final showdown with Nate and an attempt to rescue Ana. Ana manages to steal Nate's knife, which has an inscription regarding Ezekiel, and escape. During the battle, Quinn kills to protect Grace, thus completing the *sheva* bond. When Nate mortally wounds Grace, Quinn begins to go rogue, but the strength of their relationship and the support of his teammates pull him back from the brink. He puts them both into a healing sleep, where she encounters Dante in a realm between life and death. He informs her:

> You and Quinn have changed the course of destiny, and the future is now open... You could still fail, but there is a chance now. The fight is upon us, and it is yours to win or lose.
>
>

Before the Order can interrogate Nate, Ezekiel kills him via their mental connection. Ana entreats Gideon to find Lily Davenport, who had also been kidnapped by Nate. One mission is accomplished and the next will begin in Darkness Seduced.