“I do,” I agreed. I knew my next words would probably irritate him more, but he had to hear them. “I also saw the look on Azote’s face when he spotted the sparks of life on my fingers, before I was able to really give him a good blast. It was so… lost and… hopeful. So broken. I believe I was right. What truly ruined the angels who were thrown from Heaven, what made them so twisted and evil was the loss of their bond to the flow of life. I think I could become like them too, if I lost the connection.”
I held my breath as I waited for his explosive denial that I could never become anything like them. He’d always denied Lucifer’s words so vehemently before.
Now, he remained unmoving, his eyes hooded as he stared at the water flowing around me instead of at me. My confusion grew as I watched him. I’d expected anger when I’d revealed this to him, not the sadness radiating from him now.
Finally, he lifted his gaze back to mine. “Then we will have to make sure the bond is never broken.”
“Yes,” I agreed, but the sadness didn’t leave his face. “Why does that upset you?”
“Nothing upsets me now that you’re here again.”
I didn’t fully believe his words. Something wasn’t quite right with him, but I didn’t have the energy or drive to pursue it right now. I finished shaving before ducking beneath the water a final time. Returning to the surface, I pushed my hair back from my face and made my way toward the shore. My exhaustion slipped away when Kobal’s eyes raked voraciously over me.
Damp from his own dip in the river, his hair was almost black as it hung around his face and clung to his forehead and cheeks. My body quickened as I drank in the sight of him.
I hadn’t expected him to climb out of the water before me, pull on his pants, and stand guard while I continued to bathe. I’d expected him to take me, to mark me as his once more and ease the need growing in me since we’d been separated. Instead, he held a towel open for me and enfolded me within it when I stepped toward him.
He desired me, I could see that in the fire of his eyes and the arousal straining against the front of his pants, but instead of drawing me against him, he rubbed the towel over my arms and body before reluctantly releasing me and stepping away. He handed me my clean clothes, which had been sitting on a large rock on the riverbank.
I hadn’t bothered to bring any underwear with me. I tugged on my pants and buttoned them before pulling on my shirt. He didn’t say a word as he retrieved the lantern sitting on the shore before taking hold of my hand and leading me toward the makeshift tent he’d built by draping canvas over some branches. He’d carefully laid out blankets on the ground before we’d gone to bathe. I didn’t see any of the others or hear anything over the chirrup of the crickets.
Kobal pulled back the canvas and gestured for me to enter ahead of him. Stepping inside, I turned to face him as he tugged the canvas into place.
He placed the lantern down and lifted my hairbrush from where it sat next to my backpack. His hands were gentle on my shoulders when he turned me around. Taking hold of a piece of my hair, he lifted it and, with tender care, worked the brush through the matted tangles in it.
The act was so soothing and intimate I didn’t know how to react to it as I watched the light of the lantern dancing across the green canvas surrounding us. It felt as if the world outside these walls ceased to exist while we stood silently together. With unmitigated patience, he spent half an hour working at the knots in my hair until it fell around my shoulders in wet tendrils that dampened my shirt.
He set the brush down, and with his hands on my shoulders, turned me to face him. I tilted my head back, my breath catching at the burning intensity of his eyes. He hungered for me as badly as I did him, yet he’d taken care of my outward needs first. I hadn’t believed it possible to love him anymore than I already did, but I was wrong.
His hands slid over my shirt. I almost pushed them back so I could take it off before he tore it from me, but he took hold of the bottom of the hem and leisurely lifted it up my stomach. My arms rose in the air as he tugged it over my head and tossed it aside. His nostrils flared as his gaze roamed over me. He’d just watched me bathe, but it felt as if this were the first time he’d ever seen my breasts bared to him.
Always before, our lovemaking had almost been a savage experience, consuming us both. He had needed me more than he’d needed to breathe.
Now, that desperate urgency shone in his golden eyes, but his touch was delicate and unhurried. The backs of his fingers skimmed over my belly, rubbing against my skin and sending a firestorm of passion through me. I wanted him inside of me so badly I ached for it, but I remained unmoving before him, curious to see what he intended.
As his hand slid up to cup my breast, my nipple rose eagerly to the pad of his thumb brushing over it. My breath sucked in when he bent his head to suckle upon it. My fingers threaded through his damp hair to pull him closer. His knuckles skimmed over my sides again before his hands gripped my ass. He pulled me against him as he nipped and licked at my nipple before giving it a small tug.
“Oh!” I gasped, my hips jerking forward.
He locked me against his body, lifted me up, and carried me over to the pile of blankets set against the wall. Kneeling down, he laid me down before sitting back on his heels to unbutton my pants, slide the zipper down, then pull them off. His fingers slid up my thighs, tracing over my skin in a teasing dance that had me panting for breath and desperate for him to ease the passion he stoked ceaselessly within me.
“I almost lost you,” he murmured, his eyes locking on mine. “Azote was so close to taking you from me.”
“I’m still here,” I whispered.
“Always here, always with me,” he rasped.
“Yes.”
With his eyes still on mine, he bent and kissed the inside of my knee. His palms spread my thighs further apart as his tongue seared over my skin toward my aching center. My heart raced with excitement, but I tried to close my legs when his tongue dipped lower toward the part of me yearning for him.
His hands were firm against my inner thighs as he held them open. “I’m going to taste you, River. I’m going to savor every inch of you, and you’re going to let me.”
My breath caught at his words, and I trembled beneath him. I wanted this, wanted the answer to what it would be like to have his mouth on me in such a way. I’d seen him do it to me in the dreams we’d shared, and I’d craved it, but the thought of him doing it now made me as nervous as it did aroused.
Unwilling to deny him anything, I opened my legs wider when he settled himself more firmly between them.
***
Kobal
My erection throbbed so forcefully against my pants that I had to grit my teeth against the pain. However, I was determined to taste her, to take my time with her, to enjoy her. My fingers slid over her as I inhaled the heady aromas of lemon and her tantalizing fresh-rain scent on her silken skin. The bruises marring her flesh stirred my rage, but touching her in this way, knowing she was safe in my arms again, helped to calm me.
I scraped my fangs against her inner thigh before sinking them into her. She jerked, her head fell back, and a low moan escaped her as her back arched off the blankets.
My marks, my Chosen.
I clasped hold of one of her breasts, kneading and massaging it as I slid my thumb over her hardened nipple. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the mesmerizing vision of her full breasts and the look of ecstasy on her face. She was so incredibly beautiful like this that I could deny myself for hours if it meant watching her as she was now.
Such an enticing blend of demon, angel, and human.
Too much angel. So much of it that I now knew I could never take the risk of breaking her connection with the life all around her by making her immortal.
Not now! Don’t think of it now.
Releasing my bite on her flesh, I licked away the blood beading on her skin before running my tongue over her as I moved toward what I sought. The scent of her a
rousal grew stronger, sharpening my instinct to see her satisfied, to give her the release she needed.
My eyes feasted on her damp curls and wet sex. Irresistible, like her.
Sliding my hands under her ass, I lifted her against me as I settled my mouth over her center. Her heat and wetness enveloped me. I moaned as my tongue licked over her. The taste of her liquid heat and the scent of rain seared my senses. Her hips undulated as they rose and fell beneath me, seeking more of my touch.
I couldn’t get enough of watching her. Her full breasts swayed with her movements, and her arms fell open at her sides as her hands twisted into the bedding beneath her. Taking hold of her right hand, I lifted it up and placed it against her breast. She froze, and her smoky eyes latched onto mine as I kneaded her hand over her breast, rubbing her thumb across her dusky nipple.
Tearing myself away from her intoxicating taste, I lifted my head. “Let me watch you pleasure yourself.”
She bit on her lower lip as if she were unsure, but beneath my palm, her hand moved over her breast, rubbing and kneading as golden-white sparks traced across our skin. She was exquisite; sweet and loving, uninhibited and eager to please. She was everything I ever could have dreamed of from my Chosen, and so much more.
My head dipped between her legs again. I watched her hand sliding over her breast before moving to caress the other one. Parting her further to my exploration of her, I drove my tongue deeper into her. Leisurely, I moved one hand from her ass to stroke her clit with my thumb.
My shaft pulsed with its need to be buried inside her, to spend myself in her body, but I continued fucking her with my tongue as I watched her uninhibited movements and feasted on her molten heat and honeyed taste against my mouth.
“Kobal!” she panted, her head thrashing to the side as her hips rose and fell demandingly against my tongue. Her back arched up and her head fell back when I stroked my thumb over her clit again, pushing her over the edge. I eagerly took in the hot wash of her orgasm, drawing it deeper into me as she cried out.
Unable to restrain myself from taking her any longer, I released her and sat back to yank off my pants. My dick jumped eagerly when River’s dazed eyes fell on it and a seductive smile curved her luscious mouth. Settling myself between her legs, I took hold of my cock and guided it into her warm, tight sheath.
I thrust forward, burying myself to the hilt within her body, as I settled myself deep within the only place I truly belonged. Hell, Heaven, Earth, none of it mattered when I was inside of her. I dropped my head to hers as I slid my fingers over the curves of her face.
“Mine,” I growled against her mouth.
She clasped hold of my cheeks as her tongue ran over my lips. “And you are mine.”
“Yes,” I agreed as I withdrew before thrusting forward again.
Her striking amethyst eyes darkened as she held my gaze. “I love you, Kobal, more than I ever believed possible.”
It was the first time I’d ever heard those words from anyone before. They seared into my heart, tightening my chest as I gazed at her in wonder.
“I love you too.” She was so much more to me than my Chosen. This infuriating, powerful, stubborn, proud, loving woman was everything to me, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her. “You truly are my heart, Mah Kush-la.”
Tears bloomed in her eyes. Gathering her within my arms, I pinned her against me and sank my fangs into her neck as I lost myself to the fulfillment only she could give to me.
CHAPTER 29
River
When I woke the next morning, I nestled closer to Kobal’s warmth, burying my head in his solid chest. I wasn’t ready to get back on the road yet. I wanted to forget this entire mission and lose myself to him and the little cocoon we had created. I had missed him so much, my body had hungered for him every second we’d been apart, and now he was back and the world was going to do everything it could to tear us apart once more.
He dragged me closer against his chest.
“It’s daylight,” I murmured.
“It is,” he agreed, his hand running down to grasp my ass.
“We should get ready.”
“I am ready.”
I couldn’t stifle my laugh as he dragged me onto his chest to rub his rigid arousal against me. I stopped caring about getting ready to go when he slipped inside of me. Lowering my head, I kissed over his neck before biting down on his shoulder to mark his flesh.
An hour later, I reluctantly pulled myself away, gathered my clothes and towel, and waited for Kobal so we could return to the stream to bathe. Most everyone was packed by the time we returned to the camp.
I climbed into the truck, settling in the middle as Hawk slid in beside me. Corson, Vargas, and Erin climbed into the back to sit with Bale who was already waiting there. Standing beside the driver’s side, Kobal reached into the truck and wrapped his hand around my angel figurine on the dash.
I lurched forward, grabbing his wrist before he could pull her away. “What are you doing?” I demanded.
He glanced at me then at the figurine in his hand. “I hate these winged pricks.”
“I know, but it stays.” His eyebrows rose at the frantic note in my voice, and I had to admit it astonished me too, but he couldn’t take it away from me. “I, uh… I found it and I want to keep it.”
My breath rushed out when he settled the angel back on the dashboard. He slid into the truck beside me, his gaze going between me and the angel. “Do you know what that’s about?” he asked.
“I really don’t,” I admitted. I still couldn’t explain my need for the figurine to myself, never mind someone else.
“There were probably thousands of them in that creepy-ass room,” Hawk said. “She only took that one.”
“What room?” Kobal inquired as he started the truck and pulled onto the road.
I explained to him the house and the room we’d discovered, leaving out the part with Angela. I needed some time to try to figure her out on my own still, but I told him the rest. “I only knew I had to have it when I saw it,” I finished. “And I’m not ready to let it go.”
“I see,” he murmured, though I knew he understood it about as much as I did.
“How much longer do you think it will be until we get to the gateway?” I asked as a way to distract all of us from the angel.
Kobal’s knuckles were white on the wheel as he stared ahead. “Three, maybe four days.”
I turned away before he could see the apprehension his words provoked in me. I didn’t know what would happen when we arrived at the gateway, but I was terrified I would lose him.
“I am going to keep you safe,” he vowed.
“I know. I’ve gotten stronger, better able to draw on life. I just have a difficult time remaining calm enough to push my fear aside and do it when being attacked.”
He stared at the road for a minute before looking at me. “How much better at it?”
I glanced at the others in the back of the truck; they were all leaning toward the open window, but their eyes were deliberately focused elsewhere. I swore Hawk was holding his breath beside me as he kept his gazed fixed out the passenger side window. Kobal glanced at them, a muscle in his jaw twitching. He didn’t know if he could trust them, but I did.
We’d all kept each other alive at the truck stop. They’d seen what I could do, and they knew what Azote had been. They still had no clue what I was, other than to know I had a giant bull’s-eye on my back for demons and fallen angels alike, but they’d still climbed into this pickup truck with me again today. They had to know that even with Kobal and the other demons present, it was still more treacherous to be around me than away from me.
We’re staying together, Erin had said, and she’d meant it. I had to fight back the tears threatening to fall at their loyalty and friendship. They deserved to know at least some of what was going on.
“I’m far better than I was. I practiced a lot during the time we weren’t speaking and before then. I was hoping to s
urprise you with it.”
Kobal released the steering wheel and grasped my hand. I immediately felt the swell of power from him arching over my fingers. “Later you can show me what you’re capable of,” he said.
“It’s nothing overly impressive.”
He smiled at me. “If it’s you, it’s impressive.”
It was so weird to hear and see him this way. This demon who had always been so aloof and callous, except when alone with me, was more open now, more loving. He loves me. I thrilled at the reminder, my hands sparking with golden-white light because of it.
I bit on my lip, unable to tear my gaze from his pure obsidian eyes. His fingers slid over mine and across the back of my hand in a way that had my insides turning to mush. Turning away, he focused on the road again, but his hand remained locked around mine.
I glanced at the others in the back of the truck and Hawk, but none of them asked any of the questions I knew had to be churning in their minds. Bale and Corson exchanged looks and shook their heads. The two of them grinned before elbowing each other.
I stifled a laugh over their amusement and turned to watch the scenery go by. We passed through more nearly untouched towns, and others so brutalized there was still little vegetation creeping in to reclaim the land. However, the devastated areas were beginning to crop up more and more often while the untouched ones were growing fewer and farther between.
Animals moved about the remains we encountered, but I saw no people, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to after the ones Kobal had encountered. There were a couple of times we had to turn around and find another route as we came across bridges that had collapsed or completely blocked roadways since the last time Kobal had been through here. I held my breath over the few bridges we did cross, convinced we were going to topple into the water or onto the roadways below us, but somehow they held up.
The sun was about to touch the horizon when Kobal pulled into a large field behind a burnt-out building and parked the truck. I wasn’t certain where we were, and after this day of constantly turning around, if someone told me we’d only traveled five miles from where we’d started, I would have believed them.
Carved (The Road to Hell Series, Book 2) Page 20
