Unfortunately, he hadn’t given me a choicewhen he’d taken hold of my shoulder. I couldn’t control the wildsway of emotions rocketing around me right now or the influx ofpower those emotions brought forth. There was a way for me to spendeternity with him, and he hadn’ttoldme about it.
I understood his reasons, there would berepercussions, but I had a right to know and make the decision withhim instead of being kept in the dark. All I wanted was to be withhim; all he wanted was to keep me sheltered. Or worse, all hewanted was to use me. I had believed he loved me, that I was astreasured as he’d often made me feel, but he’d rattled myconfidence in him today.
He was the one who had given me the abilityto still have trust in others when my mother had betrayed me andthrown me aside. That trust felt as cold now as my mother hadalways been.
I’d pushed him too far though. This man wasobeyed, he was feared, and I’d tossed him like a rag doll. Furyblazed in his amber eyes, and I could see the hounds moving beneathhis flesh as he leapt to his feet with a bellow. Did the houndswant to tear into me, or were they seeking to protect me from hiswrath?
I took a step to the side to get away fromhim, but his fist drove into the wall beside my head so forcefullyit broke through the rock wall to his wrist. I gawked at thespectacle; my heart kicked against my ribs as rocks and dust raineddown from the broken wall. Moving backward, I managed not to jumpwhen his free hand slammed into the wall on the other side of myhead.
Unable to avoid it any longer, I met hisgaze. The muscles in his arms shook beside my head; all four of hisfangs were clearly visible as his lips had skimmed back to revealthem. I’d never seen him this enraged before.
“Don’t touch me,” I said with far morebravado than I felt considering my insides were quivering likeJell-O. He would never physically harm me, but he was all I couldsee and feel right now as his body encompassed my entire world.
“I’ll be theonlyone to ever shareblood with you, River. If you turn to another, not only will I killthem for aiding you, but it would be worse to me than if you didhave sex with them.”
“That’s ridiculous!” I sputtered.
“Is it?” he inquired.
I placed my hands against his chest to holdhim back when he stepped closer. The contact with him caused thelife to swell around us and the sparks to flare. I believed I had apretty good grip on my ability right now, but it was still morevolatile than I’d ever felt it before.
“Yes!” I cried.
“It would mean a piece of another man waswithin you, fueling you, feasting on you.” He lowered himself so hewas eye level with me. His fists remained anchored in the wall. “Iwill be the only one inside of you. The only one to know you.”
“You would allow me to die!”
“I would allow you to live as youshould!”
He tore his hands from the wall, causingmore rocks and dust to fall around me. He seized my hands on hischest, causing the sparks to increase. “This, this righthere is the main reason I didn’t tell you. In the beginning, I hadplans to change you. I didn’t tell you them because you had enoughto deal with, but I would have told you eventually. Then, you toldme that you believe the reason why Lucifer and the other fallenangels became the way they are, is because their connection withall life was severed, and you worried it could happen to youtoo.
“I don’t have to feel your bond to theearth, and all living things to believe you about that. What wouldturning you into a full-blown demon do to you? Do you think yourconnection to life would survive it? What if it didn’t? Do youthink I could handle being the one who turned you into amonster?”
“You still lied to me!”
“Not a lie, an omission.” I turned my headaway from the lips he brushed over my temple. “How do you think Ifelt knowing I could be selfish, damn the consequences, and keepyou forever? How many days and nights do you think I dreamed ofit?”
“You lied about Hawk!” I cried. “You keptwhat you suspected about him, from the both of us!”
“I did, but I did it to keep the both of youprotected. I planned to tell Hawk soon.”
“You should have told me! You’re supposed tobe my Chosen—”
“Iamyour Chosen.”
I glowered at him. “Yet, you are once againtreating me as if I am lesser than you, and can’t handle thesethings. I can.”
“I know you can.”
“Then why keep it from me?”
“Because I know I can’t risk doing somethingthat could destroy you! If I had told you about the possibility oftransitioning into a demon and you said yes, I wouldn’t be able tostop myself from changing you, no matter the consequences. I dreamof our children, as beautiful and proud as their mother. I dream ofan eternity with you by my side, and I know it cannot be.”
My anger turned to dust at the anguishbehind his admission. “I want those things so badly too,” Iwhispered.
My hands fell away from his chest; thesparks faded away. He threaded his fingers through my hair andjerked me closer to him. Pulling my head back, he claimedpossession of my mouth with a desperation that rocked me.
His other hand wrapped around my waist, andhe locked me against him. He lifted me up, sliding me over the hardlength of his body. The driving, possessive thrusts of his tongueleft me breathless and caused my head to spin. My fingers clutchedhis broad shoulders as I sought some stability in a world consumedby him and the passion he so easily stoked to life within me.
