I’d spent over fifteen hundred years of mylife here. I was the only demon born of Hell fire, yet I’dforgotten there was no concept of time within this place. On Earth,the sun marked the start and end of each day. The humans were awareof every passing day; days they would never get back again, butsomehow they rose to face each new one.
There was none of that here. There was onlyan eternity if one didn’t get struck down by a fellow demon or oneof Lucifer’s followers.
Lifting her head, she folded her hands on mychest and rested her chin on top of them. With the amount of timeswe’d had sex and the flow of life teeming within the forest aroundus, she fairly glowed with vitality as she stared at me.
“Why don’t you keep time?” she asked.
I ran my fingers through her hair, watchingas the raven locks shone within the light of the pool. “Time passesdifferently here because it is barely acknowledged. We have no sunto mark the passing of our days, only the routine of waking andsleeping, but who knows when that occurs compared to your humanworld.”
Her brow furrowed. “Then how do you know howold you are?”
“We know our ages because once a year thefires of Hell burn hotter for one day only. They can be seenthroughout all of the caverns when it occurs. That day marks thepassing of a year to us. Whether the year is the same as a human’s,I don’t know. From my time on Earth, I would guess them to be veryclose. On the day the Hell fires burn hotter, every demon becomes ayear older, even if that demon is only a new-born babe at thetime.”
“Fascinating.”
I couldn’t help but smile as my hand stilledin her hair. “Or boring.”
“Never boring.” Her breath hitched when herbreasts rubbed over my chest.
“We should probably get dressed before wenever leave here,” I told her.
“I’m not sure I wouldn’t mind staying. It’snot such a bad place to be.”
I kissed her mouth before reluctantlyuntangling myself from her. “You wouldn’t be saying that in a fewdays when the forest is feeding on us.”
“No, probably not.” Sitting up, she drew herknees against her chest and hugged them there. “But I’m not surewhere I left my clothes.”
I pulled on the pants Magnus had given me towear. “I’ll retrieve them.”
Resting her chin on her knees, her gazeraptly watched my every movement. I took a deep breath to gaincontrol of myself before walking over to her with my shirt in hand.“Raise your arms.”
I groaned when she lifted her arms for me,causing her breasts to sway enticingly with the movement. My marksmarred her skin from where I’d claimed her as mine over and overagain, yet the compulsion to do so again gripped me.
“Must go,” I grated from between my teethand hurriedly slipped the black shirt around her back and onto herarms.
The soft material made from the calamutleaves swallowed her slender frame, making her appear smaller andmore fragile, yet so incredibly sexy. She pulled it forward,holding it closed against her front.
“Button it,” I said, unwilling to trustmyself to touch her again right now. Glancing down, she began toslide the buttons into place. “I’ll be right back with yourclothes. You’ll be safe here.” She nodded, but her gaze remainedfocused on the last of the buttons. I hesitated as I watched her.“Maybe you should come with me.”
“I’ll be fine here. I won’t run away, but ifI go with you, I can’t promise I won’t jump your bones again.”
A short burst of laughter escaped me. “Ican’t promise I’ll stop you.”
Her radiant smile robbed me of my breath.“Go,” she said with a wave of her hand.
I hesitated for a second, but apart rightnow was the only way both of us would end up fully clothed again. Iturned and strode into the woods, retrieving River’s discardedclothes as I went. After reclaiming one of her boots, I rose tosurvey the trees surrounding me. Scenting the air, I sensed no hintof a threat out there.
I retrieved River’s shirt from the forestfloor and turned to head back to where I’d left her when motionfrom my right caught my attention. Through the thick woods, Ispotted Corson and Magnus making their way through the trees. Istopped and waited for them to reach me.
“Is Hawk under control?” I askedgruffly.
Corson’s orange eyes dropped briefly toRiver’s clothes in my hand before returning to me. “Yes.”
“Good. I’ll meet you on the road in fiveminutes,” I told them and slipped back into the trees.
I found River kneeling by one of the firepools, her hair tumbling about her shoulders as she stared into thefire. I stepped beside her, my gaze sliding over her slender backand the round curve of her ass beneath my shirt. She brushed herhair back and lifted her head to smile at me. Even after thenumerous times I’d taken her, I could feel the effects of theforest and her enticing body luring me in once more.
“I should probably get dressed,” she saidand flicked a pointed glance at the growing bulge in my pants.
