I’d never been more exhausted or sated in my life, yet I found myself staring at the flickering lanterns on the sideboard. We’d been too tired to go into the other tent with the bigger bed, but collapsed onto the cot and continued to make love there until I had no idea what time it was. Kobal’s leg was locked over mine, his shoulder beneath my ear as his hand lazily circled my breasts.
“What did Mac say?” I asked.
Lifting his head, he propped it on his other hand. “There have been casualties here and all along the wall. They stopped some of the creatures from going over, but they couldn’t stop them all. After the first wave from the seals hit, the ones your father released, they still had communication with the government, but that ended three days ago.”
Horror curdled within me. “What happened to cause that?”
“He doesn’t know. Before he lost touch with them, the government was working on evacuating some of the towns and relocating people to a more secure area.”
“Were they bringing the evacuees to the wall?” I asked as I rolled onto my side to gaze up at him.
“No.”
“Where were they sending them?”
“They were grouping them together with surrounding towns to increase the amount of people who could fight. They felt it would be better protection for all and was a safer option than having people traveling to the wall. They didn’t want a good chunk of the human population located in one place. I agree with their decision.”
“Everyone would be sitting ducks with so many living near the wall,” I murmured.
“Exactly. There also aren’t enough resources to sustain the surviving human population if too many of them live near the wall.”
“Were my brothers moved?”
“Mac doesn’t know, but he thinks they’re most likely still in the same place, or nearby. You came from a remote area, one that can be better guarded than some of the other towns and has a natural food supply in the ocean.”
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves, but I couldn’t shake the crushing feeling growing in me. “What could have happened to the government?”
“If they weren’t killed, they probably fled. Once we have your brothers, we will work to establish a new rule on Earth. I’ve asked Mac to work with us and to assume a larger leadership role with the humans. He will require other humans to work with him, of course, but I want him in charge of them. We will receive his answer when we return.”
“They may have lost contact with our government, but there were still other ruling bodies around the world. What if those governments decide to bomb us all?”
“All they’ll succeed in doing is killing the remaining humans and destroying the rest of their planet. They know bombs don’t kill demons, not unless it’s a direct hit, and they also know we’re their only chance of survival.”
I rested my hand over his heart, taking solace in the steady beat of it. “It’s going to be anarchy.”
“We’ll find and kill Lucifer, which will chop the head off the snake. We will work to rebuild this world and make it a place where humans and demons coexist, but the humans will have to accept their new fate if they’re to live.”
“They’ll accept it,” I said. “The ones who came to the wall already have. People are resilient, and they’ll do whatever is necessary to survive. If anyone can pull everyone together and rule over them, you can—”
“Wecan.”
I smiled at him. “Yes,wecan, especially with the amazing group of fighterswehave.”
He chuckled as he caressed my cheek with his thumb, and his gaze fell to my mouth. I so badly wanted to lose myself in him again, but I couldn’t. “We have to get to my brothers.”
I started to roll off the cot, but he held me back. “You need rest.”
“I did rest, and if I stay in this bed with you, Idefinitelywon’t get any more resting done.”
I tried pulling my hand free, but he planted it against his chest. “Mac is organizing things for us with weapons, vehicles, and troops. It will still be some time before we are ready to leave.”
“What if Lucifer gets to my brothers first?”
“He exited Hell on the other side of the world. Even if he knows about your brothers and where to find them, we would most likely still beat him there. He can fly, yes, but his demon followers can’t.”
“But some of the creatures from the seal can,” I protested.
“Yes, and though they are lethal, they are not as cunning, pissed off, or deadly as the upper-level demons he freed from the hundredth seal. He won’t risk going after your brothers, and possibly running into us, without a large number of fighters behind him.”
