The truck engines were turning off when I arrived at the line of vehicles. I strode purposely forward, surveying the group of new recruits as the older soldiers herded them along. The distress of the newest volunteers beat against me, and the acrid stench of their despair filled my nostrils. My nose wrinkled at the disgusting aroma.
Through the crowd, I spotted Bernadette in her dark green uniform standing with what had to be the possibility at her side. Colonel Mac, one of the few humans I could actually tolerate, appeared beside them. He stood on the other side of the possibility, keeping her boxed in between them. She scowled at the two of them before turning her attention to the crowd funneling past her.
Definitely not a willing one. More than a few possibilities had arrived behind the wall against their will, only to discover they weren’t who we were searching for after all. If a few human lives were upended and sacrificed to save the many, so be it.
The possibility folded her arms over her chest as the last of the new recruits trudged by her. “Now what?” she asked. “Am I some sort of sacrificial lamb or something?”
“Not at all,” Mac replied.
“That remains to be seen,” I replied as I stepped before her.
Her black eyebrows shot up at my words. Her gaze remained on my chest for a second before her head slowly tipped back to take all of me in. A muscle in her cheek twitched when her eyes finally reached my face, but I saw the curiosity in her gaze as she took me in.
Her eyes!I clamped back the small thrill that went through me as those amethyst eyes settled on mine.
Looking at her, I realized more than her eyes marked her as different from the other possibilities I’d encountered. Unlike the other unwilling ones, or the new volunteers, I didn’t smell her fear. No, anger and resentment simmered beneath her outwardly calm surface. I may not look as different to the humans as some of my brethren, but I certainly didn’t look like a typical human male, either. This girl was only the second human to show no fear of me; Mac had been the first.
I studied her more closely. Her black hair hung in waves about her shoulders down to the middle of her back. The tendrils of it emphasized her round face and proud chin. Sweeping black lashes framed the amethyst eyes currently holding mine. Her skin was tanned to a golden hue from the sun. Freckles speckled the bridge of her slender nose and a faint white scar marred her right eyebrow, but otherwise her skin was unblemished. There was no denying she was pretty, for a human.
My gaze slid over her flat stomach, round hips, and long slender legs. I’d been with human women since arriving on this plane. Being with them had been more the slaking of a need in a willing body, but then that had always been my experience with women both human and demon alike. Pleasurable but not memorable. This one though, I was stunned to find myself actually desiring her as my gaze lingered on her plump breasts and my cock swelled with need. I had a feeling I would remember burying myself within her.
Her shoulders thrust back, emphasizing her breasts in the thin linen shirt she wore. Her eyes burned with fire when I met them again. She may not be the one we were looking for, but she had more spirit to her than most of those we encountered, and I found myself enjoying it immensely.
“And who might you be?” I inquired of her.
Her full lips pressed into a thin line; it was Mac who answered. “Kobal, this is River Dawson.”
“River,” I greeted.
“Kobal,” she replied flatly.
I felt my lips quirk toward a smile; this human was almost amusing, in a way.
“Is it her?” Mac inquired.
My brow furrowed as my attention was drawn to Mac. He knew it would be difficult to know if someone was the progeny until we had worked with them for a while. We were all growing tired of the search, but the normally stoic man had asked a question he never had before.
“I don’t know. We will find out,” I replied.
“Find out what?” River demanded. She tried to act indifferent, but I saw something likeinterestin her gaze as she surveyed me.
“That will come in time,” I told her.
My eyebrows rose when she glowered at me before turning to Mac. “Where am I staying, or am I expected to sleep on the ground? Or will it be a cell?”
“No need for a cell; the only place you can run is out there.” I pointed at the empty night beyond the rows of houses. “And unless you want to die, I would suggest not going that way.”
CHAPTER 9
Kobal
She stared out at the darkness as if she could somehow pierce the veil. From somewhere in the night, the forlorn cry of a creature not of her world echoed through the air. Her face remained impassive, but I caught a flash of uneasiness in her eyes.
“I will escort you to where you’ll be staying,” Mac told her.
River gave me a scathing glance before following Mac down the street through the row of houses toward the home where he resided. Over the past four years, there had been possibilities from around the world. All of them were housed away from the other humans until either myself, or whatever demon I’d left in charge of the area, cleared them of being a possibility. Afterward, the debunked possibility was moved in with the others to assimilate into their new lives.
I stood and stared after the enticing sway of her hips, unable to believe she had absolutelynofear of me. Even if she took my eyes as some kind of deformity, my size alone caused most humans to stumble out of my way or gawk at me. It would be interesting to see how River fit in.
