Kobal ignored my questions and instead turned toward Bale as she jogged over to us. Her green eyes focused on me when she arrived. “Make sure everything is taken care of here,” Kobal commanded.
She barely glanced at him before responding. “I will.”
Corson and Shax walked over to stand beside Kobal, their eyes darting from him to me and back again. I thrust back my shoulders as I met their inquisitive stares. They said something to him in some language I couldn’t understand; it sounded guttural, foreign, and ancient. It made my head spin more.
It’s their language.
Kobal snapped something at them and they bowed their heads before hurrying away. “Come with me,” he ordered and tugged on my elbow.
“It doesn’t sound like you’re giving me much of a choice,” I muttered as he propelled me across the ground toward the cluster of tents on the hill.
“I’m not,” he retorted.
I shot him a fierce look as I struggled to keep pace with his relentless strides. The color of his eyes had faded back to their midnight color. I could still see the outline of his fangs against the inside of his mouth though. Reaching the tent, he threw back the flap and gestured for me to enter first. The rustle of the flap sliding into place caused a strange sense of finality to descend over me.
I turned toward him as he loomed in front of the exit, his arms folded over his chest while his gaze surveyed me from head to toe. I swallowed heavily, uncertain of what to expect or what had happened. One minute, I’d been going about my training, trying not to throw myself against him and lick him, and the next, I’d been in some strangely hushed world before it had shattered and flames had erupted from my palms.
Turning my hands over, I once again stared at my palms.Notnormal. I’d always known I wasn’t normal, but now I was beginning to question exactlywhatI was. These demons were looking for someone, I would be staying with them now, and I’d shotfirefrom my freaking hands.
Lowering my hands, I took a deep breath before focusing on Kobal. His jaw clenched, and a muscle jumped in his cheek when his eyes raked over me again. I didn’t think this visit was going to be as pleasant as our last one.
CHAPTER 20
Kobal
River’s violet eyes were guarded when they met mine. She folded her arms over her chest and stuck her chin out as she stared at me. My gaze slid over her slender frame, rounded hips, and long legs. She appeared far too fragile and human to be the one we were searching for, but there was no denying what she’d just done.
I’d been hunting for her for years, and she may be the key to ending all of this. I may finally be on the verge of putting everything to right again, but I would have given anything for it to be someone other than her.
She may not survive this.
At the thought of losing her, wrath slithered through me like a serpent.She will survive, I decided. No matter what it took, I would make sure she survived, but in order for her to do so, she was going to have to start telling me the truth.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the fire?” I demanded.
Her eyes flashed over me. “I wasn’t aware I had to tell youeverything about me.”
I took a step toward her, hoping to intimidate her in some way, but she merely tilted her head back and narrowed her eyes. I didn’t think she had an ounce of knowledge as to what she might be capable of, yet she was still brazenly courageous.
“I asked you once what else you could do.”
“And I told you what I was aware of, mostly,” she added the last word as an aside.
I stepped so close that my chest brushed over her folded arms, but she didn’t relent in anyway. “Mostly?” I growled. “What else can you do, River?”
“I don’t know,” she replied and her eyes fell away from me.
Taking hold of her chin, I tilted it up so she had to look at me. “How did you bring me into your world on the hill?”
“My world?” she asked in confusion.
“Your vision, world, whatever you call it. How did you draw me in?”
“I… uh… I don’t know.”
“Tell me, River.”
I moved closer as I struggled not to shake the infuriatingly stubborn woman standing before me. She had me so on edge that I couldn’t get my fangs to retract. They throbbed to rip into something and tear it to shreds. To destroy anything that ever dared to endanger her again.
