Now, I’d sent Bale from this house while I remained in the room, listening as River stood naked beneath the spray of warm water. I lifted the ruined shirt she’d tossed onto the bed before going into the bathroom. My hands fisted at the sight of the jagged tears shredding the back of it. I’d come so close to losing her today.
There was a good possibility I would lose her in the future. I planned to drag her into the middle of a war, possibly into Hell itself after all, and Lucifer knew she existed. He didn’t know where she was or who she was with; we’d be facing the full might of his army right now, if he knew her location.
My entire existence had been about regaining the throne I’d never even sat upon, but I would lay down my life and let the next varcolac rise before I let something happen to her.
As the water turned off, I listened to her moving about for a few seconds before the door opened. Steam and the smell of lemon soap wafted out the door behind her, enshrouding her in a misty haze. She froze when she spotted me in the room. Her black hair hung in tumbled, wet strands around her pretty face and over her shoulders.
Taking a deep breath, her hand clasped the towel wrapped around her closer to her body. My gaze was drawn to the black and blue bruises marring her delicate throat. The perfect imprint of fingers on her flesh stood starkly out against the white towel and caused an involuntary snarl to tear from me.
Her breath caught at the sound, and she took a startled step back, but didn’t get far before I descended on her. Seizing her arms, I dragged her against me. I’d spent far too much time dreaming about being inside of her, denying myself, and staying away from her. However, she’d almost died today, almost been torn away from me. I wouldn’t be denied anymore.
My hand entangled in her wet hair, pulling her head back as my mouth claimed hers in a possessive kiss that caused her to squeak. Her fingers dug into the flesh of my chest. I hadn’t bothered with putting a shirt on again after showering; I’d barely bothered with pants in my haste to get back to watching over her.
Wrapping my hand around her, I grabbed hold of her ass through the towel and pushed her more firmly against the erection straining against my pants. She moaned low in her throat, a sexy sound that only drove me crazier with my need to possess her. Lifting her up by her ass, I held her against me until her legs circled my waist and clung to me.
“Let me inside you, River,” I murmured as I ran my tongue across her luscious lips. I may not have kissed many women in my life, but I couldn’t get enough of it with her. She tasted of fresh rain mingled with a sweetness that I would never forget.
She quaked when I lifted her and rubbed her against the throbbing length of my hard-on once more. Lowering my other hand, I slid it beneath the edge of the towel and up across her silken thighs. Her bare flesh beneath my hand was the most exquisite thing I had ever experienced, and I wantedallof it.
Her breath came in pants; her heart beat rapidly in my ears, but it was the strong aroma of her arousal that held me most enthralled. Musky with need, sweet like her lemon soap and extremely potent. I’d never experienced anything like it in all of the many demons and humans I’d been with. I wanted to bury myself in it, inher;to lick her from head to toe, taking the taste of her into me as that scent enveloped me.
She became still against me; her body trembling with anticipation as my fingers dipped between her thighs. I’d planned to tease her, to hear her beg for more as she did in my dreams, but real life was far better and more consuming than any fantasy. I had to feel her,now.
Slowly, I slid my hand forward, my palm brushing against her center. I groaned when I found her already slick with want for me. My fingers stroked over her, causing her to buck in my arms as she whimpered. My head spun, the world was spiraling out of control. I’d planned to savor my first time with her, yet I was on the verge of tearing my pants off, shoving her against the wall, and fucking her until she screamed my name and collapsed from exhaustion.
Somehow managing to maintain my restraint, I leisurely slid my finger into her heat. A shudder wracked me at how deliciously tight she was. Her muscles clenched around me, drawing me deeper into her. She released a harsh breath against my neck and pressed closer to me.
“It will be better than any dream,” I promised.
I slid my finger in and out of her in a rhythm her hips surged forward to meet. Her mouth pressed against my neck and her teeth scraped over my skin. The crackle of her sparks sounded in my ears as her hands slid over my shoulders.
Spinning, I turned her toward the bed in the room and walked the three steps to it. I refused to let her go, refused to let her have a chance to change her mind as I placed her on the bed. Leaning over her, I took hold of the towel and pulled it open to reveal her breathtaking body. She tried to grab the towel and cover herself up again, but I wouldn’t relinquish it to her. Not when I was finally getting to take her all in.
She was stunning with her flushed skin and luscious curves. Training had turned her muscles and body into something more honed than when she had arrived, but her hips were still rounded and her gorgeous breasts were full. Trimmed, black curls shaded her sex from my view but my mouth still watered at the sight of them. I even found her tan lines entrancing as my gaze raked over her.
She went to pull the towel over herself again, but I held it away from her. “Let me look.” Her midnight lashes fell to shadow her striking eyes. “You’re beautiful.”
I saw the awe and uncertainty shimmering in her eyes when they came back to mine. As I watched, her dusky nipples puckered beneath my gaze. Nudging her thighs apart, I kept my right thigh between hers when I knelt on the bed over her. I slid my hand over one of her breasts, letting it fill my palm as I cupped it and ran my thumb over her nipple. When I bent to take it into my mouth, sparks shot from her fingertips and her back arched off the bed.
She tasted better than any dream ever could have, I realized as I swirled my tongue around her nipple. Drawing it gently between my teeth, I nipped at it before lavishing it again. Her hands entangled in my hair, pulling me closer as her hips rose to rub against my thigh. Her head thrashed to the side as she eagerly rode my leg.
“That’s it, River,” I murmured. I leaned my thigh into her as she spiraled farther out of control beneath me. “Let go.”
My entire body screamed for release, but I was fascinated with her wild abandonment. She had always kept a part of herself guarded, but now she was completely uninhibited beneath me. Releasing her nipple, I left a trail of kisses over her skin, tasting the shower water on her flesh before taking her other breast into my mouth.
All I’d thought of for weeks was being inside of her, feeling her straining against me and her legs around my hips as I relentlessly drove into her, but I found myself relishing every inch of her silken body. I didn’t savor or linger with others before her; it was not my way. I made sure my partner found satisfaction, but learning their body had never been part of the process.
I couldn’t get enough of learning her.
“Kobal!” she gasped, tugging at my hair. Her body went rigid against mine as I slid my hand over her flat stomach and toward the enticing juncture between her thighs once more. Her mouth turned into my ear. “Kobal, someone is in the house.”
I jerked away from her as I leapt to my feet and spun to face the door. I had no idea who would have dared to interrupt us, but right then I could have killed them. River jerked the towel around her and sat up as Bale appeared at the top of the stairs. When Bale looked to River, I stepped protectively in front of her to block her from view.
“What is it?” I barked.
She rested her hand on her hip. “Mac is waiting for you at the tent. If you are to repair our relations with the humans, I’d suggest you don’t keep him waiting.”
I ground my teeth together, resentment and disappointment crashing through me. “I’ll be right there.”
