“The stronger your powers get, the more they will consume you, and when they do, they will takehimtoo. There is finally one who can bring Kobal down, and it isyou. I’ve seen glimpses of your future, child, and it isinteresting.”
“You’re lying!” I accused.
“Like your powers, the stronger your bond becomes with him, the more it will threaten him. When those powers twist you, and they will, he will be dragged down with you. Angels and demons do not see the world in good and evil. I was born to set them free, and I will set them all free. I will show them they were wrong and you will be standing at my side when they learn of pureevil. What is inside of me is also inside of you.”
“No,” I choked out through the constriction in my chest. His words so closely echoed my own doubts and fears that no matter how much I tried to shake them off, they dug deeper into me. “No.”
“You will help me to take down the only one who has managed to elude me.”
“Lies, it’s all lies. You’re wrong. We’re stronger together.”
His smile grew, and the points of his wings tapped together when he ruffled them. “Are they lies? And are you stronger? Maybe if you were a demon, but you’re not. You aremychild and the creatures from this abysmal place have no idea what to make of us, but they will. The apple does not fall from the tree, River, ask Eve. I will be sending you a gift, child, look for it.”
Before I could respond, the shadows enveloped him once more and he vanished from view.
***
Kobal
River bolted upright so fast in bed that she wrenched herself from my arms when she leapt to her feet. I shot up, tossing the covers aside while she spun in a circle around the tent. Her eyes frantically searched for something as sparks shot from her fingertips.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“Lucifer.”
Seizing her shoulders, I drew her flush against my chest as my fangs burst free and my claws extended. “Where?” I snarled. She trembled against me before shaking her head. “Where, River?”
“Dream, it was a dream,” she murmured as her head fell forward and she rubbed at her temples.
Keeping hold of her shoulders, I pulled her away from me a little to take her in. She looked hollower somehow as her freckles stood starkly out against her ashen complexion and shadows encircled her eyes.
“You dreamt of him?” I asked.
“Nearly as tall as you, black hair, black eyes, beautiful. Has black wings with spiked points in the middle and two more at the bottom tips. Thinks I’m his child too. If that’s him, then yes, I dreamt of him.”
My blood ran cold as she spoke, and my fingers dug deeper into her bare shoulders. I forced my claws to retract before I pierced her flesh. Brushing the hair back from her cheeks, I clasped them in my hands and lifted her face. Her lower lip quivered when her gaze met mine. The panic in her violet eyes unnerved me.
“What happened?” I asked as calmly as I could, sensing she required my composure more than anything right now. “Tell me everything.”
“Heknewit was you who marked me!” she gushed out.
“Most likely,” I replied casually.
Inside, I felt anything but casual. The hounds stalked within me, demanding to be set free, to kill, rend, and tear apart any risk to her. They couldn’t know the threat had been her dream and there was nothing here for them to fight. If I set them free, they would rip through this town, shredding anyone who stepped in their path, much like I yearned to do. I didn’t care who it was, I had to feel their blood on my hands, had to kill something in order to unleash some of this savagery building within me.
Her hand on my cheek drew my attention to her. I didn’t realize my fangs and claws had extended again until her finger brushed over the tip of one of my upper fangs. My lips skimmed back, not in anger but with need. I could kill, or I could takeherand ease what was inside of me.
“He’ll use me against you,” she whispered as she pressed her naked body closer to mine.
As my Chosen, she would sense what I needed most now, though there would be no denying it as my hardened shaft pressed against her belly.
“He’ll never get the chance to try,” I assured her as I guided her toward the bed.
“He saw evil in my future, and I don’t care what you say Kobal, that man isevil. He is everything humans ever believed him to be.”
“He lied.”
“But what if he didn’t?” she asked.
