“That was never supposed to be part of this,”I told her.
“Make a deal with the Devil,” River said witha laugh.
“Kobal—”
“I donotlike this,” I interrupted Corson. “What will absorbing Hell do toyou?” I demanded of River.
“There is only one way to know,” River saidand turned to the others. “Could you please leave us for abit?”
“Of course,” Corson said.
They slipped away into the shadows of thewoods or headed back toward where the humans were gathered. Risingto her feet, River came toward me. Her hips swayed and her hairfell about her shoulders in tumbling waves as she walked. Stoppingbefore me, she slid her hands up the front of my shirt andflattened them against my chest.
Her mouth parted as golden-white sparksdanced across my flesh beneath the material of my shirt. Thosesparks were the same color they’d been before we’d entered thismore deadened area of the country and she’d started having a moredifficult time drawing on the life force of the earth.
“You are my greatest source,” she whispered.“The one who keeps me grounded and makes me feel the most alive.Nothing else can make me feel the way you do. With you by my side,I can face anything.”
“I’m worried about what being around Hell andfeeding from it will do to you.”
“I’ll withstand it.” Her hands slid down mystomach to the waistband of my pants. She believed it. I longedtoo, but the idea of losing even a small piece of her was more thanI could stand. “Together we can get through anything.”
My arms swept around her, pulling her firmlyagainst my chest before crushing my mouth to hers. She moaned whenI slid my tongue over her lips. Her mouth parted and her tonguebrushed against mine as I delved in to taste the sweet recesses ofher mouth. More sparks shot across my flesh as I pressed heragainst the trunk of a tree.
Pulling away from me, she impatiently tuggedmy shirt over my head and tossed it aside. Her eyes lit up whenthey landed on my chest and her tongue slid out to lick her lips.The hunger in her gaze caused my cock to swell against the front ofmy pants. I’d never grow tired of this woman, never be able to getenough of her.
Her hands rested on my chest as her fingerstrailed over my markings there. Beneath her touch, my flesh rippledand power surged toward her, causing the sparks on her fingers togrow until they danced within her spectacular eyes.
“Chosen couples are stronger together,” shewhispered. “Always yours.”
“Yes.” My hand entangled in her hair to pullher head back before claiming her mouth again.
CHAPTER 47
River
Over the next week, the six of us traveledback inside the bar and to the gateway every day. Each day, I wasable to withstand the harrowing effect it had on me a little more.I was even able to get closer to it, though I had yet to reach itsside. Kobal remained taciturn and watchful, but he didn’t drag meaway from the gateway like I’d dreaded he would on that firstday.
After we left, he would take me away from theothers and allow me to take energy from him. I felt like a batteryin need of recharging every time, but the recharge time wassteadily decreasing.
The one good thing about not being able tocharge straight up to the gateway and try to figure out a way toclose it was that five other demon and human groups from differentsections of the wall joined with us over the week. Some arrivedwith only a handful of survivors, but some arrived with moresurvivors than we’d had. At the end of the week, there were overeighty new humans and twenty-eight demons added to our numbers.
“What will the humans do if we have to gointo Hell?” I asked Kobal when we made our way back out of the barafter a new record of five hours near the gate.
“They’ll stay here and hold the ground asbest they can. The other humans are here to protect you, and that’sall that matters.”
“You make them sound expendable.”
“We are.” My head shot toward Hawk as heuttered those words. “We all knew it when we left the wall. Yourlife was always the most important, but none of us knew why. Moststill don’t.”
“Noone’slife is more important than another,” I bit out.
“But in this case, it is.”
I refused to argue with him further as westepped outside. It was like entering a warm house after beingtrapped out in the cold for hours. My fingertips tingled, heattraveled through my extremities, and life flowed through my veins.I was becoming better attuned to the gateway, feeling lessmalnourished every time we left there, but I still craved this. Iburrowed closer to Kobal when he lifted me up and carried me awayfrom the others.
Later, we reemerged from the woods to rejoineveryone. I settled in beside the small fire Hawk and Erin hadstarted near the edge of the woods while Kobal went to speak withthe group of demons gathered near the stairs of the bar. Vargas satacross from me, turning a spit with a rabbit on it over the fire.Behind Hawk, a group of some new female arrivals had gathered. Theywhispered and giggled behind their hands as they watched him.
Since we’d settled in, a fair amount of thenew women in the camp had been drawn toward Hawk. They flirted asthey batted their lashes and tossed their hair over theirshoulders. Hawk was handsome, there was no denying it, but it wasalmost as if these women had never seen a man before with the waythey acted.
