We were supposed to start the mission today,heading into the center of the decimated country and toward Hellitself. I’d been told we were leaving at sunrise, but plans musthave changed, as the clock now read midnight.
“No. Get dressed and come with me,” heordered.
“Why?”
“Do you have to question everything Isay?”
“Yes.”
A muscle throbbed in his temple. I didn’tknow why I was arguing with him. I simply knew this was the mostwe’d spoken in days and I didn’t care what I had to do to make itlast longer.
“It’s important. Get dressed, River.”
He turned on his heel and stalked out of thetent. The only sign he’d been there was the rippling of the flap asit fell back into place behind him. I sat for a minute beforetossing aside the covers and swinging my legs over the side of thebed. I tugged on the flaxen brown pants and brown shirt, that hadbecome the mainstay of my wardrobe since arriving on this side ofthe wall.
Brown was the color the volunteers wore untilthey completed training. The only color on their uniforms was asingle band used to mark their groups. My band had been yellow, butonce I’d started training with the soldiers who would be makingthis journey with us, I’d stopped wearing the band.
I would be going on this mission withsoldiers who wore forest green uniforms, but I hadn’t asked fordifferent clothes so I could match the others. I’d stood out fromeveryone since I’d been brought here; there was nothing that wouldhelp me blend in with them more now.
Besides, Corson, one of Kobal’sseconds-in-command, had informed us during part of our orientationfor this journey that the Craeton demons, those on Lucifer’s sideof this war, would tear us to shreds and bathe in our blood nomatter the color of our outfit. The muted colors we wore were tohelp us blend in with our environment a little better.
Some of Corson’s other encouraging wordsduring his spiel were to expect anything and everything. Most of itwould be hideously worse and more lethal than anything we couldever imagine. The fact he had sparkly, red, beaded earringsdangling from the pointy tips of his elf-like ears had done nothingto ease the fear his words created.
I knew this journey was going to be awful,and many probably wouldn’t survive it, but I tried not to dwell onit. Dwelling on the unknown was a guaranteed way to shred thealready thin line holding my composure together.
I’d been on an emotional roller coaster ridesince being forced to leave my family behind and come here. Beinginformed I was part demon and angel and the only living descendentof Lucifer hadn’t helped. To cap it all off, I’d fallen for abossy, domineering, short-tempered demon, who had completely stolenmy heart before I’d ended the relationship. I couldn’t deal withworrying about what was to come on top of it all.
I ran a brush through my raven-colored hairbefore setting the brush on the bedside table. Ducking through theflap, I entered the main part of the tent with the table andsideboard inside of it. I tried not to look at the cot Kobal hadbeen sleeping on since our fight, but my eyes completely disobeyedthe commands of my brain.
My heart plummeted when I saw his bed wasundisturbed,again.Where had hebeen staying? Had he returned to the bonfire and the humans anddemons who went there to have sex? He had killed one of the humans,but the women in town still desired him. I hated the way theywatched him, practically drooling whenever he walked by. Despitehis lethal, foreboding air, he still oozed sexuality, and womenwere attracted to it like bees to honey.
You ended it withhim.
For the life of me, I couldn’t remember whywhen I stepped out of the tent and spotted him standing beside theflap with his arms folded over his chest. The warm July breezeruffled his hair as his eyes raked over me. The moonlight caressedhis body, making him appear as if he were a part of thenight—which, I guess in many ways, he was.
Looking at him, I couldn’t help but recallthe flex and bunch of his muscles when my hands ran over hisunrelenting flesh, the salty taste of his skin beneath my mouth,and the pulse of his shaft within my body. The sounds of ecstasyand possession he’d released while inside of me echoed in myhead.
I fisted my hands and looked away from him asmemories threatened to drown me within their depths. He’d rippedthe head off a woman. He may care for me, but he may not ever beable to love me in the way a human loved another human. In the wayI loved him.
He could loveyoumore, in his demon, Chosenway.Besides, you know there’ssomething more than human about the bond betweenyou.
I felt my defenses slipping when his eyes metmine and his head tilted to the side.Lucifervowed you would become like him. He flat out told you he would useyou as a weapon against Kobal.
Lucifer lies. He’s Satan;he knows the Chosen bond will only make you bothstronger.
Kobal said you wereacting hysterically.Okay, the fact he’d said that to meduring our fight still rankled. Maybe I had been a littlehysterical while I’d still been covered in the blood of the womanhe’d killed, but he could have kept his thoughts about it tohimself. Although Kobal had never been one to keep his thoughts tohimself, and tact was not something he considered, ever. Hishonesty was one of the things I liked most about him, even when ithurt to hear. However, now, I could admit I’d been overwhelmed byhis actions that day and not entirely thinking clearly.
He hadn’t been sleeping in the tent with merecently; Bale had been staying with me instead. He was most likelypassing his nights in between someone else’s legs now, I remindedmyself. I managed to gather my pride again and tilt my chin up athim. He’d proven to be just like every other man who had passed inand out of my mother’s life over the years. I tried to latch ontothat idea, but inside, I knew it wasn’t true.
If I hadn’t pushed him away, he never wouldhave turned to another.
CHAPTER 2
River
“Come with me,” he said and stepped away fromthe tent.
I frowned at his broad back, but followed himdown the hill toward the town. The moonlight lit the way wellenough that a lantern wasn’t required to see. The red lights on topof the wall cast shadows over the ground as they blinked on and offrepeatedly. I’d grown accustomed to the lights over the two monthsI’d been here and rarely noticed them anymore, but now their redglow seemed almost ominous.
