His body vibrated with a different energy as he moved me down the hill toward the tent. Daring to glance up at him from under my lashes, I noticed the sweat beading across his brow and the firm set of his jaw. His head turned toward me, and a black eyebrow rose when he found my eyes on him.
I looked away hastily before responding, “I had to go to the bathroom.”
“The house is in the complete opposite direction.”
I couldn’t deny the truth.
His hand squeezed my shoulder. “It’s not safe for you to wander outside alone. You shouldn’t have disobeyed me, and you shouldn’t have gone near the fire.”
Yep, bring on the fire extinguisher. Maybe, just maybe, I could have gotten over him catching me gawking like an idiot if he had never mentioned it, but I should have known better. “I was curious,” I muttered.
He released a derisive snort. Stopping abruptly, he drew me back with him. Over his shoulder, I saw the distant flames leaping into the sky. I was still curious about what was going on there, about what it would be like… with him. My pulse raced as a throbbing ache spread between my legs.
“And did you have your curiosity answered?” he inquired.
“I, uh… I, ah… I guess,” I managed to stammer out.
“You guess? What did you expect to find?”
“I don’t know. What they were, ah… doing, do they do it often?”
“Every night.” My jaw fell faster than an apple from a tree. He folded his arms over his chest as he leaned back on his heels to survey me from head to toe. “Why is that so shocking to you?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” I murmured. “I didn’t know…”
“Didn’t know what?” he inquired when I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth.
I couldn’t stop my gaze from running over him. It lingered on his full mouth before traveling over his broad shoulders, tapered waist, and finally settling on the enticing bulge in the front of his pants. I bit my bottom lip and tore my attention away from it to look at anything other than him.
“Didn’t know what, River?”
The gravelly tone of his voice did funny things to my insides. “They looked like they were enjoying themselves.”
“Oh, they were.” The purr of his voice drew my attention back to him. “It is extremely pleasurable with a demon. We’re known for our stamina and… size.”
A shiver raced down my spine. The goose bumps breaking out on my flesh had nothing to do with the air blowing over my dampened hair and skin. I rubbed my arms, but found the sensation only made my body feel more alive.
When I looked at him again, I found his gaze latched onto the front of my shirt. Glancing down, I realized my nipples stood out against the thin material. I hadn’t bothered to put a bra on before going to use the bathroom, so they were now clearly visible for him to see.
I folded my arms hastily over my chest to cover them. When his eyes lifted to mine again, they were that striking gold color I’d seen only once before. My heart felt like it would explode out of my chest. It might actually latch itself onto him if it did, I realized in disgust—everything in me wanted to latch onto him.
“They do that willingly?” I croaked out.
“Didn’t they look willing?”
“Well, yeah,” I hedged, “I’ve never seen humans act like that before.”
A smile curved his mouth; it was anything but kind. “There are many things you’ve never seen humans do that they do often. You expected it of my kind though.”
“I don’t know what to expect of your kind,” I admitted.
“We take pleasure where we can find it, much like humans, except we have none of the reservations about it your species does. And we have many needs we satisfy as often as we can and with whomever is willing.”
“Why aren’t you at the fire with them?” I managed to get out past the lump in my throat.
“Because I don’t wish to be.”
“But you have been?”
“Many times.”
“And with many women.”
It wasn’t a question, but he replied anyway, “Yes.”
I couldn’t stop myself from wincing when the image of that woman from earlier, with her head in between his legs, blazed into my mind. A red-hot poker of jealousy pierced my chest. Just once it would be nice if he pulled some punches, but the only thing he ever held back on were things concerning and affecting my life.
Ugh, I hated them all, I decided.
“And now I have to watch over you,” he continued.
Nope, I simply hated him.
“I don’t need anyone to watch over me,” I grated out. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m able to defend myself better than any other human here. So don’t use me as your excuse. Go, have fun.”
I spun on my heel to return to the tent, but his hand snaked out and his fingers enclosed around my wrist, jerking me back around to face him. I didn’t have time to protest before he pulled my body flush against his. My breath rushed out of me; my body reacted as if it were hit by an electrical bolt.
A blast of power rushed from him and into me. I moaned, and my head tilted back as I instinctively sought to get closer. I didn’t know if it was his desire causing such a rush, or if he’d let some of his defenses against me down, but I’d never felt this flood of energy from him before.
Rising onto my toes, I gasped when the movement brought the bulge between his legs into contact with the yearning, sensitive area between my thighs. I didn’t know what possessed me to do it, but I rubbed against him, crying out when the motion caused pleasure to scorch through my body.
I felt crazed and out of control for him as I ground against him again and again. The whole time, he watched me from those amber eyes, his body unmoving as his erection swelled further.
Breath heaving, I gradually regained control of myself as the initial rush ebbed. The pulse of his power continued to beat against me, but I could handle it now without feeling as if I were going to crawl all over him and tear his clothes off. However, my fingers still itched to shred his shirt from him, to run my tongue over his body, and taste his fire-scented flesh.
He leaned over me, inhaling deeply and causing a fresh firestorm to go through my body when his eyes blazed brighter than the sun on an August afternoon. His head turned into mine, his nose pressing against my ear as he inhaled again. I was afraid if I moved even a centimeter, I would somehow ruin the moment or break the spell.
Then his fingers released my wrist and slid up my arm. I barely perceived his touch on me, yet my skin felt seared by his caress. His hand cupped my cheek within his palm and lifted my head toward his. My eyes fell to those enticing lips I’d craved to feel against me for so long now. I held my breath as I waited for something, anything.
He remained unmoving, seemingly torn as he stood against me. Just when I was about to yell at him to end my torment, he bent his head and his mouth claimed mine. I’d thought the original wash of power had been jolting, now I nearly screamed as his mouth slid hotly over mine and something surged up between us.
A dim crackling noise barely penetrated the haze of passion consuming me. When his tongue traced against my lips, my knees gave out. His hands on my waist kept me standing when his tongue brushed over my mouth once more. On a sigh, I parted my lips to his.
His tongue slid into my mouth, tasting me in deep, penetrating waves that stoked the fire within me higher. I’d never been kissed with such hunger and reverence before. He branded me with every thrust of his tongue against mine. I couldn’t breathe, but it didn’t matter as our breath mingled together until I couldn’t tell if it was his air or mine I inhaled.
He easily plucked me off the ground. I could sometimes set things on fire and see my opponent’s future moves, but when he held me, I felt incredibly small and fragile. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. Some of the pressure in my chest eased when I rubbed my aching breasts against his solid pecs and broad chest.
The low rumble he emitted vibrated his chest and caused my nails to dig into his nape. The heat of his body and the thrusting motions of his tongue made the wetness between my legs spread. Lifting myself, I slid my aching center back down over the bulge pressing against me. My body bucked in reaction to the delicious sensation the movement caused.
His hands clenched on my waist. “Fuck,” he groaned against my lips when he lifted me up and slid me down him again.
Feeling as if I was rapidly spiraling out of control, my tongue slid over his lengthening, bottom two fangs before running over the top two. Like the hard length of him I could feel swelling in his pants, his fangs grew longer the more aroused he became. They didn’t scare me as they probably should have; instead, they fascinated me as they grew against my questing tongue.
His grip became almost bruising as his body shuddered. I was so awash in the overwhelming sensation the friction of my body sliding over his caused that I didn’t realize he was striding across the earth while carrying me until I heard the flap on the tent pulling back.
Too fast, this is happening too fast. Remember his attitude about sex.
However, my damn traitorous body told that sane, still somewhat logical part of my brain to shut up. I had to admit I much preferred my body’s instincts on this one. Kobal never broke our kiss when he ducked beneath the flap.
His hands slid under my shirt, burning into my skin when they flattened against the small of my back. I was lost to the sensation of his strong, calloused palms running over my flesh to settle against my ribcage before he lifted me off his waist. My eyes opened to find his startling amber ones burning down at me.
The image of that woman in the cafeteria blazed back across my mind. Had he looked at her like this too? A cry escaped me, but it had nothing to do with the fervor shooting through my system and everything to do with the idea of him with someone else. I jerked my hands away from him and stepped out of his hold.
Now that the contact with him had been broken, reality returned, and reality told me nothing good could ever come of the two of us. I would only end up with a broken heart, and he would end up with different and numerous women sometime in the near future.
“I can’t.” I took another step away from him.
“River,” he growled, coming toward me.
“No, I can’t. I’m not enough for you. I can’t be. I’m not one of those women at the fire. What you need isn’t what I can give you.”
I took another step away and held up my hands to ward him off. He wasn’t at all deterred by my words or my next step away from him as he took another one toward me. “You can give me exactly what I need.”
“Oh, God,” I panted and moved further away.
A sardonic smile curved his mouth. “God most certainly isn’t here. Something you should be grateful for, considering what I anticipate doing to you. And all of it will be wickedly sinful.”
My eyes widened at his words. I wanted to scream at him that I wouldn’t be used for sex, that I wouldn’t be willing to share him with anyone else, but I bit the words back. I would only be leaving myself vulnerable if I said those words to him.
He would leave if I told him to. He may be a demon, he may be horny and rock hard, but he wouldn’t force me. I knew that and I couldn’t reveal to him how much I was coming to care for him. Not when he was willing to ease his needs whenever and with whoever he could.
He snatched hold of my palms and held them before him. Whatever argument I’d been about to unleash died away when golden-white sparks flickered over the tips of my fingers. The sparks crackled between us, firing like the sparklers I’d played with once as a child, before all Hell literally broke loose.
I’d seen the strange electrical currents dance over my fingers briefly before, but never this vividly or strongly, and I’d never experienced the surge of power that I felt from them now.
He stared at the sparks for a minute before lifting his head to look at me with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t tell me you felt the pulse of life,” he accused.
CHAPTER 26
River
“I didn’t tell you I felt the what of what?” I stammered, too astonished by those sparks, the twitching muscle in his cheek, and the angry tone of his voice to fully comprehend what he’d said. A spark shot between my index and middle fingers, looking almost like a mini-lightning bolt. My jaw went slack as I watched the small lightning bolt zip all the way through to my pinky finger before fading away. “That’s beautiful.”
His hands tightened around mine. “You didn’t know.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it of the awe and confusion before focusing on him again. “Didn’t know what?”
“How could you not know you can harvest power from things?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You feel the pulse of life in the things around you.”
He kept a firm hold on my hands when I tried to tug them away from him. I gave up fighting to get my hands back, so I could glower at him. “Of course I do, everyone does.”
He lifted both of my hands so they were almost dead center between us. “No one else on this plane can do this. No one else can harvest from the life forces around them and use it as a weapon. You should have told me. We would have focused on working on this instead of the fire.”
I blinked at him and tried one more time to free my hands from his grasp. My teeth grated together when he refused to relinquish them. “Some weapon, it’s not getting you off of me!” I retorted. “And I can assure you, I’ve never turned into a mini-lightbulb before!”
“Of course it’s not affecting me; you don’t know how to use it. If you did, it would be an entirely different story.”
“Then mark it down as number one on my list of things to learn from here on out. Give me my hands back!”
Finally, he released me. When I lifted my hands before my face again, they remained still, no golden-white light leapt from my fingertips. Disappointment filled me as I willed it to come back to me. There had been something so comforting and familiar about it. So right. I grabbed Kobal’s arm out of curiosity. A single spark leapt to life before fading away.
My fingers dug into his arm, but nothing more came out of me. “I don’t understand,” I murmured.
I glanced at him, but his face was shuttered and his eyes had returned to their pure black depths. He’s shut himself off from me again, I realized.
He’d been open to me moments ago in a way he’d never been before. Now that was gone, and I was left with the remorseless demon I was becoming more accustomed to. Straightening my shoulders, I released his arm and tilted my chin up.
“You should have told me,” he said again.
“Told you what?” I demanded. “Yes, I feel life around me, all the time. However, unlike strange visions of who’s going to volunteer, or where my brother is hiding, and that one time where I maybe could have set the curtains on fire, it’s something I assumed everyone felt. And if I suspected they might not feel life all around them like I do, I never mentioned it to anyone because it was something I could keep hidden, something I actually enjoyed! The life flowing around me doesn’t hit me out of nowhere; it’s a constant soothing presence to me. So how was I supposed to know it wasn’t something everyone else experienced and never spoke about? How was I supposed to know every human on the planet didn’t feel the exact same way as me?”
I wasn’t about to tell him I’d had strange little sparks before. He would only assume I really had been keeping this from him on purpose and would never understand I’d written it off as simple static electricity.
“Maybe,” he replied in a tone that screamed liar at me.
“There is no maybe!”
This time, I was frustrated enough to stomp my foot. It had been a horrible day. I’d met his sort-of ex, had a migraine, stumbled across an orgy, nearly mauled a demon out of lust, and shot sparks from my fingers like a broken robot. All in all, in the list of bad days, it was in the
top five, and I’d had enough of it.
“You don’t know me! I don’t know me anymore! Six weeks ago, I was a somewhat odd human, with my brothers to take care of and fish to catch. Now I’ve been torn from my home, I have no idea what I am, what I’m capable of, how I feel, or if I’ll still be alive in another year since you’re all determined to drag me to Hell, but no one has ever said anything about me coming back!
“Not to mention, you’re telling me Lucifer himself is my ancestor. You’re telling me there could be something evil in my genetics, and I’m just supposed to be all la-di-da about it because you say there is no such thing as pure good and evil, but he was an angel once and now he’s a monster. I’m not supposed to question if I could somehow become twisted and broken in that way too! I don’t know what or who I am anymore, but I’m leaning toward the demonic side with the fire throwing thing, and even if demons aren’t evil, it terrifies me!”
The tears of frustration and anger burning my eyes only infuriated me further. I wiped them away before folding my arms defensively over my chest. He stared at me as if he didn’t know me; it made me want to hit him.
“River—”
“Please leave now.”
“We must talk about this.”
“We can do it tomorrow. I would like to be alone right now.”
I found I couldn’t meet his eyes when he ran a hand through his disheveled hair and gave a brief nod. “Fine, but we will be working on trying to harvest this power tomorrow.”
“I never had a doubt. It is all about getting me ready after all; it is all about the power.”
He’d stayed a couple feet away since I’d become the human equivalent of a lightning rod, but now he stepped so close I had to press my back against the canvas wall to keep from touching him again. His hands rested on either side of my head as he lowered himself until he was eye level with me.
“Let’s get this straight between us right now. It’s not all about the power. You may be the key to saving both our species and righting the wrongs that have been done. I am going to make sure you are prepared for that, as well as any other threat, but I will do everything I can to make sure you come back alive.”
Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) Page 19