As I stood there, I realized I wasn’t sure if it was the hatred the wraiths exuded or my fears affecting me so badly. I’d killed enough in my lifetime to wonder if this was what I would become after I died. Would I go to Hell and haunt cemeteries while waiting for demons to feed on me?
I hadn’t been able to voice the question to Corson. I was too petrified of the answer.
In flashes, I’d watched Corson lift his hand to draw one of those hideous souls toward him. I couldn’t quite see the wraith, but I caught glimpses of its long, distorted face and flapping black ends. One second it was fifty feet away from him, the next thirty, and then ten.
My chill intensified when the next flash revealed Corson’s hand enveloping the wraith’s throat. Then the spirit vanished once more, and it appeared as if Corson was trying to grasp air. I knew he still clasped the wraith when his muscles bulged and the veins in his forearms stood out. The crackle of his power vibrated the air around him as he drew strength from the spirit while inflicting suffering on it.
While Corson fed, a distant sort of screaming sounded in my ears. I was certain it was from the wraith, but though the spirit was only feet away from me, it sounded as if the screams came from miles away.
I’d never wanted to get away from something so fast in my life, but I’d insisted on seeing this part of Corson’s life. Now that I had, I didn’t plan to ever see it again. It didn’t make me love him less, but it unsettled me. When that thought drifted through my mind, I also comprehended that not only did Corson keep tearing down my walls, but somehow I’d fallen in love with him.
The realization jarred me, but once it hit, I couldn’t deny it. If he’d been human, I’d have thrown my arms around him and embraced the rest of our lives together. There would always be the concern that I could lose him. However, I would take every one of the seconds we’d have together until the inevitable end. My feelings for him as a mortal still would have terrified me, but our lives would have been straightforward.
Instead, I didn’t know where to go from here with him. If I were really lucky, I would die from old age, while he remained youthful and immortal. There weren’t many bigger obstacles in a relationship.
I’d been adamant that I didn’t want to become a demon. However, I found myself watching Hawk for some sign he hated what he’d become; he never gave one. I contemplated asking him how he felt about being a demon, but whenever I opened my mouth to voice the question, it lodged in my throat. What if Hawk said he hated being a demon? What if he said he loved it? Or what if he was plain indifferent?
Until I was completely sure I could handle whatever answer he gave me, I couldn’t bring myself to ask—especially when I didn’t know what answer I hoped to hear from him. Could I become a demon?
Just weeks ago, that answer would have been a resounding no, but I knew more about demons now and understood them better. Yes, demons had slaughtered my family and countless others over the years, but like humans, there was good and bad amongst them. I’d found the good with Corson.
Still, would I be able to feed on wraiths, have giant talons, and endure whatever else came with demonhood to be with Corson?
The idea of the wraiths made my stomach churn. However, a built-in weapon system sounded freaking fantastic, once I got used to having those talons. It would take some time, but guns, knives, and arrows had once been unnerving to me too, and now they were like an extension of me. The talons literally would be an extension of me, and I’d witnessed Corson slicing and dicing things with them. They were awesome.
But, I didn’t know what I would be like as a demon, if I would survive the transformation to become one, or even what had to be done to become one. Thankfully, I didn’t have to figure it out anytime soon. For the time being, I would enjoy this newfound happiness and sense of security I’d found with Corson. I’d worry about possible demonhood later, I decided as I glided through the woods.
While I walked, my eyes scanned the trees in search of a good branch to settle on to hunt from. My head turned at the soft step behind me, and I spotted Corson making his way through the trees toward me. The sight of him caused my heart to lurch with joy, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.
Lovesick fool. That’s exactly what I was, and I was surprisingly okay with it.
Corson smiled back at me as he stepped around a rock. My eyes fell to the black bow he held as he walked toward me. When I left the camp, he’d told me he had to grab something before he could meet me, but I’d never seen the bow before.
Stopping before me, he bent to kiss me. “Hello, lahala.”
“Demon,” I greeted and nipped at his lower lip before pulling away. If I wasn’t careful, I’d drag him to the ground and take him; it was that easy to become caught up in him. “What do you have there?” I waved a hand at the bow.
“Well, what do I have here?” His eyes twinkled with amusement as he drew the bow forward to hold it between us. “Why, it’s a bow.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re an ass.”
“Yes, I am,” he admitted. “What do you think of it?”
When he held the bow out to me, I took it from him and rotated it in my hands. I ran my fingers over the smooth wood as I examined the exquisite craftsmanship of the weapon. Lifting it, I pulled back the string and brought it to my shoulder. Despite its length, the bow was lightweight but surprisingly sturdy. It would take a lot more than the weight of a deer to snap it.
“It’s amazing.” I lowered the bow and held it out to him but he didn’t take it. “Where did you get it?”
“I made it.”
“When did you have the time to do that?”
“While you were sleeping, or doing your own thing.” He gripped the end of my braid dangling against my breast and gave it a playful tug. “I am a man of many talents, my dear Wren.”
“Obviously.”
I tried to hand the bow back to him again, but he pushed it back at me. “I made it for you.”
The emotion that burst through me left me more shaken than a tree in a tornado. I didn’t know how to react or what to say. “For me?” I finally croaked.
Using my braid, he tugged me forward a step. “Yes, for you.” His other hand fell on the bow slung over my shoulder. “This bow isn’t right for you.”
He was right about that. The bow had belonged to a male Wilder who died a few months ago. The weapon was too long and the string too tight. I had a difficult time drawing the string back, but I’d adapted to it. I’d never told him I’d had problems adjusting to the bow though; it was just another one of those things he’d learned by watching me.
“Demon,” I breathed as my gaze dropped to the exquisite bow once more. I studied the black wood it had been carved from and frowned. “What tree did you use to make this?”
“Calamut.”
My mouth dropped. “You took wood from a calamut tree? They could have killed you!”
“They could have,” he said, “but I didn’t take it from them. I asked them for a piece of their wood.”
“You asked for it, and they gave it to you?”
“They did.”
“Why would they do that?”
He removed the bow he’d given me from my limp grasp before pulling the other bow and quiver off my back. I could only stand and gawk at him while he worked. “The calamuts enjoy skewering things, but deep down I think they’re just romantics at heart.”
“Like you.”
He smiled at me as he lifted my shirt up over my head. Corson had taken me many times, in public and not so public places, but never once had I feared something would eat us as I had with Todd. I knew he would keep us both safe.
“Like me,” he murmured and bent to kiss me.
I completely forgot about hunting as I wrapped my arms around his neck and went to the forest floor with him. I made sure he knew how much I loved my new bow.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Wren
Corson’s shoulder brushed mine as he leaned f
orward. When we’d finally disentangled ourselves from each other, I’d been eager to break in my new bow. Now, we sat next to each other on a tree branch, our legs dangling over it. I kicked my feet over the open air, feeling more alive now than I had in fourteen years. Not just because of Corson, but because I also took a moment to appreciate that I was alive when so many weren’t.
I didn’t think I’d ever paused to recognize the fact so many had been lost, yet I was blessed or lucky enough to remain. I acknowledged it then as I inhaled the wintry November air, relished the warmth of Corson’s body, and listened to the clicking branches swaying over my head.
I was alive, and it was glorious.
Lifting my face, I basked in the noon sun. When I lowered my head, I focused on Corson as he gazed over the side of the branch and my heart swelled with love for him.
Neither of us had spoken of love, I didn’t know if demons talked about it at all, and it had been years since I’d spoken the word out loud to another. I’d never believed I could feel like this for someone, but Corson had me thinking about a future I’d long ago stopped considering.
Surviving a day in the Wilds was a great achievement. It felt like tempting fate to contemplate what tomorrow would be like, never mind a week or two from now. However, yesterday I’d found myself imagining what a child of ours would look like before abruptly shutting the fantasy down.
I could not bring a child into this world. I’d been greatly relieved when my period arrived last week, yet I’d experienced a twinge of sadness over it. Our first oops might have been my only chance for a baby.
Corson scratched a chunk of bark off the trunk with one of his talons. Once removed, he broke the bark apart, held a piece out, and released it. Leaning forward, I nearly burst out laughing when I spotted Hawk and Vargas standing under us. The bark bounced off Hawk’s head, and he rubbed it absently.
Corson dropped another chunk onto Vargas’s head, who did the same thing as Hawk. Corson’s grin widened when he released another piece on Hawk before dropping two more onto Vargas. When they tilted their heads back to look at us, Corson released the pieces that remained in his hand.
“Asshole,” Hawk muttered as he darted to the side to avoid the falling debris. Vargas wasn’t as fast and took two bits of bark to the cheek.
Corson laughed as he wiped his hands on his thighs. He’d once told me adhenes were mischievous, but it was rare he exhibited that trait. There were times like this though, when he let down his guard, and his face lit with delight over irritating his friends, that I glimpsed it in him. If things ever became settled, and there were no more craetons to worry about, I suspected Corson would take great joy in pulling pranks on his friends.
“Your heads were too big to resist,” Corson called down to them.
“That’s what all the women say to me too,” Hawk retorted, and Corson laughed while Vargas and I shook our heads.
“Move along now, we’re hunting in this area,” Corson said with a wave of his hand.
“I’m going to start hunting assholes in trees,” Hawk replied, but he and Vargas strolled out from under the tree. They moved deeper into the woods until they disappeared from view.
Resting my head on Corson’s shoulder, I inhaled his fiery scent. When his hand slid over mine, my heartbeat picked up with anticipation. One look or touch from him and my body readied to do what he asked of it. His hand slid over my thigh and down to grip my knee. Sex in a tree would be a first, but I had no doubt he could pull it off.
A doe stepped from between the bushes across from him. “Sorry, demon,” I murmured. “That will have to wait.”
He flashed a smile at me, leaned against the trunk, and propped his hands behind his head. His arousal was apparent in the bulge in his pants, a bulge that only grew when he watched me pull an arrow free and nock it against my bow. I had no doubt I could hit my target with this bow.
Shifting my balance, I lifted the bow and was about to let the arrow fly when the bushes parted, and a manticore swooped into the clearing. I locked my legs around the branch to keep from toppling over backward at the sudden emergence of the monster. With the body of a red lion, a very human-looking head, and green, translucent wings, the manticore was one of the ugliest creatures I’d ever seen. The fact it had a red scorpion tale and an eight-inch horn jutting from the center of its forehead did nothing to improve its hideous looks.
The manticore’s stinger speared the doe, injecting its venom into the deer and paralyzing her instantly. Corson leapt to his feet as I released the arrow, catching the manticore in the center of its chest. The creature didn’t seem to feel the arrow as it swung its tail up and its mouth opened impossibly wide to reveal its three rows of razor-sharp teeth. Using its tail, the manticore shoved the doe into its mouth and swallowed her whole.
My stomach churned at the disconcerting spectacle of the deer sliding down the manticore’s throat before the monster turned its attention to us. With a trumpet-like screech, it rose into the air and dove at us.
“Shit!” Corson snarled.
I swung the bow over my back as his arms wrapped around me and he pulled me backward. I curled inward and didn’t make a sound when we plunged out of the tree. Corson’s body enveloped mine, and he grunted as his back crashed off a limb. My heart lodged in my throat; my body was jarred, but uninjured from the impact that spun us around and bounced us off another branch.
“Corson!” I tried to reach for him, but he’d pinned my arms against my sides when he grabbed me. He hit another branch, and the sickening crunch of one of his bones sounded. He had to be in pain, but instead of his grip on me easing, he cradled me closer. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t respond as he hit another branch before we plummeted into the open air. His breath exploded out of him when we crashed onto the ground. Before I could move, he rolled so his body was on top of mine with his chest to my back.
“Stay down,” he commanded in my ear, and his weight was gone in the next instant.
Lifting my head, I turned to watch as the manticore dove at him. Corson dodged to the side and caught the manticore’s stinger. With a fierce jerk, he yanked the beast out of the air and drove it into the earth with enough force to leave a ten-foot dent in the dirt. The manticore trumpeted again as Corson sliced his talons up its tail and stomach, gutting it. When the manticore attempted to curl up to protect itself, Corson sank his claws into its throat and sawed its head off.
I launched to my feet at the same time leaves crunched behind me. Judging by the sound, whatever stood behind me was too close for me to use an arrow on it. Spinning, I yanked my knife free. I had only a second to register a gobalinus barreling toward me before it was in front of me.
Swinging down, I plunged my knife straight through the head of the two-foot-tall monster with yellow eyes and warts covering its green, leathery skin. Its piranha-like teeth snapped at the air; its small hands flailed at me while I held it away.
Seizing its shoulder, I ignored the skin flaking off beneath my palm as I yanked my knife free and sliced it across the gobalinus’s throat. Slimy green blood spilled over my hand, but the creature came at me again. Propelling the gobalinus back, I fell on top of it and cut the rest of the way through its neck. Its head rolled away and stopped against a tree trunk. Its hands clawed at me once more before the body went limp beneath me.
Lifting my head, I studied the woods it had emerged from to find Corson standing in the center of three more dead gobalinus. Blood dripped from his talons as he stalked toward me. His gaze raked me from head to toe and back again.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded.
“I’m fine. I only had one ankle-biter to deal with.”
His eyes continued to scan me before scouring the woods. His touch was tender when he grasped my arm, helped me rise, and pulled me closer to him, but his muscles vibrated with barely contained violence. Clasping my hand, he wiped away the cloying, green blood before turning it over to inspect my palm.
He looked a
round the woods again. “We have to return to the others.”
“Do you sense something more out there?” I inquired as I studied our surroundings.
“No, but we need to get back to check on them and regroup. That was too many craetons together and coming at us for my liking.”
He maneuvered me so I stood in front of him, his chest protectively against my back as he kept his hand on my waist. “I don’t need you behind me,” I said.
“Yes, you do.”
I opened my mouth to protest as a twig broke on our right. He drew me abruptly against him and unleashed his talons. When nothing emerged from the woods, Corson eased his grip but didn’t let me go. I didn’t try to argue with him again. Now was not the time for a fight when more of our enemies could be enclosing on us, but later…
What? I’d tell him he was an idiot for trying to defend me? I could be more than a little bitchy, but that was pushing the limits even for me. If I were going to be in a relationship with this demon, then I had to accept some things would never change about him. He had to accept that about me too.
Corson kept me against him as we continued through the woods to where we’d left the others camped in a safe house at the edge of the forest. When we came around the trunk of a birch tree, I stopped when the house came into view through a grove of oak trees.
Caim lay on the porch roof with his back against the house, his hands propped behind his head, and a pair of sunglasses on. His legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankles. His black wings were spread out behind him as if he were trying to tan them.
Five paliton demons were gathered around something on the porch. One of the demons tugged on it while another one stomped its foot. Having returned to the house already, Hawk and Vargas opened the door and stepped outside onto the porch. Erin exited the house behind them.
Vargas pointed to what the demons held and then at himself. Erin shrugged before shading her eyes to survey the sky. Hawk examined what the demons held before suddenly leaning in and ripping whatever it was from the demon’s hands.
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