Into Hell (The Road to Hell Series, Book 4)
Page 36
Breaking the kiss, I leaned back to meet his eyes. They were alive with golden fire as they held mine. His finger slid over my necklace before dipping down to trace my hardened nipple. The coiling tension building in my belly and the tightening of his muscles beneath my hands told me we were both nearing climax.
“Don’t pull out,” I whispered as I clasped his cheeks in my hands and kissed him again. “Stay with me. I need to feel you claiming me in every way again.”
His claws lengthened against my flesh but didn’t pierce it as he drove relentlessly into me. When his fangs pierced my shoulder, I came apart in a frenzy that had me scratching at his back. I felt the pulsations of his release and the warmth of his seed filling me as I sank my teeth into his shoulder, claiming him as mine.
EPILOGUE
Kobal
One year later
River’s laughter drifted to me before I arrived at the hall. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as the radiant sound of it filled the day and caused those walking nearby to also smile. Over the year, not only had the demons come to love and respect their queen, but so had the humans, other Hell creatures, and ghosts who resided along the wall.
After we had been back on the wall for a month, I’d made the decision to travel through Hell to the other side of the world to see how things fared there. It was not a journey I wanted to make. I hated leaving River alone, but she couldn’t travel with me through the minefield Hell had become, and Lucifer had destroyed the airport in Canada. I’d only felt secure in leaving her because I knew she would be safe here; she had more defenders than I did.
With Corson, Shax, Calah, Lopan, and half the hounds by my side, we successfully navigated Hell to reach the other side of Earth. I’d met with the human and demon leaders I’d established there years ago.
Some of those leaders had perished and needed to be replaced, but the rest were still carrying out their duties and doing it well. What remained of most of the human governments throughout the land had crumpled completely after the seals fell. Only England, Australia, and Russia retained any semblance of their old government, but those governments all answered to me and River now too. I’d spent nearly two weeks traveling over there before I’d been able to return to her.
It hadn’t been an easy journey to make. When things were settled on Earth, I would work on trying to right Hell again, but there may be no need for it by then. If the remaining residents of Hell had their way, they would all slaughter each other before I could return to fix it.
After my return and once we’d been back at the wall for two months, River and I decided it was time to travel the wall with her brothers and Mac. It was necessary for me to see how the wall fared, meet with other human leaders, touch base with the demons I’d put in charge of certain sections, and firmly establish our leadership over them, as well as Mac’s role as the ambassador of the humans.
Some sections of the wall had been lost completely, and whole encampments wiped out, but others held firm. Most of the sections that had crumbled had been rebuilt and a leadership reestablished by now. The wall was still occasionally attacked, but most of the escapees from Hell steered clear of it, unless they could fly.
After a few months of traveling, we’d returned here, to the area that River considered her home on the wall. I would still need to travel from time to time, the world was still far more lethal than it had been, but a firm rule had been established over this new world. Most were coming together to fight for a common cause, survival.
There were humans and demons who still didn’t want to cooperate and work together, but they would either come around with time and join us, or stay out of the way completely. If they chose to fight against our new rule and laws, they would be hunted down and destroyed. There were no other options for them, and I’d made that perfectly clear to all.
From around the corner of the hall, a drakón’s head emerged. River had named the creatures Flint and Blaze because she couldn’t tell if they were male or female, but she did know which one was which. I had no intention of ever learning how to tell them apart. I disliked them as much as they continued to dislike me, but we had called an uneasy truce with each other, for her.
The drakón snorted before taking flight to join its partner circling on the horizon. The drakóns landed and stood guard over River whenever I wasn’t near her, as did the hounds and the few púcas who arrived at the wall shortly after the final battle with Lucifer.
It was the only reason I’d felt at all secure with leaving her alone to travel through Hell. No one was insane enough to battle through all of that, as well as the demons and humans residing here, to try to attack her.
Somehow, River communicated with the pucás and drakóns, or they at least listened to her. At her command, they refrained from eating humans and demons. They feasted on Hell creatures who ventured too close to the wall, or went into the wilds to hunt.
After we had traveled through Hell and returned, I’d sent Corson, Bale, Magnus, Shax, Hawk, Erin, Lix, Raphael, Caim, Vargas, and some of the other demons and humans out with Wren and her group. They were hunting down what remained of Lucifer’s followers.
It was a brutal job, but they regaled us with stories about it every time they returned to check in, or to take a break. They’d returned last month, bloodied and beaten, but grinning with triumph. After the others had all been back for a week, most had set out again, but Erin and Vargas remained. Vargas had broken his leg and needed time to heal. Erin had asked to stay with him and River.
During their time here, I’d been surprised to realize that I missed the company of my friends.
Before River, I didn’t miss things. It was an emotion I never would have had, and I wouldn’t have understood it if I did have it. I understood it now, as I enjoyed sharing drinks and laughter with them.
I did not miss the fight. Another thing I wouldn’t have thought possible before River. I’d been born to fight; it was all I had ever known. Now, I knew happiness, laughter, love, and family. I’d had enough of the fighting.
I’d also been born to lead, and I did that with firm control, but also leniency. River tempered my more ruthless side, and together we took the time to judge and punish those who broke the laws when they were brought before us.
I belonged here, and leading over this world was what I was meant to do.
Pushing the door to the hall open, the substantial flow of power it contained washed over me the second I stepped into the shadowed interior. River sat on the edge of the dais with Bailey on her lap as she read him a story. Gage sat on the other side of her, pointing at the book and making strange noises. They all laughed at his awkward attempt with the demon language. The three of them were working to learn demonish, but they had difficulty sounding out some of the words.
Lopan sat on the other side of them, his feet kicking against the dais as Calah relit one of the candles. Daisy hovered over River’s shoulder, floating back and forth as she stared at the book.
River stopped reading when the door closed and looked up at me. Joy lit her face. On the day of her twenty-third birthday, she’d stopped aging and frozen into her immortality. Other than no longer aging, her body remained human in every other way.
We didn’t know if she could regenerate lost body parts, neither of us were willing to risk what that would entail to find out, but she was an immortal. My immortal.
She went to lift Bailey from her arms to rise, but I waved her down. “I’ll come to you. It is easier that way.”
She laughed as I closed the hundred feet separating us in a breath of time. Bailey scrambled from her arms and into Gage’s when I stopped before her and bent to kiss her.
Resting my hand on her extremely round stomach, I felt the kick of our child within her. River placed her hand over mine and sparks raced across her fingers. Like her, the babe already fed on life, and she drew constantly on it to keep the child and herself healthy.
“Your son is extremely active today,” she said.
“Oh yes, and he’s as stubborn and cranky as his father already.”
“I’m not so cranky anymore, not with you in my life.”
She grinned as she kissed my neck. “True, you are much nicer now than when I first met you.”
I rubbed my hand over her stomach and the babe kicked again. By the end of the month, our son would be born. “That’s because you have given me everything I ever wanted, and things I never dreamed of having,” I replied.
“I love you,” she whispered.
I lifted my head to gaze into her violet eyes, shining with vitality. “And I you, Mah Kush-la.”
Squirming from Gage’s arms, Bailey walked over and held his hands out to me. He wrapped his arms around my neck when I lifted him. The child had become more like my own over the year and he often sought me out when he needed comfort. Gage had become my brother, one who was rapidly growing toward manhood as he grew taller and broader.
“Have you felt this today?” I asked Bailey, and he nodded as he placed his hand next to mine on River’s stomach. My son kicked again and Bailey squealed in delight.
Gage leaned against River’s side as Lopan, Daisy, and Calah slipped out of the hall to leave me alone with River and our growing family.
THE END
Look for the first book in the spinoff Hell on Earth series to release in 2017.
Each book in the Hell on Earth series will focus on a different character from The Road to Hell Series.
Hell on Earth (Hell on Earth, Book 1) will be releasing in 2017 and will focus on Corson and Wren!
Read on for an exclusive excerpt from Hell on Earth.
Fun Fact:
Every title of the books planned for the upcoming Hell on Earth series can be found in one of the Road to Hell series books! So if you’ve read all the books in the Road to Hell series, then you’ve seen the future titles!
Stay in touch on updates for Hell on Earth, and other new releases from the author, by joining the mailing list.
Mailing list for Brenda K. Davies and Erica Stevens Updates:
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Hell on Earth EXCERPT
CHAPTER 4
Wren
“Help!” I screamed and leaped at the dirt wall before me. My fingernails tore away dirt as I tried to gain purchase on the wall. At least five hundred feet over my head, the dim light of day was a small circle that seemed about as achievable as Heaven right now. “He—aggghh,” my scream for help cut off when a hand slid over my mouth.
Pulled back against Corson’s solid chest, his breath sounded in my ear as he held me firmly. I clawed at his hands as I tried to break free of his hold. “Quiet!” he hissed in my ear.
Releasing me, he stepped away. I strained to see him as he moved in and out of the shadows, disappearing and reemerging in the dim light while he circled the pit. He stopped before another tunnel and rested his hand against the dirt wall. Leaning forward, he inspected the opening.
I reached over my back when I realized that a familiar weight was missing. Glancing around, I spotted my bow half hidden in the shadows. I strode over and grabbed it. My heart sank when I pulled the pieces toward me. There would be no putting together the snapped wood and broken string.
I glanced around for my quiver and arrows. I spotted the edge of my quiver peeking out from under the deer. Walking over, I lifted the deer with one hand and after some maneuvering and silent curses, I managed to tug the quiver out from under the deer. I lifted the crumpled remains of my quiver and turned it over to dump out my arrows. Their broken pieces bounced across the ground as they scattered around my feet.
Dropping my hands to my knees, I took a second to steady myself before looking to Corson again. “Can you climb out of here?” I demanded of him in a whisper.
He tossed a look over his shoulder at me. “By the time we reached the top, it would be too late.”
I blinked at him before glancing at the circle above again. I liked the sound of that about as much as I liked the idea of having my fingernails pulled out. “What does that mean?” I asked as I focused on him again.
“It means that our fall and your yelling will have woke the beast. It will be looking for its dinner.”
“And we’re its dinner?”
“Yes.”
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