River
“River.” I lifted my head to blink against the dim rays of sun filtering through the windows of the cafeteria. The warmth against my chest made my heart swell when I looked down at Bailey and Gage nestled within my arms. “It’s time for us to go.”
Shax’s words drew my attention to him. I tried not to cry while I hugged my brothers closer. Gage stirred, but Bailey’s breath warmed my skin as he kept his mouth against my neck. I’d just gotten them back and now I had to leave them again. Maybe for good this time.
I will not cry.
“I have to go,” I said when Gage lifted his head from my shoulder.
Tears filled his eyes. He blinked them back and bit into his quivering lower lip. “We’ll be okay. I’ll take care of him,” he promised.
“I know you will.” I squeezed his hand and rested my forehead briefly against his. “I’m going to do everything I can to see you again.”
I went to pull Bailey away, but his arms tightened around my neck. His lashes tickled my skin when they fluttered open. “No!” he cried as I tried to pull him away again.
“Stink Bug, you must go,” I choked out. “I’ll see you again soon.”
I kissed and hugged him before Gage lifted him away from me.
“No, no, no, no!” Bailey shouted.
His screams hurt far more than any revenirs shriek ever had as they stabbed through my heart. My throat clogged; I was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Bailey waved his hands in the air and tried to squirm free of Gage’s hold. Shax stepped away from us, moving a few feet toward the table to stare at one of the side doors.
Straightening my shoulders, I leaned forward and kissed Bailey’s head. “It will be okay, Bailey. I love you forever and a day.”
Bailey burst into tears when I embraced them both. “They told me I have to let you go, but I don’t wanna!” he sobbed.
I brushed his hair back from his forehead as I bent to kiss his flushed cheeks. “I know, B, but I have to go. I promise to do everything I can to see you again as soon as possible. I love you.”
Bailey inhaled hitching sobs, but he didn’t cry out again or try to grab for me.
“I love you,” Gage said. “Be careful and take care of yourself.”
“I love you too, and you make sure to do the same.”
I turned away and strode toward the main door before I started screaming no, no, no in the middle of the cafeteria too.
You’re doing this for them. They must be kept safe and this may be the only way to ensure they have any kind of life.
I joined the other soldiers filing through the door. I could smell the scent of their tears as they left their loved ones behind again, but I sensed a resoluteness in the set of their shoulders. Muffled sobs from those we were leaving behind followed us out the door.
Looking back, I gave a final wave and smile to my brothers before stepping into the hall and heading out on a journey where I would most likely meet my death. Tears slid down my face, not for the possible loss of my life, but for the loss of them. They’d been my entire world since they were born, and if dying meant saving their lives, I would do it.
I wiped the tears away and stopped by where Kobal stood at the door to the outside. He stared across the grass toward the tents on the top of the hill before turning his head to look at me. I had no idea what he was thinking when his eyes met mine, but a muscle twitched in his jaw.
“Thank you for this,” I said.
His full lips remained compressed for a minute more before he finally spoke. “It was necessary to rebuild the trust with the humans.”
I stared at him, uncertain of how to take that. “I’m sure it worked.”
“Did it?” he inquired.
I really didn’t know how to take that. Was this his way of apologizing? If it was, I had to admit I didn’t think he needed to apologize. His nature caused him to act the way he did when he killed Eileen, and my humanity caused me to be a bit disturbed by it. He shouldn’t have to apologize for who he is. His actions hadn’t been right to me, but they had been right to him. For him to apologize for that would be like expecting a shark to apologize to a fish after eating it.
He continued to stare at me expectantly, but I was still trying to figure out what he meant when he turned on his heel and walked away. “You will be riding with me.” The words were thrown at me over his shoulder. “And if you think about arguing or doing something different, I’ll have you strapped into the vehicle in front of everyone.”
I should be mad over his high-handed command, but he’d given me back my brothers, if only for a little bit, and I found I didn’t have any anger in me right now. I was certain that feeling wouldn’t last long.
***
Kobal
I couldn’t look back at her as I strode across the grass passed where the vehicles that would take us from here had been parked. The tears in her eyes tore at my insides, and the cries of her youngest brother resonated in my ears. I’d never before felt any sympathy for a human until River walked into my life. I never would have gone out of my way to make one of them happy, because their happiness meant nothing to me.
Now all I wanted was her happiness, more so than finally claiming my throne—a throne I’d worked my entire fifteen hundred sixty-two years to claim. The gateway had to be closed, Lucifer had to be stopped, but right then, I would have walked away from it all, given Bailey back to her, and taken her far from here.
The seals would eventually break open, Lucifer would one day feel his growing army was strong enough to walk the earth and take on the obstacles he would face here, and the wall would fall, but River would be happy until then.
And then she would die.
My claws tore into my palms when I fisted my hands. I would do what must be done, like I had from the second of my creation, but instead of doing it for my throne, I would do this for her. I would kill that bastard once and for all to give her the life she deserved, even if she never allowed me into her life again.
Finally feeling stable enough to look at her, I glanced over at her bent head. Her gaze was on her boots as she followed me across the grounds to the tents. Pulling the flap of my tent aside, I waited for her to enter before following her inside.
“Gather your things,” I said, far more brusquely than I’d intended.
My eyes fastened on her mouth when she tilted her head back to look at me. I recalled the sweet taste of her lips as the fresh rain and earthy scent of her filled my nose. My cock swelled as my desire for her increased.
The fading marks on her flesh almost caused an involuntary snarl to tear from me. My hands fisted, my claws lengthened as I resisted the impulse to grab hold of her and claim her again. Demons would still recognize her as my Chosen without my marks on her. They would scent me on her, but I wanted the humans to know too. She was mine.
“What are you doing?” she cried when drops of blood spilled from my palms to fall on the earth. “Kobal, stop it!”
I snatched my hand away from her when she went to take it. Her touch was too much right now; I couldn’t handle it. “Don’t!” I hissed from between my teeth. “Don’t touch me right now, not unless you’re going to welcome me inside of you again.”
The color drained from her face as she glanced between my hands and my face. She radiated distress, yet the scent of her increased with her growing hunger for me. She may have told me to get out of her life, but she would never be able to deny her attraction and need for me.
“Kobal—”
“I am on the verge of taking you right now, River, so either say yes and I’ll have you naked faster than you can blink, or get your stuff and let’s go.”
Her body swayed instinctively toward mine before she took an abrupt step back. Disappointment crashed through me. All of my demon instincts screamed at me to take her, to claim her, to mark her once more. Beneath my skin, the hounds rippled as they howled their discontent.
I didn’t know how, but somehow I managed to keep myself restrained from dragging her against me and crushing my mouth to hers. Unable to deny the desires of her body and her demon instincts, she would yield to me, but then I’d only have moments of release before her human side came back into play. Her anger with me would return, and she’d hate me more for it.
I wanted her back, but she would be in my bed again because she chose to be there, and not because we both lost control of ourselves.
“This isn’t what I wanted it to be like between us,” she whispered.
“Isn’t it?” I grated.
She recoiled from me. “No, never.”
“Go, River.”
She hesitated before spinning on her heel and fleeing for the other tent. She looked back at me from the flap and opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself then ducked out of view. My breath exploded from me.
This was going to be an excruciating journey if I didn’t get her back soon.