Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) (28 page)

“Neither have I,” she said in a breathy whisper that had me shooting rock hard again. “Back to female demons.”

“The females do not produce eggs until they meet their Chosen. Their cycles are far different from humans as they only produce an egg once every ten to fifteen years. It is rare for a female to conceive. However, a male demon can always scent when his mate is fertile, and they often stay cloistered for the entire month of her fertile cycle.”

She released a harsh breath. “A whole month?”

I felt the increased beat of her heart as her fingers traced over my chest, and her gaze fell onto my lips. Her growing excitement beat against me. She was going to test the boundaries of my self-restraint to its very limits before this night was over.

“Yes.”

“So, Lucifer must have been in some kind of mortal stage when he conceived a child,” she said.

“Yes. As far as I know, there is no sex or reproduction for angels.”

“I see. Well, I can say I have been perfectly normal for a human when it comes to reproduction, as far as I know. I got my period when I was thirteen and get it every month like clockwork. I had it last week.” I ran my fingers through her hair as she spoke. “Can I get pregnant by you?”

My hand stilled on her as I realized what I could have done by spilling within her. I’d never considered having a child before. With the rare times my ancestors had found their Chosen, I had never expected to find mine. All I’d sought was to claim my throne.

Now, the idea of having a child was before me and the idea of it being with River caused a strange longing in my chest. However, such a thing at this time could prove disastrous to all of us.

“Yes, you can,” I told her.

“Some of those demons who chose to stay on Earth and die all those thousands of years ago, they did so because they had found their Chosen with a human, didn’t they?” she asked.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“So demon children also roamed the earth?”

“A few, but like most of your line, they are all gone. Some of them were never able to reproduce as they acquired a demon’s necessity for their Chosen in order to reproduce with a mortal’s lifespan at birth.”

“How sad.” Her eyes closed and her head turned on my chest. “I can’t get pregnant, Kobal. I’m too young, it’s too risky right now, and I believe Lucifer would come after our child with everything he has.”

My body stiffened beneath her, and my hand stilled on her hair. It would be the biggest mistake of all for River to get pregnant now, but I wanted that offspring.

“We will take care to prevent pregnancy from now on,” I said. “But you must know, I will protect our offspring with everything I am.
No
one will ever harm our children, or you.”

“I know,” she murmured and stifled a yawn. “But I’d still prefer him dead first.”

“So would I.”

Her lashes brushed over my skin when her eyes closed. I kept her cradled against my chest as I felt her slip into sleep. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her. She would also be the first woman I would ever fall asleep beside.

River

Kobal’s leg was draped over mine with his foot hooked possessively around my calf when my eyes fluttered open the next morning. His arms were securely enfolded around me with his chin tucked on top of my head.

Shadows still enshrouded the tent, but I could see the early glow of the sun filtering beneath the flap and around the edges of it. The growing warmth of the rising sun didn’t bother me, nor did the heat of the powerful man lying next to me.

I remained unmoving against him as I took stock of my body. My throat and body were sore from the battle with those things yesterday, and there was a tenderness between my legs that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at the memory of what had transpired between us.

The smile slid away when doubts descended over me. Did he really believe I was his Chosen, or in the light of day would he change his mind and realize he’d been mistaken?

A shiver of delight ran through my body when I rested my hand against his bite mark on my neck. He had sounded so sure of himself last night, and I could never forget the primal compulsion that had driven me to sink my own teeth into him. At the time, I hadn’t understood why I’d been compelled to do such a thing, but now I knew it had been something primal inside of me.

I’d been unable to resist marking him in the same way as he’d marked me. I could feel the urge growing within me once more.

This large, powerful, magnificent man was mine. I felt the rightness of it all the way to the center of my soul. I somehow knew this possessiveness would not abate, that it would not change, and the strength of it was anything but human. Perhaps I’d known it since the first time I’d seen him.

My fingers slid over the flame tattoos on his arm, the flames that had fired to life yesterday and leapt from him to destroy those creatures. I traced over the strange symbols intricately wrought within the flames.

Contentment stole through me as I nestled closer against him, seeking out his strength. “What are these symbols in your tattoo?” I asked, knowing when he woke by the rumble of pleasure reverberating through his chest.

“Part of our ancient language,” he replied, fisting his hand so his arm flexed against me. My mouth went dry as the chiseled muscles of his forearm bulged and moved before me.

“Really?” I slipped out of his embrace and sat up in the bed. I tucked the sheet against my chest before grabbing his arm and drawing it closer.

A smile tugged at his mouth when he reached up to pull the sheet away from me. The playful look on his face robbed me of my breath, and for a minute, I forgot all about my fascination over the tattoos on his arms. I’d never known he could look so relaxed and youthful, never imagined the unrelenting demon could look
joyful
.

His hair fell boyishly across his forehead and into one black eye as his finger trailed over my breast before circling my nipple. I was bombarded by memories of the night and the feelings he’d ceaselessly awakened and set free in me. My heart swelled with emotion, and it clogged my throat as I realized I was well on my way to falling helplessly in love with this demon.

“Really,” he murmured.

“Why did you have them tattooed onto you?” I inquired in a strangled voice as my body arched into his touch.

“They aren’t tattoos. I emerged from the fires with these markings upon me.”

His fingers slipped toward my stomach. Grasping his hand before it could dip any lower, I held his arm in front of me. As badly as I wanted him right now, I was also eager to learn more about him.

“What exactly is a varcolac demon? I know you can control the gateways and hounds, but I want to know more.”

The blankets fell away from his muscular chest to reveal the markings on it. The sheet covered his waist as he sat up beside me, but it was rising with his growing erection. Grabbing my waist, he pulled me into his lap and held me so my back was against his chest. The rigid evidence of his arousal pressed against the curve of my ass. I melted against him, but he didn’t do anything sexual when he wrapped his arms around me.

“In a very loose way, you know of me.” His warm breath tickled my neck as he spoke, his lips brushing against the bite marks he’d left upon me. “Humans eventually distorted my kind into the legend of the werewolf.”

My mouth dropped, and I twisted in his arms to look at him. His grin revealed the four lengthening fangs that had pierced my skin, marking me as his. As I watched, they retracted so that they were only slightly longer, sharper points than a human’s canines would be.

“However, I do not turn into a wolf, I do not howl at the moon, and everything you know about werewolves is everything I’m not,” he continued.

My fingers fell to the wolves marking his other arm. “Are these wolves?”

“To you they would be; to me and the other demons they are hellhounds. Three times the size of your wolves, they are more vicious, protective, loyal, and far more lethal than the animals you know. Like me. They also mate for life like demons do when they find their Chosen.”

His arms tightened around me. “
My
Chosen. I should have known it when all other women failed to entice me once meeting you, should have known it when you walked into my dreams, but I was too consumed with my desire for you to look past it to what was driving it. And truth be told, I never believed I would find my Chosen. Only two varcolacs before me have, and it took them far longer than it has taken me.

“Things would have been different between us if I had recognized and claimed you sooner, instead of trying to deny it and telling myself to stay away from you. I would have been better able to control myself when taking you, would have expected such an intense reaction to being inside of you. However, I didn’t really begin to suspect what you might be to me until recently. By then, my hunger for you had grown to nearly uncontrollable levels. Because of that, I hurt you.”

“Not too badly.” I rested my palm against his cheek. I stroked the contour of his jaw, dipping down to his pointed chin. His black eyes watched me intently, but I’d sensed the self-reproach in his tone. “And I was told it’s always painful for women the first time.”

“I would have been gentler with you, taking you with the care you should have been taken with.”

Leaning forward, I kissed his firm lips and rubbed my tongue over the tip of one of his sensitive fangs. I couldn’t help but smile when he growled. “I wouldn’t have changed a thing and I’m fine,” I whispered against his mouth.

His eyes searched over me before he gave a small grunt, but I didn’t think he believed me. His gaze slid to my neck and fastened on the bruises the revenir had left on me. They’d probably darkened over night. Amber light lit his wolf-like eyes. Though I knew it was death on his mind now, I couldn’t help but recall the passion that had blazed from them last night as he’d thrust within me. I withdrew my hand from him before I started licking him all over.

Turning back around, I skimmed my fingers over a symbol resembling a backwards E with what looked like a sword piercing through the center of it. “What do the symbols mean?” I asked.

“That one is Sowa. The best way to translate it into your language would be the blade of fire.”

“And this one?” I pointed at one that was two V’s with a line connecting the tops of the V’s. They could almost be fangs.

“Ziwa, the guardian of the hellhounds. His mark is considered a gift of strength, endurance, and virility. It’s also considered a curse as it marks me as having a piece of the hellhound’s soul within me. The hounds are known for their bursts of violence, ruthlessness, and territoriality.”

“Sounds fitting for you,” I murmured.

He chuckled as he kissed my neck. I was really enjoying this more relaxed, easygoing Kobal. I doubted I would see it outside of this tent, but I loved that he felt comfortable enough around me to let it show now.

“The hounds calm when they find their mate,” he said. “However, there is nothing more dangerous than a hound when their mate is in peril.”

My breasts tingled from the purring tone of his voice. “What of this one?” I inquired and pointed at a straight line with a triangle attached to the middle of it.

“Risaz, it’s a force of destruction.”

I moved through the flames before coming to another symbol. This one was three wavy lines amid the flames. “And this?”

“Zenak, the mark of eternal fire and life.”

Immortal
, I recalled with a pang. Something I most certainly was not, and after seeing those things yesterday, I didn’t think I’d live long once we traveled out of this camp and toward the open gateway of Hell. If somehow the two of us managed to survive all of this, I’d think about the implications of being in a relationship with an immortal demon for the rest of my days. Until then, I was going to enjoy the time I had left with him.

“This one?” I asked, pointing to another symbol on his flesh. It looked like a tilted Z.

“Eiaz. A symbol of speed, heightened senses, and protection.”

“Amazing,” I murmured.

“Humans took some of them and turned them into what became known as the Elder Futhark, also known as runes.”

“I don’t know what that is,” I admitted.

“It’s a thing of the past,” he said as he brushed the hair back from my face.

“So why did humans create the legend of the werewolf if you don’t turn into some kind of a wolf?”

“My ancestors didn’t turn into them, but they controlled the hounds.” He grinned at me and turned his left arm over to reveal the detailed etchings of the hellhounds on it. “And then I came along. Like the fire, the hounds come to life when I release them. Until then, they reside within me, an ever constant, feral soul looking to be set free. I am the first varcolac to be able to control the hounds, and to have them etched onto my body and housed within me.”

“A blessing and a curse,” I murmured as I recalled what he’d said about the mark of Ziwa.

“Yes, there is power in these symbols. Ziwa and some of the others are also the reason Lucifer has been unable to defeat me as he has my ancestors. I am stronger and more powerful than they were.”

Thank God for that, or perhaps I should thank Hell for forging him in such a way. Who knew? I stared down at those glistening fangs as my hands traced over the beasts trapped within him. I couldn’t imagine the strength and control it took to keep them contained; only he would be able to do so.

“Do the humans here know you can release the hounds?” I asked.

“No, and they can’t know. This must be kept between us. Just as you have to keep your ability to draw life from the earth from the humans as much as possible. Don’t ever let anyone, beside me, know what you are fully capable of.”

I kissed his shoulder, nuzzling his smooth skin. “I won’t tell anyone,” I vowed. There were other symbols on him I was curious about, but there was something I had to tell him first. “There’s something you should know.”

He stiffened against me, and his obsidian eyes burned into mine when I tilted my head to look at him. “What is it?”

I had no idea how he was going to react to what I had to tell him, but he was opening up to me and it was time I did the same. “I had experienced the sparks a few times before. Nothing like what happens between us,” I gushed out. “But smaller sparks that lasted for only a second. I wrote them off as static electricity, or I tried to.”

“What were you doing when they happened before?”

I shrugged. “The first time it happened was the first time I held Gage after he was first born.” My heart swelled at the memory. “He was so precious with his chubby cheeks and tiny fingers. When one of them gripped mine, I felt and saw a small spark, but he didn’t notice as he continued to sleep in his swaddle of blankets. It was the first time I ever truly knew what it was to love another.

“The second time was when the man who taught me how to fish died. He was the closest thing I’d ever had to a father and it… it broke my heart when he passed.” His hands slid over me in a soothing gesture when my voice broke. “After he was buried, I returned to his garage, where I’d spent many hours with him learning everything he was willing to teach me. I was crying as I ran my fingers over the poles he’d carved by hand when it happened again. It was only a couple of sparks before they vanished. The third time I saw them was the first time I ever held Bailey. I never told anyone about them, not even Gage.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s tough enough to already have a few people knowing about your oddities without adding a whole new item to the freaky list. Plus, Gage already worried about me no matter how much I tried to keep things hidden from him. I tried to give him more of a childhood than I’d had; he deserved better, but he still grew up too fast.”

My gaze slid away from him and to the sheets. He brushed back my hair before bending to kiss my shoulder. “You deserved better then as you do now, and I will make sure you have it one day. Listen to me and know this, you are not an oddity or a freak.”

I smiled at his words, though we both knew there was a good chance that one day would not come. “Maybe not to you,” I said. “But we both know I fit in nowhere.”

“You fit perfectly against me,” he said and hugged me closer against his chest.