Page 16 of Sinful Curses
Sahira jerked away from him; she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he affected her. But it was too late. This man was a calculating asshole who knew exactly what he did.
Orin smiled at her before glancing at the others; they’d continued walking. “You’ll feed from me.”
Before she could respond, he turned and trudged away.
The fuck I will.
He was about to be in for a rude awakening, but she wouldn’t argue with him anymore. They had deserts to cross and mountains to climb.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
They were surroundedby mountains when something slipped from behind the rocks and scampered into a crevice. Orin frowned after the creature, but it didn’t reemerge and didn’t bring a horde of friends out of the hole with it.
Zeth and Elsa exchanged a glance before continuing toward a rise in the craggy, black mountains. From a distance, the peaks looked like they rolled one on top of the other, but up close, they were separate peaks and valleys.
The valleys concerned him the most. From the peaks, they could see anything coming for them and the land for miles around. The valleys were confined spaces they couldn’t easily escape.
“Has anyone made it this far before?” Elsa asked.
“I don’t know. No one, who ventured into the Barren Lands and returned, spoke of mountains, or at least not anyone I know. There could have been other immortals who left, made it this far, and didn’t return,” Zeth responded.
“That’s encouraging,” Elsa murmured.
“Do you think there’s a way around these mountains?” Sahira asked.
“There might be,” Zeth said, “but it would take time to get around them, and we could lose our path.”
“We don’t have the water or food supply for that,” Orin stated.
Sahira tipped her head back to take in the black rocks towering over them before focusing forward again. “Then it’s onward and upward.”
Orin wasn’t thrilled about that, but he wouldn’t try finding a path around these mountains. They’d come too far, and it would take too long.
And that wasifthere was a way around them. They might be impossible to avoid.
Besides, who knew what else was waiting for them in the desert. Trying to go around the mountains might be what got them killed.
They climbed over a group of boulders and into a rocky area where a small path emerged. It weaved between the rocks and around the black, craggy spikes jutting into the air.
When the path ended in a solid, rock wall, Orin stared at the steep surface towering hundreds of feet above his head. Rocks jutted from the wall, and grasping one, he lifted himself as he tested his weight on it.
“Shit,” Sahira muttered.
Orin lowered himself as the others turned in a circle to survey the area. They either went up or turned back; one of those choices wasn’t an option for him.
“I hope you’re good at climbing,” he said.
“We’re going to have to be,” Zeth said.
Orin secured his sword while the others strapped their spears to each other’s backs. When their weapons were locked in place, Orin grasped the handhold again and pulled himself up.
Refusing to look back, he found more hand and footholds as he scaled the wall. Cool, black stone bit into his fingers and burrowed beneath them as he dug his nails in for better purchase.
The bite of stone against his hands and beneath his nails didn’t deter him from climbing onward. He didn’t look back at the others, but he heard their feet scraping against stone, and occasionally a rock would rattle against the wall as it fell free.
He ignored the hunger twisting in his belly as he focused on the task at hand. It had been over two weeks since he last fed on the energy created when he and Sahira had sex.
She didn’t know that, no one here did, but if he didn’t have sex soon, his malnutrition would weaken him further. He could already feel differences, not just in how his clothes fit but also in his decreasing energy level.
