Hell Bound (Lupine Bay Book 2)

by Maribel Fox

  Looking quite pleased with himself, Ku gestures for me to enter first, and I go in with my heart in my throat.

  I still can’t believe he’s gone through all this trouble for me.

  All of them have. They’ve risked their lives, put their lives on hold, and gone above and beyond in every instance.

  I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve them, but I do have some ideas in mind for how to thank them.

  Without the collar, I’ve got a much better handle on my hunger and won’t run the risk of killing any of them with a prolonged session.

  The path slopes down into a natural cavern, lit by flickering sconces on the walls. It’s mostly a big, empty cave, stalactites and stalagmites coming in from the floor and ceiling like pointed teeth.

  Okay, I wouldn’t have expected it, but having a cave — a lair, if you must — feels pretty nice. My dragon’s practically purring about it, though there is something that’s not quite right, some disquiet deep down.

  “Well? What do you think?” Iseul asks, looking around unimpressed, but not saying anything to that effect.

  “She hasn’t seen the best part yet,” Ku says, gruff with his pal.

  “Show me the best part,” I say, barely containing my amusement.

  He circles around a column, naturally formed by millenia of erosion, and there’s a smaller cavern off from the main one, like another room. I stop at the sight of all that glittering, shimmering, shining treasure.

  Now my dragon’s really purring, that disquiet completely gone.

  “Every dragon needs a hoard. Mine is not as large as some, but with time—”

  “Hey man, the size of the hoard doesn’t matter, it’s the shininess of the treasure,” Ocho jokes.

  I snort. Ku maintains his somewhat irritated expression.

  “With time,” he continues, “it will grow with your influence. Especially with so many contributors.”

  I hug him tight, kissing him softly.

  “Thank you for all of this. You knew I wanted things even I didn’t know I wanted,” I laugh, shaking my head at how ridiculous that sounds.

  “Hey! You never told us there’s a hot tub!” Maal cries from further in the cavern.

  I lift a brow in a question.

  Ku shrugs innocently. “Hot springs have great restorative properties…”

  “Is not tub. Is pool,” Dmitry says, piquing my interest enough to go check it out, a lingering eye toward the treasure hoard.

  “Holy shit… He’s not kidding,” I mutter. The thing’s got to be big enough for all of us — and a dozen of our closest friends if we wanted.

  “I made it standard dragon size,” Ku says a little defensively.

  “It’s perfect,” I coo, trailing my fingers down his chest. We’re definitely going to be using this thing a lot.

  From far away, there’s a chime, a doorbell, and we all turn with varying degrees of curiosity and suspicion.

  There aren’t many people that even know we’re here, so a visitor is strange.

  I’m the first one up the stairs, all my guys not far behind by the sounds of it. And then my guard goes down in an instant when I see who’s on the other side of the door: Ava, with an oversized gift basket in tow.

  I’m hesitant to open the door and I don’t really know why. This is my brother’s mate; building a relationship with her is smart, healthy, natural — but I can’t forget the first impression I made by bringing her brother an unwanted Hell beast.

  Guess the apology is overdue anyway.

  I take a deep breath and pull the door open, plastering on a friendly smile.

  “I won’t stay long, I’m sure you guys have plenty to do,” she says quickly, heat coloring her cheeks as her eyes dart past me to the group of gathered men, “but I wanted to bring you this and officially welcome you to the neighborhood,” she adds, thrusting the basket at me.

  “Those are all my favorites — tea from Afternoon Delights, bath bombs from Cannon Beach Soap Company, a bottle of Pendleton Midnight — you get the idea,” she says, still grinning widely.

  This is way more of a welcome than I was expecting, so I’m not sure how to respond when I take the basket, just kind of blinking and mute.

  Ava’s face falls.

  “Is everything okay? Do you not like it? Are the decorations too much? Raj told me you don’t do Christmas in Hell, but I thought it would be a nice touch. I’m sorry if it was presumptuous…”

  “What? No, no, this is great!” I say quickly, connecting all the dots she just threw at me. “I’m just… confused,” I admit with a nervous laugh. “I thought you were pissed because of the puppy thing and I was going to have to grovel for your forgiveness…”

  Ava’s face twists, her nose scrunching.

  “I’m not that kind of Faerie Queen,” she says. “Besides, I know my brother, and I would not put it past him at all to have orchestrated that whole thing under the guise of having my consent. I don’t blame anyone for being bamboozled by Ian. I just don’t know where we’re going to keep all these things. That’s not your problem though. He loves Ninja — that’s the dog’s name now, by the way — and at least the kitten doesn’t need food or anything…” she sighs, shaking her head with a small smile. “I hope for your sake, if you guys have kids that they’re not as animal crazy as my brother. I never know what he’s going to bring in with him.”

  The suggestion that I might have children one day comes as a completely novel idea, one that I’ve literally never considered before — and I’m not about to start now, there’s too much else to consider. I can’t even imagine adding something like that on top of it.

  “Anyway, enjoy your new place,” she says, giving me a big hug that I can’t return because I’m still holding the basket. “We’re going to have Christmas dinner at the B&B and you’re more than welcome to come. Micah would like RSVPs by the 23rd at the latest though.”

  “We’ll let you know,” I say, still overwhelmed by this warm welcome, the glow of Christmas lights, the affection radiating off my guys, the knowledge that we’re safe, secure, and together permeating through every cell in my body as we all gather together in the living room and enjoy the ambiance. Dima has his arm curled around me on the couch, my head on his chest. It’s a big sectional couch, and Maal is sitting where I can have my legs draped over his lap, curled in slightly like I’m trapping him with my knees. Ocho and Is are on the other end of the couch, and Ku’s predictably got his nose buried in a book.

  Cautiously, Maal’s hand rests on my thigh draped over his lap and I purr, curling tighter into Dima like the most contented little house cat.

  So this is what being relaxed feels like.

  Pretty sure I could get used to it.

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