Lilly watched with bewilderment. “What does she want?”
Alex put his arm around her shoulders. “I don’t know much about dogs either, but most animals need to feel safe when they have their offspring.”
Lilly looked at him with shock. “She’s having the puppies? Now?”
He shrugged. “That’d be my guess.”
The cabin was small with few isolated places, and none big enough for the Great Dane. At last, Alex turned the coffee table on its side and pushed its legs up against a corner of the wall, creating a triangular box just large enough for Belle to stretch out. Lilly lined it with old towels, talking to Belle in a soothing voice as she coaxed her over. The corner was cozy and away from the other dogs, and after a few apprehensive sniffs, Belle seemed to give it her approval.
Before the big dog could climb in, though, a loud thump came from outside and the other dogs began to bark again. More hellhounds? Dreading what she’d see, Lilly followed Alex to the window to look out. Two massive paws with long, jointed digits held onto the sill and a black head with blue eyes looked in.
Lilly recoiled and Alex cursed softly. They both turned in surprise as Belle hobbled over to where they stood. The dog groaned as she went up on her hind legs, resting her paws on the window sill. On the other side, the hellhound lowered its head and pressed its nose to the glass. Belle did the same.
“Are you seeing this?” Alex whispered.
Lilly nodded. She saw. She even understood in a strange and twisted way.
“Alex, what if that hellhound is the father?”
She knew he’d come to the same conclusion. There was no surprise in his eyes as he stared from one animal to the other. The hellhound made a low, whining sound and Belle yipped in response before lowering her paws and making a slow, pained path to the enclosure they’d made for her.
Lilly turned away from the window and went to assist Belle. She put water near the dog and stroked her fur as Belle moaned through the start of her labor. Alex paced, moving from one window to another, worried that the hellhounds would come back. Worried that one of his fellow soldiers might have heard the gunshots from earlier and follow the sound to the cabin.
They should talk about that. About what he planned to do once the snow stopped coming down. But Lilly couldn’t bring herself to broach the subject. She was afraid she might cry and beg this man who was as much a stranger as a lover, to never leave her. She knew it was ridiculous to feel so passionately about him.
They’d only met two days ago. Next week, they might not even like each other. Yet Lilly couldn’t make herself believe any of it. She didn’t make instant connections with people, especially men. But from the moment he’d touched her on the trail, she’d been connected to Alex. He’d become a part of her and she wanted the chance to know if he might become a permanent piece of her life.
“Lilly,” he said, drawing her attention.
He was at the window that looked out on the porch. She came to his side, letting him pull her in front of him. His chest warmed her spine as he reached over her shoulder and pointed. On the rug by the door, the blue-eyed hellhound waited like a sphinx with front paws crossed, head up and ears pricked. She could see it clearly now. The phantom shadows had shivered away, leaving behind a solid form.
“You see it, don’t you?” Alex asked.
She nodded. “I don’t understand it, but yes. I see it. Clearly. Yesterday I couldn’t see them or hear them at all. But now I can do both. Why?”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t know.”
She didn’t say it, but a theory had been forming while they worked on Belle’s enclosure. It was vague, incomplete. Yet it resonated inside her and made her think.
“I’ve changed since you came here, Alex.”
He gave her a sideways look, waiting.
“Knowing you, believing in the existence of your world. Knowing how little time we have together. I’ve never been one to race headlong into a relationship.”
She blushed and drew in a shaky breath. Was that what they had, the two of them? A relationship?
“I always guard myself. Make sure it’s safe before I commit. But…from the first moment when I looked into your eyes, I knew…I knew you were special. A broken heart would be worth what I might have with you. However short. However deep.”
His eyes glimmered with understanding and a gentle smile curved his lips. “I thought you looked like a soft, blue treat. I wanted a taste. I still do.”
Tears pricked at her eyes, but she didn’t let them go.
“Look outside, Alex. There’s an evolution going on here. We just have to see it.”
Confusion furrowed his brow, but he shifted his gaze to the window and looked at the blue-eyed hound standing vigil over a house of humans and dogs. Blue-Eyes stared intensely back. Lilly took a deep breath and moved to the door.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Letting it in.”
CHAPTER 11
Everything inside of Alex wanted to fight her logic. Let a hellhound in? Let it close to Lilly?
She’d opened the door before he could stop her, if that’s what he’d meant to do. Because her words had worked like some dark and forbidden magic inside him. Evolution, she’d called it. He felt the truth of it down to his bones.
He’d lived his life in an echo, seeing humans. Understanding their existence but never experiencing what it meant to feel, to care…to touch. And now that he had, he saw his world in a different way.
He’d believed that he didn’t belong here. He’d broken laws by touching Lilly, by protecting her…by taking all of the sweetness she offered him. He’d thought those laws were sacred and to break them would somehow sully the world of humans. Lilly believed differently.
She saw a place for him here. A place at her side, in her bed, in her heart. And more than anything, Alex wanted that place. He wanted that chance to belong. To her.
And here was this hellhound—a fucking hellhound—proving it could happen. A testament to the unpredictability of life right in front of his eyes. The hellhound stood and looked through the open door and into the cabin, with its cozy fire and fragile inhabitants.
Alex swore he knew what it thought. It wanted in, but it didn’t feel worthy.
“Come on,” Lilly coaxed.
It turned those laser-bright eyes on her and tilted its head. Alex understood that, too.
Demented female.
Alex moved to Lilly’s side, took her hand, and echoed the invitation.
“Come.”
The hellhound stepped over the threshold, gave them another confused but grateful glance, and went straight to Belle. It jumped into her enclosure with lithe grace and lay down beside her, nose to nose. She licked its face and moaned.
Alex looked outside one last time before he closed the door. The snow didn’t seem to be coming down so fast anymore. By morning, this storm would be over, but a new one had begun…a storm of change, perhaps.
It took Belle hours to give birth to her three black puppies. Like the hellhound, they had big heads and long legs. Like their mother, they had velvety fur and soft ears. Alex wondered what their eyes would look like when they opened. Would they be pale blue or white lanterns? Or would they be chocolate brown like their mother’s?
“They’re cute,” Lilly announced, staring down at the ugly creatures with delight.
Alex laughed, but in a strange and probably completely wrong way…they were.
But all through Belle’s long and arduous labor, Alex had heard hellhounds baying and knew that with dawn, the next battle would come. One he might not win, but one he would fight with all his might. Because if he did survive, if he did destroy his enemy, he wouldn’t be returning to the Beyond. He didn’t care about the afterlife. He cared about this life that had been offered with no expectation that he would accept it.
He might not be worthy, but he wasn’t an idiot either. He would take it.
As the sun rose, Lilly put fresh
blankets down for Belle and her new family. She brought water and food out for both the big dog and the hellhound. She fed Alex, too. He sat across the table from her, knowing he wanted to stay. Whether he belonged or not—maybe he’d never know. But if he could a find a way, he would never leave. Yet the words wouldn’t come so he did the only thing he could—he made love to Lilly. He let Lilly make love to him.
The first time, they’d been driven by something primal. He still felt that Lilly would always be a basic need in his life. Air. Food. Water. And Lilly. Not necessarily in that order. But as he let his fingers wander over her silken curves, what he felt came from deep inside. It was longing and hope and belonging, all twisted into the spark that ignited when he moved between her legs and thrust into her body.
Nothing could compare to the feel of Lilly, surrounding him, hot and wet and wanting. Him. Wanting him to complete her.
In the end, he didn’t say the words. But she knew.
CHAPTER 12
Blue sky showed through the clouds when Alex stepped from the bedroom. He went to the window to see what impact the bright sun had had on the frozen world. The sight that met his eyes made him still with shock. Silently, he pulled Lilly beside him.
“Look out the window,” he said softly.
Lilly’s eyes widened as she took in the five hellhounds sitting on the porch, lined with military precision to keep watch from every angle.
“I know this sounds crazy,” he said. “But I think they’re guarding us.”
From somewhere not far away, the sound of other hellhounds baying raced across the bright morning. The hounds on the porch stood up and Blue-Eyes—as Lilly had dubbed him—jumped out of the enclosure. He gave Belle a parting glance that she seemed to understand. At the door, he turned those eyes on Alex.
The message was clear.
The battle was no longer coming. It was here and these creatures of damnation were now his army, if Alex chose to lead them. He gave the hellhound a stunned laugh.
“Yeah. Okay.”
The hellhound sneezed, shook its body, and waited for the door to be opened.
Alex strapped on his machete and Lilly reached for her rifle. He hated the thought of her going out into what could only be a bloody fight. But she gave him a bright smile.
“I’m an even better shot when I can see what I’m shooting.”
He laughed again. It was ridiculous to be so happy in the face of waiting violence. Yet he couldn’t stop grinning at her. “Did you really learn to shoot from YouTube?”
She pressed her mouth to his. “Ask me tomorrow.”
Her pack of crazy dogs gathered around the hellhound at the door, ready to accompany Lilly out and fight at her side. Even the toy dog danced with impatience.
She told them all to sit this one out.
“Stay with Belle, girls.”
Harley barked in protest, but when Lilly settled him beside Belle, he nudged the puppies into place and patrolled the edges like a sergeant.
“Lilly,” Alex said before he stepped outside.
“Don’t you dare say goodbye.”
Alex shook his head. “Not a chance. If we get out of this, only God himself can take you from me or me from you.”
“It was always that way, Alex. Didn’t you know it?”
He smiled again and kissed her. Together they went out to fight for their future.
CHAPTER 13
Lilly didn’t know what to expect of the hellhounds who’d stood guard, but she had faith that they wouldn’t turn on the humans when they stepped out. She was so focused on the interaction between the animals that she didn’t see the three men who slipped out of the trees until she heard Alex curse beneath his breath.
The hellhounds leapt over the railing and made themselves a front line for this new enemy. Lilly’s mouth was dry as she watched the men warily approach. They each carried a weighted machete just like Alex’s. As they passed the bloody circle where the hellhounds that had attacked last night had fallen, they slowed.
Finally, the three men stood in front of them. They eyed the hellhounds that defended Lilly and Alex with distrust. Who could blame them? Lilly glanced at Alex’s face. He knew these men and something twisted in her heart. If they attacked, which it looked like they intended to do, Alex would be forced to fight against his own again. It would hurt him, inside.
“What is this madness?” the man standing in the middle of the newcomers asked.
“Change, Jackson,” Alex answered darkly. “This madness is change.”
The man he’d called Jackson shifted his gaze from the hellhounds to Lilly and then to the hand Alex held clasped in his own. She saw something move in his eyes. Astonishment, mixed with rejection.
“A human female?” Jackson demanded.
Lilly might have laughed if not for the loud, shrieking bay that rushed them from all sides. The three men brought their weapons up, turning so they stood with backs in the center of the ring they’d made.
“Stay with me, Lilly,” Alex said. “Back to back, like they’re doing.”
She just had time to do as he instructed before the first hellhound broke from the trees. In seconds, more joined. A lot more. So many, she lost count. The sound of growls and breaking bone, of blood-curdling howls and pained screams filled the day. They fought without speaking. Lilly loaded and fired, but the hellhounds learned quickly that she could see them now and they dodged with greater speed and more respect.
Blue-Eyes and the five hellhounds that had followed him dove into the melee without hesitation. Blue-Eyes worked in tandem with Lilly, wounding the ferocious creatures, slowing them down enough for her to shoot.
The battle might have lasted for days or it might have ended in seconds. Lilly had no frame of reference. All of her attention was focused on the danger coming head on and her awareness of Alex behind her, still standing, still swinging. And then suddenly it was over.
Slain hellhounds covered the ground. The snow had become slushy and now it mixed with blood and gore, sharp with the stench of sulfur and brutality. Only one of the three men still stood. The others lay in mangled pieces beside the black corpses.
Shaking with the shock of so much violence, Lilly lowered her rifle and tried to catch her breath. Blue-Eyes and three of his mates gathered around her, and cautiously, she petted one, then another as they nudged forward for attention.
Jackson moved to Alex’s side and watched Lilly with the animals. His jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide.
“I don’t understand this,” he said.
From the corner of her eyes, Lilly saw agreement on Alex’s face. The turn of events didn’t make sense to him, either. Yet with each passing moment, Lilly sensed that Alex’s shock had waned and in its place was acceptance… tolerance…. hope.
“It confuses the hell out of me, too,” Alex said. “But it is what it is.”
Jackson made a sound of disbelief. “And what the fuck is that?”
“Evolution?” Alex offered, meeting Lilly’s eyes and smiling into them. “It’s the wave of the future, my friend.”
Jackson shook his head. “Your future, maybe. But not mine.” He looked down at the bloody mess around them and the eviscerated bodies of his comrades. Silently, he and Alex moved through the dead hellhounds, putting blades through hearts, removing heads. Finished, Jackson faced the hellhounds that had fought for Alex and Lilly.
They sat in row, ever watchful. It seemed they’d prepared themselves to face whatever might come next, even death. Lilly was moved by their courage. She believed they’d earned a right to live, but the two men facing them might not agree.
“What do you want to do with them?” Jackson asked, with a nod at the creatures.
“Let them live,” Alex said and Lilly wanted to cheer. “There are others still out there, waiting to attack. Maybe others that want to belong. Either way, we might need the backup, later.”
Jackson gave Alex a hard look. “It’s not natural. You know how cunning they can be. T
hey’re playing a game and once your guard is down, they’ll turn on you.”
There was a very real chance that Jackson could be right. But Lilly didn’t believe it. She shifted her gaze to Alex.
“They’ve had plenty of chances to do their worst,” he said. “Now they need a chance to do their best.”
Jackson shook his head again. “Hellhounds on earth. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Alex smiled at Lilly. “Not a clue. But we’ll figure it out. I’m where I need to be. So are they.”
A taut silence fell after those words and Lilly felt her chest tighten from the tension that moved between Alex and Jackson.
“You’re going to try to stay,” Jackson said after a long moment.
“Yes.”
“Even though it’s forbidden.”
“Yes.”
Jackson’s gaze lingered on the hellhounds sprawled at Lilly’s feet before shifting to Lilly’s face. She could see the questions in his eyes. He didn’t understand how she’d convinced Alex to stay. He couldn’t imagine why he’d be willing to risk everything for her.
“I won’t lie for you,” Jackson warned with a gruff sigh. “But I won’t volunteer any information either. I’ll tell them I saw you in battle. I’ll tell them I presume you dead—which I do, just so we’re clear. They may be able to track you from the Beyond, though. You know that.”
“I know they’ve claimed they have that power. But I’ve learned a lot since I came here. I’ve learned they lie.”
Jackson seemed unsettled by this comment, but in the end, he didn’t argue the point.
The two men embraced and Alex said something to Jackson that Lilly couldn’t hear. Jackson pulled back with a stunned laugh. He was still laughing as he walked away, disappearing into the trees. Leaving Alex behind. With her.
He’d chosen Lilly.
Alex took her hand and led her up to the cabin. The hellhounds spread out and flopped down on the porch, clearly exhausted and no longer on watch. They felt safe. Against all odds, so did Lilly.
Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance Page 85