Page 52 of Hellhound AU

I put the car in drive and headed out, following that slight tether. It was easy for a while, because it followed the road, which was pretty straight. But then the pull was in a direction where there was no road.

Fuck.

I pulled up the map app and looked. I wasn’t totally familiar with the area, and the ache in my chest gave me a direction, but not a distance. I followed that direction on the map from where I was, and it ended up running through Danfell.

Shit. The neo-Nazis were in Danfell.

With that thought in mind, I took off driving, heading in the direction of the town and hoping that as I got closer, I’d get more precise directions on where to go.

I had to find Milo. He had to be okay.

By the time I arrived at the neo-Nazi compound, a good half hour had passed by. I didn’t know how long I could wait for Raina, but I could at least take stock of things. The compound was a big ugly building that was multiple stories tall and made of concrete. It looked like an old warehouse or office building that had been repurposed. It was down a long, winding road, and there were trees and empty land surrounding it. Based on the ache in my chest, Milo was definitely inside.

The building was drab and ugly, but it was also effectively a fortress. There was a chain link fence surrounding the property, and there was a guard house near the gated entrance. There were cars and motorcycles parked all around the building, and it was obvious that there were a good number of people inside. Some of them—a lot of them, in fact—were hellbound. It was rare to see so many hellbound souls in one place, but I could feel their number, like a thick stench in the air. Anyone else involved with them had to be at least morally grey, but we could probably spare a few of them if we needed to.

The fact that there were no nearby neighbors or properties would work in our favor in this case. No one to hear the screaming. I was scoping out the property and doing a sweep of the perimeter when I heard the far-off beating of wings. It sounded like more than one set, and I looked up to see two spots in the distance. Riley must have joined Raina, and I realized that Raina was carrying Troy with her as well. I’d have to thank him. Troyhatedbeing carried for flights.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to see almost everyone turn up, but I was. The only person missing was Ruben, but that was expected—he was a professional piano player and was on tourwith a symphony at the moment, and I doubted he could have gotten here quickly enough.

I walked off into a lightly wooded area to meet up with my family. Raina landed, letting go of Troy, who shook himself like a dog even though he was in human form.

“Hate flying,” he muttered.

Riley snickered, and Raina smacked her on the arm, then they all came in for hugs.

“Thank you for coming,” I murmured, giving each of them a quick squeeze.

“I’ll go scope things out,” Riley said after she hugged me, and then she took flight.

I watched as she flew toward the building, her form almost blending in with the surrounding sky. Riley was gifted at cloaking herself, which only convinced me even more that she was secretly a spy. I was thankful as hell for her now, though. She circled the building, stopping at each window, and eventually she came back.

“Milo and Ethel are fine. They’re not even tied up. There’s two guys talking to them, but they don’t seem panicked. I didn’t announce my presence because I figured we’d all go in together, although I have a feeling that your mate could deal with this on his own. Ethel sounds like a spitfire, too. She’d probably happily bash some heads in.”

I took a deep breath. Milo was okay. Two guys in a room with them—that would be easy for Milo to take care of. Hell, he’d probably trip and fall and take them both out. But still, as Raina said, nothing said I love you like being covered in the blood of your loved one’s enemies. I was going to rescue Milo and prove my love, and then maybe I’d get around to finally saying the words.

“Lotta hellbound souls in there,” Troy commented.

I nodded my head. “Yep. We’ll send them where they belong.”

“You guys can go in on the ground floor, and Riley and I will take the upper floors. One of us can take care of Milo and Ethel first,” Raina commented.

I growled a bit at that. I really wanted to be the one to rescue Milo, but Raina’s plan was a good one and played to each of our strengths.

“Oh, stop it,” Riley said. “I’ll take care of Milo and Ethel, but I’ll let you kill the guys, okay?”

I nodded my head. It would have to do.

With that, Troy and I transformed into hellhounds, and Raina and Riley took their full harpy forms and flew off toward the building. We didn’t bother with the gate house or the guard—he wasn’t rotten, and if he was smart, he’d run. If not, we’d deal with him.

We burned holes through the fence and ran toward the compound. It was easy enough to burn through their locks when we got to the door, and then we ran into the place. We came upon our first hellbound soul right inside the front door, and Troy slashed him with his claws, blood spattering everywhere, including on me. I knew I could just burn it away, but it was still gross.

With that, however, the rest of the compound came running, and I heard a screech from Raina letting us know that she was taking care of things on the upper levels.

Time to go and claim my mate, even if I had to get messy in the process.

22

Author’s Note: