Page 19 of Hellhounds Never Lie

The tension in our bodies seemed to melt as we settled on the bed beside one another. For the next while, we didn’t even speak much, just a few words here and there as I traced the length of his thick fingers with mine, or he brushed his fingers through my hair. Then I rested my hand over the center of his chest to feel his heartbeat against my palm while he cupped the back of my neck and squeezed gently. Another delicious cascade of tingles shot through me, and I decided tingles weren’t so worrisome after all.

I’d never felt so comfortable with another person.

And before I knew it, my eyes were getting heavy.

“I should go to the couch.” He moved to sit up, but I gripped his arm again.

“No. Please, don’t go. Hold me while I sleep,” I whispered.

He rolled me to my side, then curled up behind me with one of his large arms under my head as a pillow and the other wrapped over me to hold me tightly against his chest. I sighed as his warmth surrounded me.

With a wiggle of my fingers and a whisper of magic, I turned the lights off in my apartment. Feeling the heat of Dillon’s body against mine in the darkness made everything else that had happened between us seem even more important and intimate. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so warm or so safe.

I never would have thought that tonight could have turned out so perfectly.

And as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I worried I’d jinxed things. But how could anything go wrong with Dillon at my side?

ChapterSeven

DILLON

Threatening to kill people probably wasn’t the right thing to do, but I’d been absolutely serious when I’d said that to Ash. Thankfully, my little witch hadn’t been scared by my promise to him. And it was a promise. Whoever hurt him deserved to suffer.

I didn’t need to know the details of what happened to know that much.

At least Ash was with me now and I would make sure nothing ever hurt him again.

His small thin body was curled against me, sheltered in my arms. I was struck by the rightness of holding him, of being with him, of putting my body between him and the rest of the world. I was scared to admit, even to myself, what that meant. Everything with Ash felt too fragile right now. As if acknowledging my suspicions might jeopardize everything.

So I held my thoughts close and Ash even closer.

He slept peacefully in my arms, but I couldn’t relax. Not until I knew what had happened to him. Not until I knew what needed to be done to make things right for him. I wanted to squeeze him tight and never let him go, but I forced my arms to remain loose so he wouldn’t feel trapped. I sensed he wouldn’t like to be confined by anything, especially not a guy he’d just met.

It was strange, then, that he hadn’t moved away from me yet.

On the rare occasions when I’d spent a full night with someone, they’d inevitably roll away from me within a few minutes, complaining the heat from my body made them sweaty and uncomfortable. But that wasn’t happening with Ash. If anything, he snuggled closer. Having him seek warmth and comfort from me soothed something deep inside me.

How could this feel so right so fast?

I inhaled deeply, pulling the sweet scent of him deep into my lungs. Absorbing this tiny part of him into myself.

I sounded like a lunatic. A stalker. A cannibal.

Just like when my primitive impulses wanted to claim him as mine within the first few minutes of meeting him. And those impulses hadn’t subsided. Not one little bit. If anything, they grew stronger the longer I was with him. I couldn’t imagine the intensity of what I’d feel for him in a week, a year, a decade…

It was too soon to think like that, but a part of me—that ever-hopeful part that hadn’t given up on good in the world and that still remembered what it felt like to have a true home—rejoiced at how perfect things felt with Ash. I hoped I was right about what was causing all of this, even if I couldn’t label it yet, not even to myself. The wordmate—I shivered just at the thought of it—was too precious to even ponder for a millisecond, because if I was wrong…

I closed my eyes, knowing I wouldn’t sleep, but savoring the feel of Ash’s warm body in my arms. I wanted to memorize everything about this moment. I hoped there would be thousands—no that wasn’t enough, I wanted an infinity—of moments like this in our lives, but I wanted to remember everything about this first one.

I’d probably feel the same about the second and the third and—

Danger!My hellhound’s warning ricocheted through me.

All happy thoughts scattered. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong…

Was there an intruder? A threat lurking in the night? A shift in the weird magic of this place? I couldn’t tell and that only intensified my feeling ofwrongwrongwrong…

My beast nudged me, urging me to fix what was wrong, but I didn’t even know what that was. I inhaled softly, scared of moving too much and waking Ash in case my hellhound was just overreacting. I couldn’t scent anything. I strained to hear what might have gotten the attention of my beast. I wanted to partially shift just my ear, but if there was someone here, they would immediately notice my hellhound’s flame covered ear in the darkness.