Bound to the Hellhound (Vampires of Blood and Bones #20)

CHAPTER ONE

"How many times do I have to tell you not to run the shredder when I'm having lunch?

" Justin Tuffin shouted at his younger brother, Theo, and grabbed him by the throat.

"You're a fucking idiot, Theo, a fucking idiot.

" He slowly enunciated each word and shook Theo, who was pulling at his hand and trying to get out of his grip.

He then threw him against the wall like he weighed nothing. Remarkably, Theo rolled and was back on his feet quickly. Having grown used to being roughed up by his siblings, he knew not to stay on the floor. They couldn’t kick or stomp him if he was on his feet.

Over the years of abuse, he learned how to take care of himself as best he could.

He learned how to take a punch, how to keep from breaking bones, how to survive a beatdown.

Their father saw it as nothing but horsing around or roughhousing, even when Theo showed up with broken bones.

It was a boys-will-be-boys attitude that let them off the hook and kept everything appearing normal.

At twenty, he should have been off and on his own, but the responsibility he felt toward his family kept him there and kept him working a dead-end job in his father’s agency. Justin and his other brother, Larry, both older than him, held the titles, the paychecks, and the respect.

Theo worked hard and yearned for a crumb of what his father gave the others, but all he got was disappointed looks. He would never measure up, but he couldn’t stop trying.

“Theo!” His father yelled. “Get back to work and stop bothering Justin. Can’t you even do the simplest of tasks?" He shook his head, and Theo heard Justin snickering.

"He's an idiot, Dad, and he'll never be anything else." Justin piped in.

"Go to the basement, Theo, and put the trash into the compactor. I don’t think even you can fuck that up.” He finished with a tone that was both dissatisfied and threatening.

Theo caught his own reflection in the windows of the lobby as he made his way to the freight elevator that would take him to the basement.

He stopped for a moment and marveled at what he saw staring back at him.

When did he start hunching so badly? He used to stand straight and hold his head up.

Now his shoulders were rounded, and he stared at the floor.

It didn’t matter what he did; it was always wrong or not enough.

He had his degree, his certification, his grades, but still, he was seen as not enough, never enough.

He closed his eyes and turned his head, pushing the vision away.

Work harder, become someone they will respect.

He just had to work harder, and they would see him, include him, and love him.

“I’m going myself.” Master Louis DuCane announced. “The paperwork should be ready since negotiations ended yesterday. The Tuffin agency has been handling the sale, and although I haven't been particularly impressed, I do believe they got the job done and gave me what I asked for.”

“Why do you wish to go yourself?" Ismael, his second in command, asked. “You have any number of qualified people who could easily take care of this for you.”

“My instincts are telling me to handle this in person.” He shot a meaningful glance over at his Second. "I never second-guess my instincts."

“Your instincts are always spot on," Ismael commented thoughtfully. "I wonder what the issue may be.”

“The property is functional for our purposes, and the price is fair.” He stated. “I’ll know the problem when I get there.”

“Who are you taking with you?”

“Valerian and Silas.” He said with a slight grin. Valerian was his personal hellhound guard, and Silas was Ismael's son, a seasoned security specialist and Commander of Coven security.

“Good choice.”

Valerian was having lunch with his brother, Sheriff Kass Keller, at the Village Café just down the street from the Sheriff's Department on Main Street.

He and his brother had gone through a rough patch, having not seen or spoken to one another for decades, but then they both found themselves working for Master Louis DuCane.

Kass had blamed his brother for abandoning him and leaving him with their abusive father.

What he didn’t know was that their father had sentenced Valerian to the darkness and told no one.

It was a place devoid of hope and filled with sorrow and pain.

It was a place beneath the fires of hell and was used as a dark hole in which undesirables among the hellhounds could be lost and forgotten.

Valerian had lived in this pit of pain and sorrow for nearly a century before finding release. When he returned home, he found his father had died and Kass had left, believing the worst of him.

They were together now and were slowly rebuilding their relationship. Kass realized that his brother had never abandoned him, while Valerian learned that his brother didn't hate him and still cared for him. It would be a long journey for both of them, but they were willing to put in the work.

“How’s Jasper? I hear he’s been promoted to manager at Horizon Books.” Valerian asked about Kass’s mate. Talk of Jasper always brought a smile to Kass’s face.

“He’s doing great, and so is the bookstore under his leadership." Kass bragged.

“He’s a smart guy.” Valerian agreed. “All he needed was a guy like you to lean on someone supportive and genuine to bring out his best.”

“He brings out the best in me, too," Kass admitted. "I see the world differently since bonding with Jasper. It’s a much nicer place than I ever gave it credit for.” He laughed.

“I’ll have to take your word on that. Nice is not the word I would use to describe it.”

"When you find your mate, you'll change your mind on that. Look at how Eric affected the attitude of our Deputy Lawson. The guy was dead set against unions with humans until his Fated mate turned out to be human. Mates can destroy even deep-seated prejudices.”

“We’ll see.” Valerian shot back lightly, not really in the mood to discuss his lack of mate.

He wasn’t exactly mate material. After having spent so many years in the darkness, his ability to be a suitable partner to anyone in a romantic sense was severely damaged.

No one in their right mind would want to get hooked up with someone like him.

"It will happen for you, Valerian, when you least expect it, and the memory of your hesitation at this moment will make you laugh.” Kass shook his fork at Valerian.

"You mark my words, one of these days will be your day.

" Valerian just nodded his head, not wanting to get into it with Kass but knowing full well that his day would never come. It was a fact that he’d accepted long ago.

“Louis DuCane is coming in person to review the agreement and sign.” Parson, the representative of the owner, spoke to Nelson Tuffin, the agent handling the sale.

"Your people better be ready to finish this business as smoothly as you claimed.” Theo had finished in the basement and had come back up to the second floor, but stopped short of entering the room when he heard his father speaking with the owner's emissary.

He wasn’t given any information regarding the sale, but he'd seen the men representing the seller, and they were bad news.

He could tell they were thugs, but his father agreed to handle the sale and work with them, which wasn't unusual.

Theo sensed they were using them, and in the end, nothing good would come from this business, but no one cared what he thought, least of all his father and his brothers.

Theo quietly returned to the basement, not wanting to be seen. It was better to stay out of the way when any of the Parson group were on site. He always knew his father and brothers flirted with the criminal life, but getting involved with Parson was a leap into the deep end.

They weren’t people to be played with, and once you worked with them, you were never free. The whole thing gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. He wondered who was selling the waterfront section, considering they used someone like Parson as an intermediary. The thought was chilling.

He noticed Justin getting off the elevator and heading in his direction. Theo began sweeping the floor and attempted to ignore him, but that was going to be impossible.

"Hey, asshole," Justin yelled and threw a cardboard box at him.

Theo knocked it out of the way before it hit him and then picked it up and set it on a table.

Justin then grabbed a bag of garbage, ripped it open, and threw it all over the floor.

"You're a fucking waste, Theo." He yelled again and strutted stiffly around the room.

Justin was angry that he wasn't included in the business upstairs.

He fancied himself as father's right-hand man, but he wasn't. Larry had his father's trust and faith, and his father leaned on him, which infuriated Justin.

The only way Justin could make himself feel better was to attack Theo, which he did often.

Larry treated him poorly, too, but for Larry, it was just a sport, not personal, whereas Justin actually hated him.

Justin began dumping more garbage and shouting at Theo, and then he grabbed Theo by the collar and jerked him off his feet. Theo fell into the garbage on the floor. "That's where you belong, loser." He kicked out at Theo but missed. “Pick this shit up.”

Theo did not respond and just tried to stay out of his way, but Justin was very angry and determined to make Theo pay.

His hard fist connected with Theo's jaw, and in that moment, he promised himself that this would be the last time.

He would leave, he would do whatever he had to to be free of these monsters.