Chapter 12 #2
Tony gasps theatrically, pressing a hand to his chest. “How could you kill such a pretty face?”
Good question.
It was impulsive, reckless, and a real shame, but if I hadn’t done it, someone else much worse than me might’ve come out and tortured her to death. And I couldn’t risk her sending me back to Hell because I need to find Dylan.
I don’t reply to him; my gaze slips to her.
She’s glaring at me. So she’s still pissed I killed her.
Noted.
Her brown eyes slide to Tony, but the words die on her lips as his neck abruptly cracks to the side, the sound of bone crushing echoing around us. His arm snaps into an alarming angle, and Sable’s eyes widen as she steps back.
I sigh.
This night can’t possibly get any worse.
“Get behind me,” I order, grabbing Sable’s sleeve and yanking her toward me.
She doesn’t argue as another bone cracks. Tony’s spine arches unnaturally, then he heaves a groan that turns into an inhuman growl, just as he shifts into his hellhound form.
Sable’s front presses to my back as she peeks around me, trembling like a damn leaf. “What the fuck?”
I’m fully prepared to fight this motherfucker if he tries to hurt her, best friend or not.
When he shifts, Tony is gone, and in his place is an evil, large, violent—
Tony. Tidus, as he’s known in this form, crouches down and wiggles his ass in the air. He’s terrifying. His glowing yellow eyes are huge, his coat’s a midnight black, his sharp ears point to the sky, and his paws are big enough to crush multiple skulls at once.
The first time I saw him in this form, I ran as fast as I could, and he bit my head off and spat it into a lava-filled hole.
I glance at Sable, waiting for my little dead human to scream and run and become his next meal, but instead, they just stare at each other, her hands trembling as she takes in the huge form before her. Her eyes clash with mine, and the worry in her gaze makes me slightly uncomfortable.
I don’t like that she’s scared.
“If you run, he’ll eat you,” I warn her. “Take it from someone with experience.”
Tidus sniffs loudly and lowers his large head, and for a second, I think he might bow to this girl. Fuck, even the hound likes her. Me and Tony are going to have words when he shifts back to normal.
Sable studies him further, her trembling body relaxing as Tidus lowers his head more.
She stops breathing and stretches out her hand, but I grab her wrist. “Are you fucking stupid?”
Sable ignores me, creeping out of her hiding place behind me. My entire body goes stiff as I wait for him to rip her to shreds. She pulls her arm free from my grip and reaches out to him again, and this time he nudges his snout against her hand.
He rolls onto his back, showing his belly, and I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“What are you?” she asks, her brows furrowing. “A dog?”
Tidus freezes, his sharp eyes shifting to me.
“He’s not a dog. Tony is more of a nuisance than anything else.”
“Hey, Tony,” she says softly, leaning down to rub his fur.
He glares at me again. This beast hates it when I address him wrong.
My eyes lift to the ceiling. “His name is Tidus.”
She grins. “You’re such a good boy.”
The beast’s eyes land on me again. “Pussy,” he says, his voice so deep he sounds like a goddamn monster. Still, she doesn’t pull away.
Sable’s moment of shock, confusion, and fear vanishes as she bursts into laughter.
Thankfully, Tidus doesn’t hate me, but he pushes my buttons to no end. It’s like Tony is still in there, somewhere deep, and is mocking me using this killer.
The killer who’s currently kicking his leg while Sable scratches under his ear.
I fist my hands.
Tidus can sense my rage and rolls onto his front. When he stands, his large head is nearly to my shoulder.
“You’re not allowed anywhere near her,” I warn, unsure if he might snap at her. “If you hurt her, I’ll burn you alive.”
His ears flop, then he huffs.
I stumble back as the room shakes, and a portal—a black swirling vortex—takes over half the wall.
A portal. He can summon a portal.
I know Tony said he can go back and forth between here and Hell, but a fucking portal?
It would take me three steps to go through it and end this madness—I’d return to my regular position, away from this dead girl, and things would go back to normal.
The link would break. The tension would be no more. I could move the fuck on.
Against everything in me screaming to run to it, I stay put, watching Tidus huff one more time before vanishing through the vortex—which closes as soon as his tail disappears.
As soon as there’s silence in the room, my gaze drops to Sable. “What the fuck are you doing?”
She scoffs and goes to walk away, but I grab her wrist. She tries to fight me off, slapping at my arms and scratching my hands, but I pin her to the wall, holding her in place with my fingers wrapped firmly around her throat. She finally stops, breathing heavily.
“He could’ve killed you. You could’ve summoned something much worse than fucking Tony.”
A laugh breaks out of her, and I frown.
How the fuck is this funny?
Nothing about the entire situation we’ve been stuck in is funny.
She stops laughing, eyes still dancing with humor. “You were worried about me. Just there. Even though you murdered me, and hate me, and loathe my very existence. When your friend turned into a dog—”
“Hellhound.”
“You… you were worried.” This time, when she says it, there’s no humor, just sad, confused disbelief.
“Don’t mistake any of that for me being worried, dead girl. You being ripped apart by that beast only makes my day a little bit harder. I don’t give a shit about you.”
The line of her shoulder hardens. “No?”
My teeth grind. “No.”
Her angry gaze flicks down, and the corners of her lips curl into a disapproving scowl. “Your dick says otherwise.”
Every fiber of my soul wants me to push her more, to drag her to the other side of the manor, far away from Tony potentially reappearing, and shove her to her knees.
Imagining her beneath me, waiting and eager and begging for my cock, does nothing to soften the growing appendage.
I know what she smells like, and I can almost taste it on my tongue—I could fuck her with my mouth, bring her to the brink of orgasm and stop.
I could continue the process for the rest of our existence.
Given the way her chest rises and falls, and the scent that reaches me, I think she’d let that happen.
Instead, I back away from her, turning to break our eye contact, then head straight to my room.