Chapter 4
CHAPTER
FOUR
Dodge had never once touched me. Humans never had, really.
I hadn’t thought about it when I’d taken Ambrose’s hand to lead him down the tunnel to the house.
I’d realized what I’d done only once he held on to my finger like he never meant to let go.
And for Ambrose to now stand in front of me, holding both of my hands, and staring up at me so earnestly…
A spark of something hopeful and a little frightening joined the embers of hellfire inside me.
Having the house back was one thing, but I suddenly felt like I might die if Ambrose was ever taken away from me.
“It’s settled then,” he said with a smile that lit up his beautiful face. “I’ll let you know if I’m expecting visitors since we don’t want to alarm anyone unnecessarily. Otherwise, please feel free to make use of the house as if it was yours.”
I swallowed hard, overwhelmed by the man’s kindness. “I don’t need much.”
“ Pftt .” Ambrose waved one elegant hand and stepped around me to look at the room. “Whatever you need, Saph. If you’d like to make use of an upstairs bedroom instead, please do.”
“Down here suits me.”
“Alright.”
Truthfully, I did like the dark and damp of the basement.
If I could’ve put a bed in the mausoleum, it would’ve been fine as well.
There were two other tunnels down here that I could leave through to catch my prey, so it was convenient.
Plus, I would be less likely to be caught in one of the upstairs rooms when someone did show up—unexpectedly or not.
Ambrose was entirely unique in his reaction to learning about me and Hell and damned souls.
I didn’t want to press my luck on whether anyone else would be so accepting.
“Oh,” Ambrose said from beside the sturdy table at the end of the bed. “I have a chef in once a week to make my meals, so I can ask her to make anything you’d like as well.”
I blinked at him. A chef? To make me meals? I licked my lips, suddenly ravenous. “That would be…very nice.”
Ambrose sat down in one of the chairs and curled himself up on the seat. I saw a flash of long, pale legs before he tucked his deep purple dress around them. A different kind of hunger slithered through me now.
“What sort of foods do you enjoy?” Ambrose cocked his head, causing a curtain of black hair to fall over his shoulder.
Honestly, I had expected him to follow me here and leave immediately for the upper rooms and hadn’t considered that he might linger. That we might talk. I had wanted companionship, of course, but now that I had it, I worried about somehow ruining our budding connection.
I sat down on the other club chair, facing Ambrose.
Resting my arms on the tabletop between us, I watched his gaze slide over me.
Immediately, the air was perfumed with male musk.
Did Ambrose find me…attractive? It was a good thing the table hid my lower body because my cock was threatening to make an appearance all of a sudden.
What had Ambrose asked me? “Oh… Meats mostly. I’m a carnivore.”
“Mmm, yes. I can imagine you tearing into a lovely, thick steak.”
Why did that sound sexual?
“Yes, I like steak,” I said, feeling out of my depth.
“I like meat, too.” Ambrose nodded, biting his bottom lip. A pink tinge lit up his cheeks, making his deep blue eyes shine.
I wanted to free that lip, nibble on it. I hadn’t done any such thing in so very long…
“So I’ll let Chef Yamuna know I have a friend staying who enjoys a meaty diet.”
I nodded my thanks.
“Now,” Ambrose grinned, “would you mind telling me all about Hell and the afterlife and whatever else I’ve been missing?”
With no restrictions on what I could share and feeling like this was a far safer topic than…meat? I settled in and explained.
“I don’t know about anywhere else except Hell, but I see no reason that there wouldn’t be the opposite of damnation available to better souls.”
“Heaven.”
“Or something like it.”
Ambrose nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense. Is Hell full of darkness and fire?”
“And pain and torture and the screaming of the damned,” I said with a nod. Sometimes, when I couldn’t sleep, I’d recall the scent of blood and all that wailing. It reminded me of my carefree youth down below.
I wasn’t sure if Ambrose’s shiver was real or exaggerated, but I already knew I shouldn’t tell him those were the comforts of home to me.
“I suppose there are plenty of people who deserve it,” Ambrose said in a resigned sort of tone, “but is avoiding Hell all about religion?”
I leaned forward on my elbows. “Hell existed long before any religion did. There must be balance with such things as good and evil. A human soul has both. When it tips too far into evil, it goes to Hell to be rebalanced.”
Ambrose set his elbow on the arm of the chair and leaned his delicate chin in the palm of his hand. “Is it possible to be too good?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm…”
I wasn’t sure what else Ambrose might want to know, so I waited for another question.
But as I watched him, I realized he was slowly sinking into sleep.
His lithe body eased back against the chair, his head tilted in his hand, and his eyes fluttered shut.
A strange sort of thrill went through me because this was Ambrose trusting me.
He could sleep and nothing bad would happen. Maybe even because I watched over him?
Protectiveness surged inside me, and I wanted to curl my bigger body around him like a shield. Settle him on the bed and tuck him in close. Breathe in the perfect scent of him all night long.
But what would happen when Ambrose woke?
He’d discover he was surrounded by a giant stinking beast, that was what would happen.
Ambrose smelled like lilies and desire, while I smelled like dirt and feet.
I needed a shower. There was one down here, in a corner, but it was open to the room.
Well, hopefully, the sound of falling water wouldn’t wake Ambrose, and I could meet him again when he woke smelling fresh and not foul.
I got the water on and warm, all while watching for Ambrose to wake.
He didn’t, so I concentrated on myself. I made the water as hot as I could stand it and sighed as it cascaded down my body.
Muscles loosened and my fur untangled as I stood there and savored the sensations.
I tipped my snout up and took a generous drink, feeling the fire within me go out only for it to relight a moment later, like it always did.
With liquid soap on my hands, I lathered myself from the tips of my ears to my tail and my toes.
Bits of detritus sloughed off me and swirled down the drain with the bubbles, leaving me feeling renewed.
I’d thought I would be consigned to never experience this level of pampering again, but thanks to Ambrose?—
A tiny gasp reached my ears and had me looking sharply toward him. No longer asleep, he was sitting up, his boots on the floor and big blue eyes wide. Those eyes tracked down my body and back up again. Ambrose licked his lips.
Unless I fled the room entirely, there was no way for me to hide the fact that my cock pushed up and out of the dark sheath of flesh and fur between my legs.
Long, thick, and knotted, I couldn’t disguise my cock or talk my way out of why it had appeared.
The sight of my arousal would either ruin everything or finally let me know what it meant to have a mate.
Ambrose never stopped looking at me as he reached down and removed his boots.
He stood and undid his jacket, setting it aside.
Still he stared, and still I watched him.
Ambrose unzipped his dress and let it slither down his lean, pale body before scooping it up to set it with his jacket on the back of the chair.
A growl rose up inside me at the sight of lacy underwear struggling to contain Ambrose’s straining cock. He grinned briefly and pushed the lace down his long legs, baring himself completely.
I scraped the claws of one hand against the stone block wall as I reached out my other hand toward the stunning man who wasn’t afraid of me and actually desired me, too.
Ambrose took my hand and let himself be pulled under the spray of the water. He tilted his face up, soaking himself from long black hair to tiny pink toes. So small. So delicate. I put myself between Ambrose and the shower head, looking down as beautiful blue eyes blinked up at me. Ambrose smiled.
It felt like something cracked open inside me.
Like a hidden compartment in my heart couldn’t take the pressure anymore and burst. Tendrils of heat and need and possessiveness unfurled from within me and had me reaching for Ambrose.
I tried to be gentle, to not scratch or squeeze, but the prick of my claws against his skin seemed to be what made him moan.
Maybe he didn’t mind the danger posed by taking a hellhound as a lover. Maybe he liked that.
“You’re so beautiful,” Ambrose whispered as he smoothed his little hands down my chest.
Frowning, I had to ask, “I am?”
Ambrose bit his lip and grinned, hands wandering lower.
I had to look, to watch human hands tumble over my abdominals before grasping my cock.
A deep, dark moan overtook me as I shivered with the sensation of someone else touching me for the first time in ages.
Ambrose made a soft little sound of want as he stroked my cock from base to tip, hand over hand, again and again.
When I couldn’t resist rolling my hips, fucking into his hold, he looked up and smiled at me one more time.
I was going to get addicted to those sweetly wicked smiles.
Wanting to feel more, touch more, I picked Ambrose up under his arms and cradled him close. He made a humming noise that I took as appreciation and wrapped his long legs around my waist. With Ambrose holding onto my shoulders, I rocked my hips and rubbed our cocks together.
Gripping a firm little ass with one hand and protecting delicate skin from a rough wall with the other, I stared down at Ambrose taking his pleasure from my hard body. One rumbling moan after another left my throat while Ambrose bucked against me, head tipped back and eyes struggling to stay open.
I had thought he was stunning fully clothed and from across the room, but there was nothing more beautiful than him naked, wet, and aroused.
I couldn’t stop my hips from working in tandem with Ambrose’s and reveled in the reward of his startled noise and breathless moan right afterward. I had to brace myself against the wall while still holding him close and safe, the two of us rutting faster and faster, chasing our release.
Suddenly, Ambrose pushed up and set his plush little lips against my mouth. A kiss? I’d seen those but never done it. Trying, I pursed my lips as best I could and pecked Ambrose in return. He laughed in between his panted breaths, hips still rolling, and a flush overtaking his cheeks as he smiled.
I was coming then, a snarl on my lips and a growl thundering out of me. Ambrose made a tiny surprised sound and reached between us to grasp my shooting cock, pumping me to completion. The water cascading over us both washed it away, but I knew I’d marked Ambrose first. Marked him as mine.
And then Ambrose was coming, his dark pink cock coating mine in heat before that, too, was washed away. Next time, I wanted to revel in his cum, rub it into my fur, and smell like my man for hours afterward.
If there was a next time.
As Ambrose sighed in my arms, I reached over and turned off the water.
Cradling him close, I leaned my back against the wall and rested, Ambrose loose and warm in my arms. The possibility that this encounter might be just once, an experiment on his part, hurt my heart.
That burst-open part tried to close and protect me from the chance that he hadn’t meant to stay.
But then Ambrose sat back enough to look me in the eyes and gently traced his fingertips over my face. He smiled and touched my eyelashes, the top of my snout, my nose, lips, and even one fang. “My beautiful hellhound,” he whispered and kissed me.
I didn’t know what possessed me, but I found myself licking Ambrose’s nose.
He laughed, so I did it again. I licked every bit of him that I could reach while the man giggled and wriggled in my arms. Then Ambrose caught my jaw and pressed our mouths together, making me purse my lips and do my best to kiss him back.
This couldn’t be the only time we might be together. I never wanted this to end.