22. Milo
Author’s Note:
So the power is fixed but now the fridge and microwave aren’t working, and so then the bf and I had to go appliance shopping.
Note: Do not take a hellhound appliance shopping.
Dexter did a lot of growling at the salesman, and I almost thought he was going to take the one guy out if he came over and asked if we needed help one more time.
Luckily, that salesman wasn’t a rotten soul, so he was safe from hellhound justice.
We did get a really good deal on the fridge, though.
MILO
Rowan was here, and from the sound of it, his sister was here, too. I wondered if it was Riley, the one I’d met, or Raina, who I hadn’t met yet. I sort of hoped it was Riley, because how embarrassing to have your first meeting be when you're being held hostage by neo-Nazis.
The next few minutes happened quickly—it was like time sped up with all the chaos. There was the screaming from downstairs, the shriek of the harpy, and then the sound of breaking glass. Riley came in through the window, and the guy with the gun shot at her.
I mean, yeah, she looked kind of terrifying, but that was really rude.
So I went to grab the drawer from the dresser to knock the guy unconscious, but I sort of tripped into him, and he ended up firing the gun and hitting the guy sitting down.
He swung towards me then, but I brought the wood down on his head, cracking the drawer with the impact.
He fell, and Ethel went and grabbed the gun.
“Riley!” I yelled, turning to check on her, because, you know, she’d been shot. Only she was standing there looking perfectly fine. Well, aside from the whole harpy thing she had going on, which was scary-as-shit looking.
“Milo?” Ethel whispered.
Riley ignored her and stared at the two men on the ground. “You didn’t even leave one for me to take care of?” she grumbled.
I looked back at the men. Huh. Yeah, they both appeared to be dead. Unconscious at the very least, but with all the blood, and the way the one guy’s head looked, I was going with dead.
I looked back at Riley and shrugged, then I turned to Ethel. “Ethel, this is Riley, Rowan’s sister. She’s a harpy, and he’s a hellhound, and they’re here to rescue us.”
Ethel stood up, staring at Riley. She didn’t look scared, like I expected. No, she looked… interested.
Riley was still by the window, but she walked in a little ways, slowly, like she was making sure Ethel didn’t get freaked out.
“My, what lovely wings you have,” Ethel said.
Riley smiled and tilted her head, then she winked at Ethel. Ethel blushed.
“Oh, no,” I said. “Nope. Definitely not. Not happening,” I muttered, pulling Ethel over next to me.
Riley folded her arms. “Don’t be a killjoy, Milo.”
“She’s old enough to be your grandmother!” I responded, then, “Ouch!” because Ethel pinched my side.
“I’m older than I look. Or hasn’t Rowan filled you in on that yet?” Riley asked.
Throughout this, we were all sort of ignoring the screams and gunshots that were occurring from outside the room. But really, should my boo get to have all the fun?
“We should go help Rowan,” I said.
“Nah, he’s fine. Raina and Troy are here, too. I’m sure they’ll be up in no time at all.”
“Still…” I commented, looking toward the door, then toward Ethel, then toward the door. I wanted to go and make sure my boo was okay, but I also couldn’t fathom bringing Ethel out into that kind of bloodshed.
Riley smirked at me. “Go on, Milo. I’ll stay and protect Ethel.”
I gave her a look, then I gave Ethel a look. “No funny business, you two.”
With that, I grabbed the gun Ethel had confiscated and walked out the door, ready to shoot some kidnapping, money-laundering neo-Nazis.
Only Rowan was bounding down the hallway toward me in his hellhound form. He was massive and beautiful, and he was covered in blood.
“Aww, boo, you came and rescued me and vanquished all my enemies. And you even got all bloody for me while doing it!” I gushed.
Rowan gave himself a shake, and flames lit up along his body, cleaning the blood off of him. My heart melted a little bit—he’d gotten messy just for me, even though he hated being messy. It was crazy sweet.
“I love you,” I told him, because I couldn’t hold it back anymore.
Rowan transformed into his human self—his very naked human self—and grumbled, “I was gonna tell you first.”
I laughed, going over and leaning up to kiss him. “Tell me now, then, strawberry milkshake.”
Rowan blushed, but he leaned in close, his eyes catching mine.
I could get lost in those eyes, the hazel coloring a mix of brown, gold, and green.
He had the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen, and I don’t think I’d appreciated them enough before now.
His lips were a breath away from mine, and he whispered, “Milo, my little chaos demon, I love you.”
He bent his head the rest of the way and kissed me, his tongue lightly tracing my lips.
Our arms were wrapped around each other, and he growled as our kiss got more heated, my tongue darting into his mouth, his licking at mine.
I could feel his flesh underneath my hands, and I suddenly wanted nothing more than to get this man in bed.
Which is, of course, when I heard a throat being cleared.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, because of course Rowan’s family and Ethel were all standing there staring at the two of us.
Riley and Ethel were on one side, having come out of the room we’d been in.
I assumed the other harpy and hellhound coming from the other direction were Raina and Troy.
Having my tongue down Rowan’s throat was not exactly how I wanted to meet his family for the first time.
Still, I rallied, clearing my throat. I turned around so my ass was against Rowan, giving him a little privacy since he was naked. Only he was hard and hot behind me, and I may have shifted just a bit to feel the situation.
“Not helping,” Rowan whispered into my ear.
“Hi! You must be Troy and Raina! So nice to meet you both!” I announced. I started to stick my hand out, then I realized that I couldn’t very well shake with a hellhound, and Raina’s claws would probably eviscerate me if I tried grabbing onto her hand.
Riley chuckled evilly behind us. I turned around and stuck my tongue out at her, and she just placed a hand (claws mostly gone) on Ethel’s shoulder, giving me a smirk.
I wasn’t even gonna think about the two of them for now.
I turned back to Raina and Troy. “Yeah, so, umm, thanks for coming to rescue me and stuff. I really appreciate the help. Not that I want you to think I couldn't handle it on my own. But I’m still totally grateful.” Ughhhh… I was totally babbling.
Rowan shifted behind me, and I felt his dick again.
“Put some clothes on,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth.
“They burned up when I changed,” Rowan answered.
In true mom fashion, Raina pulled a backpack around off her back. Huh. Hadn’t even noticed that. The bag’s color had blended in with her harpy coloring, and I guessed the backpack sat between her wings. She pulled out a rolled up pair of gym shorts and threw them at Rowan.
“You’d think by now they’d remember to take off their clothes before they went hellhound,” she murmured, rolling her eyes in my direction like we shared an inside joke. Haha, yup, those silly hellhounds, doing those hellhound things like burning up their clothes.
I felt Rowan pulling on the shorts behind me, and then he introduced his family. “Milo, this is my sister, Raina, and her husband, Troy. Raina and Troy, this is Milo, and over there is Ethel.” He gestured toward Ethel and Riley, who were standing mighty close together.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said. Although surely there was something better to say than “nice to meet you” when you were surrounded by blood and… I think Raina maybe had a piece of intestine stuck on the bottom of her foot. Like toilet paper.
I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped me, and Raina looked down. “Ewww,” she cried, shaking it off her foot. Troy gave her a lick, and she gave him a dirty look. “Thanks for telling me I had viscera stuck to my heel.”
Troy somehow managed to shrug as a hellhound, and then we all stood there for a moment.
“So, does anyone want an apple?” I asked, pulling one out from one of the pockets in my pants.
What? If all else fails, offer guests food, even if they are covered in gore and you’re not technically in your own home.
Raina was totally the older sister, and you could tell.
She wrangled all of us up and decided a fire in the compound was the easiest explanation.
Some people had escaped, but apparently they’d been allowed to escape.
Something about not being hellbound or truly evil.
I supposed that was fair, and I hoped that maybe a few of the ones who had escaped realized how fucked up their views were and saw the error of their ways.
You can always hope that humanity will do a little better.
Riley insisted on taking Ethel home, and Raina and Troy headed back home themselves once the compound was fully engulfed in flame.
So that left Rowan and me, standing outside the compound and watching it burn. Rowan reached over and held my hand. I looked at him.
“Boo, this is just like our first date. You and me and a burning building.” I sighed at the romance of it.
Rowan growled—a happy growl, because I could tell the difference—and pulled me into his arms. “Let’s go home, my little chaos demon.”
I smiled and nodded, because Rowan had just called my place home. We really were perfect together. Which made me wonder…
“How did you find me, anyway? I never doubted you would, but that was really fast.”
Rowan blushed adorably. “Oh. Well. See, there’s this thing that hellhounds do…”
I fully turned toward him, and I couldn’t help the wide grin on my face. “You mean there’s more than tails? Because let me tell you, the tail is phenomenal. What else you got, boo?”
I didn’t think it was possible, but Rowan’s blush got even deeper. Ohhh, so it was something sexual. Or at least there was something else sexual, because he hadn’t been this embarrassed to start.
“Oh well, yes, there’s the tail. I mean, I’m a hellhound, too, so during sex…” he just sort of trailed off.
Hellhound. Sex. Then it occurred to me. I’d read my fair share of sexy romances. “Boo, do you have a knot?”
Rowan just nodded, and I leaned in to kiss him firmly on the mouth. “You’re showing me that when we get home. I can’t believe you held out this long!”
We hadn’t had penetrative sex yet, but I hadn’t been complaining. We’d kept each other very satisfied in a number of other ways, and Rowan’s tail always made things interesting. Suddenly, however, I needed to know what it was like to have a knot. To have Rowan’s knot. But he obviously wasn’t done.
“What else, boo? It’s okay—you can tell me.”
“So, uh, hellhounds have mates. Like, forever mates. And they won’t die, and they won’t age, and they’ll be together for, um, forever. Because they’re mates. And when a hellhound has a mate, they can always find them.”
I stared at Rowan, trying to comprehend what he was saying. Finally, I said, “You found me.”
“Yes, mate. I did. I found you.” Rowan pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me with my back against his front, so that we could both watch the compound burning. It was a really pretty backdrop for finding out we were mates, and I’d remember it forever.
“Burning shit down is definitely a special occasion thing for us,” I murmured, and Rowan just chuckled against my head, squeezing me tighter.