Chapter 24
Cara
Remember when I said I like myths and was absolutely curious about this shit?
Well, scratch that. The battle raging on in front of me has turned into something from a horror movie.
And it’s loud. So loud. There are snarls and growls and yelps—and enough blood to make me queasy.
As if being knocked unconscious and forced to trek through the woods hadn’t exhausted me enough.
It’s all too much.
The flaming bodies make it hard to decipher who’s winning, not that I’m really focused on anyone but my Cooper.
He’s not wearing his nametag, but I know it’s him.
I feel it. How did my dog even know where to find me?
Although I suppose that’s a stupid question, since he’s not really a dog at all.
I watch as he viciously attacks one of his own kind, tearing him to pieces right before my eyes.
Is this what he did to Brad? If we get through this, I’ll have to ask him. If he can talk like that other one did, he and I are going to have one hell of a conversation.
Hellhounds might be scary, but this leather-winged looking creep, who I can only surmise is a demon, is the stuff of nightmares.
He fights with precision and strength, and even though I’m trying to remain positive since, you know, my life depends on us getting out of here, I can’t help but fear none of my allies are strong enough to take that thing on.
A nearby scuffle draws my attention away.
The hound who glared at me throughout our trek in the woods is fighting.
His paws are still chained together with the strange, magical handcuffs, but that doesn’t stop him from using his body as a weapon.
He fights like he’s done this before, and I realize maybe he has. Maybe they all have.
It might even be the reason they left this cruel place.
For a second, I think he’s going to win, but then the hound he’s fighting sinks its teeth into his neck and rips. I suck in a sharp breath and grip Coop’s fur behind me as I watch on in fear. Whoever this hound is, and regardless of his distaste for me, he doesn’t deserve this. None of us do.
The wounded hound rolls away from another attack, and I find myself whisper-chanting, “Get up, get up, get up!” I don’t know if he hears me, but somehow he rises onto his paws.
He wobbles a little but remains upright.
My eyes are glued to him, too afraid to look away—as if my gaze alone will keep this hound alive.
Despite the blood pouring from his neck, he doesn’t relent.
He fights with everything he has until his jaw closes around the asshole’s throat, and I let out a quiet whoop of excitement.
But before he gets the chance to bite down and tear the motherfucker’s throat out, the damn leathery demon is there. He moves fast. Too fast for the hound to do anything as the demon wraps his large, clawed hands around the injured hound’s head and squeezes.
Something warm and wet covers my hand, and I turn around, afraid I’ll find blood coating my fingers, but I don’t. Instead, I find it completely enclosed in Coop’s jaw. I nearly pull my hand back in fear before I realize he’s not trying to hurt me at all.
He’s getting my attention. This hound is distracting me from witnessing what I imagine would haunt me forever.
Someone growls behind me, and I know who it is without needing to turn around.
My sweet Cooper.
Despite the fear running through my veins, if my dog is putting himself at risk, I can’t just cower on the sidelines, averting my eyes like a child. So I turn.
The demon no longer holds the head of that poor hellhound.
At first I don’t know where the hurt hound went, but from the corner of my eye I see his unmoving form lying in the grass.
My dog, covered in flames, leaps through the air toward the demon, but the beast flicks its leathery wings, sending a powerful gust of wind toward my Cooper and throwing him back.
He lands on the ground with a hard thump that has me sucking in a fearful breath.
I get this sudden urge to throttle the demon, and I take a step forward to do just that, but Coop stops me with a mouthful of my shirt. He whines, and somehow I know that he’s urging me to stand down and stay back. Stay safe.
“But that’s my dog,” I tell him, scratching him behind the ears. “I can’t just sit back and let that leathery fucking trash-hole hurt him.”
Coop chuffs what I suspect is a laugh, and it may not be what he means by it, but I take it as permission. Before I get the chance to make any sort of move, a commotion behind me has me whipping around.
Hellhounds.
So many fucking hellhounds.
They slink in from the forest, all of them growling low, their flames so bright it’s blinding. As they approach, the air grows hot and oppressive. It feels as though I’ve entered a dry sauna and can’t escape.
“Oh God,” I whisper. Our odds already didn’t look too great, not with that flying asshole, but now this? We can’t survive this.
Coop licks my hand, and I peer down to find him…smiling?
“What are you grinning for? This kind of makes things worse.”
He shakes his head, and I roll my eyes. Silly man. Er—hound.
Ugh. Whatever.
When I glance back at the now legion of hellhounds, I spot my Cooper seeming to have a conversation with one of the new hounds and then as one they turn toward the demon.
Oh shit. These hounds aren’t with Ted and his asshole friends.
They’re with us.
A thrill of excitement goes through me as I watch the new hounds overwhelm our enemies. Like watching a boat being swept away by a storm, my Cooper and the other hounds dominate Ted and his group.
As tough as the demon is, I don’t imagine he can take on so many of them at once. I fucking hope he can’t, anyway.
Unable to look away, I watch as the asshole holds his own, deflecting blows and causing his own harm in the process.
One of the new hounds manages to clamp down on the beast’s leg, and I hear an audible snap.
The demon roars, lashing out at any hound within reach, and I watch in utter horror as his claws slash across a nearby hellhound’s chest, leaving a spray of crimson blood.
No!
My Cooper falls to the grass, his flames extinguishing as the remaining hellhounds overtake the demon, but I don’t care about the others. I don’t care about getting hurt or staying at a safe distance. Not when my sweet dog is hurt.
I trip over a root and fall to my knees on my way to his side, but despite the ache that jolts through me, I get up and keep going. He needs me. I have to make sure he’s okay.
Please be okay.
“Cooper,” I whisper when I finally make it to his side. “Hey, buddy. I need you to wake up, alright?” I rub his fur, being careful to avoid the wounds.
God, it looks bad.
There’s a pool of blood beneath him already, soaking my bare knees. Tears fall from my eyes as I beg him to come back to me.
Behind me, there’s a shift in the air followed by a growl, and suddenly Coop is here, standing next to us.
I sense the eyes of more hellhounds watching on, but I can’t find it in me to care.
If they hate me for what I am, well, tough luck.
They’ll have to kill me before I’ll ever let them take me from my sweet pup’s side.
“Please, Cooper. Please.” Another tear falls as I place a kiss on his normally wet nose, but now it’s dry.
That’s bad, right? I try to recall what I know about dogs and their health, then realize how much of an idiot I am because this isn’t just any normal dog and Lucian’s class didn’t teach us anything about hellhound health.
Fuck!
Earlier today I was worried about my dog being an orphan, but now I’m terrified I’ll be the one left alone. “Please don’t leave me,” I say, lip wobbling as I try to put pressure on the wound.
He still doesn’t wake up.
Coop nudges me twice, and I almost ignore the third time but finally look to him. Then I remember. Holy shit. He owns an animal sanctuary! Surely he knows how to help him.
“Can you save him, Coop?”
He gives me a weird doggy nod and growls to his companions, who jump into action.
It takes me longer than it should to realize they aren’t trying to heal him with magic and are only trying to lift him onto someone’s back.
Once I figure that out, I do what I can do help and follow them back out the way we came.
As soon as the hounds cross the border, they all shift. It shouldn’t surprise me so much after the day I’ve had, but it somehow still amazes me. Probably doesn’t help that they’re all naked.
I find Coop bare-assed and kneeling over another male body, assessing the bloody wounds I see there. But as my eyes travel up his tattered chest and over a familiar chain to land on the man’s face, I stop breathing.
Lying on the damp rocks is my professor.
Lucian.
The man I’ve been sleeping with for weeks is not only a hellhound, but he’s also Cooper, the pet I’ve been living with all semester.
What the actual fuck?