I didn’t care about the rules of prey versus predator—I screamed.
It leaped—soaring straight for me and my squishy, chompable neck.
“Eleguh!”
Seizing my collar, the creature snatched me out of the air—dropping its paws and the full weight of its bulk on the two snapping jaws of his counterparts, smashing them into the dirt.
I choked on my scream, scratching at my strangling collar as it whipped his head, and threw me in the air.
I fell hollering onto the hellhound’s back.
“Hold on tight, darling.”
My eyes flew wide.That voice. I know that voice.
I didn’t think, I just did. Gripping his fur, I had enough time to shout, “Wait, no—!” before he ran at the cliff.
Lethal, unforgiving claws sank into the rock, finding purchase better than crampons, screws, and flimsy fingernails ever could.
Lucifer scaled the length of the cliff face in a flash. Heaving over the top, he roughly shook, deposited me painfully on my face, then bounded away—disappearing into the hazy, smoky gloom.
“Ow!” Untangling my limbs, I flipped right ways up and groaned. My throat hurt, my hands hurt, my feet hurt, and my face hurt.Vindictive little devil-man. He one hundred percent could’ve put me down more gently!
A strange noise pressed against my ear, demanding that I take notice—and that was the lack of it.
Silence reigned.
Blinking my eyes open, I met the shocked, angry, and astonished faces of the students, and all of those faces were fixed on me.
“Uhhh...”Was I supposed to say something?
Scooching to the edge, I peered down into the open-mouthed fury of Erlik. He stood there surrounded by hellhounds who had all stopped howling, roaring, gnashing, and eating. An untouched victim lay at their very feet, and instead of stopping him from getting away—which he was doing as quickly and quietly as possible—the hellhounds all had their unsettling, beady eyes turned to the pinnacle, and me.
I didn’t know a thing about hellhounds, or how intelligent they were, but I felt as their eyes lingered on mine that they weren’t too pleased that one of their own snatched a meal from them, and when the time came, they’d snatch it back.
I forced a smile on my lips, waving down at them. “It’s okay, puppies, I wouldn’t have tasted very good anyway. Nothing but gristle and bone underneath these clothes.” I turned my beaming smile on a reddening, furious Erlik. “So I guess this means I pass, sir. It’s a good thing you didn’t make this challenge harder.”
OUR GROUP TRUDGED THElong way down the hill. Or most of us did. The beings with wings took off and flew to the academy, and no doubt the beds and showers waiting for them. But not a single one of them left without giving me an assessing look tinged with disgust. With them gone, that made room for everyone else to stare at me like I was a freak.
“Um.” I pressed my chin to my collar. “Why is everyone looking at me funny? Is a demon riding a hellhound that strange?”
“Yes, stupid girl, it is. Hellhounds are not pets. They are not and cannot be tamed. To see one refuse to eat you, and instead come to your aid and allow you on its back for seemingly no reason is unheard of,” she hissed. “And that is the risk you’ve forced upon my lord. You’ve only been here one hour and you’ve already threatened his exposure.”
I rolled my eyes. “No one forced him into anything.Hecame tome, so try yourLord Lucy’s a victimroutine on someone else.”
A sharp pain erupted in my abdomen. “What the—! Did you just bite me!?” I belted out, uncaring of my watchful audience.
“So what if I did? I’m not venomous, you geriatric cow.”
“Like that’s the point!”
“Who the fuck are you talking to!” The tall, lumbering figure in front of me spun around.
I bounced off his hard chest, blinking up at the face unfolding before my clearing vision.
“Wow.”
He was gorgeous. And when I said gorgeous, I didn’t mean supermodel gorgeous or Hollywood-actor gorgeous. I meant stare-too-long-and-you’d-go-blind gorgeous. Give-him-everything-I-own-just-to-be-in-his-presence-for-a-second-longer gorgeous. One-smile-from-him-and-it’d-cure-all-your-ills gorgeous.
