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Chapter Six
Hunter snarled at me when I opened the passenger-side door of my car to get him. He hadn’t recovered from his ordeal, and as it turned out, he wasn’t very nice when he was hurting.
He’d wanted to go back to somewhere else—no doubt to lick his wounds in private—but I’d strong-armed him into my car.
By strong-armed, I meant that I’d threatened to come looking for him if he went elsewhere, and it seemed he didn’t like the idea of me being out on my own for no good reason.
“I’m fine.” The pained words called him a liar.
“Yeah, I can tell. You’re doing awesome,” I muttered when I took most of his weight.
He shivered, his feet scraping against the driveway. He lifted his lip, showing off his blunt teeth as if they were still the fangs of his dragon.
And we toppled forward, his legs unable to hold him and me not nearly strong enough to haul his weight on my own.
My elbow hit the concrete, and I let out a soft grunt from the impact. “Yep. You are doing just wonderful, I can tell.” Frustration ate at me. Hunter was hurt, he was being difficult and I couldn’t seem to do a damned thing to help.
“I leave you for one minute,” came Troy’s voice a moment before Hunter’s heavy body was lifted from me.
Despite Hunter’s not-too-happy reaction to the help, Troy didn’t appear sorry or apprehensive at manhandling an angry hellhound.
Once Troy got him into the house, he paused and peered at me. “Where do you want him?”
“You know I could tear your throat out,” Hunter answered.
Troy ignored him and looked my way, like the hellhound was nothing more than an unruly child having a tantrum.
I hiked my finger toward the bedroom. “In there, I guess.”
Troy nodded, all but dumping Hunter into the bed with as little respect as possible.
Hunter shivered, his tattoos moving on his skin as if agitated down to his core. Even so, he growled, a low and dangerous sound.
Troy waved him off, then leaned in close to me near the door. “You sure you want me to leave him here? I can stay if you want.”
I glanced over to the bed, to where Hunter had his teeth bared, looking about as frightening as I’d ever seen him.
Even now, however, I wasn’t afraid. He was snarling because he was hurt, because he’d been in danger. He reminded me of an animal in the corner of a cage, growling at anyone who dared to come near.
“I’m okay,” I said, sure of it.
Troy leaned in, nuzzling his forehead to mine, the scene of the forest hanging on him. “Be careful.”
I leaned up and took a quick kiss, with an even more vicious snarl from Hunter saying he didn’t appreciate it. It seemed the usually happy-to-share demon felt a bit more possessive at the moment.
I let out a soft laugh. “Guess I should go deal with him.”
Troy nodded. “Call me if you need me.”
I let my hand fall from his chest before stepping back so Troy could leave.
On the bed, Hunter stared at me, his whiskey-colored eyes odd, shadowed, intense. Still he shivered, until his teeth chattered together, like his body couldn’t get warm. I recalled the chill of the abyss, the way it seemed to steal all the heat inside my body.
It had me going into the master bath and twisting the handle to fill the tub with steaming hot water.
I grabbed one of the bath bombs from the shelf above the toilet, then tossed it to the water. It had dehydrated flower petals, and while I hadn’t foundthey made me a more peaceful person, maybe they’d work better on Hunter. If anyone could use a little zen, it was the growling, snarling hellhound on my bed.
“Come on,” I said when I got back to the bedroom.
