Page 49 of Hounded: Ashes to Ashes

It was a continuation of the confrontation on our patio. Our patio stained with black blood that I would need to find an excuse for in case we returned home to police officers taping off the scene.

Also like it had been at the trailer, Loren used his body as a blockade between the other hounds and me. He was definitely wishing I’d waited in the car.

“I said you aren’t welcome in my home,” he gritted out, aiming all his ire directly at Whitney, who rose to the challenge.

The blond hound stepped around the kitchen island to crowd the invisible line that seemed to divide the room. We may have come here to discuss a battle, but it felt like we were already in one, and I wasn’t sure why.

“You livehere, too?” Whitney huffed. “Or do you intend to bar me from all of Brooklyn? As recompense for trying to help you, I might add.”

Loren shook his head. “I’ve never had your help before; I don’t need it now.”

Whitney stiffened. His canine side was showing, too. Green eyes drawn to slits and his nostrils flaring. The energy seemed dark and violent, juxtaposed against his soft, wavy hair and refined features.

“You’d be rotting in the damned kennels if not for me!” he barked.

Loren surged toward him until the two men were nearly toe to toe. He was a few inches taller than Whitney, enough to give him an imposing edge as he glowered down. “What about the eternity before that?” he demanded. “A hundred and twenty years of you standing by while that bitch destroyed me. Where was your help then?”

The ragged edge of his voice hit me like a gut punch, and I wanted to protest.

Whitney wasn’t the only one at fault. I’d been there, too. Or here, on Earth, sitting idly by and watching him fracture, convincing myself he’d always been that way. A bit fragile and subsequently guarded, but not destroyed. Surely not.

“You think I’m so different from you?” Whitney fired back. “As if my position were any better? I didn’t have a choice then. Now, I do, and I’mchoosing?—”

“You had a choice when you told Nero about this,” Loren sneered and bared his teeth. “Yousuggested the phoenix hunt.Yousent the dogs after us, and I will never forgive you for it.”

“Gentlemen!” Sully’s exclamation cut through the air.

Everyone looked at her, though Loren and Whitney were seeping with such venom I was surprised she didn’t wither on the spot.

“May I have a word?” she asked.

They didn’t reply as Sully came alongside them.

She drew a deep breath before speaking again. “First of all, this isn’t your house, Loren. It’s mine, and I decide who’s welcome in it. Secondly, am I correct to understand that you would rathernothave two more people on your side? You think the three of us are prepared to face down this demon and his witch?”

Loren shrunk from her criticism. Whatever conviction he’d had moments before was fading, and his staunch stance had been replaced by shuffling feet and his shirt sleeve cuff being rubbed threadbare.

He was afraid. That’s what he told me. Scared as he had been the night I found him hitching the Airstream to his truck. Before he told me to pick any place on the map, and he’d drive us there. Anywhere but where we’d always been. Where we should have been safe.

I moved closer and pressed my hand to the small of his back. It was a slight assurance, a reminder because I didn’t want him to feel alone in this. Not dismissed after he’d been so honest. Vulnerable.

Sully’s expression softened as she continued. “If you two have beef, surely it can wait until our lives aren’t in danger. This is not the time to be choosy about your allies.” She turned to Loren once more. “And he did save you. Found you and dragged your ass back here after four long weeks. You’d still be with Nero if not for him. If that doesn’t buy him some grace, I don’t know what will.”

No one spoke. Gym Bro and Brass Knuckles clung to the kitchen island, so quiet they could have been forgotten. Whitney had the decency to only look a little bit smug, tempered with a shadow of something I couldn’t identify.

They all stared at Loren, waiting for him to yield. I couldn’t tell if he was really that determined to hold his position, or if his fear had rooted him to the spot.

Crowding against his side, I grabbed his hand and worked my fingers into the tight grip of his fist.

“Lore?” I murmured, then waited until he looked at me. It was all over him. Panic so pervasive it was leaking out from inside.

“Let’s sit down,” I told him.

He balked. Certainly didn’t obey.

“Trust me,” I said, then nodded to Whitney and the others. “I trust them. Sully does, too.”

Loren’s brows drew together in a fleeting protest. “You don’t know them.”

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