Page 1 of Hound

Chapter 1

LORENZO DEVON

Death was to be avoided at all costs. It was the first lesson offensive and defensive guardians learned at the Company of Essential Guardianship since the client’s safety and well-being was priority. Socially, it was looked down upon. Legally, it was a huge pain in the ass.

It was rare, but in the case a client’s safety depended on the other party’s elimination, so be it. Outside of those parameters, though, CEG lawyers wouldn’t be much help. If there was no client involved and a guardian acted on their own volition, the CEG stepped away and allowed the Human Intergovernmental Bureau and the Vampire Ministry to handle it.

No one—nothing—would save the guardian from their laws.

“You have reached?—”

Regardless, my boss would kill me if I killed unauthorized.

“We are unable to reach the phone at this moment.”

Five years under my belt, I knew this as much as the other. With years on the field, searching for a different route was easy, a skill so refined it was second nature—except for now.

“Leave your name and number and we’ll?—”

A crack pierced the still night as red filtered my vision and fury raced through my bloodstream, my mom’s headstone, degraded and buried by grime, blurring in front of me.

The thick October air caressed my nose, an exhale easing the tension in my muscles. The anger thinned into prickly annoyance, its thorns stabbing my chest as I took in the tombstone. Thankfully, there was no sign of decay, but the weathered and stained surface had worsened since my last visit.

With back-to-back contracts, it left little leeway between posts, the transitional periods barely lasting a few days. But whenever I could sneak in a visit to my mom’s resting place in Ottawa, I came. That meant months between visits if fortunate. But for once, I had a stroke of luck.

For the last month, I’d been stationed in my hometown, allowing me to check up on her tombstone weekly. And on those visits, day or night, I could count on one hand how many times her stone wasactuallycleaned.

“Fucking scammers.”

My fingers tightened against the smartphone as I lowered it from my ear. Another crack sliced through the silence. Glass trickled from my hands, slight shards meeting my skin. Darkness sharpened my eyesight, but tonight, anger permanently stained my vision.

Moonlight coated the fog-covered graveyard, pearl white light bordering the tombstone next to me. During the day, I explored the near-deserted town a few kilometers over before visiting Mom. Curiosity got the best of me one day when I tried tracing my cousin’s and I’s old house. Instead of meeting the shabby, wooden house, I stumbled on an abandoned hospital north from here. The years were apparent in its withering walls, but the building still stood.

Vibrations pulled my gaze away and onto the incoming call. My stomach tightened as a gust of brisk wind passed through.Never did the cold penetrate through my scalding skin, but the hovering sensation was soothing.

Except now.

Fuck.I was expecting his call, but not this soon.

I cleared my throat before picking up. “Devon speaking.”

Lace Fernandez’s low chuckle filled the line, the sound sending a wave of warmth through me. “I know that tone. Who pissed you off this time?”

“No one,” I said a little too quickly.

“Cleaners are still doing a shit job?”

I snickered. “How’d you know?”

“It’s all you complain about,” he stated. “Well, you complain about most things, really.”

“I don’t complain.” My tone edged with defense and I cleared my throat in an effort to conceal it. There was a clear distinction between moaning about an annoyance and rightfully stating someone’s incompetence. Even if it was angrily.

“For time’s sake, we’ll go with that,” he responded. “I have a job for you.”

My shoulders straightened at the shift in his voice, the teasing from seconds ago gone. In the small chance I had a drastic transitional period before posts, Lace sent me on missions. They were side jobs that he entrusted me with, a secret only kept within us. It helped the CEG, the very organization that gave me and my cousin an opportunity after Mom’s passing, and subdued the hunger that once threatened my life.

“Shoot.”

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