Page 103 of Hounded

I bore my teeth in a snarl. “How is this better?"

She was teary, too, and ghastly pale. She shook her head, and her necklaces clinked together. “I didn’t mean to—”

“I told you no!” The words rocketed out of me on a shout. Indy whimpered, and I shushed him, smoothing the hair back from his forehead.

Sully scanned the blackened spot on the floor, started by a fire I never saw. “Loren, he wanted it,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t just—”

“You hurt him!” I shouted again, my voice edged with grit.

“I didn’t mean to,” Sully repeated. “I would never…”

I tucked Indy in tighter, then looped one arm under his legs so I could lift him as I stood. Once I was on my feet, I spun away and made my body a shield between Sully and Indy.

“Stay away from him.” My brows dipped low in a look of warning. “Away from us.”

She recoiled, so genuinely wounded that I almost regretted it. “You don’t mean that.”

Indy nuzzled against me while breathing steadily in and out. While I hesitated, he peered out from under droopy lids. “Can we go home?”

Hearing the words “we” and “home” combined stirred my heart.

Did he remember that we belonged together? That my place was with him?

I nodded, then dipped my nose into his hair and breathed him in. The burnt smell seemed to be wearing off as his distress waned, but his amber aura was still masked by the ward. I turned toward the front door.

“Loren!” Sully’s shout scraped my nerves raw.

I faced her once more and simply said, “No.”

No, I didn’t want to hear any more apologies.

No, I wouldn’t take back what I’d said about her staying away.

No, I hadn’t wanted her to use experimental magic on Indy andhurt him.

No.

She gave no further protest as I carried Indy out of the gallery and into the sunshine outside.

37

Loren

In the truck, Indyjostled awake as I set him in the passenger seat and helped him with his seatbelt. For the first time in several minutes, he looked at me. More accurately, he stared at me. His yellow eyes flicked over my face as though absorbing every detail.

With the belt clicked into place, I moved to close the door, but Indy caught my retreating hand. I glanced up to meet his gaze.

“It worked.” He smiled. “I remember.”

It was too good to be true. Better than whatever I’d witnessed at the gallery. The smoke, and the crying, and then he hit me… Whatever he recalled, it hadn’t been entirely pleasant.

“Do you remember now?” I asked.

I wanted to ask about the overdose. He’d said he didn’t want to leave me; said he was sorry. It was the first apology this lifetime that might have actually meant something.

“Some.” He squinted. “More than before… but I think it’s going away again.”

I used my free hand to tug at my collar, trying to relieve the sudden strangling feeling.

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