Page 69 of Hellish Witch

The inn was only a day’s hike from the portal, but you never knew what dangers lurked around it. Crossing in either direction was risky. We’d planned to camp just inside the forest’s questionable safety tonight and then cross the open plains to the portal at first light when it should be quietest.

A faint growl rumbled through the woods.

Killian cocked his head, eyes pinned the direction the noise came from, but I already knew who it was.

Death stalked towards us on four paws and a bad attitude.

Cookie’s eyes glowed her eerie blood-red, and she flickered her tufted tail in the air like a literal red flag.

Alpha padded between a pair of darkwood oaks behind her, easily twice the size of the slender hellcat.

A relieved breath escaped me. I was grateful to see them both in one piece, but for some reason, the sight of the hellcat eased something inside me. Some twisted knot that had tangled my insides without me knowing.

“What are you both doing here? Are you okay?” I asked, shaking out the ache in my hand. I’d been clenching hard enough for my short claws to puncture my palm.

Cookie slunk gracefully closer, a being of shadow and deception more than happy to ignore my frantic questioning. She perched in the centre of the worn path, cracking twigs and fallen leaves beneath her weight, and started grooming herself without a care in the realm.

I tensed as Alpha continued past her, worried she might take the opportunity to pounce while his back was turned.

He yipped, the sound almost like an affirmative.

I managed a tight smile back, some of my anxiety lessening with the distance between them. “I’m glad you’re both okay, but you shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous, even for a fierce predator like yourself.”

Alpha preened under the compliment, wagging his tail like a puppy rather than a fully grown hellhound capable of tearing me to shreds with massive paws of hell-fire.

He stepped close, bringing the tops of his triangular ears level with my chin, and nudged my palm with his damp nose. I obliged with a small smile, stroking the immense beast. Ragged scars interrupted the smooth perfection of his glossy fur, but they didn’t detract from his beauty.

“Your coat is looking so shiny today,” I cooed.

An irritable hiss broke the peace, and I frowned at the death kitty.

She arched her back, hissing again at the pair of us, eyes flashing the colour of freshly spilled blood.

Hellcats and hellhounds weren’t known for being overly friendly. With anyone. But especially each other.

Tension froze me in place.

Alpha assessed the angry hellcat, her tail tuft with its hidden stinger snaking side to side in aggression. Her eyes narrowed on us, and her claws unsheathed to full razor-sharp daggers.

At a head smaller than Alpha, she was sleek beside his intimidating bulk but no less dangerous.

“Cookie…” I trailed off. “What are you doing?”

She swiped a paw in my direction, as if to say, “Defending what’s mine.”

I arched a brow, sure I was misreading her intent. This connection with animals was strange, but a part of me felt I truly understood the evil fluff ball.

That didn’t mean the psycho made sense.

I shifted on my feet, fighting the urge to laugh nervously, and tried to distract the beasts. “Anyway… What happened after I…left?”

What other way could I describe being knocked unconscious and airlifted out for everyone’s safety?

I was also asking a hellhound a complex question.

Even I was side-eyeing myself.

Killian held his brooding silence, oddly unfazed by me having another conversation with animals.

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