Page 59 of How to Trust a Hellhound
Josh looked at me, and I gave a slight shrug. I was fine whether he wanted to come or not. I wasn’t totally sure he wanted to know all the ins and outs of being a hellhound, but I would love to have him with me.
“Umm, I should probably stop by my office in the morning. Even though it’s the weekend, some people will be in. But you and Wilder could do some hellhound stuff or whatever, and then we could meet forlunch,” he answered.
She nodded, we all said goodbye, and she made her way out, which left Josh and I sitting on the couch. He was suddenly filled with nervous energy, and I wasn’t sure why.
“Are you disappointed she isn’t staying here with you?” I asked him, putting my hand on the back of his neck and gently squeezing.
“Um, yeah, maybe,” he answered. He was still all squirmy.
“What is it, Mei Ume?”
Josh took a deep breath. “You’re, umm, still welcome to stay here. Tonight. Overnight. If you want to. You know, in case you planned to because you thought Thea would be here. Or whatever.”
I smiled. “I would love to stay here with you, but not because I thought Thea would be here. I would love to have you in my arms all night long.”
Josh turned to look at me, and I gazed into his eyes. I wanted to tell him I’d stay with him every night, that I’d marked him without even thinking about it, that he was my mate. I wasn’t sure if that was wise yet, though. Josh was shy about me spending the night. He probably needed to be eased into spending eternity together.
Eventually he nodded, and we got up to get ready for bed, cleaning up from the evening, washing up, and getting changed. It didn’t take more than half an hour, and Josh got into bed first while I finished in the bathroom. When I crawled into bed beside him, he was scrunched up on one side of the bed, looking stiff and uncomfortable.
Without words, I hauled him over and pulled him into my arms, turning him so he was facing me and tangling my legs with his. He gave a soft sigh and melted into me, and I smiled as I kissed the top of his head.
His breathing evened out, and I let my eyes close, enjoying his warmth next to me.
“Can you sense what’s inside?” I asked Thea.
We were standing outside an old house, and there were three demons inside and one human. We’d been walking around town most of the morning, discussing what different smells meant to hellhounds. She understood humans very well—she was exceptional at reading their souls. She still wasn’t quite sure what to make of afterlifers, though.
“Three demons? And one human, a very bright soul,” she answered.
I nodded in approval.
“Should we do something? To get the human out of there?” she asked.
I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. “Why would we do that?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Demons, Wilder. You gonna leave a nice, bright person with a bunch of demons?”
Ah. I don’t suppose I’d explained afterlife politics to her very well. I looked up at the building thoughtfully. She followed my gaze.
“Focus on them,” I told her. “You can’t smell or sense them the same as humans, but focus on what you can sense. How do you feel about them?”
She frowned, looking at the building and breathing in. Then she looked at me and shrugged.
“Do you feel nervous? Disgusted? Any of the things you feel around rotten souls or people on their way to being rotten?” I asked.
“No… They smell… I don’t know, kind of like camping in the fall.”
I laughed at that, and Thea shot me a dirty look.
“So, what, you’re saying they’re not evil? But they’re demons,” she answered.
“And just like angels, they have a job to do. Everyone in the afterlife has a job, and they’re created to do that job. That doesn’t make them good or evil. Hellhounds originated in hell, and our job is to rid the earth of hellbound souls. I wouldn’t call us evil. Would you?”
She started walking, and I followed her. I explained, as best I could, what I remembered of afterlifers and the politics of it all. I was so far removed from it that I remembered very little.
“So afterlifers are just like people in some ways. How will I know if an afterlifer is evil?” she asked.
Huh. I’d never thought of afterlifers being evil. “I suppose they won’t smell right, just like humans. Dexter did talk about an afterlifer gone wrong in town, and he did smell a rot from it. Although I believe that sort of thing is very rare. On the whole, we avoid afterlifers. They tend to be a pain in the ass, and they have their own agendas that do not coincide with ours. The afterlifers in this town seem to be a genuinely good bunch, though.”
