Page 63 of How to Trust a Hellhound
I rubbed my chest, which was suddenly tight and aching. I blinked my eyes, because they felt watery. “Wilder wouldn’t leave me,” I answered hoarsely, and as I said it, I knew it was true.
“Of course he wouldn’t,” she answered, easing something in me. “What about if you left him, though?”
“I wouldn’t leave him!” I said, outraged at the thought. “Wilder is kind, and good, and he deserves to be happy, too. I wouldn’tevercause him pain.”
Helene leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Well, I think you have your answer, then, don’t you? Logical Josh may have reservations, but your heart knows what it wants.”
I nodded my head. I supposed she was right. “It just… It all feels kind of crazy.”
She nodded back at me. “You’re judging things based on regular society, but Wilder isn’t part of regular society. Things may be done a little differently, but you’re adaptable and strong, Josh—you’ve proven that.”
“What if I can’t be enough for him?” I asked, voicing the fear I hadn’t even admitted to myself. “Wilder is amazing. He takes care of everyone—he takes care ofme—and he handles everything, and I don’t want to be a burden to him.”
“Perhaps you should talk to him about that, Josh. I’m sure you aren’t a burden, and I’m sure that you lighten his burden in many ways, but you won’t believe it until you speak to him about it.”
She was right, and I knew that, but ugh, I didn’t want to have that conversation.
“Is there anything else you want to talk about today?” she asked, and I knew our time was pretty much up.
“No, I’m good, unless you know how to deal with a troublesome cult,” I joked.
Helene sat up, though, suddenly very alert and slightly intimidating.
“What cult?” she asked, and her voice was a little rougher.
“I… I don’t know? Wilder knows,” I answered, feeling nervous for the first time.
Her head turned in the direction of the door, and as if I had conjured him, Wilder opened it up a minute later.
“Mei Ume?” he asked. I instantly relaxed when I saw him.
“I’m okay,” I answered, looking over at Helene.
“My apologies, Josh. I didn’t mean to make you nervous. I was just upset by the news of a cult,” she explained.
Wilder eyed her, and he finally nodded. “The Order of Asterphagia. I know they’re trouble.”
She looked pensive for a moment, her gaze staring off into the distance. “Yes, trouble is an understatement. I thought the last of the leaders had been dealt with decades ago, and I’m quite sorry to hear that isn’t the case. I’m assuming they have Cain’s descendent?”
Wilder looked surprised. “How did you know they were working together?”
“It is one of the few reasons I can think of for them to make themselves known. They would have been looking for him,” she answered.
Wilder walked over and pulled me into a hug, then he turned back to Helene. “Why would they look for him? He can’t give them his immortality.”
“No,” she said, looking at us both. Her face twisted, as if she smelled something foul. “They don’t want his immortality. They want his seed.”
Well, wasn’t that just creepy as hell. Definitely not what I expected to hear. Wilder seemed surprised as well, but Helene had no more information than that. She cautioned us to be careful, and then it was back to business, scheduling my next appointment.
It was all rather odd, but I supposed that was my life now. A little on the odd side.
“What do you say to an afternoon of Legos and documentaries?” Wilder asked when we got in the car.
“Sounds fantastic,” I answered.
Perhaps I could convince him to have an evening of sex as well, and I shifted a little in my seat thinking about it. As if he knew what I was thinking, he winked at me before he started driving.
My morning had been a little shitty, but I had faith my afternoon was going to improve. After all, I was going to get to spend time with Wilder.
