Page 16 of How to Trust a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls #4)

Wilder

I sat on the front porch drinking some sweet tea and waiting for Josh to get home. I could sense that he was on the way, and I was feeling impatient to see him.

It had been an interesting morning.

I hoped I’d managed to convince Thea to come to Paradise Falls, although I wasn’t quite sure.

She was a spunky, fiery young woman who grew up thinking she was human, and I wasn’t sure how she hadn’t changed forms for the first thirty something years of her life.

She had been taking care of rotten souls, but she’d just assumed she was a sociopath.

Needless to say, when I’d found her and told her that she was a hellhound, she had been…

Well, disbelieving might have been an understatement.

Convincing her to let me guide her hadn’t been very successful, thus my break from that project.

I already thought of her as one of mine, though, so I was worried about her, and I was glad she’d reached out.

I hadn’t told the boys about her yet, and I figured I’d wait until they were all here.

Corbin had left after our chat to do some hunting, and Atlas and Liam had headed out a few minutes ago without a word.

They had that sneaky, suspicious look I knew from when they were young, but they were grown hellhounds.

Hopefully they wouldn’t get into too much trouble.

I snorted at that thought. My boys could always find trouble, but usually they did a decent job of covering up their mayhem.

I heard a car pulling up the road to the houses, and I casually stood up on the porch.

It was a rideshare, and Josh got out carrying a computer bag, a messenger bag, and some folders balanced on top of a computer he was carrying.

I made a mental note to have a drivable road cleared to the cabin and to look into lending Josh a car.

I casually walked down the steps, calling out, “You need some help carrying stuff to the cabin?”

Josh blushed, which was adorable, and mumbled, “Uh, no thanks.”

Just as he said it, he sort of tripped a little, and I rushed forward to grab some of the files before they hit the ground. He looked at me, slightly shocked. Oops. Had I been too fast? Probably too fast.

“It’s fine. I could use a little walk,” I said, taking the rest of the stuff from his hands. I noticed he looked a little troubled, although I didn’t smell pain or fear. “You’re home early,” I said, hoping he would open up.

He sighed. “Yeah. I took a call at work, and it was my asshole ex.”

I stopped walking, holding in the growl that wanted to erupt. Josh stopped, too, turning to look at me.

“I’m fine,” he reassured me. “I actually yelled at him.” He smiled a bit at that, and we both started walking again.

“Can I do something to help? What do you need?” I asked.

“No, I’m really okay. I’m glad I got to have a final conversation with him and let him know how I felt. It was upsetting, but it also had to be done. It also reminded me that he’s a dick, and I really am better off without him. It made me realize I can stand up for myself, too.”

Josh told me all about the conversation, and although I wanted to growl about Rick, I was glad Josh had gotten some closure.

“I’m proud of you. I’m sure that took courage,” I said.

Josh blushed and looked down. I replayed my words in my head.

I was proud of Josh, but had that come across as fatherly?

I didn’t want him to think of me as a dad.

My brain scrambled for some way to switch gears, but it wasn’t like I could just burst out and say I thought he was cute and sexy. That would be awkward. Probably.

Yes, that would be awkward. He was talking about dealing with his ex, so it was not the time to talk about me finding him sexy.

I suddenly felt a bit more empathy for my boys and what they’d gone through with their mates.

Dealing with humans wasn’t as easy as dealing with other hellhounds.

My conversation with Corbin and Atlas came to mind.

Mates helped each other. Perhaps I needed to open up to Josh like he had opened up to me.

I sighed, letting the day’s stress out in a long exhale.

Josh looked over, brow furrowed. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m okay, although today was a bit interesting.”

“What happened? Are all the guys okay?” Josh asked.

I smiled at him. I loved how concerned he already was for our family. “Yes, the boys are fine. And all their mates, too.”

Josh snorted. “You’ve been hanging around Toby too much if you’re using the phrase mates.”

I paused for a moment, then kept walking before Josh could notice. This brought up another issue—Josh had no idea that we were really hellhounds. I would have to explain things without giving away too much.

It wasn’t that I had an issue with telling Josh about us.

I would happily fill him in on everything and show him my hellhound form.

The problem was that the guys had been talking about it all rather openly in front of Josh for quite some time, and he absolutely refused to accept it.

He blew everything off as being about Toby’s writing or the boys joking around.

At some point, he would realize that everything was real, but I didn’t think now needed to be that time.

He’d had quite a bit of stress recently, and he didn’t need afterlifers shoved in his face on top of it all.

How would I even explain Thea? I didn’t even understand it all myself. I remained lost in my thoughts, and next thing I knew we were at the cabin. Josh opened the door and ushered me inside, carrying his folders. I walked in and placed them on the table.

“The Lego centerpiece looks great here,” I told him, turning to face him.

“Thanks.” He blushed a bit and sort of looked around before adding, “Do you want some coffee?”

I sat at the table. “That would be great, Josh. Thank you.”

He bustled about, getting out cups and cream and sugar, saying, “I’m a good listener if you want to talk about it. Whatever made today interesting, I mean. Although it’s fine if you don’t want to talk.”

I smiled, although Josh’s back was to me so he couldn’t see it. He really was the sweetest man. “I would love to have your thoughts on it, but it’s all rather complicated. I’m not even sure how to explain it.”

Josh brought over the cups, and I noticed that he had fixed my coffee. I wasn’t sure when he’d noticed how I took it, but it was such a Josh thing. He really was a caretaker. He also needed someone to take care of him, though, and I was happy to take that role.

I took a sip and groaned in approval, smiling at Josh. He smiled back before answering me.

“It’s okay. Sometimes we just need to talk, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense.

” He laughed a little then. “I’m used to that from Toby.

He works out a lot of his plot ideas by talking through them.

Believe me, nothing is as weird as trying to decide the logistics of how often a vampire would need to drink blood, or whether a crossroads demon actually lives at a particular crossroads or visits many different crossroads. ”

“Depends on the demon. Some like to settle down at one crossroads, but some like to travel,” I answered.

Josh laughed. “I see Toby got to you with that one, too.”

I gave a noncommittal smile. Yeah, today was not the day to fill Josh in on afterlifers.

I shifted gears, trying my best to describe the situation with Thea.

“So, a while ago I got a message from… Well, a sort of friend. They were letting me know that someone was in trouble. They’d been the one to guide me to some of the boys, so of course I wanted to check on the person they mentioned. ”

“Of course,” Josh agreed.

“Obviously, in the past I’ve adopted boys.

It isn’t because I wouldn’t take a girl in, but it just seems like trouble making, rambunctious boys are far more the norm, and I was willing to take them in when others wouldn’t.

” Yes, I thought trouble making and rambunctious was a reasonable way to describe hellhound pups.

Josh reached across the table and patted my hand. “It’s amazing, what you’ve done for them. I know they love and appreciate you.”

I flipped my hand over and held onto his. He startled a little at the gesture, but he didn’t pull away. I kept talking, enjoying the sensation of his skin against mine. “So, this time I was directed to a young woman named Thea. She’s… Well, she’s a female version of the boys.”

Josh smiled. “Does that mean she’s a little wild, a little rough around the edges, and maybe a bit socially awkward?”

I breathed out a chuckle. “Yep. That pretty much sums up Thea. She clearly needs guidance, just like the boys did.”

“So is she moving here, or are you moving to wherever she is?” Josh asked.

He sounded sad when he said the last part of his sentence, but I loved the fact that he didn’t even question whether or not I would take Thea in.

“I‘m not going anywhere,” I reassured him, squeezing his hand. “You can count on me staying right here. ”

Josh gave a small smile before asking, “Are you afraid of how the guys will react if you adopt a daughter?”

“No, the problem is that she had no interest in being helped. She doesn’t trust easily, and she’s old enough that she can get by on her own.

She’s been doing it for quite awhile, so she doesn’t think she needs help.

But she called me this morning, and she’s run into a bit of trouble.

Nothing major or anything, but enough that maybe she’ll finally be open to letting me help her. ”

Josh squeezed my hand this time. “I’m sure you’ll help her if you can, and I know you’d welcome her into your family. She has to be ready, though. Sometimes it takes a while to realize you need help.”

“It does, and that only makes it more admirable to reach out. No one can go it alone, and no one needs to.” I knew we were talking about more than Thea now, and I almost expected Josh to clam up. I should have known better, though.