Page 18

Chapter Eighteen

The sun had barely peeked through the curtains when an immensely strong aura drew near us. One that felt powerful and … somewhat familiar.

Elrith raced into the kitchen where Trey and I were finishing making breakfast, his eyes wide with fear, and leapt into Trey’s arms, shaking.

“What is it?” Trey asked him.

Mason and Kayden hurried from their rooms, headed to the front door to go face whoever or whatever it was.

I joined them, pushing open the door and stepping out first, ignoring Kayden’s soft growl.

The hairs on my nape rose at the sight of a pack of at least a dozen hellhounds jogging towards us.

No wonder Elrith had been scared.

At the front of the pack was a familiar, but much larger than I remembered, hellhound.

“Dhun!” I yelled and ran forward, arms spread wide to hug him.

He yipped in greeting before letting his tongue loll out the side of his mouth in a hellhound grin. He picked up speed and ran forward to meet me.

However, instead of hugging the quilled body of a hellhound, I ended up with my arms around a six foot tall, fleshy, humanoid male.

Jerking backwards from him, I blinked in shock as I stared into the familiar eyes of Dhun, in what appeared to be a human male’s body. His skin was dark with darker toned swirling tattoos along his arms and neck that looked like thorns, and his hair was made of a combination of hair and quills, both black and sparkling in the sunrise.

“Hello, Princess!” he greeted me with a warm smile. “Sorry my new appearance startled you.”

“Not just your appearance, but your power as well,” Mason commented from just behind me.

I flinched, not realizing Mason had moved to my shoulder, likely when Dhun had transformed.

Dhun smiled at Mason. “Yes, it seems I’ve gained a few bonus perks in my new role.”

“New role?” I asked.

He nodded and smiled even wider as he announced, “I’m pack leader of the hellhounds!” The gathered hellhounds howled and yipped excitedly. “Now, I have more powers including being able to shift into this form to easily communicate with others to help with the advancement of our kind.”

“I thought demons didn’t differentiate between themselves?” Kayden asked from my other shoulder.

Had they both run up when Dhun had shifted forms? Or had they just followed me and I hadn’t noticed.

Dhun shrugged. “Me neither, yet I was given the mantle and here I am.”

“Given the mantle by who?” Mason asked.

He looked at me and said, “Princess Liliana, of course! When she called me from the other world to help.”

How could that be possible? I didn’t know how to give people powers or anything like that! Plus, I hadn’t purposefully called him. I’d sent Azgon to free him, but … maybe I’d done it subconsciously. Maybe it was part of my powers as princess and Third to Reign’s heir?

“You seem shocked, though, I suppose that makes sense. It was shocking to me when I shifted for the first time as well.” He laughed and shook his head.

“Mama! Are … are you safe?” Elrith called from the doorway where he still clung to Trey, little body shaking hard and eyes wide in terror.

Dhun’s face softened as he faced Elrith. Shocking us all, he walked forward a few steps before dropping to a knee and bowing his head. “Greetings, Prince Elrith. I am Dhun, pack leader of the hellhounds. I offer you my sincerest and most heartfelt sympathies for the loss of your blood parents.” He raised his eyes to meet Elrith’s and continued, “We have punished the ones who killed them. Your mother and father’s souls are released and those who harmed them will never harm another.”

Elrith stopped shaking and tears sprung to his eyes. “Y-You killed them?”

Dhun nodded. “We will not tolerate unnecessary killings amongst our people. All of the hellhounds have been instructed as such. They also know that Princess Liliana, her mates, you as her son, and all her family are to be protected at all costs. If you ever need me, you only need to howl and I will race to your rescue.”

Elrith patted Trey on the shoulder and he set Elrith down. Taking slow steps, Elrith walked to Dhun and said, “Thank you.”

Dhun smiled at Elrith and said, “I also bring a gift for my apology to show our sincerity.”

My eyebrows shot up into my hairline as a hellhound pup close in size to Elrith trotted forward to sit beside Dhun. The pup looked up at Elrith with their tongue lolled out the side of their mouth.

“This is my daughter, Kora. She is your guard, assigned to stay by your side and protect you, no matter what world you may go to. She will learn how to fight from us, a shared mental bond we have, and will alert us if there is need for our additional aid.”

He was giving us his daughter?! While it was normal for a guard to be assigned to royalty, like Ezio had been mine, I hadn’t anticipated Elrith’s first guard being a hellhound pup, especially not Dhun’s child.

“Are you certain of this?” I asked Dhun.

He smiled at me over his shoulder and nodded once. “Yes. She will be a good guard and friend to Elrith. This will show the world we are working to mend our issues and unite our peoples.”

Well, when he put it like that, how could I refuse?

“Looks like we’ll have another mouth to feed,” Mason whispered to me. “She is a cute hellhound, much like her father was.”

Dhun’s smile slipped into a frown. “Kora is much cuter than I was.”

Mason’s smile turned into a serious expression as he nodded. “Of course she is.”

My lips twitched as I fought a smirk against the outrage of Dhun’s that we might think his daughter wasn’t cuter than he’d been. He was a silly and proud dad and I loved that about him.

“Are you certain of this?” I asked once more.

Dhun immediately nodded. “Kora is very excited about her assignment and ability to learn from you all.”

It would be nice for Elrith to have a friend at his side, someone who could protect him and support him at school where we wouldn’t be able to go.

“We thank you for providing a guard for Elrith,” I said and dipped my head.

Dhun stood and scowled at me. “Do not bow your head to me, Princess. I may be pack leader, but you far outrank me. Now, I will add that I plan to visit her once a month. Even though we can communicate mentally –”

“Nothing mental can change the comfort of physically being with a loved one and holding them in your arms,” I said and smiled. “I also love knowing I’ll get to see you frequently despite your new role. I feared you might be too busy for us now.”

Dhun smiled softly and said, “I am always one summon away for you, Princess.” One of the hellhounds yipped, drawing Dhun’s attention. He nodded at them before turning back to us. “I must go, pressing matters to attend to, but I will be in contact soon.” He pulled me into a hug and exhaled loudly. “I will see you soon.”

I patted his back and said, “See you soon, friend.”

He shifted into hellhound form, licked the side of Kora’s face, and trotted away, his pack following him.

Kora whined softly once.

Elrith set a hand on her head between her ears and said, “It’s okay, he’ll be back to see you soon. Why don’t we go play?”

Kora yipped and jumped around.

Elrith giggled and ran into the house, Kora on his heels.

“Not the first guard I’d thought to assign him, but reminds me of you,” Trey said.

I looked up at him with a frown. “Of me?”

“Mason assigned himself as your guard when we were kids, so this is sort of like that,” he replied and smiled down at me. “Elrith gets a hellhound while you had a raven.”

“He’s not wrong,” Mason mumbled and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, pressing a kiss to the side of my head. “And I’ll be your guard until one of us dies.”

“No one’s dying,” I snapped, and gripped one of the arms wrapped around me.

He rubbed his head against mine and said, “Easy, Lily.”

Sighing, I rested my head against his shoulder. “Sorry.”

Even though I knew I was safer here, my instincts were still on edge from all of the previous instances of trauma in the other world.

“Let’s go inside and make sure the kids aren’t destroying everything,” Kayden said and pulled me away from Mason to tuck me beneath his arm as we walked inside. “We’ll have to figure out what Kora likes to eat and?—”

I’d been looking up at him, but when he stopped talking, mouth hung open as he stared ahead, I turned in that direction as well.

Elrith sat on the floor cross-legged, building something out of blocks and across from him sat an adorable little girl, about his age, with blonde hair that had blonde quills mixed among the strands.

“Looks like she gained powers from her father after he gained his new mantle,” Trey commented.

“Guess we’ll be registering two children into school here, not just one,” Mason said and squatted down next to the two. “Hello, Kora. Can you tell us if there are certain foods you like and ones you don’t like?”

“Meat! I like meat!” she shouted in a high-pitched voice with a huge smile on her face.

“What about what you don’t like?” Mason asked again.

“Vegetables! No vegetables!”

“Veggies are important to help you grow strong,” Elrith lectured.

She pouted. “Daddy didn’t eat vegetables and none of the other hounds do. Why do I have to?”

“Those who can shift into these types of forms require vegetables for nutrition,” Trey explained gently as he sat, cross-legged, between them. He picked up one of the blocks and added it to the tower Elrith had been working on. “Just like this block helps make the tower taller, the vegetables help make you taller.”

Kora huffed, but said, “I’ll try them, I guess.”

“I’m going to go to the other world and get some food supplies. Is there anything specific you want?” Kayden asked.

“Cake!” Elrith shouted.

“Ice cream!” I shouted.

“Meat!” Kora shouted.

Kayden chuckled. “Cake, ice cream, and meat. Got it. I’ll be back soon.” He squeezed me and whispered in my ear, “I’ll also update your parents about the newest addition.”

“Ask Mom to order some outfits for Kora, please? She looks like she’s probably in size eight kids’ clothing.”

He kissed the shell of my ear and whispered, “You got it.”

“Don’t forget we’re going to the castle at lunchtime, so meet us there if you’re not back in time,” Trey called out to Kayden’s retreating back.

Kayden raised his arm to let him know he’d heard before walking out the front door.

I sat in the highbacked chair and watched Mason, Trey, Kora, and Elrith playing together in the living room of the castle the demons had built for us and a sense of rightness and familiarity settled deep in my chest. Kora wasn’t ours, but she definitely fit with the group of us. She was the first, born hellhound with the ability to shift forms, likely due to her father’s unique powers. She was like a hybrid, a unique being like me. Suddenly, the familiarity triggered a memory and I realized that it was because I’d had a vision of this over a year ago. I’d thought it had been a simple dream due to Elrith’s and Kora’s appearances, of a being I’d never seen before, and I assumed it was my mind creating something.

Now, I understood the vision.

Trey and Mason looked at me, both with their heads slightly canted and a slight frown.

Was my shock filtering through the bond? It was going to take some getting used to and practice to keep from so openly sharing my emotions with them.

“Mama, come help us with the tower,” Elrith said.

“Please, Princess!” Kora begged.

Both looked at me with wide, earnest, and eager eyes.

How could I say no to that?

“I’m not the best at building, but I’ll help as much as I can,” I promised as I slid off the chair, tucking my dress around my knees as I joined them in their circle.

Trey and Mason smiled at me, joy filtering through the bond from the both of them, and the warmth in my chest grew even more.

A found family. Exactly what I’d always wanted. Perfection.