Page 19

Chapter

Nineteen

Turned out the pup could eat meat and snored softly when it slept. I convinced my family that I wanted to stay in the barn because I’d neglected shifting while at college, so I wanted to refamiliarize myself with my snake form and spend a lot of time in it.

The pup listened to my instructions with an above average intelligence and anytime someone from my family came to visit me, he would run and hide behind a crate I’d put behind my rock for that very purpose.

I crafted a carrying bag for him since his quills hurt when I tried to hold him. He loved the bag, curling up inside and huffing a soft, contented sigh each time I put him in it.

And I had confirmed the pup was male after watching him pee a few times.

Going out deep into our territory, far enough that I knew I wouldn’t be interrupted, I brought a notepad and snacks for some experiments.

“Let’s see how smart you are,” I said to the pup. “Can you do a flip?”

The pup climbed out of the bag, walked a little away, and did a backflip.

I tossed him a piece of jerky. “Good job!”

It swallowed the jerky and barked happily.

“Can you count? If I tell you to count to three, can you claw the ground three times?”

His head canted to the side, tongue back in his mouth, obviously confused.

Making a note in my notepad I said, “Okay, can’t count.”

A butterfly flew by and his head whipped up, following the butterfly. The butterfly flew right over and landed on the pup’s snout.

Fumbling, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a picture. “Oh, my goodness. That was adorable!”

The next second, the pup snapped its jaws and swallowed the butterfly.

Sighing, I shook my head and lowered my phone. “I should have guessed that would be your next move. You remind me of my brother when he was a pup. He used to eat butterflies, too.” Leaning my elbows on my crossed knees, I set my head in my hands and pondered the pup. “Why were those adult hellhounds after you? Did you do something wrong?”

The pup chased after a grasshopper, ignoring my questions.

“Do you want to go home? Back through a portal?” I asked him.

His head whipped around and he barked several times as he ran around me.

Laughing, I said, “I guess that’s a yes. We just have to find the perfect place.”

“Who are you talking to?” Mason asked behind me.

I yelped, grabbed the bag, and opened it so the pup could run inside. He did so immediately, curling up as small as he could. “Um, myself,” I said, stood, and turned to face him, putting my closed legs in front of the bag to hide it.

Mason scowled at me and looked at my snacks and notepad. “Why are you so far from the house?”

“I wanted some alone time to think,” I said, which was partly true.

He took a step back. “Sorry for intruding.”

Reaching a hand out towards him, I said, “Wait! Mason, you don’t have to leave. I just …”

“I’m actually just on a perimeter run, but thought I scented demons and knew I scented you, so I wanted to check,” he said.

“Well, no demons here,” I said and laughed, but the laugh came out awkward.

He nodded. “Right. Well, I better complete my run.”

“O-Okay,” I said.

Before I could say more, he shifted into his bird form and flew off.

Sitting back down, I huffed. “Well, that didn’t go well.”

The pup poked his head out and when he saw we were alone, then crawled out to sit before me.

Touching the necklace, I wondered if it were possible to summon or track down a portal with it to return the pup.

“I think we need to go on a trip,” I told him. “To find a portal for you.”

Grabbing the bag, I tapped it. “Come on, inside.”

The pup hopped into the bag and curled up into a tiny, prickly ball. After gathering the rest of my items, I made the trek back to the house to grab my purse before heading towards the garage. Voices around the corner of the house, had me freezing to listen.

“I’m telling you, I smell a demon and it gets stronger the closer to her that I get,” Mason whispered.

“Are you trying to tell me that you think she’s a demon now?” Tony asked and scoffed.

“No, I think maybe she’s possessed by one. She said she heard a voice tell her how to handle the darkness, remember?”

“You used to have that darkness in you, did you feel like you were possessed?” Tony asked back.

“At times, it felt like that, honestly,” Kayden said.

“I would know if she were possessed,” Tony said. “I’ve been spending time with her each day and while she does smell different, she’s not acting different. Actually, this is the most like her that she’s been since before she left for college.”

“Something is off,” Mason said sternly.

“What’s off is that you two haven’t reached out to her since she took the darkness from you. Are you trying to ruin your chance at mating with her?” Tony snapped.

“Mating isn’t what’s important right now. Figuring out why she stinks of demon is,” Mason snapped back.

Rolling my eyes, I backed up several feet, then started skipping and humming as I passed the house and continued towards the garage. I smiled and waved to the three of them as I passed. “Bye! I’m going into town. I’ll be back later!”

“Don’t you need a guard?” Kayden asked.

“You going to guard me?” I asked him back.

When he blinked at me, I waved my hand dismissively. “No, I’m fine. I’ll scream for help like a damsel in distress so some other big, strong alpha can save me. Might help me find another person who wants to court me.” I shrugged and gave them another smile over my shoulder as I opened the garage and went inside, smiling at the growl Mason and Kayden had made at my taunt.

Quickly, before they could ask to join, I started one of the cars and headed out of the territory. I didn’t have my own car because I hadn’t been home and preferred not to drive, but since we had so many cars, I always had one available to borrow.

The pup snored softly in the passenger seat inside of the bag, which made me laugh at the cuteness.

It still bothered me that the adult hounds had clearly been chasing him and I had no idea why. I hoped sending him back wouldn’t be sending him to his death.

Keeping one hand on the necklace, I drove slowly around the city, knowing the portals most commonly happened in highly populated areas.

The park had been a location twice, but I wasn’t sure if it would happen a third time or if that was the extent of times it would show up there.

“Come on,” I whispered. “Give me an empty portal so I can send the little rascal home.”

A thought occurred to me. I could buy a burner phone, set it to videocall myself, and attach it to the pup as I sent him through. It wasn’t quite the same plan as what I’d told the guys, but it also meant I wouldn’t have to try to put the phone through myself.

“Quick stop,” I whispered as I turned down the next street to head to a store that sold phones. Parking in front of the store, I debated if I should take the pup or leave him. If he happened to get out of the bag while I was in the store, it could spell disaster for me.

Opening the bag a bit, I peeked inside and said, “You stay here, in the bag, until I get back. Do you understand?”

He barked softly and curled back up with his tail over his eyes. I closed the bag, gnawed nervously on my lip again, and hurried out of the car. The faster I got the phone, the faster I could get back to the car.

Luckily, there was a hat in the car, one of Tony’s, so I shoved my hair inside of it, pulled the bill down to cover my face as much as I could while also looking down, and hurried inside of the store.

“Good afternoon!” the store owner called out.

Rushing to the phones, I grabbed the cheapest one, grabbed a card to add three hours of call time, ran to the accessories, and grabbed a waterproof bag that had a drawstring I could secure the phone to the pup with. “Just these,” I said and pulled out my credit card.

The owner scanned the items and put them inside of a bag. “Do you need anything else?” he asked, looked at my card, and gasped. “Y-Your Highness.”

“Shh,” I urged him and glanced up. “Please, I’m in a hurry.”

He tapped the screen on his register to get the receipt and held the bag out, hands shaking, and bowed. “Thank you for your patronage.”

“Thank you,” I said, grabbed it and my card, and ran out of the store and to my car.

Looking over, I was relieved to see the bag still there, opening it, the pup peeked at me, huffed, and put its tail back over its eyes.

“Phew,” I whispered and set the bag of items on the passenger floorboard.

“Why the hurry?” Mason asked behind me.

I screamed and partially shifted.

The pup in the bag yelped in fear and started shivering.

Mason’s eyes narrowed on the bag. “What?—”

He started to reach for it and I knocked his hand away. “Don’t touch him!”

His eyes widened. “Him? What is in the bag, Lily?” Eyes narrowing, he asked, “Is this your child?”

Barking out a quick laugh I asked, “Is that really what you think of me, Mas? That I’d get knocked up, not tell anyone, and then have it somewhere secretly? Wow.”

“No, I don’t think you’d do that, but you’ve been acting incredibly suspicious and there’s obviously something going on.” He indicated the bag.

Exhaling softly, I said, “If I tell you, you have to promise, swear to me, that you won’t harm him.”

He leaned back in the back seat and folded his arms across his chest. “Why do I get the feeling you’re making me swear that because it needs to be killed.”

“Shush!” I hissed and looked at the bag that was quivering in fear now. “Just … just promise me.”

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Fine, I promise I won’t kill whatever it is when you show me it.”

“Or after!” I snapped.

He sighed again. “I won’t kill it unless it attacks me or you. Happy?”

“No, but I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get with you.” Taking a deep breath, I said, “It’s a hellhound pup.”

“What!” Mason bellowed and drew his sword. “Lily, that is not?—”

“You promised!” I shouted.

He clenched his sword and stared at the bag.

“Just … just let me find a portal so I can send him back. Okay? That’s what I’m doing. I’m trying to find a portal so he can go home.”

His eyes widened and his sword lowered. “That’s what you meant when you said, ‘the perfect place?’”

I nodded.

“How long have you had it?” he asked.

“A few days,” I admitted.

He chuckled, but there was no humor in the laugh.

“I’m going to put together the thing I bought and resume driving, okay?”

He shook his head. “Let me drive. You and the pup can ride in the back, put your thing together, and give me directions.”

Carefully, I grabbed the pup’s bag and the new bag, and got out of the car, climbing into the bag seat to do as he’d said.

Mason, true to his word, got into the driver’s seat and started driving.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I can sense the portals?” I asked him as I turned the phone on, adding the time to it, and set it up so it could do a videocall with me.

“If you wanted to tell me, you would have,” he said.

“Where did you guys get this necklace?” I asked as I unpackaged the waterproof case next.

“We found it during a demon hunt,” he answered and glanced up at me in the rearview mirror. “The necklace?”

I nodded. “It warms when there’s a portal opening or a demon nearby.”

He cursed and looked out the side window. “I knew it felt weird, but they wouldn’t listen to me. They thought it was something one of the demons had grabbed and when we killed it, dropped it, so it was a spoil of war. They said it would be a great mating gift for you, a reminder of why we had been separated, but that we were always thinking of you.”

When he put it like that, it was a thoughtful gift.

“It is beautiful,” I said and stroked a finger down the gem.

“You should take it off.”

“I … can’t.”

He hit the brakes a bit hard and I had to put my arm out to keep the pup’s bag from sliding off. Whipping around to face me he asked, “What?”

“I can’t take it off. I tried and I physically can’t do it.” Opening the bag, I smiled at the scared pup. “Don’t worry, Mason may hit the brakes hard, but he’s an excellent driver.”

The pup yipped and thumped its tail inside the bag.

“Let me try to take it off for you,” Mason said and reached between the front two seats.

I batted his hand away. “Not yet. I need it to get him home.”

He growled, but sat back down and turned around.

“I’m going to take him out of the bag so I can attach something to him. Don’t growl at him or freak out, okay?”

Mason exhaled through his nose and continued driving.

Carefully, I put the cord of the waterproof bag around the pup’s neck and tightened it.

The pup groaned and shook his head.

“Keep it on for me at least a little bit after you get through the portal we find, okay?”

The pup sighed and laid down, ears flattened to his head, in an adorable sulk.

“Good boy,” I praised.

“Wish she’d call me that,” Mason whispered. I was definitely not meant to hear it, but it made me curious what he would do if I did say it to him.

Putting the phone into the case, I prepared it for the videocall.

“Okay! Now we just need to find a portal!” My chest immediately warmed from the necklace. “Pull over!” I gasped.

Mason swerved to the right and parked the car. “Where?” he asked, looking around.

We were in a warehouse area and there didn’t appear to be many people around, which was perfect for my plan.

“Alright, little buddy, I’m going to keep you in the bag until it’s time for you to run through a portal to get home, okay?”

The pup yipped, wagged his tail, and jumped into the bag.

I started the videocall with my phone, activated the screen recording app, and set it to auto-upload the recording to my cloud server.

Grabbing his bag, I hurried out of the car and followed the necklace to the portal. It led us around the nearest warehouse, to the back area, where we had to climb up and over a chain link fence.

Mason stayed at my side with his sword drawn.

“Where do you keep that thing? I swear it’s invisible until you draw it,” I whispered as we neared the portal’s location.

“The scabbard is enchanted to be invisible until I touch the sword’s hilt,” he said.

“I knew it,” I whispered.

The portal came into view and it looked like it was empty.

Mason walked out first, checked nothing had come through that we could see, and waved me forward.

I set the bag on the ground and opened it so the pup could climb out. “Alright, pup, it’s time for you to go home.”

He wagged his tail, jumped up to lick my cheek, and ran through the portal.

Pulling out my phone, I stared, wide-eyed at my phone screen.

“What’s that?” Mason asked as he looked over my shoulder.

“The demon world,” I whispered.

As the pup ran, he stopped atop a large rock, showing us a world of blackened dirt and what looked like burned trees. In the distance was a tall spire.

Squinting to try to see it better, I asked, “Is that a castle?”

Mason leaned in closer, but the next second, the pup yelped and took off, running and whining in fear.

When he looked behind him, we saw what he was running from, three adult hellhounds.

I started to move towards the portal, but Mason grabbed me. “You can’t!” he yelled.

“He’s in danger!” I said and struggled against him.

“That’s his home and his life. We cannot interfere more than we already have. You cannot go in there and fight every hellhound to keep him safe.”

“Run, pup! Run! Don’t let them get you!”

The portal closed in front of us and I slid to my knees as I continued to watch the video. The pup continued to run, but the adults were gaining on him, getting closer and closer as their teeth snapped near his body.

“Lily, give me the phone,” Mason said softly.

I shook my head. “I have to watch. I have to know what happens.”

Something humanoid ran straight at him, but I couldn’t see a face. The pup skid to a stop and yipped. Was that a happy yip?

The humanoid stayed just out of the camera’s view and made a weird grunting sound before a hand wrapped around the phone and destroyed it, ending the video.

“You saw that, right?” I asked softly.

“He clearly knew that humanoid and seemed to think he was safe. So, I think we can assume he’s safe now,” Mason said.

Safe. I’d finally been able to save someone.