Page 19

After shopping, the men took me out to dinner. In line with all their pampering, they took me to an expensive Italian place. Bella-something-or-other. There were linen tablecloths and crystal chandeliers. Everything was perfect and beautiful. And I really wanted to enjoy myself.

I got envious looks from most of the women in the restaurant. Even our server grinned and winked at me. I wanted to preen. But I kept wondering what their pretty faces were covering. Could they be animals? But even if they took the shape of dogs—which they admitted—they didn't have the minds of animals. I suppose things were different for hellhounds.

“How about some dessert?” Gideon asked as he leaned closer to me.

We were seated at a booth—one of those round tables with a curved bench—pressed up against a wall. The bench's back created partitions between us and the tables on either side. Gage had requested it. With a bench instead of individual chairs, two of them could get up close and personal with me. Garret was the lone man out, seated on Gideon's left, but he didn't seem to mind. He just leaned across Gideon whenever he wanted to touch me. And he wanted to do that a lot. All three of them did.

“Okay, enough!” I held my hands up to either side of me and pushed Gideon and Gage on their shoulders.

I couldn't budge them, but they moved for me.

“Fine, don't get dessert,” Gage said. “But I'm going to get the tiramisu. It's like a law when you eat at an Italian restaurant. You have to get the tiramisu.”

“First of all, there are better Italian desserts,” I said. “Second, this is too much, too fast. We don't trust each other yet, remember? I shouldn't have to keep reminding you of that. And yet, you guys are, well, you're acting too familiar with me.”

They exchanged a look. I assumed that was something they had developed over centuries of working together. Wait. A bond existed between them. A magical one. Maybe that was a way in. I could ask about their bond and then segue into what a mating bond would be like. They already knew that I wanted to prepare myself for it, and they'd told me some things, but not enough. If I kept them talking, maybe they'd let something slip that they didn't intend to.

“We're sorry, Indigo,” Garret said. “You're right. This has gone too fast. And we don't know each other. But that's what we're trying to do with you—get to know you. We'll back off on the physical stuff, but can we keep talking? Learning more about each other?”

I pretended to consider this, then said, “All right. I mean, yes, of course. Tell me more about yourselves. It doesn't have to be a secret, nothing that could get you hurt if it got out. Just tell me who you are. As men, not hounds.”

That made them smile. And it made me feel like shit. When had I become Mata Hari?

“I don't know if that's something that can be told,” Gideon said. “It's more learned. Experienced. I mean, if I asked you to tell me who you are as a woman, what would you say?”

“I'd say I'd like to be a lawyer one day. That I enjoy studying the law. I like the intricacies of it. The . . . it's very cut and dry. Rules are rules. I like that.”

“A rule follower.” Gage rolled his eyes.

“I can break the rules if necessary,” I said. “But I want to know them first. And I think it's more about order than anything else. I want people to be held accountable for their actions.”

Garret nodded. “We work for the god who makes sure that everyone is accountable in the end.”

“By bringing back those who, uh, escape?” I glanced around the restaurant.

“Yes.”

“How do you do that?”

“We go spectral in our hound forms,” Gage said.

Spectral. Holy shit, that was the word Silas had used.

“That makes us the same substance as a soul,” Garret went on. “So, then, we can grab the soul and take it back to the Underworld.”

“Grab it?”

“In our teeth.” Gideon snapped his teeth at me.

“Would anyone care for dessert or coffee?” our server interrupted.

I ordered a slice of cream cake, and Gage chose the tiramisu, as promised. Garret got gelato and Gideon went with a torte. We all got coffee.

Then we got back to our conversation.

“Can you invade people in that form?” I asked.

“Invade them?” Gage asked. “You mean, possession?”

“Yes.”

“No, we don't do that,” Gideon said. “If we enter a human in spectral form, it's to retrieve a soul that has possessed them. We bite it and remove it. That takes only seconds.”

“I see,” I murmured.

“We keep the order you're so fond of.”

“Yes, you do. But are you fond of it?”

“What?”

“Do you enjoy your job?”

Gideon blinked, then he looked at the other two.

“It's not a tough question,” I said. “Do you enjoy what you do?”

“Not really,” Gage said. “It used to be fun. Tracking down escaped souls. Taking them back. Clearing life residue before it becomes a haunting. It was all interesting and exciting in the beginning.”

“But it's taken a toll,” Garret picked up where Gage left off. “It happens to all of us. This . . . ennui. It's why Hades gave us mates. Without a mate, we'll eventually—”

“Maybe don't get into that yet,” Gideon cut him off. “It's a lot to put on her.”

Garret grimaced. “You're right.”

“I can handle it,” I said.

“No, not yet,” Gage said. “Let's keep things simple for now.”

“All right.” I didn't want to push them and raise their suspicions, so I started talking about myself again. I told them about growing up—first, in the orphanage, and then in foster homes—and how I always wanted a family. I told them about working hard in school so I could get a scholarship, then meeting Jake in college. I told them a lot about myself, hoping they would tell me things in return. But by the time I finished my stories, I had also finished dessert. And so had they. It was time to go home.

I wasn't sure if I was relieved to return to the safety of their warded home or afraid. It could be the safest place on Earth for me. Or, I could be trapped in a gilded cage.