Page 42 of Hellhounds Never Lie

My magic’s fire rolled along my fingers as I clenched the soft sheets. Smoke curled out of my mouth and nose. And there was nothing I could do to stop any of it. My beast’s magic wanted to play with Ash’s.

Each frantic stroke of his body into mine stoked the heat between us. Our bodies slapped against one another in a frenzied rhythm as we chased our pleasure.

With a hoarse cry, he came. His grip on me tightened and his body tensed. Feeling the heat of his release filling me was enough to send me over too. Magical fireworks exploded around us, tantalizing my senses. I reached back and grabbed his hands, needing to feel more of him as pleasure obliterated everything else.

Would sex be like this every time with Ash? Because, fuck…

ChapterSixteen

ASH

When we returned to the pub that evening, the place was bustling with activity. I marveled at everyone’s energy. Dozing in the middle of the day had paradoxically made me more tired. Or maybe that last round of crazy sex had left me relaxed and sleepy.

As if to show everyone exactly how tired I was, my mouth stretched wide in a jaw cracking yawn.

"Maybe you should go home?” Dillon suggested. “Turn in early tonight."

I rubbed my eyes, then frowned at him. "Absolutely not. This is my town, and these are my friends. I'm going to do my part to show those stupid werewolves they don't belong here."

“Yeah.” Dillon frowned right back at me. “I figured that would be your response, but I thought I’d try.”

A sharp shrill whistle pierced through the rumble of conversations, silencing everyone.

"All right, everyone. Listen up," Van said in a loud voice that carried to every corner of the pub. "Sally has taken Jake into the city for the weekend, so we don't have to worry about him. He thinks there is a gas leak at the inn. Even then, he didn’t want to go, but Sally and Alice finally managed to convince him to take a break while it is being fixed. He insisted on taking Paws."

“Man, I wish I’d been here to see Jake manhandle Paws into a cat-carrier,” I whispered to Dillon. I’d have paid to watch that.

Around us, a few people groaned at the news. A few others exchanged money, whispering about the bet. Dillon looked confused. Right. I guess I hadn’t told him yet about the bet on when Jake would discover magic. With Jake in the city for the night, it looked like there was still time for Dillon to enter his own guess.

"The sun sets at about 9:30 tonight,” Van continued, “so we have a few hours to get organized. We're going to divide people into tasks. Some of you will be running the perimeter. Others will be hunkering down inside the inn itself in case anyone gets through. Our goal is to contain any intruders. We don't want anyone killed. Got it?"

Old Thom, the grizzly old troll, harrumphed at that from his regular corner in the darkest part of the pub. I wondered if he had been here the entire day.

"Okay. Anyone who wants to run the perimeter, go talk to Hayden. Everyone else, you get me."

I nudged Dillon. "You should go talk to Hayden."

"I'm going wherever you are, little firecracker."

I rolled my eyes, but I really wanted to do a happy dance. I hadn’t been looking forward to being away from him for the night; I couldn’t get enough of him. "Then I guess we're with Van, because I don't think I'd be much good on patrol."

“Good.” Dillon nodded like he approved. “With any luck, the wolves will be stopped well before they get anywhere near here.”

I agreed with him. I had no desire to put myself in harm’s way when I still didn’t trust my magic. Sure, Dillon had said my magic was strong, but I hadn’t seen any evidence of that. Even during the wolf attack at my apartment, all my magic did was light up my fingers like sparklers on a birthday cake. I wondered if that’s why Dillon had started calling me firecracker.

“Don’t worry,” Dillon said, obviously picking up on my anxiety. “If by some fluke the wolves make it here, I’ll protect you. No one is ever going to harm you. Never again. I will stop anyone who tries. Permanently.”

I grinned up at him as I rose on my toes and kissed him soundly. I shouldn’t encourage his desire to kill and maim for me, but how could I resist him when he got all growly and protective?

I looked at the other supes clustered around Van. Most of the bird and large predatory shifters, including the sweet couple, Mercer and Oak, who ran the local gift shop Sparkle and Spice, followed Hayden outside to discuss patrol duty. Those of us who remained inside were an odd mix.

Muriel Rivers, a motherly cat shifter, was hissing at Old Thom. Her husband and several of her sons just stood by and watched. It really was strange to see a supe family with so many children. I’d only seen it happen in Willow Lake. Before I became too philosophical, I saw Simon, one of Muriel’s sons, slowly inch away from his family. He looked ready to shift and hide under a chair until this was all over. Dot, Van's deputy, was dashing back and forth with cardboard boxes filled with who knew what, supplies presumably. Weston the merman was eying the last of the group tagging along behind Hayden like he wanted to be with them, so I doubted he'd stay in here long. Alice the part time bartender, who was also a brownie, was chatting with Henrietta and Gary, the couple who owned the bakery. Earlier I had overheard them asking about Sally the succubus and, based on the way their tentacles drooped and the glow in their eyes dimmed when they’d heard she’d gone to the city with Jake, they were disappointed she wasn’t here.

There were more too, many of whom looked familiar but who I’d never met. They seemed flustered at the idea of facing off against wolves, but they’d still shown up, so that was impressive. More surprising was that although I hadn't been able to glean more than a fleeting impression of other people’s magic in years, my senses tingled as I neared them. It took a minute to register that sensation as my magic.

As soon as I acknowledged my magic, the energy in it grew. Suddenly, I could tell the group closest to us were smaller shifters like mice or gophers or something. My mouth fell open as I let my magic poke at them again.

It was really working.