The Hellhound's Un-Christmas Miracle - Zoe Chant Page 0,25

here! Who said I was talking about you, boyo?*

His eyes slid past Fleance to Sheena, and then he vanished in a whirl of stinking smoke. Fleance jerked forwards, but there was nothing to chase—no scent, no sign. It was as though Parker had never been there.

Then a voice whispered in his ear: *Good talking to you, kiddo. We’ll have to do this again some time. All three of us.*

And he was gone.

“Is he—” Sheena began, and gasped. Fleance spun to face her, but she was looking over his head. “The fire’s stopped.”

Fleance turned slowly. The air still smelled of smoke and burned wood, stone, and plastic, but the fire that had been devouring the houses was… gone.

“How is that possible?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” And the fact that he didn’t know worried him. Parker had already shown him once today that there was more to being a hellhound shifter than he knew. Hellhounds had burning eyes and breathed smoke, but control over fire? That was new, and it scared him.

Sheena swore under her breath and took a wobbly step towards him. Her knee buckled beneath her and Fleance shifted and caught her in his arms before she fell.

For a moment, all he could see was golden light.

Sheena was all warmth and softness. She’d shifted without her clothing and without meaning to, Fleance’s hand slid over the generous curve of her hips, the other spreading across her upper back between her shoulder blades. Her head was perfectly tucked under his chin and her body molded against hers like they were made to fit each other.

Fleance’s breath was ragged. He’d come so close to losing her that for a moment he couldn’t force himself to let her go. He breathed in and her scent filled him: sweet and delicate, like nectar-filled flowers and fresh green grass.

She made a soft, longing noise against his neck and Fleance’s world turned upside down. Because he wasn’t only touching her, she was touching him, her arms wrapped around him and her lips hot against the sliver of skin at the collar of his shirt.

The mate bond hummed with wordless need. Sheena tipped her head back and pushed herself onto her tiptoes, losing her balance just enough that she had to press against him to stay upright. Her eyelids fluttered against his cheek; her lips were so close to his he couldn’t think of anything else—

“Ow,” Sheena burst out, wincing. She dropped heavily back only her heels as her whole body hunched over with pain. “Fucking—ow. Please tell me that prick didn’t literally bite my whole leg off, because that’s what it feels like.”

Fleance’s voice clawed up through his throat. “He bit you?” He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She leaned into his touch, shivering.

“Yeah, when he tossed me around like a freaking chew toy—” She gasped and swore again. “Seriously, you’d tell me if I was hopping around on one leg, right? I don’t want to look.”

He didn’t want to look, either. His body felt hollowed out with fear. Inside him, his hellhound froze in place, eyes wide and staring. If Parker had bitten Sheena—if he turned her—

His fear crackled along the mate bond. No! He couldn’t let her know how scared he was. His hellhound burst into action, snaring the emotion before it reached his mate’s heart.

Sheena trembled. He helped her sit down. His jacket skimmed the tops of her thighs. It wasn’t enough to keep her warm, and it did nothing to hide the wound just above her knee.

He forced himself to look.

His breath stopped. He didn’t swear, or cry out, but only because of the many years he’d spent controlling his reactions in front of Parker. He breathed out, gently. Normally.

“It’s not that bad,” he lied, and couldn’t stop his voice from choking up.

“Bullshit.” Sheena leaned over, balancing one elbow on his shoulder. She hissed in a breath. “That looks…”

There were three deep gashes in her leg, trailing blood. Tooth marks. They had to be. The scars on Fleance’s neck tingled and the edges of his vision went dark.

“…not as bad as I expected.” Sheena’s voice seemed to come from a long way away. Fleance’s vision narrowed as fear rose bitter at the back of his throat. He held it back, determined not to let Sheena feel it before he’d figured out what he was going to say to her.

The future he’d seen so shining and clear in front of him fell away. What replaced it was just