“See?” he said as he disentangled himself from my grip and let me slide down his front. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
I made a noncommittal sound and held on to him for the seconds it took my legs to stop being wobbly.
“Lord Azazel,” someone said from behind me. “How may I serve you?”
I turned and eyed the demon who’d spoken.
He straightened from his respectful bow, long black hair sliding over his right shoulder. The hair on the left side of his head was close-cropped. Sharp brows rose over what appeared to be dark blue eyes, set in a face of rough-hewn pale beauty.
“Hael,” Azazel said, stepping forward and nodding at the demon. “I require a pup, not yet fully grown but trained.”
“Certainly, my lord.” Hael’s gaze flicked to me for a moment before focusing on Azazel again. “Any other special preferences?”
“Show me your most protective ones.” He glanced at me then added, “Their temper should be mellow.”
Hael inclined his head and made as if to turn and walk ahead, when Azazel snapped his fingers and the other demon paused.
“They need to be extremely obedient.” A brief pause, then, “And perhaps not too prone to licking.”
I bit my lip to rein in my grin at the expression on the other demon’s face.
“Of course, my lord,” was all Hael said before he beckoned for us to follow him into the squat building.
Attached to the outside of the massive structure of Azazel’s main fortress, the kennel building itself was the size of a mall. We walked through enormous, sturdy double doors into the semi-darkness of a hallway that could have been a tunnel allowing for a multi-lane freeway.
The strong smell of canines hung in the air, and deep-throated barking sounded from somewhere farther ahead. Every now and then one of the soul-crushing howls rose and fell in the distance.
The hairs on my arms stood up, my heart racing like mad.
I needed to get my shit together. If these beasts were anything like real dogs—or wolves—they would take one sniff of me and smell my fear.
Deep breaths, I told myself. Think of happy puppies. Happy, cuddly puppies.
Azazel made a sound close to a suppressed laughing snort, and I glared at his back.
Here, he said in my mind, tapping a spot on his side. If you stab me here, it will tickle.
My hand flexed around the hilt of the dagger strapped to my hips.
He smiled as we rounded a corner and stopped in front of a large pen, secured with a thick metal fence, its bars reminiscent of the kind of enclosure necessary to keep elephants in check.
“Please wait here,” Hael said. “I will fetch the pups.”
Azazel nodded as the other demon left.
“Do you have a favorite hound?” I asked Azazel. “You know, one that’s more your pet than the others.”
His smile warmed, his gaze on the pen. “Chaos. He used to be Azmodea’s.”
“The one you stole from her?”
He cast me a narrow-eyed look. “I didn’t steal anything. He chose me. It’s not my fault if my sister doesn’t have her hounds under control and one of them happens to like me better than her.”
I pursed my lips. “Mh-hm. You lured him, didn’t you? Bribed him with treats or something.”
“Unfounded accusations.” The corners of his mouth twitched upward. “No proof, no crime.”
A door on the other side of the pen opened, and several large shadows streamed into the enclosure. Their baying shook the walls, rattled my bones, and I grabbed Azazel’s arm without thought.
“They’re just excited,” he muttered, his voice barely audible over the noise the hounds made.
“Is that—do they—” My hand shook as I gestured in the direction of the beasts. “Three heads?”
“All the better to chew up couches with.”
I stared in horror at the hellborn canines, each of them as big as a lion. “Those are puppies?”
“They’re about two thirds of an adult’s size.”
A muffled squeak escaped me.
After their initial dash around the pen, the hounds settled a bit, some of them slowing down to sniff at the ground, a few of them wrestling with each other. I studied the ones closest to me who stood still enough that I could get a better look.
Indeed, three heads crowned each of the beasts, and they seemed to operate independently of each other too. Short, shaggy black fur covered their bodies, their long tails swishing back and forth. Just one tail for each hound, I noticed with a bit of relief. I wasn’t sure I could take more