are carried away with the wind. I know if I can get my mam on my side, that my father will agree to let me go as well.
“You’re a grown woman,” she says. “Capable of making your own decisions. I do have to warn you about a couple of things.”
“You’ve warned me before, Mam.”
“Gaire isn’t a hellhound.”
“I know that,” I counter. “If the stories are true, it shouldn’t matter. He doesn’t have to be a hellhound, just as long as he loves me back.”
“You’re already speaking of love.” Mam shakes her head. “I worry for you, child.”
“I don’t love him.”
“Yet. You don’t love him yet. If you leave with this man, you will fall in love with him,” she warns.
I shake my head. “I won’t. Not unless I’m sure he loves me back.”
“It’s dangerous. Guard your heart. He’s a Huntsman. I’ve heard all about Hunters.”
“He isn’t like that. Gaire is different. He wants to spend time with me. He likes me. It isn’t just a hellhound that he’s after. He wants a partner at his side.” I can’t hold back the smile. It’s splitting my face wide open.
“One he can control. One who will do his bidding.”
“Gaire is sweet. You’ve met him. You’ve laughed at his jokes. I caught you blushing last night at dinner.” I saw the way Mam looked at him.
Mam smiles and pushes her hands into her coat pockets. It’s starting to get dark. The temperature is dropping fast. I see her cheeks turning red. Plumes of white come out of our mouths as we breathe out, when we speak. “He’s a good-looking man, for sure. I’ll give him that. Looks don’t mean much, and neither do words, Nia. This Gaire has a good way with words. He knows how to charm and just what to say. It doesn’t mean that you can trust him. Words are nothing. It’s actions that count.”
“Gaire hasn’t lied about who he is, what he is. I want to go with him. I want to see the world.”
“Know that he will do everything to make you fall in love with him.”
I feel my cheeks heat. It’s true, but not for the same reasons as Mam thinks. Gaire kissed me earlier today. It was wonderful. Everything I thought a kiss could be…albeit a little rough. My cheeks heat even more at the thought of his hands on my breasts. “I know that, Mam. I will guard my heart.”
“It’s easier said than done. Maybe we protected you too well.” She looks wistful.
“I’m not going to fall for the first man who looks my way. The first man to tell me I’m beautiful.”
“Your Tad tells you you’re beautiful all the time.”
I laugh. “That’s because he’s my father. I can’t be here anymore. I’m suffocating, Mam. My brothers are too much.”
“I’m with you there.” She smiles. “You need to be careful. You don’t want to end up with a master.”
My eyes go wide. Children are often warned against monsters of all kinds. Grown-ups tell tales of terrible beings to scare little kids. We hellhound shifters are warned against having a master. Of becoming slaves. Those are our bedtime horror stories. Only they’re not fiction. It can only happen if a hellhound falls in love with someone who doesn’t love them back. For whatever reason, it’s worse when a hellhound falls in love with someone from a different species.
“Your mother warned you,” Rage says, folding his arms.
I nod, “I left with Gaire the next day. I went with him on his adventures. That’s what they were at first. Adventures. I shared his bed every night.” My cheeks heat. “He treated me well.”
Rage grunts. He doesn’t look like he believes that part.
“He did. I was his, and he was mine. It took a while for me to realize that Gaire wasn’t really mine…only, by then, I was his. That’s when he changed.”
“More like his true colors came out.”
I nod. “He wanted me to kill for him. He wanted to bring other women into our bed. And worse! He…he’s despicable. I hate him!” A lump has lodged itself into my throat.
“When you refused his demands, he shackled you to one of the entrances to the Underworld?” His eyes widen like he can’t quite believe it.
I nod. “He gave me a choice to either do everything he wanted me to do, or to sit and rot at the gates. He was trying to break me. Gaire always planned on returning at some point so that he could take full control