Defender Hellhound (Protection, Inc: Defenders Book 3)

by Zoe Chant

  She is our mate, his hellhound growled. Fight for her!

  Ransom had no idea how he was supposed to do that. He’d already done everything he could. But his hellhound’s words steadied him, as if he’d been thrashing around in the water, and then felt sand beneath his feet. Natalie needed him, even if he didn’t know what to do to help her. He couldn’t give up.

  “Find your hound,” he whispered in her ear. “She’s there, somewhere. You can find her. Reach out to her, Natalie. Reach out. I’m with you. I love you. You can do this…”

  He kissed her chilly lips. A tear ran down his cheek, hot as shiftsilver, and splashed on her icy skin.

  Natalie gasped. Her limp body abruptly came to life as she clutched at him. He held her tight as her skin warmed against his, feeling the rhythmic pulse of her heart. When she looked up, her eyes held the same irrepressible spark he’d always loved, but there was something new in them too. Behind the glitter and the razzle-dazzle, there was a strength and steadiness he’d never seen before.

  “Come on,” she said, her voice husky with desire. “Don’t stop there.”

  He didn’t have to ask if it was safe. She was breathing easily, she was warm in her arms, she’d gone deep within herself and come back again. With the same instinct that told him that she was his mate, he knew that she’d never ask him to do anything that could hurt her.

  He’d spent so much time longing to kiss her and imagining kissing her and remembering their one kiss before its disastrous end. But actually doing it put all of that to shame. Their mouths met in a blaze of heat and passion. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but it felt like an eternity of bliss. Heat surged through his body, making him feel like he’d been the one to come back to life. When the kiss finally ended, they still held each other tight, as if they’d never truly let go.

  “I’m going to live,” she said.

  The hope he felt was as piercing as pain. “You’re healed? Completely?”

  “I’m definitely not dying right now. Beyond that…” She shrugged. “Who knows. I’ll probably have to see a doctor to find out for sure. But once we get out of this, I’ll do it. I won’t give up rollercoasters and horror movies, but if they want me to take pills, I’ll take them. I want to have a life. With you.”

  Ransom swallowed, so overwhelmed with relief that he couldn’t speak.

  She touched his cheek, tracing the path of his tear. “You saved me. You always knew you could, and you were right.”

  Remembering his own meeting with his hellhound, he said, “You must have saved yourself, too.”

  “I was in the dark—I never even saw my hound. She wouldn’t let me near her until I was willing to believe I could have a future. I had to take a leap of faith to reach her. Literally.” Natalie’s gaze took on a distant look. “She’s me, right? The part of myself I buried so deep, a flying squirrel and a dragon couldn’t pull it out. She’s my hope.”

  “Hope.” Ransom’s voice came out rough and choked. “I’m glad you found it.”

  Wally gave a sharp yip. Natalie stroked him. “Hey, Wally. I have a hellhound in me now. Can you sense her?”

  He barked, sniffed all around Natalie, then sneezed. She giggled, then sobered. “Where do you think Heidi is?”

  “I told her to fetch your purse, so we could have your phone. But if she knew what that meant or if it was easy for her to get to, she’d be back by now.” He tried not to worry about her. She could teleport; she was safer than any of them.

  “I could ask Wally,” Natalie said doubtfully. “Though I’m not sure he knows what it means either.”

  “I think the magical animals have a special bond with their owners,” Ransom said. “I’ve seen them do some very unusual things to help out. Try picturing him bringing your purse to you when you ask him.”

  Natalie stared intently into Wally’s eyes, and said, “Wally, fetch me my purse.”

  He rolled over and paddled his legs in the air. Natalie scratched his belly, making his legs paddle faster. He wagged his tail and yipped happily.

  “Okay, let me stop distracting him…” She stopped scratching him. He paddled his legs even faster, with a distinctly hopeful air. “Wally. Fetch my purse!”

  Wally flopped down on his side and drooled on her foot.

  “Fetch!” Natalie commanded.

  He vanished. Natalie grabbed Ransom’s hand. “He’s doing it!”

  Wally reappeared with a rubber tomato in his mouth, dropped it at Natalie’s feet, and wagged his tail.

  “This is not giving me high hopes for where Heidi went,” said Ransom.

  “Maybe I should just send him away, so he’s safe. I’m pretty sure he knows ‘go to Heidi.’” The instant she said that, he vanished. They waited, but he didn’t return. “Why do I think neither of them is anywhere near my purse right now?”

  “They’re probably inside a pastry case,” Ransom said.

  “Hopefully not eating any chocolate. Well—we know they can find us. I guess they’ll come back when it’s all over.”

  She stood up and stretched. Her ease and comfort with her own body had returned, along with her usual grace. Despite their desperate situation, seeing her well and strong again filled him with a deep and resounding joy.

  “Want to practice turning into your hellhound before we break out?”

  Her face scrunched up quizzically. “Um, how do I do that?”

  He’d never had any difficulty with that, himself; if anything, he’d had to hold his hellhound back. “You picture your hellhound, and you let it—her—come forward.”

  Natalie closed her eyes. After a minute or so, she opened them, frowning. “I know she’s there, but I can’t get her to come out.”

  “It’s okay. She’ll come out when you need her. At least, that’s how it seemed to work for my teammates.”

  “I don’t want to rely on that. Let’s scrounge up some weapons.” She ran to the nearest animatronic figure, an astronaut holding a pouch of red powder, and tugged at his hand.

  “You’re going to throw dehydrated tomato powder in their faces?”

  “I was going to rip off his arm and hit them over the head with it, but it’s attached pretty tightly,” she replied. “Come on, let’s see if any of them have any dangerous props.”

  “Good idea.”

  They made a quick inspection of the animatronic figures. Natalie was briefly excited by the caveman’s club, but it turned out to be painted styrofoam. The cowboy’s pistol, unsurprisingly, was a toy. But his whip was real. Ransom pulled it out and gave it an experimental crack. It echoed in the cavernous space like a gunshot.

  “Indiana Jones,” said Natalie, grinning. “Keep it.”

  He stuck it in his belt, then rummaged through the props on the remaining figures. Nothing seemed particularly promising. The Viking broadsword was painted plywood. Marie Curie’s beaker of radium was plastic with an LED that made it glow. Then he checked the California frontiersman who was taking a break from panning for gold to refresh himself with a tomato. “The river rocks are real. Small, but I think they’d be pretty distracting if you got one thrown in your face.”

  “Oh, I can do better than that.” She went to the cowboy, confiscated his neckerchief, and folded it deftly.

  “Is that a slingshot?”

  “Uh-huh. I used to be pretty good with one. I’d hide in the rigging and try to bean Fausto with a peanut when he was a flying squirrel.” She strapped the pirate’s gunpowder pouch around her slim waist, then filled it with as many river rocks as it would hold. “There. I’m ready.”

  She stood small and fearless in the dim light, armed with nothing but a handful of rocks and an uncooperative inner hellhound.

  That’s my mate, he thought with pride.

  They were imprisoned, outgunned, and outnumbered, but he’d never been so happy in his entire life. He bent and stole a quick kiss, which she returned with interest.

  “Just wait till we’re alone and not locked up by evil scientists,�
� Natalie muttered. “I am going to ride you like I’m that cowboy and you’re the bucking bronco.”

  The image of that briefly drove all other thoughts from his mind. “We’re going to make up for so much lost time… But first, we have to get out. Let me use my power to see what it looks like outside.”

  He closed his eyes and visualized the doors in his mind. But when he tried to open them, they felt incredibly heavy. He struggled to push them open, but even with the aid of his hellhound, they wouldn’t budge.

  You are tiring yourself out, warned his hellhound. You must save some strength to fight.

  Ransom opened his eyes. He was sweating, his head aching and heart pounding, breathing like he’d run a mile at an all-out sprint. “I didn’t get anything. I used my power too often today already. I could’ve pushed harder, but…”

  Natalie shook her head. “Don’t. I’d rather have you able to fight whatever we find outside than know exactly what’s there but be too worn out to fight it.”

  “Yeah, same here.” He forced his breathing back under control, wiped the sweat out of his eyes, and said, “Whoever’s out there, we’ll hit them hard, take them by surprise, then run. Our car’s disabled, but they have to have parked somewhere. You run to the parking lot and hotwire whatever you see. I’ll hold them off.”

  “Then we drive out of here like a bat out of hell! I mean, like a pair of hellhounds out of hell!”

  Hand in hand, they crept softly up the stairs. Natalie took out her lockpicks and began working on the lock while Ransom stood guard. He had the whip in his belt, but doubted that he’d use it once he was out in the open and had enough room to become a hellhound.

  The door gave a soft click.

  “Stay out of the shadows,” he whispered.

  “You too,” she murmured back.

  He waved her to the side. She flattened herself against the wall as he flung the door open. He was already shifting as he lunged through the doorway. With his red-tinted vision, he had a split second to see that the entrance was guarded by Costello the human lie-detector and the big man, Norris. They were too far apart for him to be able to bowl them both over in a single jump; he had to pick one. Ransom leaped at Norris.

  He slammed into what felt like a metal wall and bounced off. Dazed, he scrambled to his feet and blinked bewilderedly at an immense armored…

  …fish.

  It was massive, the size and bulk of a bus, and the head alone was taller than he was. Its fins splayed out on the ground, blocking his way.

  A Dunkleosteus, Ransom’s power helpfully informed him. An extinct armored fish from the Late Devonian period.

  The Dunkleosteus that Norris had become used its huge fins to flop forward. It was awkward on land, but so big that Ransom had to again scramble backward to avoid it as its gaping, beak-like jaws snapped at him.

  “Roll!” Natalie yelled.

  Ransom rolled, and a creature thudded down where he had been. It was the size of a bear but bipedal, with a row of spines down its hairy back. The thing turned an eerily reptilian face toward him. Its jaws opened and a long black tongue shot out, unrolling at lightning speed. Ransom shifted back to human form, and the tongue shot over his head.

  Chupacabra, his power told him. Goat-sucker. It’s Costello’s shift form. The tongue can drain your blood.

  Snatching his whip from his belt, Ransom lashed out at the chupacabra. It leaped out of the way, shockingly quick, and landed in front of him. The thing was too far away for him to punch, and too close for him to use the whip. As he flipped the whip around, intending to hit it with the handle, the thing opened its jaws again. He knew he wouldn’t have time to evade its tongue this time.

  A rock slammed into the goat-sucker’s head. It slumped to the ground, its tongue hanging out of its mouth like a length of slimy black rope.

  “Come on!” Natalie shouted, fitting another rock into her slingshot.

  The Dunkleosteus vanished, becoming a man again. But at least they didn’t have to worry about Norris pursuing in his human form. He was gasping, having been unable to breathe on land as an armored fish.

  Ransom and Natalie ran through Tomato Land, trying to stay out of the shadows. They bolted through the food court, dodging around the tables, and passed the stalls. Natalie started to veer toward the gates when Ransom’s enhanced intuition blared a danger warning. He had no time to speak, but grabbed her by the forearm and yanked her aside.

  For a second, he worried that he’d hurt her, but her trained agility and quick reflexes allowed her to go with his movement and turn it into a jump. She seemed to float, light as a feather. He guided more than pulled her behind a stall. An instant later, an inhuman screech rose up.

  “What the hell was that?” Natalie muttered.

  “A harpy,” Ransom said, as the knowledge came into his head. “It’s Elayne’s shift form. My power’s been telling me who and what everything is. Nice that it’s being helpful for once.”

  She glanced around uneasily. “That’s a sort of bird-woman, right? We need to get somewhere with a roof, or she’ll come down on our heads.”

  “I know. I wish I hadn’t lost my gun.” Other than the bomb shelter, Tomato Land was notably lacking in sturdy roofs. “I think our original plan is still best. You go for the cars. I’ll protect you as a hellhound. If the harpy tries to dive-bomb us, you duck and I’ll jump and bite it.”

  “Like a dog catching a frisbee.”

  “I was imagining something a bit more ferocious and terrifying, but sure.”

  Ransom shifted. The world took on a fiery glow. He was about to stalk out when Natalie petted him.

  “Your fur’s like black velvet,” she said. “I wish you could see yourself. You’re magnificent.”

  Despite everything she’d said, a part of Ransom was stunned that Natalie not only didn’t fear his hellhound, but found beauty in it.

  Of course she does, said the hellhound, sounding distinctly smug. Hellhounds are magnificent.

  Ransom remembered then that Natalie was a hellhound herself. He couldn’t wait to see her in that form. Nothing she could become could be anything other than beautiful.

  He nuzzled her, then jerked his muzzle to the side. They could skirt around the wall, then climb the fence and cut across to the parking lot.

  Together they ran for the fence. Though each of his strides covered the same ground as six of hers, she didn’t have trouble keeping up. All his senses were alert for danger, but with every stride, he exulted. They were so close! They were almost—

  A wall of black stone rose up before them, emerging from the earth itself and rising above their heads even as they stared.

  Ransom skidded to a halt, while Natalie caught herself more gracefully. He started to turn, but walls were coming up on every side. In the blink of an eye, they were trapped within a stone circle that rose ten feet above their heads.

  The triumphant screech of the harpy resounded through the air. It was followed by another cry, this one deeper and more masculine. Natalie looked at Ransom.

  He shifted back to human form to say, “A gargoyle. They have powers over stone. He’s the one who raised the walls. And they can fly.”

  “Great,” muttered Natalie. “Okay, I’ll be ready with the slingshot, and you be ready to catch the frisbee.”

  He shifted back to being a hellhound, crouching to leap. Beside him, Natalie stood ready with her improvised slingshot. She was so small and brave, his heart ached with love for her.

  The gargoyle flew into view, swooping and diving, far too high for Ransom to jump at him. It had membraneous wings and a strangely distorted body, and looked as if it had been roughly chiseled from obsidian. Natalie raised her slingshot, then dropped it with a yelp. It shattered at her feet—it had turned to glassy black stone.

  Then their other enemy flew overhead. It was the harpy. She was smaller than the gargoyle but much quicker, darting about and changing direction with dizzying speed. She looked something like Elayne and somethin
g like a huge hawk, with strangely metallic feathers.

  His intuition screamed a warning at him. He let out a low growl.

  “It’s okay,” Natalie said, stroking his fur. “You can protect me. Just grab them when they come in low.”

  Elayne shrieked, high and piercing and filled with malice. Her wing whipped down, and feathers shot out. They whistled through the air, glinting like metal. Ransom lunged to shield Natalie with his body. The feathers struck him in the chest and side, stabbing into him like darts.

  He howled, more from rage than pain. The harpy was far above him. She could kill him at her leisure, and then there would be no one to protect Natalie. Though he knew it was hopeless, he tensed to leap.

  “No!” Natalie shouted. “You’ll hurt yourself! I love you, Ransom, I have to protect you…”

  Her yell became a howl as she shifted.

  Ransom stared at her, stunned. Her hound was as tall as his, but lighter, slimmer, long-legged and narrow-bodied as a greyhound. Her sleek fur was white as clouds on a summer day. White-feathered wings sprang from her back, broad and powerful as a swan’s. Her eyes, like his, were windows to some other place. But while his opened to a raging fire, hers showed the night sky with all its twinkling stars.

  His power told him that she was a Gabriel Hound. And his heart told him that it was the power of her love for him that had finally allowed her to shift.

  The Gabriel Hound that Natalie had become leaped into the air, caught a wind current, and flew.

  Chapter 26

  Ahhh, said Natalie’s inner Gabriel Hound. That’s better.

  The moment Natalie shifted, she knew why she hadn’t been able to before. She’d been so sure of her own form that she’d tried to become a hellhound. But that wasn’t what she was. It was only when she’d stopped thinking about what she’d become, and only longed to protect the man she loved, that she could take on her true form.

  Her wings spread out, her powerful hindquarters tensed, and she sprang into the air. An instant later, she was out of the stone prison, glorying in the freedom of the sky. She realized then that her longing for flight, her skill at tumbling and trapeze, even her ability to be spun on a wheel and not get motion sickness, had all expressed an aspect of her innate self. She flew because it was her nature to fly.