Red. Red covered his face and arms. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. His rusty hair was stained. His skin was smeared. Blood covered him.
“I don’t want to live without you. Tell them,” she tried to fight the exhaustion that enveloped her, “tell them to let me go. Tell them I’ll be good. Let me go.”
“Go where, Sweetness? Where do you want to go?”
Her eyes were closed, but that voice she heard was Bishop’s. “To go find my pack.”
“We’re here, Tills.” Sebastian wrapped his hand around her leg and squeezed.
The simple act triggered her into fight or flight mode. The memory of the day in the Paris catacombs came out of nowhere and Tilly roared to life. Revenge. She wanted revenge! “Paris,” she growled. Blood dripping down walls, swinging bodies, severed souls. “I’m coming for you, bitch.”
“Who?” Drake squeezed her arm.
Tilly smiled with her eyes closed and she basked in this moment. Whatever this drug was, sign her up for an extra dose. Everything felt so wonderful. No pain. No fear. No cost to her soul… this drug was magical as fuck. She might be in a padded cell, but her Hounds were with her, ferocious and sexy as ever. And they were all touching her… this was good. This was best. Exhaustion embraced her like a lover…
“WHO?” Drake growled louder.
“Pascale,” Tilly mumbled. “That’s the bitch who murdered me.”
Then sleep gobbled her up.
Chapter 27
Valor pushed himself past his limits. During the worst of Tilly’s transition, he ordered the other Hounds to hold her down while he pressed his full weight on top of her. Tilly had shredded her clothes off in a fit of rage. She’d torn her sweet skin to ribbons in the process, too. Tilly mumbled gibberish, spat blood all over the place, her unseeing eyes were black glass, and she broke several bones fighting imaginary monsters. The pain she felt had turned her aura terrible shades, but those hues paled in comparison to what she looked like once true fear took hold of her.
By Gods, Valor never saw anything so terrifying as his woman suppressed and paralyzed by fear. Tilly was the fearless one. The lass who ran into the catacombs on a blind hunt. The one who had their backs during their escape. Nothing seemed to truly scare Tilly before. But when she screamed Valor’s name like it was the last thing she’d ever say on this earth, Val’s world shifted.
The pack’s world shifted.
In the throes of madness, Tilly cried out for them. Sputtering and gurgling through her torn tongue, she called out each of their names, howled, bayed and whimpered for her pack.
All the men lost it. Each Hound clamped onto her as tight as possible and tried to shove energy into her. Ever since, Val had a buzz in his bones that wouldn’t relent. And now that the worst was over, and Tilly had made it through the last phase, his precious Hell Hound was fast asleep and he could finally collapse.
Valor eased off her body, his bones creaking in protest. To see Tilly’s aura flicker and begin to fade earlier had been absolutely terrifying. Now it was a burst of Technicolor – vibrant, fierce, and blindingly bright.
Bishop rocked back and forth by the door. Sweat soaked through his shirt. His eyes were hard and fixed on their sleeping beauty. “Is she safe to move?” He needed to get out of this confined space.
“Ye can go, Hound. She’ll be fine.”
“I’m not leaving her in here. Think she’s going to enjoy waking up in a padded cell? Think about that, Alpha.”
Valor swayed as he rose to his feet. He’d pushed all his energy into Tilly and hadn’t saved any for himself. With a grunt, he leaned down to pick her up. When his arms failed him, Val’s head lolled and he almost dropped to the floor.
“Fuck,” Bishop grabbed Valor and hoisted him up. “Come on, damnit.”
“Grab her,” Val commanded.
“Already have,” Drake scooped Tilly into his arms.
“Bring her to my room,” Valor stumbled out the door with Bishop’s help.
“She needs to be cleaned,” Drake took his time leaving the room while cradling her.
“Shower her in my bathroom. I want to keep my eyes on her a wee bit longer.”
“You need a shower too, Alpha.”
Aye, he was a fucking mess – covered in Tilly’s blood, sweat and tears along with his own. Valor cocked an eyebrow at Bishop, “Are ye offering to scrub my back?”
“I’ll at least hose you down.”
They made it to the steps before Val stopped walking. “Drake, get ahead of us. I want to keep my eyes on her.” Val used the banister to help keep his balance while Bishop helped him up the steps. Valor focused on Tilly’s strawberry blonde hair as Drake ascended with her in front of everyone. “Och, where’s Baz?”
“Here,” the Hound replied from behind. “Just watching your back in case you fall, alpha.”
They climbed the stairs slowly and finally made it to Valor’s room after what felt like a month. When Baz flicked on the bathroom lights, Valor took a good look at himself in the mirror. Tilly’s blood was all over his face. His skin had a grey tinge to it. Christ, was he in some kind of shock? Hard to tell. Hounds reacted so differently than humans when in a crisis.
There was a buzz still thrumming in his bones. It felt good…
Baz ran the water in the garage-sized shower stall that boasted six different shower heads. The spa-worthy space was Valor’s not-so-secret indulgence and he was so fucking grateful to have it tonight. Valor fumbled with his fly and someone peeled his pants down for him. Embarrassment flushed his skin. He’d never needed help like this before. He wasn’t a newborn babe, for Christ’s sake, but even working his fly felt too difficult.
He cautiously stepped into the shower. “My bones are screaming.”
“Mine feel like they’re on fucking fire,” Bishop scowled.
“What the fuck are ye doing, Hound?” What was Bishop thinking, coming into the shower with him?
“You think you can keep yourself up right in here without assistance, Alpha?”
Just to prove that he was fine, Valor let go of the wall and collapsed onto the bench. “Fuck, what the hell is wrong with me?”
“You gave too much,” Drake stepped in holding a naked Tilly.
“Och, it’s turning into a party in here.”
“Yeah, well, keep your hands to yourself, Alpha.” Bishop chuckled, “I know how pretty you think I am and I’m not dropping the soap for you.”
“Ye wish.”
Bishop winked and grabbed the soap. Then dropped it. “Fuck,” he stared at the soap. “I’m not getting it.”
Valor reached down from the bench and snatched the bar. “Och, ye big baby.” He handed the soap back to Bishop and reached out for Tilly, “Pass her here. I need to feel her.”
“How’s her aura?” Drake carefully made the transfer. Giving Tilly up looked like it killed Drake a little to do it.
“She’s strong. Sleeping hard, too.” Valor kissed the top of her head while Bishop started running the bar of soap up and down her legs. “No loofahs or anything yet. Just use your hands, Hounds. Her skin will be extremely sensitive now and I doona want her to wake just yet.”
Bishop nodded while Drake snatched one of the detachable shower heads so they could get her good and soaked, then rinse her off.
“How’s it going in there?” Baz asked from the other side of the glass panes.
“Wanna join and find out yourself?” Bishop tempted.
“Nope.”
Bishop shrugged and went back to washing Tilly. “Hand me the shampoo, D.”
Drake growled and handed over the bottle. Bishop looked up and arched his brow, “You wanna do it?” Surprising everyone, Bishop relinquished the shampoo back to Drake and got out of the way.
Valor watched how Drake handled Tilly. As her limp body leaned against Valor’s chest, her ass firmly in his lap, Valor didn’t feel as possessive of her as he anticipated when Drake started gently massaging her scalp. The Hound’s gaze locked on her hea
d while he worked on scrubbing the dirt, blood and tears out of her hair. Something in Valor swelled and burst. Drake was a good Hound and he found a good woman.
They all had.
“Tip her head back,” Drake’s voice was quiet and soft. Bishop sprayed her down and the water splashed into Valor’s face so he squeezed his eyes shut until they were through.
Then he watched as Drake and Bishop washed Tilly’s body. A sense of peacefulness filled the shower. Valor held her close and while they washed her toes, Valor tipped his head back and closed his eyes, too drained for much else. After who knows how long, he felt Tilly get lifted out of his arms. His eyes snapped open and he growled.
“Easy, Alpha, the water’s getting cold. We’re taking her out and putting her in your bed.” Drake carried Tilly out of the shower. Not being able to see her anymore caused Valor’s heartrate to speed up.
“She’s fine,” Bishop assured him. “Now let’s get you fixed up so we can get the fuck out of this carwash you call a shower.”
Gods save him, but Valor couldn’t lift his limbs. What movements he could make were so difficult, they weren’t worth the effort.
“Jesus, Valor, what did you do?” Bishop hosed him down.
“Gave her all I had… no more balance… no more… energy…” Valor’s lids were fifty pound weights tugging his eyes closed. He collapsed.
Sebastian and Drake were tucking Tilly into Valor’s bed when Bishop yelled from the shower. “Little help here!”
“I’ll go,” Baz snatched the towels they’d used to dry their girl and he headed back into the bathroom.
Bishop was holding onto Valor, trying to drag him out of the shower. His foot slipped and he crashed down on his knee, which had him hollering, “Fuck!”
Baz shut the water off and grabbed Valor’s other arm. Together, they literally dragged their unconscious alpha out of the bathroom. “He’s never been this bad before,” Baz whispered.
“Must’ve given her too much,” Bishop grunted, “I sensed he was pushing a lot into her. Tried to add some myself, but I don’t know if it worked or if saving Tilly was all him.”
“Me too. And so did Drake.”
“We all shoved energy into her?”
Baz nodded and kept his eyes forward. The last thing he really wanted right now was an eyeful of his alpha’s impressive package.
“Shit, do you think we fucked her up doing that?” They got Valor onto the bed and the big Scot flopped down on his pillow without as much as a sigh. “I mean, do you think we made it better or worse? Look at him.”
Baz shrugged, “Giving some of yourself to the ones you love shouldn’t be a bad thing, so no, I don’t think we fucked up anything. But Val,” Baz shook his head, “something’s not right. He usually bounces back fast and he’s…”
Tilly rolled over in the bed and instantly wrapped her arm around Valor’s neck and placed her leg over his torso, caging him in and keeping him close.
“I’ve got ye, mo leannan,” Val’s voice was deep and raspy.
“What’s mo leannan mean?” Bishop asked the room.
“Hell if I know,” Baz never learned Gaelic.
“My love,” Drake pulled the blanket over the two sleeping Hounds. “It’s Scottish Gaelic for my love.”
“You know Gaelic? Since when?”
“Not really, but I looked it up after Valor called her that the first time. Wanted to know if it was an insult or term of endearment.”
Because if it had been an insult, Drake would have fought to be the new alpha of the pack. Sebastian froze. Wait, whoa. How did he know that? Baz had no idea how he knew that… but he fucking did. Drake would have taken over as alpha because of Tilly.
Bishop’s eyes narrowed, “You’d have challenged our alpha over a woman?”
Wait a second…. How did Bishop know it too? Baz scrubbed his face with both hands, reeling at what this might mean.
Drake arched an eyebrow, “I’d do that and a whole lot more for our girl. I’m just glad I didn’t have to. I like Valor as our leader. I’d have been a shit alpha. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have put him in his place if those words he called her all the time weren’t good enough though.”
“This coming from the Hound who calls her Goldilocks,” Baz scoffed.
Drake shrugged, “I know what I mean when I call her that.”
Again, something strong and fierce flooded Baz’s insides, making his instincts go on hyper-alert. He blew out a big breath, “You guys got that weird pin prickly shit going on inside you right now?”
“No, I’ve got ice in my veins,” Drake frowned, “What about you, Bishop?”
“Fire. Definitely fire.”
“Bet Valor feels something too. Didn’t he say he had a serious buzz in his bones?”
“What’s that mean?”
Baz didn’t have an answer to Drake’s question… but he was going to get one. He ran out of the bedroom and straight to Hell, fearful of what this power exchange with Tilly might mean.
Chapter 28
Still passed out and sleeping like the dead, Tilly and Valor were entwined in each other’s arms. From the edge of the bed, Bishop watched them sleep and waited for jealousy to strike, yet it never did. Tilly was as much Valor’s as she was Bishop’s and the twins’ woman.
And they fucking belonged to her.
It made Bishop want to get her name tatted on his body. A stamp of ownership for the world to see.
“You hear what she said, about who killed her?”
Bishop’s gaze flicked to Drake for a hot second. His teeth ground together before he replied, “Yeah.”
He didn’t want to think about that right now. Once Bishop fixated on getting revenge for his woman’s murder, there would be no stopping him until it was done. Right now, he was needed here with his pack – not in Paris on a solo assassination mission.
“We need to get this Pascale fucker.”
“We will,” Bishop promised.
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell us before.”
“She didn’t want revenge before, like she does now.” A smile crept across Bishop’s face. “Her Hell Hound energy is strongest right now. Remember that moment? That pure hot rage and fever spike you got when you wanted that first taste of revenge?”
Drake’s eyes practically glowed with the memory, “Yeah. That satisfaction was never so sweet again. We gotta give her that. Let Tilly make this kill herself, no matter how bad we all want a bite.”
“Damn right. I can’t wait to watch her attack.”
“Zaza? You there?” Tilly sat up. Her tits swayed as she crawled out of the bed. Padding on bare feet, she went over to a wall and pounded her fists into it, “Let me out!”
Drake and Bishop watched as The Haunting continued for their girl. Shit, they were fools to think that phase would have been a quick one. One night was never long enough for a true Haunting. Hell, sometimes one lifetime wasn’t long enough for The Haunting to cycle through.
Tilly turned around and slowly walked over to a chair. She sat down and started thumbing through an invisible book. “Google, translate.” She hunched over and ran her fingers across words on a page that wasn’t actually there, “The Dark Angels created by the Fallen One will infest the world.” She looked up and frowned. “What’s that even mean, Zaza?” She shook her head, “No, I’m not feeding you. This information isn’t worth it.” She closed the invisible book and stalked off.
Tilly opened the bedroom door and headed down the hallway into Drake’s room. Bishop and Drake followed. She bent down and ran her hand across the blanket on his bed and whispered, “I’m not playing with your pieces. I’m trying to put you back together.”
Drake froze.
“But I can’t. I don’t know how.” Tilly quietly left the room and went to Sebastian’s next. She leaned down and kissed where Baz’s head would have been on his pillow. “Whatever has you is not stronger than you are. Whatever this is, do what you must to be rid of it.” Then she grabbe
d what might have been his arm and she said a spell over him.
The air rushed out of Drake’s body. “She spelled him? Why?”
“Nothing that woman does is without a good fucking reason.”
Tilly brushed past them and went into Bishop’s room next. She stood at the foot of his bed and crawled up, then straddled where Bishop would have laid. Running her fingers over her body, she moaned and dipped down like she was kissing him.
Now it was Bishop’s turn to freeze. He watched as Tilly rode the invisible Bishop in the bed and remembered this night with perfect clarity. She’d snuck into his room after a particularly bad nightmare and he relished the fact that she came to him for comfort.
Tilly’s head tilted back and she moaned again.
It didn’t look nuts watching her fuck no one in the bed. It looked erotic as hell. Bishop’s body grew hard and, hand-to-God, he could feel her body on his right now. Felt her wet heat stroke his cock as if he really was under her being ridden instead of gawking from the doorway.
It was several minutes before she stopped and moved on. Drake arched an eyebrow, “Didn’t last long, did you?”
“Not that time I didn’t.” No shame in his game. Bishop had made sure she came twice before he allowed his own release, and then she didn’t stay with him. That night, he asked her to, but she said no. She wanted to be in her own bed. Bishop knew what she was doing. She was trying to be cold, make sure that none of them got attached to her. She came and went as she pleased.
Little did Tilly realize her plan had already back fired by then.
“I loved you long before that night,” Bishop whispered to her.
They followed Tilly out the room, anxious to see where she went next. They figured she’d go into Valor’s bedroom, but she didn’t. Instead, Tilly went downstairs to Valor’s office and locked the door behind her. Sitting at his desk, she tapped his computer screen and pounded on the keyboard. In reality, nothing happened, but Drake tried to catch which keys her fingers hit. They flew so fast, it was hard to keep up.
Hard to Kill (Hell Hounds Harem Book 6) Page 23
