“Why?” I asked her.
She gave me a cheeky grin. “Because those two puppies of yours are most likely going to eat you today.”
Chapter 12
“WHO IS READY for a walk?”
Hugo and Woolf began to whine and run in circles when I unlocked their gate. In their excitement, they looked so much like dogs that I let out a laugh. When the door slid open, they plunked their behinds on the floor as I’d trained them to do whenever I entered their cage. Instead of stepping inside as I always did, I pointed at my feet and said, “Come.” The hounds looked confused, so I issued the command again. This time they stood and sauntered toward me, and when they realized they were leaving their cage, their tails began to wag and their mouths opened wide in doggie grins.
“They look like they are about to eat someone,” Sahir said over the security intercom from the safety of his office.
I rolled my eyes at the closest camera. “They can’t help how they look.” With their enormous teeth and red-black eyes, the hellhounds did look anything but harmless, but looks were deceiving. Everyone thought trolls were bloodthirsty creatures, but I’d been friends with Remy for ten years and he was one of the gentlest people I had ever met.
“Tristan had everyone clear away from this area as a precaution, so you are good to go.”
“Thanks. Come on, boys.” I walked to the exit, and the hounds followed at my heels until I threw open the door and stepped outside into the sunshine. I looked back to find them watching me uncertainly, and I tapped my thigh. “Let’s go.”
It was all the urging they needed, and I was almost bowled over when they leapt toward me eagerly. They circled me and pushed against me, unable to believe they were free, and I let them have a few minutes of play before I ordered them to stand on either side of me like we had practiced. When we set off across the lawn toward the woods, I was aware of the people watching us from the windows of the main building and I resisted the urge to look at them. Word of the hellhounds had finally spread. Now everyone was watching to see how this would play out, and I was sure that more than one of them expected a bad outcome. We’d show them.
Despite my determination to prove everyone wrong, it felt good to walk under the canopy of trees and escape the curious stares. Once we were out of sight of the building, I broke into a jog and whistled for the hounds to follow me. It felt amazing to run free, and I enjoyed it as much as they did. For such large animals, they weaved through trees and leapt over large rocks with incredible ease, running ahead of me and circling back when I lagged behind. Once Hugo caught the scent of a fox and set after it, braying like a bloodhound and scaring every creature within a mile. Luckily, the fox escaped. I did not like to see an animal hurt, but I also didn’t want to deny the hounds the joy of hunting. They were predators after all, and hunting was a part of their nature.
I had no trouble finding the lake, and I ran down to the rocky shore with the hounds at my heels. They lapped nosily at the cold water, sending ripples across the mirror-like surface. When they were done, they looked at me and began to sniff along the shore. “Don’t go too far,” I told them, pretty sure they wouldn’t let me out of their sights. I let them explore, and I found a dry flat area to lie back on and soak up the sun. The woods were unusually hushed as the birds and small animals hid from the larger threat invading their territory. I missed their calls and scurrying, but it was still very peaceful here.
I had almost dozed off when it struck me that I could no longer hear the hounds moving about. Sitting up, I scanned the shore until I found them a few hundred yards away, sitting side-by-side and staring out over the lake. I whistled but neither of them moved or even looked in my direction. Strange. They rarely liked to sit still, even when I commanded them to do it, and I couldn’t believe they would do it now with so many things to explore. Unease stole over me, and I got to my feet. Something was not right.
“They are quite safe and content,” said a musical voice behind me, and I whirled to face a barefoot red-haired girl in a flowing yellow dress. My mouth fell open, and a smile lit up her angelic face. “Hello, little sister.”
“Aine!” I ran the short distance between us and threw my arms around my sylph friend. She laughed softly and hugged me, enveloping me in the incredibly alluring scent of Faerie she carried with her. If you spend any amount of time in that place, its sweet perfume begins to cling to you, something I discovered after my own stay there. The first thing Roland and Peter had said to me when they saw me again was that I smelled like sunshine and something else that even their sharp werewolf noses couldn’t identify.