She gave him an aggravated look. “Are you afraid I’ll think you’re a sissy if you lean on me?”
Arrogance gleamed in his amused glance. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Spoken like a man.”
“And I am not a man.”
There was no missing the anger in those words. Nor could she miss the disappointment that lodged somewhere beneath her breastbone. For reasons she didn’t want to analyze, his denial of humanity hadn’t bothered her nearly as much as that one.
“Are you also immune to pain?” she asked sweetly.
He hesitated before letting loose a soft, annoyed sigh. He shook his head.
“I didn’t think so.”
When they reached the SUV, he leaned against the side while Lilly opened the hatch for the dogs. Dutifully, they jumped in and made themselves comfortable on their blankets. Even Belle, though she had to be asked twice. Harley waited to be lifted like the royalty he thought himself to be. She closed them in and moved to stand in front of Alex.
He looked pale and sweat beaded his brow. He scanned the gloaming with worried eyes. His tension coiled around her.
“What’s going on, Alex? Do you hear something?”
He considered his answer. She could almost see him moving the words around in his head as he searched for the right order.
“Bad things,” he said at last, his voice gruff, low. “They’re coming.”
“I’d say they’re already here.”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“You mean things worse than hellhounds?”
She hadn’t said it loudly, but the cold seemed to ride her question, making it whip around them. She felt the echo, the frosty bite of fear. The sound of a stone bouncing down a rock-strewn hill made them both face the textured darkness. It had gathered into a tight cocoon over the landscape.
“Got any bullets left in that rifle?” he asked.
She shook her head. “There’s some in the glove box, though.”
He narrowed his eyes at something she couldn’t see. “You won’t make it.”
He’d said it so softly, she thought she’d misheard until a man stepped out of the trees. For a second, she was relieved. A man she could see had to be better than hellhounds she couldn’t, but then she noticed the machete he gripped in his hands. He didn’t lower it when he saw them.
“Do you know this guy?” she whispered.
Alex nodded, but he wasn’t glad to see the newcomer. He straightened, hiding his weakness and injuries with a stiff spine. He didn’t reach for his weapon, but she’d seen how quickly he could draw it. In the chilled silence, he watched the man approach. There might be recognition in his expression, but Lilly saw no welcome.
“Where is Caleb?” the stranger demanded.
“Dead,” Alex answered.
The stranger cut his eyes to Lilly. In the SUV, five dogs barked fiercely and frantically, clawing at the glass and making it muddy with dirt and saliva. Could she make it back to open the hatch before this stranger…what? Chopped her in half with his machete? Is that what she expected him to do? For all she felt inexplicably safe with Alex, this new man…not so much.
“Thank you for aiding my friend,” he said in a kindly voice.
Beside her, Alex stiffened, as if a threat had come hidden inside the hollow words of gratitude.
“Anyone would have helped him,” she answered cautiously.
“You weren’t afraid?” the stranger asked.
Lilly glanced at Alex’s drawn face, trying to read the undercurrents of the conversation. But Alex didn’t look at her and his expression gave nothing away.
“Of course I was afraid. Only a fool wouldn’t be.”
That seemed to amuse the other man. “I imagine you saw things that you thought only lived in nightmares,” he went on.#p#分页标题#e#
She kept her breath steady, but her pulse hammered out of control. Hidden mines lay waiting in this innocuous exchange. Like the hellhounds, she could feel them, even if she couldn’t see them.
“What do you mean?”
The question startled him and she felt the apprehension in Alex escalate. She hoped her expression looked as emotionless as his, but beneath the surface, panic ricocheted inside her. Alex shifted his weight away from her and, so calmly she almost didn’t realize what he was doing, he positioned himself slightly in front of her.
“Does she know the consequences of helping you?” the stranger asked Alex with concern that felt empty in the frosted twilight.
“She found me after it went down, Jared,” Alex answered evenly. “There will be no consequences. She saw nothing. She did nothing wrong.”
“But she will,” the stranger said.
The certainty in his voice stroked Lilly’s fear and trembled through her limbs. What consequences? What wrong did they expect her to do? It took everything not to blurt the questions, but Lilly felt the foreboding in the air and knew that anything she said would be dangerous. Alex had told her humans weren’t meant to know about hellhounds. Lilly was smart enough to guess he’d understated the situation.