The Forbidden Life of Alex Moore(30)

“Lilly,” he said, drawing her attention.
He was at the window that looked out on the porch. She came to his side, letting him pull her in front of him. His chest warmed her spine as he reached over her shoulder and pointed. On the rug by the door, the blue-eyed hellhound waited like a sphinx with front paws crossed, head up and ears pricked. She could see it clearly now. The phantom shadows had shivered away, leaving behind a solid form.
“You see it, don’t you?” Alex asked.
She nodded. “I don’t understand it, but yes. I see it. Clearly. Yesterday I couldn’t see them or hear them at all. But now I can do both. Why?”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t know.”
She didn’t say it, but a theory had been forming while they worked on Belle’s enclosure. It was vague, incomplete. Yet it resonated inside her and made her think.
“I’ve changed since you came here, Alex.”
He gave her a sideways look, waiting.
“Knowing you, believing in the existence of your world. Knowing how little time we have together. I’ve never been one to race headlong into a relationship.”
She blushed and drew in a shaky breath. Was that what they had, the two of them? A relationship?
“I always guard myself. Make sure it’s safe before I commit. But…from the first moment when I looked into your eyes, I knew…I knew you were special. A broken heart would be worth what I might have with you. However short. However deep.”
His eyes glimmered with understanding and a gentle smile curved his lips. “I thought you looked like a soft, blue treat. I wanted a taste. I still do.”#p#分页标题#e#
Tears pricked at her eyes, but she didn’t let them go.
“Look outside, Alex. There’s an evolution going on here. We just have to see it.”
Confusion furrowed his brow, but he shifted his gaze to the window and looked at the blue-eyed hound standing vigil over a house of humans and dogs. Blue-Eyes stared intensely back. Lilly took a deep breath and moved to the door.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Letting it in.”
    







 
    Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
    
 


 
CHAPTER 11
Everything inside of Alex wanted to fight her logic. Let a hellhound in? Let it close to Lilly?
She’d opened the door before he could stop her, if that’s what he’d meant to do. Because her words had worked like some dark and forbidden magic inside him. Evolution, she’d called it. He felt the truth of it down to his bones.
He’d lived his life in an echo, seeing humans. Understanding their existence but never experiencing what it meant to feel, to care…to touch. And now that he had, he saw his world in a different way.
He’d believed that he didn’t belong here. He’d broken laws by touching Lilly, by protecting her…by taking all of the sweetness she offered him. He’d thought those laws were sacred and to break them would somehow sully the world of humans. Lilly believed differently.
She saw a place for him here. A place at her side, in her bed, in her heart. And more than anything, Alex wanted that place. He wanted that chance to belong. To her.
And here was this hellhound—a fucking hellhound—proving it could happen. A testament to the unpredictability of life right in front of his eyes. The hellhound stood and looked through the open door and into the cabin, with its cozy fire and fragile inhabitants.
Alex swore he knew what it thought. It wanted in, but it didn’t feel worthy.
“Come on,” Lilly coaxed.
It turned those laser-bright eyes on her and tilted its head. Alex understood that, too.
Demented female.
Alex moved to Lilly’s side, took her hand, and echoed the invitation.
“Come.”
The hellhound stepped over the threshold, gave them another confused but grateful glance, and went straight to Belle. It jumped into her enclosure with lithe grace and lay down beside her, nose to nose. She licked its face and moaned.
Alex looked outside one last time before he closed the door. The snow didn’t seem to be coming down so fast anymore. By morning, this storm would be over, but a new one had begun…a storm of change, perhaps.
It took Belle hours to give birth to her three black puppies. Like the hellhound, they had big heads and long legs. Like their mother, they had velvety fur and soft ears. Alex wondered what their eyes would look like when they opened. Would they be pale blue or white lanterns? Or would they be chocolate brown like their mother’s?
“They’re cute,” Lilly announced, staring down at the ugly creatures with delight.