Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“I have no idea what you’re––”
“I brought your dogs here,” Remiel announced as he reached us, having flown, flanked as always by his retinue of angels, and with Evangeline, his new second-in-command, on his right. “You told Vaya you found comfort in only two things while you were in hell: in my mate’s company, and with two of Bazel the hunter’s dogs. I had no idea hellhounds could care for anyone, and perhaps it was your angelic blood that woke it in them, but when I went to speak to him, he had these two in cages, claiming they were useless to him. He reported that he had to chain them and drag them from your side the night he left you and gave you as a sacrifice.”
“What?” Raphael asked. “I don’t think I heard this story.”
“Yes, you did,” I assured him, petting my dogs. Both were lying down now, one with her face in my lap and the other, the male and the smaller of the two, sitting beside me, staring at the ocean. “I told you how I learned to fly and met the hunter and his dogs.”
“Yes, I recall all that, but I don’t remember you being offered as a—who is this?” he asked Remiel. “And where can I find him?”
“He’s a tracker and a demon. I don’t understand your incredulousness over the fact that he would make a deal to abandon your mate. Be happy I found the dogs when I did.”
“Why would I be happy you found them?” he yelled.
“Because they make your mate happy,” Remiel explained like he was an idiot.
“These are hellhounds,” Raphael enunciated, using his hands for emphasis. “What do you expect us to do with them on the mortal plane?”
Remiel’s face spoke volumes. That was clearly not his problem. “Because of your mate, I found mine,” he told Raphael. “By your leaving, you created the opportunity for him to be taken from me, but through the covenant with your mate, you then restored him. I would do anything for Jackson, and when Vaya came to me in tears, saying how hellhounds deserved love too…of course I found them.”
“Thank you so much,” I said from my heart. “I—” A bird flew too close to us then, and suddenly the male dog snapped at it and ate it. As he did, his jaw unhinged and opened so wide, crazy wide, python wide, and elongated to almost twice its length, and there were so many teeth on the top and bottom… “Huh. Okay. So we’re going to have to train them not to eat random stuff,” I said over the sickening crunching. When he was done, he looked quite pleased with himself and lay down so I could give him tummy scratches.
Raphael’s expression of complete horror made Remiel dissolve into hysterics. It was good to hear an archangel laugh.
EIGHT
A week later we were in Jael’s backyard, having our wedding reception. Of all the things everyone was upset about, us hiding the fact that we’d tied the knot was at the top of the list. They all wanted to celebrate with us, it was what families did, and so we had everyone over including Cielo and his new girlfriend, my friend Gene and his fiancée, and the amazing crew who worked for Raphael.
The entire clutch was there, of course, including Deidre, whom I was thrilled to see. It turned out that Deidre had accepted a position working remotely for the Labarum council, and since she had an excellent person to pass her own clutch to—her friend Edwina Moore—she was finally able to move in with Jael and start the second half of her life. Deidre was also spending a lot of time with Raphael. It was a dream come true to talk to an angel, and she was documenting everything.
Raphael was stunned over how easily everyone accepted my new pets—Saga and Bard. Julian even took them walking with him and Rita, his golden retriever, and made sure to show them what they could and couldn’t eat.
“You realize they’re hellhounds, right?” Raphael told him.
Julian looked at him, then at my dogs sitting like angels at his feet, and back to Raphael. “Are you sure?”
Raphael groaned, and I chuckled.
Simon and Leith had a husky named Ed—I didn’t ask—who fell madly in love with Saga and Bard, and they adored him as well. Whenever we went to see them, the three of them played in the backyard. They were also completely in love with cats. All cats. They’d never seen any in their hell dimension, so they were a new and fascinating species. Malic and Dylan’s cat, Fu, adored both dogs, and as a rule, he was not a fan. Even Napoleon, possibly the meanest Chihuahua on the planet, who belonged to Marcus and Joe and seriously hated everyone, lay down with my dogs.