I followed his gaze, and right before the woman disappeared through the doorway she looked over her shoulder and smirked at us. I caught a glimpse of a red flash in her eyes, and gasped.
A demon! Level ten.
She vanished around the corner, and I snatched up the thick piece of cream paper she’d dropped on the table. Unfolding it, I scanned the familiar bold handwriting. Only three words were written on the note.
Remember, he’s mine.
My stomach bottomed out, and I snapped my gaze back to Gage just in time to see his eyes flash yellow and a shock of black fur spring up on his forearms. Then the bones in his face started to shift.
No! No, no, no.
This wasnothappening right here, not now.
“Gage, no.Pleasedon’t shift,” I begged, as I reached for him.
He flinched away from me, his body starting to vibrate as he tried to hold his form.
“I can’t help it,” he said, the words sounding like they were torn from his chest. “He’s controlling me.”
“You’re the strongest person I know. Youcanfight this.”
Gripping the table, Gage looked over at me again, his eyes fully yellow and hair starting to grow on his face.
“Run,” he said, the word garbled and animalistic.
The hairs on my arms stood, and for the first time ever I was actually scared of him.
If Gage fully shifts, he may not recognize me. Would he hurt me?These were not questions I wanted to be asking on date night.
I cast a quick glance around. Since we were tucked in the back corner of the restaurant, so far no one had noticed Gage’s weird behavior. Gage as a hellhound was dangerous for me, but he was deadly to all these humans.
Oh my gosh, what did hellhounds even eat? I didn’t want to know.
I pushed out of the booth, knocking the table on its side as I backed away from my shifting boyfriend, and making a loud enough ruckus that heads turned in my direction. Gage fell to the floor in front of me, growls and high keening whines coming from him as he tried to fight the shift.
Lifting the back of my shirt, I peeled a crossbow off one of my tattoos and readied myself for a fight. People gasped when I hefted it in the air and then shot the chandelier in the middle of the room, sending it crashing to the ground.
“Everyone get out of here, or… or… I’m gonna start aiming for people next,” I shouted, blurting out the first thing I could think of to get people out of the restaurant.
I really hoped I wasn’t going to jail for this.
Diners tripped out of their seats, running toward the front door, and I breathed a sigh of relief that my crossbow-wielding act was working. Even the host we’d said hi to when we entered ran outside in terror.
I spotted a waitress trying to sneak past me to get to the rear exit, and swung in her direction, stopping her from getting any closer to Gage.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she cried, and a ball of regret settled in my gut.
I hated frightening people like this, but when a howl sounded from behind me I pushed guilt and regret aside.
“Call 911,” I yelled at the waitress and snuck a look over my shoulder to see Gage down on all fours, his back arched and most of him covered in black fur. “Tell them a giant wolf is on the loose and a girl with a crossbow is threatening the patrons.”
When she just stared in horror from me to the mostly shifted hellhound behind me, I screamed, “Now!”
That finally got her to swing into action. Pulling out her cell phone, she turned and fled out the front of the restaurant.
My phone was still in my purse in the booth on the other side of Gage, so I could only hope that the Lumen monitoring the emergency lines would understand what was going on and send backup to protect the humans in the area. I wasn’t sure I could handle Gage on my own, and that was a horrifying thought.
Gage growled behind me and the fine hairs all over my body stood on end. I turned slowly and found him still in the alcove where our table had once been, huffing out deep breaths as he stared at me with his burning yellow eyes. No part of his human form remained. He was all hellhound now.
