I suddenly found that I was oddly nervous as Gage and I reached our room. Gage unlocked the door and then held it open for me to enter. The room was pretty much how I remembered it: dark, with slightly sticky carpet; two double beds covered with a thin floral pattern comforter; and a door to the bathroom in the back of the room. There was a slight smell that I couldn’t place but might have been part mildew, part cleaning products.
Gage ran a hand over my back before stepping around me, and goose bumps broke out over my arms.
“Drea didn’t need to bother,” he said, plopping his backpack on the closest bed. I shot him a confused look that he didn’t see because his back was to me. I watched him as he reached into his pack and pulled out a handful of syringes and then laid them on the floral comforter.
“I brought my own,” he said as he turned to me, his gaze finding mine and holding. “If anything happens, I expect you to use them.” He refused to look away until I nodded in agreement.
“We might not need to carry those around for much longer,” I said, tipping my chin toward the stash of tranquilizers on the bed.
“What do you mean?” Gage asked with a tilt of his head.
“Harley,” I said. “She said she can suppress your hellhound so you won’t shift anymore. Like permanently. A spell.”
Cael wouldn’t be able to give him powers, but it was a Band-Aid until Gage could fight his hellhound and separate from it.
“She has the power to do that?” he asked, his eyebrows pinching together.
“Apparently it’s a power she inherited from Apollyon, to control hellhounds like he does. That’s how she was able to wrestle control from him to get you back from the Netherworld. Maybe I’ll need to give her an energy boost or something, but I think she can do it.” Dropping my backpack on the ground I stepped toward him, excitement growing in my gut. “We should try tomorrow,” I said, raising my hands to rest them against Gage’s chest when I got close enough, but he took a step backward out of my reach and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Isn’t that what you want?”
“She’dcompletelysuppress the hellhound?” he asked.
I shrugged. “That’s what she said.”
He was quiet for a moment, his lips pressed into a firm line.
I didn’t understand. Why wasn’t he happy? He hated that Apollyon had this kind of control over him, that he could hurt me.
“I would be left defenseless,” he finally said. “The powers I get from the hellhound are the only ones I have to defend myself… to protectyou. I won’t be able to do that without them. I’d be leaving you to face our enemies on your own.” He shook his head. “I won’t do that, Tate. Not again. Not if I can help it.”
My heart squeezed. He would endure being controlled by Apollyon and getting sucked into literal Hell once every month just to keep his strength so he could protect me? So that he could stand by my side to fight our enemies? A surge of love rose up inside me, but also a flicker of frustration.
“Gage, it’s not worth the price. Let Harley help you. Please.” If I had to beg, I would. I loved that he cared about me that much, but I wouldn’t let him do this for me.
“Tate.” Gage laid a hand on my cheek. Closing my eyes, I leaned into his touch and I heard his heavy exhale. “I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise tonight.”
I’d take it.
I opened my eyes. “Gage, there’s something else I need to tell you.”
“Should I brace myself?” he asked with a half-laugh that didn’t reach his green gaze.
“After you returned to the Netherworld, I went to Avalon and talked to Cael.”
He froze and his eyebrows drew together. I knew that wasn’t what he expected me to say.
“He said there’s a way to get rid of the hellhound for good,” I rushed on. “Cael said your hellhound is like a parasite, and if you can separate from the beast I can kill it and you won’t be a hellhound anymore.”
“Kill my hellhound?” He sounded shocked.
“Yeah, you have to fully shift and then wrangle control of the beast enough to push it from your body so that I can kill it.”
“That sounds dangerous.” He rubbed his fingers over his lower lip as he took in what I said.
“When your hellhound is gone, Cael said he could gift you with Lumen abilities.”
Gage’s eyebrows shot straight up. “He said that?”
