“Yeah,” he finally said, and gazed to the side. “I was bit.”
I brought my hand to my mouth, emotion clogging my throat. There must have been a small part of me that was still hoping it wasn’t true, that there was a different explanation for what I’d witnessed in that cemetery. “And what does that mean?”
Gage looked back at me and softened his expression. He took a step forward and then stopped himself almost as if he was unsure if he should touch me or not. His hands turned to fists and he jammed them into his pockets. “Dash knows a little about hellhound bites. His uncle was bit by one, but apparently every person presents symptoms differently based on the bite. According to Dash, some of the changes can even be reversed. I haven’t fully transformed, so there’s hope all this could be temporary.”
My heart skipped a beat at the wordsfully transformed.
I swallowed hard, finding my voice. “Fully transformed?” I tried to sound nonchalant, but it came out panicked. I thought back to the hellhound who’d shoved me out the window. The one that had bit Gage. It had stood on its hind legs and my first thought was that it had been a werewolf. “Do you mean to say that hellhounds used to be people, and that you might turn into one?”
Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out.
Gage was silent for several heartbeats, and then he sighed and ran an agitated hand through his hair.
“Yeah, it’s a possibility,” he admitted, looking ashamed.
“And you’ve kept this from me!” It was a statement rather than a question and one I shrieked in a crazy high-pitched voice that I wasn’t super proud of.
This whole time he’d known something this serious was possible and hid it from me? How was I supposed to trust him when he obviously didn’t trust me with the truth?
“I didn’t even know what was happening, not for sure, so I didn’t want to worry you. You had your mom to worry about, and I’ve caused enough trouble for you. It might be nothing. It might—”
“Nothing?” I laughed, and it even sounded bitter to my own ears. “I just watched you grow fangs and claws and rip out your father’s throat. I don’t call thatnothing.”
Gage flinched and I immediately wanted to take the words back, but I didn’t know how. He killed his father to stop him from stabbing me, and I just threw it in his face. He also jumped in front of that hellhound for me, but the words were out there, and the damage was done.
I didn’t know how to handle this situation. I was a mix of emotions and too shook up from this entire day to be normal or think rationally. I was both scared for Gage and furious at him. I couldn’t reconcile those feelings.
Gage turned to keep walking when it seemed like I wasn’t going to say anything more, and I reached out and grasped his hand. He looked over at me hesitantly, and I pulled him closer.
“I’m sorry.” My voice cracked. “I just want you to trust me with tough things. That’s what you do in relationships. I can handle it, I promise.”
Dash’s words came back to me then, about he and Gage not having normal childhoods and how that affected them. I had come to terms with the fact that Gage wasn’t going to be boyfriend of the year, and I was going to have to walk him through how to have a normal relationship—not that I was an expert. But his heart was in the right place, and that counted for something.
Gage nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. To be fully honest, I’m freaked out myself and would rather ignore it until we know whether it’s permanent.”
I could understand that. How many of my own emotions had I shoved into Pandora’s box the last week alone? But some things couldn’t be ignored. Shifting into a hellhound was one of them.
I tugged him forward until the tips of our shoes were touching. I knew he didn’t exactly love his dad, but it was still his father he’d just killed for me.
“I’m sorry about your dad, and I’m sorry you were bit trying to protect me.” I reached up and wrapped my arms around him, and he nuzzled his face into the side of my neck. I felt his entire body relax now that we were holding each other.
“I’m not sorry about any of it. I would do it all over again to protect you, Tate.” His voice was gruff and what he said made my heart grow wings. When he pulled back, things felt better between us. Not perfect, but better.
We started off toward the Blood Mountains, in search of my friends who I’d trapped inside this nightmare realm.
* * *
“Gage, we’ve been walking for hours.” I stumbled as my foot snagged on a rock. Gage’s arm reached out and caught me, pulling me upright.
We might be angelic beings, but we still needed sleep. I’d lost count of how many hours I’d been awake. Twenty four? Thirty-six? Being in New York felt like days ago. The Blood Mountains in the distance looked deceivingly close, but the more we walked toward them, it was like the farther they got away.
Gage scanned the open landscape and nodded, pointing to a small hill. “We’ll make camp over there.”
Make camp. With what? All I had on me was some lip gloss, and I was starting to get thirsty and hungry. I pulled out the tube of gloss and stared at it. Itwaswatermelon flavored…
“I need water,” I told him as we clambered over some rocks. We luckily seemed to be in an uninhabited portion of the Netherworld, for which I was grateful.
“Me too.” Gage hiked up to what looked like an empty shallow cave. It wasn’t a deep one, but it went in about four feet, which was enough to give us shelter if it started raining blood or anything crazy.
