He pulled out his new shirt, which was just a solid green color, and slipped it over his head.
I cleared my throat. Gage and I had had some pretty steamy kisses, but I hadn’t exactly been topless in front of him and sitting on the dirt ground in the Netherworld wasn’t the way I wanted to do that.
Turning to give him my back, I pulled off my gross blood-splattered and dirt-streaked shirt and slipped on my new one. It was so soft and a perfect fit. By the time I turned back around, Gage had opened a bunch of food for us to share.
“Dinner is served.” He gestured to the unwrapped protein bars, chips, sunflower seeds, and even crackers with peanut butter.
We ate the meal in companionable silence while looking out onto the desolate landscape.
“Can you believe my mom has lived here for almost eighteen years?” That fact hit me like a punch in the gut.
He nodded. “Can you believe my dad is dead?”
I froze, a peanut butter cracker to my lips. But Gage just shrugged. “I’ve dreamed of it for so long and now… he’s gone.”
Silence descended between us, and I didn’t say anything more. What was there to say to that? Gage and his father had a super toxic relationship, and Arthur had tried to kill me. But Gage was now completely parentless, and that had to have him feeling a certain type of way.
When we were done eating, fatigue pulled at my limbs.
“I’m beat.” I yawned.
“Me too.”
He reclined in the dirt, putting one arm behind his head, and tapped his chest. Scooting over, I leaned so that my head was resting on his right peck. Gage’s free arm came around my lower back and I sighed in contentment. With each breath he took, my head slowly lifted, and I could hear the constant rhythmic thump of his heart.
Boom. Boom. Boom.It was soothing, and before I knew it, I was asleep.
* * *
Something roused me, and the heavy feeling in my limbs told me I’d only been asleep a few hours. Opening my bleary eyes, I sat up, blinking out into the dark distance as I tried to get my bearings.
I was in the Netherworld, and I’d fallen asleep on Gage, who was still asleep next to me.
I peered down at him. He looked so peaceful.
What had woken me? My mind was so foggy with sleep I couldn’t remember.
A thump on the ground had me more alert. There were shadows at the mouth of the cave.
I was just about to shake Gage awake when the shadow nearest me turned into a hellhound.
“Gage!” I yelped as it barreled for us.
Reaching onto my right arm, I grabbed for a weapon hidden on my skin, but before I even had it halfway into my hand, Gage stood and rushed the beast. They crashed into each other like two football players and went tumbling down the side of the hill.
Holy crap.
I stumbled to my feet, light weapon in my hand, and made my way outside to see that Gage had already shifted into half a beast. His chest was still man, but his arms and face were like a demon. Black fur wrapped down his arms, which had bulked in size, and his fingertips were pointed to claws. From the neck up was like looking into the face of a demonic wolf.
I whimpered. Seeing him like this killed me. After everything he’d been through, how could Avalon strip him of his powers and send him back to Earth helpless? He wouldn’t have been bitten by the hellhound if he’d had his wings and his old Shade powers. He’d chosen the good side and was punished for it, and that pissed me right off.
Gage and the beast grappled with each other while I tripped down the hill and then snuck around behind the hellhound. Gage was holding it by the throat as it snapped in his face, baring its sharp teeth at Gage, whose beastly face was covered in short black fur, below yellow glowing eyes.
Beast or not, I realized in that moment that it didn’t matter, because even now I didn’t want to walk away. I just wanted to draw closer to him and help him through this.
With a battle cry, I leapt forward, stabbing the hellhound in the back, right where I thought its heart was. I was careful not to go too deep and stick Gage.
When the beast howled, its legs collapsing, Gage released its throat.
