Page 42 of Blood & Heartache

Then I remembered my derringer in my robe pocket. I wasn’t wearing it, but it had been draped on the armchair next to the bed which I believed I was facing. If I could elbow Ryker in the gut, it would force his body to protect himself by releasing me so I could lunge for the robe. It was a shit plan, and if this person wished me harm, I was fucked, but on the other hand, they could have already killed me. Yet the hand continued to calmly stroke my head as if they didn’t have a care in the world or noticed that I was awake. Ready to make my move, I shifted slightly to give myself a better angle for the jab and gave a silent prayer Ryker would react how I needed him to.

Taking a deep breath as if I was letting out another sigh, I rammed my elbow backward. Ryker grunted and flung himself away from me just as I had planned. Snapping my eyes open, the one thing I hadn’t planned on was the person sitting on the bed blocking my way to the robe, but I was already in motion, meaning I launched myself at this person. His eyes grew wide with shock as he caught me to his chest as he thudded to the floor, keeping me tight to his body, almost as if he was protecting me. Reaching for the robe, I yanked it to the floor and snatched the gun out of the pocket. As fast as I could move, I sat back, ignoring the pain in my leg, and aimed the tiny gun at the smirking man under me.

“Ah, Luna, I wasn’t sure which move you were going to make, but that wasn’t one of them,” he said with a chuckle.

Everything ground to a halt as I realized what he called me. “How do you know that name?” I snapped.

“Oh, you mean Luna Selene?” the man asked, his smile widening. “She’s a friend of mine.”

“Bullshit,” I spat. “I’ve never met you before, and I’d remember someone who looked like you.”

“Dashingly handsome, you mean?” he offered, not at all bothered that I had a gun trained on him or that Ryker was rounding the bed with his own gun. The man shifted his silver gaze over to Ryker and gave him a two-finger salute. “Sup.”

“Hound, what the actual fuck do you think you’re doing right now?” Ryker said through clenched teeth.

“I’m saying hi to my lovely Moonflower,” Hound answered as he returned his attention to me. “It would seem, though, she’s not at all that happy to meet me after all this time.”

Scrunching up my face at the nickname, I started to once again tell him I had no idea who he was, but then it hit me. “Holy shit,” I blurted. “You’re him!”

“Yes, it is I, your faithful Hound dog at your service,” he shared, grabbing my waist and sitting up so we were nose to nose. “I told you that you wouldn’t be able to get rid of me that easily.”

Laughter bubbled out of me as I lowered my gun and ran a hand through my hair, getting it out of my face. “Holy fuck, could my life get any more complicated?”

Hound just smiled, looking pleased as punch that I knew who he was. The man was unlike anything I expected and yet exactly what he should look like. Everything about him gave off that rebel punk-rocker vibe but with a gothic edge. His hair was black at the root and shifted into a deep teal color through to the ends that fell into his face. Part of the side of his head was shaved to show off the tattoos that flowed along the curve of his scalp. It looked like computer code of some kind. The rest of his hair was styled in a shaggy sweeping style that gave a careless look to it. A tattoo of a wolf howling at the moon sat just under his eye on the rise of his cheek, but it only added to his uniqueness.

There was a piercing on the bridge of his nose, and he had a snake bite piercing with black hoops hugging his full bottom lip. From what I could see, he was covered in a patchwork of tattoos. Instead of them being like Luca’s or Jace’s, where they flowed together in a solid pattern, Hound’s were placed randomly, and the styles varied but all in simple black outlining. He was tall, that was easy to tell even sitting, but he was trim. Don’t get me wrong, he had muscle. I could see that on his arms, but he fell on the side of skinny and toned versus thick and muscular like most of the men around me.

“Like what you see?” Hound asked, brushing his nose against mine as I took my time absorbing the man who’d helped me countless times over the years.

We’d chatted about so many things, none of them highly personal, but he was my go-to person when I needed help. Whenever I got stuck with a security system or just needed to talk out my plan for a heist, he was the person I went to. He’d shown me so much about the dark web, how to navigate it and stay out of trouble which many fell into. Overwhelmed with the surprise of him being here in person and the one Ryker contacted just made this so much better. Tossing my arms around his neck, I hugged him.

“I can’t even begin to wrap my head around you being here, but I’m so glad it’s you,” I whispered, knowing we had an audience.

Hound hugged me back then used the opportunity to lift me off the floor and plop me in the armchair. “You shouldn’t be sitting like that with your leg.”

Cocking my head, I looked at him. “How do you know about my leg? You know what, never mind. If you answer that, I’m going to get pissed. Right now, I’d just like to enjoy the fact that I get to meet you in person.”

“For fuck’s sake, could someone please tell me how you know each other?” Ryker growled, dropping his gun and grabbing Hound by the shirt. “Then there’s the matter of you being in my goddamn room, Hound. You know I locked you out on purpose, so why the fuck would you break in like this?”

“Simple, you did it to keep my Luna away from me,” Hound answered, shoving Ryker’s arm. “Doing that was the same as daring me to break in. Not my fault you’re not as good at this as you think you are, but no worries, I’m here and can fix all the things you’ve missed. I’m starting with her room first because, let’s face it, she’s far more important than any of us.”

Ryker scrubbed a hand through his hair as he stomped to his closet. “I can’t deal with this only in my fucking boxers. I need some goddamn pants.”

“Sorry I’m not your type because your ass looks great in those silk boxers,” Hound teased, winking at me. “I can see why you claimed him early.”

So much was happening all at once I wasn’t sure what the hell to think at this point. I glanced at the clock and saw it was just before seven. “Fuck, where’s my phone? Jace is going to be reaching out if he hasn’t already.”

Hound pulled my phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. “Borrowed it to make sure you didn’t have any spyware on it and to tweak a few things so it’s encrypted and untraceable. You haven’t missed anything, though. I already looked into things with the mayor, and he died on the operating table. Seems the damage was worse than they shared with the media. They worked on him for three hours, but in the end, they couldn’t repair the damage.”

My jaw dropped as I took the phone from him. “I really shouldn’t be surprised since this is exactly what you do. Swoop in, find out everything I needed to know and more, then drop it like a perfect little package at my feet.”

“I aim to please, Mistress,” Hound said with an overly dramatic flourish.

“At least he’s helpful to someone and not just a fucking pain in the ass,” Ryker muttered as he rejoined us wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. “I need some goddamn coffee. Are we going down or having them bring it up here?”

“I’m gonna need to change. As much as I love to wander around in my pajamas, I feel like I need to put on some real clothes. You never know what’s gonna happen in a day,” I pointed out.

“Fair,” Ryker agreed. “Okay, let’s get you upstairs.”