Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [138]
The beast shouldered aside Hades, and finally, Cara caught sight of Ares. His armor was mangled, his left hand mashed, and his legs impossibly broken, but he was using his one good hand to drag himself to Cara. She wanted to cry, but that tugging sensation had overcome her, and tears, it seemed, stayed with the body, not the soul.
Ares pulled himself against her as everyone else moved to block Cerberus, who was on a path directly for her and Hal.
Cerberus’s three heads snarled as one.
“S’okay.” Cara’s voice was reed-thin, barely there, but apparently it was enough, because everyone shifted, allowing Cerberus to pass.
The big beast sniffed at her, and then one of the heads licked Hal. Hal opened his eyes, and a single word came to her. Grandfather. He hadn’t said it to her, but somehow, she intercepted the transmission to the three-headed hound.
One of the heads turned to her, its crimson eyes glowing. You are reoush, beast-healer. Rare. You will not die.
Not dying didn’t seem like an option. She sucked in a gurgling breath… and it didn’t leave her. Blackness swallowed her whole even as she felt the warm stroke of a tongue over her lips.
Twenty-seven
Cara wasn’t sure what happened. All she knew was that she’d come wide awake in Ares’s arms, Hal was bouncing around in the demon remains and happily tossing things like arms and legs into the air, while off in the distance, other hellhounds were… she squinted, and then wished she hadn’t. Ares wasn’t kidding when he said hellhounds liked their prey a little too much. Swallowing sourly, she jerked her gaze away from the hellhound playground to see medical people in scrubs patching up the home team.
Eidolon and Shade were doing the glow-thing to Sin, while Con held her hand, his own wounds so extensive Cara was surprised he was sitting up without help. Kynan was patching up Wraith, who kept yelling obscenities, and some black-haired guy Con had called Luc was trying, unsuccessfully, to work on Ares.
Ares, who kept shoving the guy away even as he spoke gently to Cara. “You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake.”
“Where…” She cleared her throat to rid it of the scratchiness that made her voice sound as if she hadn’t used it in decades. “Where are the demons? Pestilence?” She frowned. “Cerberus. Or did I dream it all?” Even as she said it, she knew she hadn’t dreamed it.
“The hellhounds broke Pestilence’s army. He had to retreat. Cerberus and most of the hounds gave chase. Shade brought help from Underworld General.”
“How am I alive?” And damn, she felt really freaking great, too. As if she’d been plugged into a battery the size of Mount Everest.
“It seems,” Ares said, “that you received Hell’s Kiss from the hellhound king.”
Okay, that was… significant, she was guessing. Tail wagging, Hal romped over. All of us. You belong to all of us now. All bonded to you. Except for those bonded to others. You are reoush, our healer.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, wow.”
Ares’s eyes bored into her. “What is it?”
“It um… seems that I’m bonded to all of them. They’ve adopted me as their official physician of sorts.”
Luc froze as he reached into the medic bag next to him. “All hellhounds?”
“As in, every hellhound in existence?” Ares added.
“That’s what Hal says.”
“Holy shit.” Limos’s voice came from behind Ares, but Cara couldn’t twist around to see her. “That would make you—”
“Immortal.” Ares blew out a long, shaky breath. “You’re immortal.”
“It’s beyond that.” Hades strolled over, picked up what Cara thought might be the leg of some creature, and tossed it for Hal. “Fetch!” He turned to Cara as Hal bounded off. “Any injury you sustain would be spread evenly throughout the hellhound population, so you’ll heal instantly. Only Cerberus himself… and God… can kill you now.” He frowned. “I can’t believe that fucker did that. He never does that. I asked him to do it to my girlfriend once, and he refused. Ripped my arm off.” He snorted. “Course, she fucked me over later anyway. The bitch.”
This was all so strange, and yet, it was all becoming normal. “Wait, why would they