Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [91]
The horse let out a furious whinny that lingered in the air even after he’d settled on Ares’s skin.
“That,” Cara huffed, “was unnecessary.”
“No,” he ground out, “it wasn’t. When you released the mongrel, there would have been trouble.”
“I could have handled it.”
“I handled it. Now let’s do this.” He turned to the Guardians. “You had best watch from inside the house.”
They retreated, and he gave Cara the go-ahead. “Lever on top should open the cage.” Casually, he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, even though he couldn’t injure the animal for fear of affecting Cara.
She gave the lever a shove, and the door rattled open. The hellhound bounded out, pounced, and took Cara to the ground. Ares’s heart jammed into his throat, but when Cara let out a delighted squeal and the dog bathed her face in sloppy kisses, it became clear that there was no danger here. No danger to her, anyway.
Hal lifted his head momentarily to peel back his lips in a silent warning aimed at Ares, and Ares returned it, hoping his hatred came across loud and clear. Dealing with this bastard was not going to be fun.
“Cara, let’s go. I don’t like you being this exposed.”
She told Hal to let her up, and he tore off across the lawn. “He needs to run. Maybe we could walk to the gate instead of ride? Give him a chance to stretch his legs?”
“Cara—”
“Please?”
It went against his better judgment, but Cara had been through so much, with little of it in her control, that he could do this one thing for her, he supposed.
Two heartbeats later, his own words, barked out at soldiers, rang through Ares’s head like a death knell. Never let a woman sway you. Never. Or I promise you’ll regret it.
Seventeen
Cara and Ares strolled across the grounds toward the gate, his pace purposeful, hers more leisurely, and he kept having to slow down and wait for her. But dammit, this was the first time she’d felt a little normal in days, and walking across a huge expanse of grass while Hal bounded around chasing birds just felt good. Relaxing, even.
“Why don’t you like hellhounds?” she asked, and Ares let out a soft growl.
“I don’t not like them.” Even loaded down with armor and weapons, he moved like a predator down the drive, his sharp eyes in constant motion, nostrils flaring as though seeking the scent of danger. “I hate them with every cell in my body.”
“That’s a little harsh.”
He swung around to her, his big body pulsing with menace, but she was instinctively aware that his mood wasn’t directed at her. “One of them killed my brother and sons.”
“How awful.” A lump clogged her throat, and she had to swallow a couple of times before she could speak. “What did you do?”
“I chased that motherfucker through the centuries. Slaughtered some of his packmates, but never managed to kill him. Eventually, he and his pack got one up on me, paralyzed me with a bite, and then spent days eating me alive.”
Oh, God. “They… ate you?”
“Thanks to my ability to regenerate, yes. I fed them well, and I felt every bite. When one of them ripped my leg off at the hip joint, I couldn’t even pass out from the agony. And then I got to watch them gnaw on it, right beside my head.”
Nausea bubbled up in her throat. She couldn’t imagine Hal, that sweet puppy who was rolling around in the grass, doing that.
“Yeah, he’d do it,” Ares said, somehow knowing what she was thinking. “He’s just a pup, but when he’s full grown, he’ll be as big as a damned buffalo with an appetite for cruelty to match his size.”
“Like the one who attacked you at your house? Hal’s sire?”
“Hal’s sire is the very hound who killed my sons and brother.”
Oh… damn. “Hal… he wouldn’t… I mean, look at him.”
Hal leaped into the air, his jaws snapping as he caught a bird he’d flushed. The poor bird was gone in an instant, an explosion of feathers floating around Hal’s head.
“Sure,” Ares said wryly. “Look at him.”
“Bad dog,” she scolded. Hal wagged his tail and cocked his head, all flopping ears and drool.