Page 17 of Hell’s Flame

I see the hickey peeking from his T-shirt. Bumping Ledger and jerking my chin, it takes him a second before he breaks out into a smile. I should be mad that he snuck out, but it’s quite funny.

Derrick tries to see what we were laughing at but can’t in his position by Dad.

“So, Hazen and Asura, how do you plan to become a strong team?” my father asks.

A smirk runs across my lips.

“Keep it clean,” Derrick snaps.

“I was thinking about training, smartass,” I say back.But I wasn’t.

My father sends me a look. “Watch it…”

I sip my whiskey, letting it burn so beautifully.

“We can definitely train,” Hazen says. “We both need it.”

“Maybe I’ll have a good partner this time,” I say looking at Inarian.

Inarian shrugs, not looking up. “Maybe you’ll actually get better.Doubtful.”

“Wait, is Inarian not your hound?” Killian asks. “Thought he was.”

I shrug. “We never finished the fight that I was winning.”

Inarian scoffs. “No, I remember me kicking your…” He glances at Fenric. “Butt.”

“Tomato, tomahto. We will rematch soon, and we will see who wins.” I send him a challenging look.

“This reminds me of me and Hendrix,” my father says. “He was very reluctant to be my hound.”

“Where are your hounds now?” Jigsaw asks.

My father looks at his drink, sadly. “They have all since passed on. I never wanted to get new ones.”

“Sorry for your loss. So, you were all close?”

He nods. “Hendrix was my toxic hound. He was the last to pass; it happened a few years ago.”

I do remember that. Dad was such a mess about it. He locked himself in the office for days and only drank alcohol. It took a lot of work to get him back to himself. But we all did it together.

“Titus was my earth hound and Enzo was my transporting hound. Both died around the time Derrick and Asura were born.”

I hold up my glass and then sip it.

“Your toxic hound… Is that why the house is all proofed?”

My father nods. “Naturally, I wanted the hounds around for protecting. As rulers, they are very important to us.”

Jigsaw nods. We meet eyes. I wonder how I’d convince him to be my hellhound.

“So, are you all Asura’s boyfriends?” Fenric asks.

I jolt at the question, looking at Fenric. He looks at me for the answer and I smirk at him, evilly. “Yes.”

“No.” Inarian points at me. “Don’t put that in his head.”

“Fenric, people don’t have one more than one partner,” Derrick says, glaring at me.