Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1)(51)
Author: Cambria Hebert

I made a move back toward the door and he – it – Sam – growled. I froze and turned back. It dropped to all fours and sat down. I took a minute to fully stare at it. In a way it was beautiful – scary as hell – but beautiful. The black fur that covered its body was sleek and shiny. It had the grace of a giant cat and a long whip-like tail. Its eyes were hauntingly gold, and they blinked as if waiting to see what I would do.

It kind of looked like a panther. A giant, ‘kick your ass; eat your mom’, kind of panther. Except its teeth were bigger, its eyes were meaner, and it was huge. “Sam?” I whispered.

It made a sound and lay down.

A sob tore from my throat, and I let it out, it hurt. This hurt.

He was a beast.

As tears leaked from my eyes, thoughts of despair and disbelief ripped through me. This thing…this beast…was the boy I thought I loved. How could I have spent so much time with him, loved him and never sensed this?

“Are you a werewolf?” I asked, not even believing that I was standing here asking such a ridiculous question. This stuff didn’t exist. This wasn’t some bad horror movie where the girl ran screaming up the stairs instead of out into the night. Well, I had tried to run into the night, and I was dragged back into this room. By teeth. How could I deny what was right in front of me? “Are you?” I asked again, watching the beast warily.

He shook his head.

Then what the hell was he?

Suddenly, he shot into the bathroom. I heard the same popping and tearing as before. I imagine the pain on his face that I has witnessed earlier and felt a pang of sadness. That little pang pissed me off. I shouldn’t feel bad for him. I should be feeling bad for me! He was the reason that I was disfigured. He was the reason my life was torn apart, and I was haunted by nightmares and pain. Screw him! I was leaving.

I went to the hotel room door and threw the lock and opened the door.

“Heven, please wait.” Sam begged mere inches behind me.

I turned. He was there, and he was the Sam I knew. At least, he was the Sam with the body I knew. He wasn’t wearing anything but a towel around his waist. I looked away from his rippling, corded muscles. I would not be distracted by his golden good looks.

“I’m leaving. I never want to see you again.”

“You can’t leave,” he said softly. Gently he reached around me and shut the door.

I allowed it, transfixed by his rich, deep voice. And because part of me wanted to hear what he was going to say. I mean a girl didn’t find out her boyfriend – her ex-boyfriend – wasn’t human every day.

“If you touch me I will scream my head off.” I told him.

“I won’t touch you.” He said, watching me walk across the room. He grabbed up his clothes and went back into the bathroom.

I watched him go feeling like everything I ever believed had been a lie.

I was sitting on the bed when he came back out of the bathroom. He was fully dressed, wearing black tuxedo pants and the white button up shirt. The sleeves were rolled to the elbows and the buttons at the throat were undone showing a patch of smooth tan skin. He was wearing socks and shoes, and it gave me the feeling that he was ready to run me down if I tried to escape again.

I rubbed my temples. I was so going to be late for curfew. I looked up when I saw movement. Sam knelt down in front of me, his hands reached out, but he dropped them when I stiffened. He fell backward to sit on the floor.

“You have some major explaining to do.” I said, weary.

“Where do you want me to start?” The words rumbled from his chest, and he looked up in my eyes, his face was open and truthful.

“Why don’t you start by telling me exactly what you are.”

Sam

She wants to know what I am. I guess I should be grateful that she’s still here and listening instead of still fighting and clawing to get away. The sight of her face as she watched me change was heart wrenching. It was more painful than the transition itself. She was horrified. She was literarily shaking with fear so much that she tried to jump off a balcony seven stories high.

I’d driven the girl I love to suicide. Talk about a punch in the gut.

She’ll never love me now.

I sank back onto my butt and leaned against the wall. I wanted to reach out and touch her. I wanted her to stop looking at me like I was a complete stranger.

I wasn’t going to get what I wanted.

So, I would settle for giving her what she wants. Answers.

“I’m a hellhound.”

She stared at me for long moments. It almost looked like she was deciding whether or not to believe me. “A hellhound?” she finally asked.

I nodded. “There’s so few of us left, saying we’re almost extinct is an understatement.” In fact, I hadn’t even known they existed until I changed into one a few years ago.

“You never told me. You lied to me.” She accused, her blue eyes flashing up to mine. I knew she would be angry, but her anger was still like a slap in the face.

“I didn’t have a choice, Hev.”

“No?” she snapped. “You always had a choice. You could have told me the truth.” She jumped off the bed and began to pace. Her shoulders were tense, and I couldn’t help but stare at the hemline of her dress. It was torn.

“What was I supposed to say?” I asked, staying sitting on the ground. I wanted to pace the room like she was to walk off some of my anxiety, but I was afraid if I got up I would frighten her. “Was I just supposed to walk up to you and say ‘you don’t know me, but I’m a hellhound, and someone is trying to kill you?’”

“Someone wants to kill me?” She stopped cold and turned, her eyes wide. I could actually see some of the anger drain out of her.

“Yes. It’s what I’m trying to say. You’re in danger.”

“That woman tonight…she’s involved?”

“Yes, that’s China. She’s the one…she’s the one that attacked you that night. The night you can’t remember.”

“How do you know this?” she asked, tension building up around her.

I swallowed. “Because I was there.”

Her entire body stilled. She was calculating my words, deciding what they meant. There was only one conclusion. I did this to her, or that I was an accomplice.

All of a sudden it’s like a fire started within her. Her hands balled to fists at her sides, and she speared me with a look. “You’re telling me this now? Is this some kind of twisted joke? It took me a long time to make some semblance of a life for myself after my attack. My entire life was destroyed. I was destroyed. Just when I had my life figured out you came along and changed everything again. You made me care about you, you made me feel like I could have a real life again. And now you drag me up to some hotel room and change into a beast in front of me and then you tell me that everything between us had been a lie, that you, you of all people, Sam, were the one that destroyed my life in the first place!”