Hell Hounds Don't Heel by McDougall Kim

Author:McDougall, Kim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: WrongTree Press
Published: 2021-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

23

“You need a dress.” Gabe gave me his best disapproving look. I’d been avoiding the subject. The gala was that evening and I still didn’t have a dress. Instead, I dug deep into my bookkeeping, telling myself that, gala or no, I had to take care of business. That way, I could show up in street clothes and not feel guilty.

“You’re procrastinating on purpose,” he said.

“I’m not wearing a dress.”

“Oh, yes, you are.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “It’s a themed event. Not only are you going to wear a dress, it’s going to be fabulous.”

“You are such a bully.”

My lunch sat on my desk, but I was too tired to eat. Clarence perched on the filing cabinet. His impressive wings trailed halfway to the floor, and he dozed with his beak tucked into his feathers.

After his transformation, I’d let him out in the backyard, assuming he’d take to the skies and fly away. He soared so high he became a speck against the clouds. An hour later, I heard a knock on the patio door, and there was Clarence in all his new glory. He tramped inside and made himself comfortable on the back of the sofa, overlooking Jacoby’s shrine.

This morning had been the same. He woke with the sun, flew off (to hunt, I assumed) and returned around midmorning to sleep.

It felt cruel to keep him locked up in my small apartment, but he didn’t seem inclined to leave. I would have to do something about his accommodations as soon as this new crisis was over.

Mason still hadn’t heard from Queen Leighna. I tried not to worry about Polina’s influence and the taint she’d put on the Guardians. Surely Leighna knew Mason and I well enough not to believe those lies? But last fall, after the explosion in Pierre’s lab, she refused to go after Polina. She believed the witch was a victim of the bloodstone like the rest of us—and a victim of Mason by extension. Had Polina spread her lies to the fae court? Was Leighna already compromised?

Doubt lingered in my gut like a bad burrito.

The only way to find out the truth would be to attend the gala and confront Leighna.

And so we were back to the problem of the dress. I hated shopping at the best of times. Shopping for a dress—even a costume dress—was up there on my least favorite things to do list, right next to a colonoscopy.

“You’ll thank me for bullying you, when you see what I arranged,” Gabe said.

I groaned. “What have you done.” Gabe had a terrific sense of style, but if he’d picked out a dress for me, it would be too scandalous to wear in public.

A car pulled into our lot and parked by the office window.

“And here she is now.” Gabe’s smile was much too self-satisfied.

A young woman stepped from the car. She was petite and slim, with a rich brown complexion and waves of black hair held back by a glittery headband.

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