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“You think we could just kill an innocent without regret?”

“I don’t know what you’re capable of.”

“Not that,” he growled.

“Right.”

Warrick grabbed my arm, pulling me back up. “Our kind don’t have females, mating with other species is how we reproduce. Our sons are hellhound, our daughters take after their mothers, whatever that may be. We don’t hurt females, we worship them.”

I’d had no idea. “Are you telling me Jane and Maddox were together?”

Warrick’s eyes flashed. “She was his mate. She carried his pup in her womb.”

I blinked up at him, stunned. “Mate? I didn’t realize.” Now I felt like an asshole.

“We have many mated brothers. Two of them live here with their mates and pups. We have a family den deeper in the tunnels, larger quarters, where we can keep them safe.”

This was news to me, and there was no hiding my surprise. “But only two live here? Where are the rest?”

“My brothers outlived their females, and any daughters they had.”

His expression didn’t change at that heartbreaking statement. “That’s awful. And your sons?”

“They’re immortal, like us. Relic is Lothar’s son…and there are others.”

“So does that mean your brothers took demon mates? You lived in Hell most of your life.”

“Some. Like I said, not all demons are out to cause harm, and there aren’t only demons in Hell.”

Again, this was news to me. “Do you have children?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“No.” His gaze did not falter from mine. “Not until I claim my mate.”

Okay, time to end this line of questioning. “So where would Maddox have gone?”

The muscles in his massive biceps flexed, and he shook his head. “Maddox has gone beast, he’s taken to the woods. He needs time to come to terms with what happened.”

Well, fuck. How did you come to terms with killing your mate and unborn child? I had no idea. Obviously, hounds weren’t as completely heartless as I thought they were, or at least not all of them.

Warrick left to speak to his brothers, and I got to work warding the clubhouse. It was a long and repetitive process. Every two hours I had to walk the perimeter, reciting a spell that was long and complicated. It strengthened the ward with each pass, and with how many lived here, the more passes I could make, the better. Which was why I needed as much time as I did.

It was dark, and I was on my third walk around for the night when one of the hounds approached. I didn’t know him, though I’d seen him here before, of course. And as he drew closer, my knife began to vibrate low against my hip. Danger. This male posed a threat to me.

This surprised me, honestly. My knife had never reacted to any of the hounds like this, not once since I’d been coming here. If they’d even contemplated hurting me, my blade would have picked up on it and warned me.

Hellhounds were, I assumed, like other wild animals—sudden movements weren’t a great idea when they were in attack mode, so I stayed completely still. The level of vibration from my knife remained low. He didn’t want to kill me, but he did want to hurt me in some way. I stopped what I was doing and slowly faced him completely, the hilt of my blade slipping into my hand. “What do you want?”

He glanced at my knife and growled, but kept coming.

The vibrations running through it stayed the same. He had no intention of stopping. I scanned his face, searching for any sign of possession, but there was nothing.

He wanted to scare me and that didn’t justify me killing him. I stood my ground. “Stop.”

He didn’t.

“Don’t make me cut you, asshole.”

He advanced and grabbed my wrist. Despite my blade’s warning, I was still shocked that one of Warrick’s brothers would do this. The knife was gripped in the same fist, and he tugged me forward. “You could try, little female, but I’ll make you bleed right back.”