Humans named things; hellhounds didn’t. The general classification—like fluffalo—had felt like enough.
If it occurred to Iz that it was odd that he’d only named Nate, she didn’t show it.
Speaking of Nate, the greyhound was pushing at Logan’s mind now. He radiated curiosity, welcome, and ... excitement? Did that make sense?
Satisfied anticipation, maybe. Like Nathaniel the winged greyhound had been waiting for Iz this whole time.
He filed that, like Iz’s preternatural skills at telepathy, away for later. He still had the rest of the cages to cover. He took her down the line slowly, because the one thing being Randolph Sebastian’s captive had taught him was that he had all the time in the world. There was no point in hurrying when you had nothing else to do.
Besides, as impossible as it seemed, he washaving fun.
The realization hit him like a dash of cold water.
Iz was terrific. He should be outraged and horrified that Sebastian had gotten his hands on her and dragged her down into this hell.
Hewasoutraged and horrified. But he was also ... happier.
He didn’t like what that made him. He wanted to protect her as much as possible from the same kind of misery he’d gone through down here alone, but where was the line between keeping her company and liking her so much that some part of him wasgladshe was here? God, he reallywasn’thuman anymore.
She must have felt him pull back, because she tentatively followed him, doing the telepathic equivalent of walking faster to catch up with him.
>
Before he could even start to answer, his hellhound growled at him.
It said,You aretoohuman. The problems you’re having are stupid human problems. You didn’t put her down here. You want her to be able to leave here. Nothing else matters.
No offense, buddy, but I don’t know if you’re the best guide to what matters to humans.
Another growl, this time with hackles raised and bristling.
This time, he couldn’t argue with its point:Sulking will make her unhappy. You shouldn’t make her unhappy.
It was right.
Whatever qualms he had, if he solved them by pulling back from her, he would be as monstrous as Sebastian. The important thing was making sure Iz didn’t lose hope and slide into the same feral mindlessness that he had.
> he said, bringing their minds back together again.
> There was a quiet sincerity there, even though she tried to follow it up with a joke to let him off the hook: >
She was bearing up unbelievably well under all the day’s horrors. The last thing she needed was to have his guilt and worries heaped on her.
> Logan said firmly. >