Once And Always

Chapter 24

Hi,

Are you guys ready to meet the monster?

Please bear in mind that the thoughts, views, acts, events, and opinion in this story does not reflect those of the writer. They are there to tell a story, a fictional story.

Let's proceed...

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Tee snapped the reins with more assurance than he felt, and the spirited horse bounded forward, its satiny coat glistening in the gloom. "Easy, now," Tee whispered to the mare in fright. The Khun Luang obviously did not believe in keeping sedate carriage horses in his stables—the flashy mare harnessed to Tee's carriage was incredibly hard to control. The horse pranced and danced until Tee's hands were blistered and red from trying to hold it to a slow trot.

As Tee was nearing the village, the wind picked up and lightning flashed in blue streaks, splitting the sky into jagged slices while thunder boomed an ominous warning and the sky turned almost as black as night. Minutes later, the sky opened up and rain came down in blinding sheets, driving into his face, obscuring his vision, and turning his cloak to a sodden mass.

Straining to see the road ahead, Tee shoved his dripping hair off his face and shivered. He had never seen the orphanage, but Captain Mew had told him where the road was that led to it, as well as the road that led to his own house. Tee strained his eyes, and then he saw what looked like one of the roads the captain had described. It forked off to his left and he turned the horse onto it, not certain whether he was heading toward the orphanage or Captain Mew's house. At the moment he didn't care, so long as he was going to a warm, dry place where he could get out of the downpour. The road rounded a bend and began to climb upward through increasingly dense woods, passed two deserted cottages, then narrowed until it was scarcely more than a dirt track, which was rapidly becoming a quagmire in the torrential downpour.

With Hades protectively at his side, he lifted his sodden cloak, walked up the front steps of the cottage, and knocked.

A moment later the door was flung open and Captain Mew's rugged face was silhouetted in the light from the cheerful fire behind him. "Khun Luang Thanapon!" he gasped, reaching out to pull him quickly inside. A low, vicious snarl from Hades stopped his hand in mid-motion and his eyes widened as he beheld the wet gray beast that was snarling at him, its lip curled back above white fangs. 

(AN: Yes, In this world a husband gets to adapt his husband's title, thus making Tee a khun luang too.)

"Hades, stop it!" Tee commanded wearily, and the animal subsided.

Keeping a wary eye on the ferocious-looking beast, Captain Mew cautiously drew Tee inside. Hades followed close at the young lord's heels, his tawny eyes riveted warningly on Mew. "What in heaven's name are you doing out in this weather?" the captain asked worriedly.

"S-swimming," Tee tried to joke, but his teeth were chattering and his body was trembling with cold as the taller man pulled his cloak off and tossed it over the back of a chair near the fire.

"You'll have to get out of those wet garments or you'll catch your death. Will that great beast let you out of his sight long enough to put on some warm clothes?"

Tee wrapped his arms around himself and nodded, glancing at his fierce canine guardian. "S-stay here, Hades."

The dog flopped down in front of the fireplace and put his head on his big paws, his eyes trained on the doorway into the bedroom through which they disappeared.