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She looked up at him.“You don’t want to bite me, you want to hug me.See?”

The huge hound dropped, going limp in an instant, lying on top of her, squashing her.

“No,” she wheezed.“Get up, Kurgan, now!”

He growled, then whined, then lifted up again.Lenny scrambled out from under him, and he wrapped his jaws around her arm and tugged her back.

“Let go of my arm,” she said forcefully.She was shaking, but she placed her hand on his neck.“If you behave, I’ll pet you.If you bite me again, then there will be no more hugs for you.Now you need to let Sutton take the cuff off from around your neck.”

His glowing hound’s eyes slid to me, but he didn’t growl or snap his teeth, so I took it as my cue.I walked to him, while Brick fisted the back of my shirt, ready to yank me away if he needed to, and I cautiously, then quickly, scraped a sharp stone over the sigil in the iron, compromising it.It was much easier when I wasn’t hanging on to a bucking, foaming hound trying to kill me.

The metal sparked, then fell away a moment later.

Kurgan shifted from huge hound to the massive male he was.His hand snapped out instantly, grabbing the back of Lenny’s neck and hauling her into his side.

“Be gentle with her,” I said.

She looked up at him with huge eyes.

“My female,” he said and dipped his head, pressing his nose to her hair, scenting her.His eyes darkened when they landed on Brick, and he growled again.“Lenny is my female, pup,” he said with the beast in his voice.

Lenny looked like she was close to passing out from terror.

Brick lifted his hands.“Your female, brother,” he said, then to me under his breath, “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“I don’t know.All I know is that Jagger looks after him.”

Brick frowned but kept his eyes on Kurgan.“Do you know how to open a gateway?”

Kurgan frowned, then shook his head no.

“Shit.”Brick squared his shoulders.“We need to get the females away from Beelzebub, and we need to protect them from the demons.”

“Protect, yes.”Kurgan bared his teeth.“You’re a pup.Weak.I’ll protect.I’ll kill the demons,” he growled.

Brick bristled but was smart enough not to let Kurgan know he was offended.“Do you know the way out of here?”he asked Kurgan.

Kurgan buried his nose in Lenny’s hair again.“Yes.I’ll take my female to my den.”

I’d seen the way Kurgan behaved in his den.He’d seen everything as a threat, but now Lenny had taken control, he seemed to have gone into protection mode, at least when it came to pups and females.I just hoped she could maintain it.

Kurgan started walking, and Lenny limped beside her unhinged mate, her leg bleeding from his bite, trying to keep up.He stopped, snatched her off her feet and held her to him.She gasped in surprise.

“I’ll protect you,” he said to her, then he kept walking.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Jagger

The wooden door shattered,splintering to pieces as I exploded through it.

My paws thudded on the rug as I pressed my nose to the floor, breathing in Sutton’s fading scent like I had for the last couple of days.Her scent ended here though.

I’d come back to Tarrant’s house repeatedly, because I was positive this was the last place she’d been.We’d searched the entire place from top to bottom, same with the sewer.Lars had reluctantly given us the grand tour, but there’d been no sign of Sutton.

Now I was back, and I was going to tear this fucking house apart until I found something that would lead me to her.Fear pounded through me, along with more rage than I knew what to do with.Rune had just found out the reason Tarrant was so controlling with Poe—the last female he’d become obsessed with, a demi-demon who was selling product for them, had been held captive by him—and he’d slowly mutilated and eaten her.

The thud of boots followed me as I raced down the hall.I breathed in Sutton’s faint scent, stoking the wildfire raging inside me.But she was alive.