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Poe grinned at him, then down at me.“It’s almost time to go.You’re not getting away from me again.Never again.”

I stared into his black eyes.“I’ll never be yours,” I said, fury burning through me.“Do you want to know why?”

He gripped my wrists so tight my hands were going numb and my bones were close to breaking.Hissing, he lowered his head, so close his nose touched mine.“Enlighten me.”

“I already belong to someone else,” I fired at him.“I’m mated, to a hellhound.I’m mated to Jagger.”

His face turned bright red.“You’re lying.”He shook his head.“You’re fucking lying.”

“You can’t smell him?His scent’s all over me.It’s inside me.”I grinned up at him, it was hateful, gleeful.“And no matter what happens, he will come for you.No matter what you do or where you take me, he will find me, then he’ll make you scream.”

Poe yanked the neck of my shirt to the side, checking for Jagger’s mark and finding it.His eyes flared, and he shrieked, the sound like nothing I’d ever heard in my life.

He grabbed my throat and hauled me off the ground, choking me.

All the hounds had shifted now, all of them in their human forms, and they held up their hands, palms out.Battering Tarrant’s power, weakening the barrier, firing hellfire at it.I saw then, as the fire hit it, a shimmering wall.It trembled, thinning.

Jagger would get to me, I just had to stay alive.My sight washed with red, and my claws burst from the tips of my fingers.Thrashing, I clawed at his fingers around my throat, at his wrist as he carried me toward the edge of a cliff, high above the rushing, furious river below.

“You know the saying, don’t you, sweetness?If I can’t have you…” He jerked me forward and pressed his mouth to my ear.“Nobody can.”

His arms tensed, about to toss me over the edge into the freezing river, but I dug my claws deeper, hanging on to him, and swiped with the other hand, shredding the skin at his chest, destroying the sigil there.

He slammed his fist into my side and tried to shake me off, but I refused to let go.If I was going over the side, he was going with me.

Gasping from exertion, I aimed my magic at his ankles, and with a cry, I snapped one, then the other.He roared and collapsed on the ground, almost sending us both over the edge.My legs dangled, and I scrambled to find purchase.Using my claws, and Poe as an anchor, I dug them into his skin and crawled up his prone body.

Poe swiped his own claws at me, trying to dislodge me, but I refused to let go.I slammed my power into his elbows, wrenching them the wrong way, and bone burst through skin.I didn’t stop, I crawled over him, the way he had me.“You don’t get to die, asshole, not yet.”

“You fucking bitch,” he hissed.“You fucking whore.I’m going to?—”

I grabbed his jaw and broke it.He screamed, and I stared into his furious, hate-filled eyes.“You will never force a female to endure your disgusting touch ever again.You’ll never blackmail another female into accepting your revolting kiss out of fear for the people she loves.You’ll pay for what you’ve done, for all the people you hurt.”

Poe flailed on the ground and I kept a steady stream of my power pumping into him, keeping him broken, while I looked up, meeting Jagger’s furious stare.He was so close, but I couldn’t reach him.The barrier still stood.It shuddered, but remained intact.

Then a bloody and ash-covered Rune strode forward, joining them, and with a bloodcurdling sound, he aimed his power at Tarrant.Brick dropped to the ground.With Rune’s added strength, Tarrant wasn’t able to hold him up any longer.

Brick struggled to his feet, then with a growl, he leaped.He knocked Tarrant down, and with a vicious snarl, wrapped his jaws around Tarrant’s throat.

The barrier shuddered.

Poe suddenly bucked beneath me, and I fought to hold him down.I hissed.“You’re not going anywhere.”

I was lifted away suddenly, dragged off Poe.I thrashed, trying to fight.

“It’s me, sunshine.”Jagger wrapped me tight in his solid arms.“It’s over, baby.You did it.”

I looked around me.The barrier had collapsed, the fighting stopped.Brick was leaning against the truck, naked and bleeding, and War stood over Tarrant, while Rune used his power to bind him.Ash floated through the air, from the demons who hadn’t survived the fight, but Rune and the other hounds all seemed okay.

Jagger held me close, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face there.“Thank the goddess you’re okay.”

“Seeing you lying here with Poe, fuck.”He growled.“I thought…” His throat muscles worked.“Can smell your blood, sunshine, how badly are you hurt?”

“Just some scratches, a few bruises.”I lifted my head.“I’ll be okay, but right now I need to help Brick.”

Jagger didn’t put me down; he carried me to the younger hound and only then lowered me to my feet.I treated him while Jag and his brothers gathered the drums and set them all on fire.

War had several of his brothers come in their trucks to take us back to the clubhouse, and when they arrived, Jag helped me into one of them with Rome and Lothar.