Page 57

As I expected, Poe intercepted me before I could get far, grabbing my arm.“Stick around, I made the final round.I’m back in the cage next.”

“I’m a bit busy, actually,” I said and tried to pull away.

We were right beside the cage door, and he dragged me along after him, stopping just before going in.“We clear?”he asked Lars for some reason.Lars nodded.“Good, now make sure she stays put,” he said, and the demon moved in behind me, blocking my way as Poe hooked me around the back of the head.“Need my good-luck kiss, Sutton.”

I automatically jerked my head back.

Poe snarled, his claws sliding out against the back of my head, slicing skin.He jerked me forward, leaning in to force his kiss on me?—

A thud shook the ground directly behind me.

Poe looked up right before a hand appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the demon’s forehead, snapping his head back sharply, stopping his lips from meeting mine.

Fuck.

Poe snarled and charged forward.Jagger rounded me, and slammed his fist into Poe’s stomach, sending him flying back and landing hard on the cage floor.

I stared in shock as Jagger grabbed Lars by the throat.“Touch her and die,” he growled, then he strode into the cage with Poe, kicking it shut behind him.

Poe jumped to his feet, fury in his eyes as he bounced around and jerked his head from side to side, ducking and weaving.Jagger barely moved, just turned slowly, waiting.

Poe threw a punch, and Jagger grabbed his fist and twisted the whole arm with one subtle move, dislocating bones.Poe screamed and Jagger closed in, slammed him against the cage by the throat and snarled in his face.“You touch her again, I will tear you apart.Understand?”

Oh no.

Fuck.

Jagger then proceeded to beat the fuck out of him, tossing him around the cage like a chew toy.Poe was battered, bleeding, with more broken bones than I could count.

Jagger smashed his sledgehammer-sized fist into Poe’s face one last time, and the demon went down, hard.

“Holy shit,” Magnolia said beside me.

I hadn’t even realized she was back.

Holy shit was right.Jagger had just made my life even worse than it already was.Poe knew I had friends among the hounds, and he’d think I was behind this.He’d blame me for it.If they didn’t take it out on me, Luke would be the one to pay, and they’d make sure I knew.

Jagger stood over him, breathing hard, nostrils flared, teeth bared as the announcer named him the winner.He shoved the cage door open and started toward me.

“We need to get in there,” I said to Mags.

She ran in, and rushing in after her, I shoved Jagger’s bloody hand away from me when he grabbed my arm.Heat flashed through my body, my pulse spiking wildly.This display, this…this freaking pathetic pissing contest…could have just cost Luke his life.

“Poe?Can you hear me?”I said as I ran my hand over him, using my powers to see inside his body, cataloging all his injuries.

He wheezed, a rattling sound coming from his chest.

“Broken ribs,” Mags said.

“Yeah, and he’s shredded a few internal organs.”I continued to hover my hand over him, whispering my spell and wincing when I snapped each bone back into place.

Poe screamed, arching against the mat.He’d see this as a display of weakness, and there were witnesses.Lots of them.Males like him didn’t like being seen as weak.If he didn’t want to kill me over this, then me making him scream in front of this crowd would do it.

But I had no choice.The bones wouldn’t knit back together correctly if I left them alone.Poe was a fairly powerful demon, his healing would have already started.If I didn’t do this now, they’d have to be rebroken so they could be put back in the right alignment.

Lars crouched beside me.“You’re fucked,” he said, for my ears only.

Jagger