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Chapter Thirteen

Jagger

With a roar, I kicked his door off the hinges and stormed into Rune’s apartment.

“Where is she?” I snarled. “She better be unharmed or I’ll tear that grin off your face, motherfucker.”

Rune sipped his coffee and waved away the demons who’d followed me up here but hadn’t dared try to stop me. Wise choice. I would have killed anyone who got in my way.

Rune placed his drink on the table in front of him, stood, then tilted his fucking head for me to follow.

It was taking all of my self-control not to shred him into fleshy ribbons.

My fingers itched, my claws right there, ready to burst from the tips.

I wanted to tear his head from his body and watch him dissolve into dust.

If I did that, though, Lucifer would be pissed enough that he might stop me from coming aboveground for an unspecified amount of time, keeping me from Sutton. Rune knew it, too, which was why he was probably the only demon in this city not afraid of me or any hound.

Rune walked into the room at the back of the large space and stopped at the foot of his bed. Lying there, curled in a ball and so out of it that she was snoring softly, was Sutton.

I spun to the demon, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the wall.

“You used your twisted fucking power and forced yourself on my female?” I felt my features transform, my face partially shifting as my jaw and nose elongated into the hound, my teeth sliding down into sharp points, ready to tear flesh and snap bone.

The grin on Rune’s face vanished, and he bared his fangs. He grabbed my wrist, power pulsing from him. He was fucking strong, I knew that firsthand, but he would tire before I did.

“I didn’t touch your female, hound. Not in the way you just accused me of.

I do not fuck drugged or unwilling females.

I do not use my power to influence them in that way, ever .

If I wanted to have Sutton, I wouldn’t have let you inside this building.

I would’ve waited for her to wake, and when my powers had worn off, I would have offered myself to her.

” He flashed an evil grin. “And since she’s been left feeling unwanted and unfulfilled by her mate, I doubt she would have been hard to convince. ”

“You know nothing.” I squeezed his throat tighter, and Rune laughed.

“I know you rejected her,” he rasped. “I know you have no rights to that female, not anymore. You gave them up.”

I snarled, squeezing his throat harder, so hard any other being’s bones would have snapped under my grip by now, and got in his face. “If you come anywhere near her again, I will end you.”

Rune pushed against my hold in a show of strength. “She came to me.”

I roared in his face. “What did she want with you?”

He said nothing.

“Did you trick her out of her fucking soul?”

“You’ll have to ask her that,” he said, that self-satisfied look back on his face.

Fury slammed into me, along with an emotion I hadn’t felt in a long fucking time, a feeling I did not fucking want—fear. Fear for Sutton. I shoved him away, ignoring his husky laughter as I scooped Sutton from his bed and strode out of the apartment.

I didn’t know why she’d come here tonight, but Rune wasn’t going to share that information with me. If he’d bartered for her soul, though, nothing would hold me back from straight-up murdering that piece of shit.

Whether or not I’d claimed Sutton as my mate was beside the point. She was mine, and even Lucifer couldn’t deny my right to seek retribution.

I held her close as I took the elevator to the bottom floor, snarling at the demons who hovered, following me as I carried her out of the building.

It was the middle of the night, and I only spotted a few demons here and there as I strode along the streets, making my way out of Seventh Circle.

Sutton hadn’t roused once, still seriously doped up on Rune’s powers. He’d done a fucking number on her.

I’d followed her on foot, so had to carry her to her place a few blocks out of Seventh. I finally reached her door, took her keys from her pocket, and unlocked it. I grabbed the handle, and her ward throbbed through my hand, up my arm, and nailed me in the chest. Fuck . I needed to get inside.

I cupped her face. “Sutton, I need you to wake up now.” The last thing I wanted to do was force my way through it. I wanted her to feel safe. I wanted her to trust me. I jostled her gently. “Baby, wake up.”

She blinked heavily and stared up at me, and as soon as her pretty, sleepy eyes met mine, my heart slammed into my ribs and my fucking knees went weak.

“Jagger?”

“It’s okay, you’re okay. Need you to let me past your ward, sunshine.”

She smiled, and it was goofy and cute and bright as the fucking sun. Yeah, she was still totally fucked up. “Okay,” she said and lifted her hand, reaching for the door. She giggled. “Closer, please, driver.”

Fucking hell, I wanted to kiss her, badly.

I wanted to kiss that gorgeous little smile, taste it.

I carried her closer to the door like she asked, and she pressed her hand to it, recited her spell, and included my name, granting me permission to enter.

The ward gave, I felt it, like an opening was created in the barrier just to let me through.

I carried her upstairs to her place and let us in—her familiar swooped out of nowhere, diving at my head. I ducked and took in her tiny apartment. The bed was against one wall, a table, a tiny couch, a dresser and a TV, and not much else.

What the fuck was she doing here instead of the safety of Ashborne house?

The bat swooped again, chattering nonstop, trying to protect Sutton, which was illogical but admirable considering his size. Her little familiar was as brave as she was.

Sutton was out of it again, a deadweight draped over my arms. She felt so light, though, like there was nothing to her. She was a small female as it was, but there was less of her now, like she’d lost weight. I didn’t like that.

I didn’t want to let her go, but I forced myself to lay her on the bed. She pressed her face into the pillow and moaned before curling up tight. I crouched beside her and slid off her shoes, then pulled her quilt over her.

I took her in, fucking enthralled by the way her thick lashes rested against her flushed cheeks. “What’s going on in that head of yours, baby?”

The bat landed on the lampshade above us, hanging upside down, watching.

“Not gonna hurt her,” I said to him, unsure if he’d understand.

He didn’t react when I ran my fingers down the side of Sutton’s face, though, so he must have realized I was no threat.

I looked back at her and touched her face a second time, desperate for the feel of her, to touch her.

I fucking craved her arms around me. I smoothed her hair.

She’d cut off all that pretty, soft honey-colored hair.

But yeah, she looked beautiful with it like this as well.

Running my fingers through the soft strands, unable to resist, I then leaned in and buried my nose against her hair and breathed, taking in her scent.

Every cell in my body fired to life, every nerve ending sparking with pleasure and a sense of rightness. I dragged my nose along her jaw, her throat, groaning at the way her scent deepened where it was warmer.

I rubbed my face against her, the beast in the driver’s seat now, and I let myself be taken over by instinct. I let myself give in to the heart of what I was—an animal.

After seeing her in Rune’s bed, smelling his scent on her, even if it was only subtle, I needed to wipe it away, suffocate it under my own.

So I rubbed my face against her jaw, her throat, her shoulder.

I picked up her hand and pressed it to my mouth.

My tongue darted out, tasting her skin, and I bit back a growl, forcing myself to release her before I fucking stripped her down to make sure I got my scent on every part of her.

That’s what the beast wanted. More than anything, the beast wanted every male around to know who she belonged to.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t touch her, mark her with your scent, then deny and reject your connection.

Placing her hand carefully at her side, I tucked the covers around her, and just as I was about to step back, she grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me closer.

I let her, powerless to pull away from her touch, letting her draw me nearer.

She wrapped her arms around my bicep and pressed her face to it, muttering in her sleep.

She rubbed her face against me, like I just had her, and I dragged in a breath to try to control the fierce, contented rumble in my chest. I couldn’t move, everything in me refused to pull away, so I planted my ass on the floor beside the bed while she hugged my arm.

Hounds craved touch, and I was fucking blissed out, probably feeling almost as high as she was right then, just from her touch alone.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. This was dangerous, allowing myself to give in to this feeling.

Allowing her to touch me this way. My emotions, though still few, still stunted, were pushing forward with force.

I couldn’t allow that. I couldn’t allow it to progress much more than this.

I wouldn’t survive with my sanity intact at the end of it all.

So yeah, this was dangerous for me, but knowing that, even feeling those new burgeoning tendrils of fear because of it, I still couldn’t pull away from her.

I still couldn’t get the fuck up and move away.