Page 31

Chapter Seventeen

Sutton

Gripping the steering wheel, I glanced in my rearview mirror.

We’d dropped Boo off at home, where he’d be safe, and Jagger was now in his hound form, running along the tree line as I took the creepy driveway up to Tarrant’s enormous house.

I quickly went over in my head what I’d say. All I could do was hope they bought it. If they knew Jagger was my fated mate, even if we weren’t mated, they’d kill Luke and cut their losses. No way would they want a hound that close to their operation.

No, the best way out of this was getting the evidence Rune and Lucifer needed, then let them move in and sort things out.

Without proof, Luke was just collateral damage.

Tarrant would carry on doing what he was doing, I’d lose my friend, and more people would get hurt if they started production again with someone who didn’t know what the hell they were doing.

I glanced in my rearview mirror again as I pulled up in front of the house. Jagger had vanished into the trees. I still thought him coming with me was a terrible idea, but at the same time just knowing he was close helped ease my fears.

The main door opened as I got out of my car, and Poe stood there, his black eyes burning into me.

He was still bruised and his breathing was shallow.

I wasn’t surprised. After the beating Jagger had given him, even his naturally fast healing hadn’t managed to repair all the damage done to his body yet.

I did my best to slow my erratic breathing, to stay calm.

My fear would only excite them more. Tarrant and Poe were like rabid animals.

To them, fear was similar to the smell of a fresh kill.

It made them want to tear their prey to pieces.

I needed them to let me talk, and to believe me. Luke’s life depended on it.

When Jagger spoke to Lucifer before we’d left, he’d commanded Jagger to stay back, to only intervene if I was in mortal danger. I had to prevent that any way I could. There was just too much at stake, not only for me but for Lucifer as well, and I did not want to get on the king of Hell’s bad side.

Poe gripped the back of my neck when I reached him and pressed his lips to my ear. I stiffened and prayed to the mother that Jagger kept his composure.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, witch,” he grated.

“I know,” I rushed out and forced myself to look up at him with wide eyes.

His face was way too close to mine, and so was his mouth, but Rune was right, this creep had a thing for me, and I needed to take advantage of it.

To get this done, I’d have to use his attraction to me.

It might be the only way to get out of this meeting without a full-blown war breaking out.

“I’m sorry, Poe, that you were hurt. Let me use more of my healing magic to help you. ”

His gaze searched mine, and he sucked in a breath, then winced. “Are you trying to fuck with me? Because that would be a seriously stupid thing to do.”

“I know it would be, and I think you know me well enough to know I’m not stupid,” I said, not breaking eye contact.

He stared down at me for several long minutes, like he was trying to burrow into my skull and read my mind, to work out if I was lying or not.

“Do you want to work your magic on me, sweetheart?”

“Yes,” I said, lying through my teeth and feeling more than a little nauseous even thinking about what I might have to do.

He grinned. “Let’s see if you survive first. If Tarrant decides you’re not a traitor, then we can talk about you putting your hands all over me.”

I nodded, and still gripping the back of my neck, he shoved me forward and through the foyer toward Tarrant’s office.

“I really hope you’re not,” Poe said as he shoved me through the door.

Tarrant was in front of his desk, resting against it. There was a plate piled with raw and bloody bones beside him, and he was studying his claws. They were fully extended, and as he looked up, he used one to pick at his teeth.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” he said, his icy voice searing down my spine. “What is your relationship with that hound?”

“I don’t have a relationship with him. I know them through friends, that’s all. They can be…protective when someone’s brought into their circle.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “I told them to back off. To stay out of my business. They won’t do anything like that again.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe you? Anyone getting near my business who isn’t invited makes me very unhappy, Sutton, you must understand that.”

“I do, and I promise. He won’t interfere again.”

Tarrant straightened and closed the space between us. “I’m not sure I believe you. I have eyes everywhere, and it’s not the first time you’ve been seen with hounds. They spent a great deal of time outside your coven’s house a few months back.”

“I can explain that.”

“You better.”

“Our home was invaded by a witch, a bad one. He tortured me and another member of our coven.” I quickly explained everything that happened as best as I could.

“The hounds are protective of females and with the close connection—one of their brothers is mated to one of our newest coven members—they decided to guard the house while we recovered, that’s all. ”

“I really want to believe you,” Tarrant said. “Killing you would be such a waste of talent. You’ve made me a lot of money.” He waved a hand at someone behind me.

Then Poe turned me to face the door as Lars dragged Luke in with him. He looked rough, tired, but unharmed.

“There are ways of getting the truth, but since your hands are far too valuable, we’ll use Luke here as proxy,” Tarrant said. “Sit him over there.”

There was a chair by the window, and a small table beside it.

“Luke?” I choked out.

His gaze locked on mine. “I’m okay. No matter what, just tell them the truth. I’ll be alright. No matter what,” he said again while he held my gaze.

He had no way of knowing what was going on here, but he knew his life and mine was at stake, and he was telling me to let them hurt him, if I had to.

I bit my lip when it started to tremble. “Please, don’t hurt him. I’m telling you the truth.”

“There’s one way to find out.” Tarrant looked at Poe. “Do it.”

Lars moved behind me then, gripping my jaw and forcing me to look as Poe pulled out a knife, grabbed Luke’s hand, and held it down on the table.

“All you have to do is tell me the truth about your connection to the hounds, and you save your friend’s finger.”

“I told you the truth.”

“If you lied to me, you need to admit it now or he loses a finger.”

“I told you the truth,” I said again. “Please don’t hurt him,” I pleaded, even though I knew these males had no mercy inside them.

“You’ve got until the count of three,” Poe said.

“I can show you the scars, the ones that witch gave me.”

Tarrant paused, his gaze sliding down my body.

Lars loosened his hold, and with my heart beating madly, I lifted my shirt, showing him the jagged scars across my abdomen.

Tarrant studied them, then licked his lips. “Well, now, aren’t they pretty.” Then he turned to Poe. “I think she’s telling the truth, don’t you?” He used his claw to pick at his teeth again, then shrugged. “But I think we’ll do it anyway, as a deterrent.”

“No! Please.”

Luke sat utterly still, his eyes squeezed shut. Lars had me in a tight hold, again forcing me to watch. Poe looked up at me as he brought the knife down, severing Luke’s pinky finger.

My friend screamed, and I tried to pull away from Lars, but he tightened his hold even more.

Poe looked to Tarrant.

The older demon nodded and turned to me. “I’m going to believe you, for now, witch, but if I find out you were lying to me”—he pointed at Luke—“he dies, painfully, understand?”

“I understand.”

Lars released me, grabbed Luke, and took him away, then Poe grabbed my arm and led me from Tarrant’s office, closing the door behind him, but instead of leading me to the front door, he headed to the back of the house.

He was going to take me up on my offer. Oh shit . “Where are we going?”

“There’s a room back here where you can work your magic on me,” he said, and my stomach churned.

My mind raced, trying to think of what the hell to do. I needed to get Poe on my side, but I was only willing to go so far to do that.

He led me into a room. A spare room by the looks of it. There was a dresser and a bed and not much else. Certainly nothing personal.

“Do you live here?” I asked anyway, attempting to keep him talking. If he was talking, he wasn’t plotting sick things that involved me. I doubted this male could multitask.

“Occasionally, but I have a place in the city where I spend most of my time.”

He turned and slid his hands up my arms. “Okay, sweetheart, where do you want me?”

“If you could lie on the bed, I’ll work on your ribs. They hurt the most, right?” I said as I worked at keeping the revulsion off my face at having his hands on me.

“I can handle pain,” he said, his eyes sharpening.

“Oh, I know, but there’s no need to suffer when I can take the pain away.” Pretending not to hate him while he still had Luke’s blood on his hands wasn’t easy.

His eyes stayed on mine, and he tugged off his shirt. I wanted to gag. Instead, I dipped my gaze as if I were shy. He swaggered over to the bed and climbed on, lying on his back.

I moved to the side of the bed and rubbed my hands together while I called my magic forward.

I was a healer, and though it wasn’t in my nature, that didn’t mean I couldn’t intentionally cause pain, I just chose not to.

Hurting felt wrong in every way to me, but I had the power to manipulate broken bones.

I could snap them back into place, which meant I could force them out of alignment as well.

It was delicate work, someone untrained could, for example, crush Poe’s still healing rib cage.

Yes, harming someone felt wrong, but right then I wanted to, badly.