Page 40

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jagger

I bit back a growl as Sutton sliced an X into her palm with a small blade and recited a spell, one that would disrupt the cameras and whatever alarm system they had down there.

I’d stopped by her place before we came here, and she’d changed into dark jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. She wore darker colors more often now. Before I fucked everything up, she’d always worn bright colors that matched all that sunshine that radiated from her.

She curled her fingers into her bleeding palm, and I followed her down multiple flights of stairs until we reached another door.

I lifted my hand and let my power pulse from me, aiming it at the lock and disengaging it.

“This seems too easy,” Sutton said as we walked into the tunnels.

She’d described them after we left Rune, but they still surprised me.

She was right, they were impressive and, from what Poe had told her, vast. “They have to know there are some in this city who could get past these security measures.”

“Maybe, or maybe they’re that fucking brainless.” I scented the air and froze.

“What is it?”

I reached for her. “Fear. So much of it, and pain. I can smell human, Sutton. A fucking lot of it, and something else.” I couldn’t quite get it yet.

“The cages are this way,” she said and tried to lead me.

I pulled her back, holding her tightly to my side.

She looked up at me. “Is someone else down here?”

I scanned the tunnels ahead. “It’s the fear. I’m an animal, sunshine, I may be walking and talking like a man, but at the heart of me, I’m all beast. You’re my female. Protecting you is a driving need inside me that controls my every thought and action.”

She blinked up at me with those stunning fucking big eyes that turned me inside out when I looked into them, that made me want to fall to my knees and beg her to forgive me.

I wanted to claim her with a fierceness that was terrifying, and that knowledge caused a pain in the center of my chest for my son.

I could stand beside Sutton, I could reach out and touch her, scent her.

He would have to suffer with that unfulfilled longing calling to him like a siren, like an addiction, like the sweetest hunger, but for him that hunger could never be sated.

“It’s that bad down here?” she asked, no idea where my thoughts had taken me.

I nodded, my gaze on her mouth. I wanted to nibble that perfect lower lip, and I would once we left the danger of this place. “Worse.”

Her hand trembled in mine. “This is my fault,” she choked out. “The drugs I made for them, they’re using them to hurt people.”

I slid my finger under her chin, tipping her head back.

“I don’t want to hear that bullshit. You had no way of knowing Tarrant’s fucked-up schemes went this deep, and judging by the scent in this place, it’s vast. The shit they’ve been doing goes back a lot farther than when they blackmailed you into working for them. ”

She nodded, those fucking soul-shattering eyes still wide on me. “Okay,” she whispered.

She didn’t believe me, but she would. I’d make sure she did. “Let’s take a quick look around, then get the fuck gone, yeah?”

“The cages are just through there.” She pointed to a wide tunnel that was partially curtained off. I quickly led her through the open space, past a small stage in the middle that was surrounded by chairs, and shoved back the curtain.

The cages were large enough to hold two or three people. The scent of fear was stronger here, and my hackles rose as I scented the air again. “Definitely human and something else…” I froze, breathing deeply. “Fuck.”

“What is it?”

“Demi-demon.” My lips curled. “Tarrant’s been snatching demi as well. We’re gonna have to bring the knights in on this.”

“Why would he be taking them?”

“The demi? My guess, their powers.” No, they weren’t full-blooded demon, but something happened when mixed with human blood, and their abilities were far more impressive. “For as long as demi have existed, there have been demons trying to capture them to use for their powers.”

“So they’re auctioning them off here to the highest bidder?” she asked, looking seriously freaked out.

“That’d be my guess.”

“Why humans?”

There was a tremble to her voice, but there was no sugarcoating it. “Only one thing that certain demon breeds want humans for…well, two, but I’d be willing to bet money it’s the former.”

“What? What do they want them for?” she asked hesitantly.

“Food.”

She blanched. “They’re auctioning off live humans for demons to eat.”

“That would be my guess, yeah.” Another scent reached out to me and a growl vibrated from my chest. I gripped her hand tighter. “This way.”

“What can you smell?” she asked, jogging down the tunnel beside me.

“Hound.”

We ran until we reached the end of the tunnel and turned onto another. “We’re close,” I said as we reached a T at the end. Brick’s scent grew deeper.

A growl echoed through the tunnels. I spun left and saw him. He had an iron cuff around his throat, like Kurgan wore, and the chain attached to it was bolted to the wall. He saw me and snarled viciously, baring his teeth and pawing at the ground.

“He doesn’t recognize me.” He wasn’t shifting, and I’d guess he couldn’t. He was young, though, and I was still stronger than him, even in human form. If I had to carry him out of here snarling and snapping, I took a step toward him?—

“Stop,” Sutton cried.

I froze.

“Step back.” She pointed to the wall by the tunnel’s opening. “Sigils. There and there. I can see more around his collar.”

I immediately stepped back. “What kind of magic are we looking at? Can you break through?”

“They’re demon, and they’re old, powerful. I can feel it. I don’t have enough knowledge, but I do know if we go any closer, it would mean certain death for me. You? Well, I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t be good.” Brick tilted his head back and howled.

“I think the ones on the collar are stopping him from shifting.”

Brick pawed at the floor again, then paced.

“We can’t get to him. These wards are too dangerous,” Sutton said as she took her phone from her pocket and zoomed in, taking pictures of the sigils. “Rune should be able to help us. He’ll know how to break through.”

I didn’t want to leave Brick here, but at least I could tell Dirk and Elena that their son was alive. Tarrant had something planned for him, obviously, whether that was auctioning him off or something equally as fucked up, I had no idea, but for now, at least, we knew he was okay.

Sutton placed her hand on my arm. “The auction’s tomorrow. We’ll get him then.”

I nodded, grabbed her hand, and headed back the way we’d come?—

A whistling Lars rounded the corner, carrying bags of meat. He froze—dropped the bags, then spun and ran.

I exploded after him, tackling him to the ground before he’d barely rounded the corner, then dragged the thrashing demon back. I held him down, tightening my grip on the fucker’s throat, and scented the air. “He’s the only one down here. He can release Brick.”

Sutton looked down at him, then up at me. “We have to leave Brick here. If we get him out now, Tarrant will know something’s up. He’ll postpone the next auction, or move it somewhere else, and we won’t get the evidence we need to shut him down.”

I hadn’t thought of that. Fuck. I kneeled on the demon’s chest and glanced up at Sutton.

“You’re right, but he can still tell us how to drop the ward so we’re ready.

” I gripped the squirming demon’s throat.

“Tell me how to get through those sigils.” Lars clawed at my wrist, gasping for breath.

“Speak or I tear your head from your neck.”

“There are words that must be spoken and…and a charm.”

I squeezed tighter. “Show me.”

He nodded, and I lifted him by the throat to his feet. He rushed to the entrance, and I grabbed him by the back of his collar. “You stay at the entrance.” If Lars was able to walk through the ward, I wouldn’t be able to get to him. “Explain how it works.”

He nodded quickly. “Once you say the words, you only have ten seconds to use the charm.”

“Do it.”

Sutton lifted her phone, recording him as he recited a bunch of words in an old demonic language, then pressed the charm to the sigil closest, the one that was more ornate than the rest.

The demon lifted his hand and demonstrated the ward was down. “Is it safe for me, or just demons?” He looked up at me, and I could tell he was trying to decide whether to lie or not. “Weigh your options very carefully here, Lars. You lie and I survive, you are ash.”

“Only those of us with demon blood may pass.”

“Is there a way to destroy the barrier completely?”

Fury filled the demon’s eyes. “Yes.” I gave him a rough shake to keep him talking. “The mother sigil must be broken.”

“This one? The one you used the charm on?” Sutton asked.

He nodded, scowling at her.

“We know how to free Brick,” she said, then turned back to Lars. “There’s another hound, yes? Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where?” I slammed Lars against the wall.

“I don’t know! Tarrant moves it around. Only he or Poe look after it.”

“If anything happens to him, to either of them, you’re dead, and it will be slow and painful, motherfucker.” I heard the rattle of bags and turned as Sutton...walked over the threshold, through the barrier Lars had dropped, and my heart nearly fucking tore through my chest.

She was fine, unharmed, her demon blood had protected her, but my heart was now lodged in my fucking throat.

“Don’t get too close,” I called out.

She nodded, carrying the bags of meat closer and stopping just out of Brick’s reach. She tossed the meat to him before rushing back to me. “We should get going.”

Yeah, I needed to get her out of here before any more demons decided to drop in. I dragged Lars back the way we’d come.

Sutton followed. “What are you going to do with him?”