Page 48

I hissed, straining, forcing more magic into the cuffs, reciting the spell again and, finally, they fell away.

Blood rushed back, causing agonizing pins and needles to travel from my hands to my shoulders.

I shook them out, needing all my strength.

I strode toward Brick. He spun, snarling and snapping at me.

“I know you’re in there, Brick. I need you to fight the hold on you long enough for me to get that cuff off you, okay?” He bared his teeth. I had no idea if he could understand what I was saying, but I hoped he understood at least some of it.

“Be careful,” Lenny said, gripping the bars. Kurgan paced, his low growl so deep I felt it from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

Searching the ground, I found a sharp rock. I needed to destroy the parent sigil stamped into the collar. I just had to stay alive long enough to break it.

I lifted my hands. “If you bite my head off, you’ll be down here forever,” I said as I closed in. “If you kill me, you’ll be stuck here living with Beelzebub. I know you don’t want that.”

Brick’s head tilted to the side, his lips still peeled back as a growl vibrated from him.

He was going to attack, the demon powers in that iron cuff were too strong.

Reaching down slowly, I picked up another rock.

I had no idea if this would work, but it was all I had in that moment and time was running out.

Without waiting, or allowing myself to overthink it and chicken out, I tossed the rock and it smashed against the wall. Brick spun toward the sound and I ran at him, leaping onto his wide, furry back and hung on.

He instantly spun around, bucking and snarling, while I clung to the metal around his neck, trying to hang on.

Gritting my teeth, and with all my strength and a huge push of magic, I slammed the rock down onto the iron.

Sparks burst from the impact. Brick bucked harder, jarring me, my teeth snapping together hard from the impact.

I was going to fall off any second, and he would tear me to shreds.

Bringing my hand up again, I slammed the rock down on the sigil a second time. Sparks exploded from the steel again as I went flying, hitting the ground hard and knocking the air from my lungs.

Brick spun around, eyes red, foam dripping from his lower jaw.

He prowled toward me, and I scrambled back, trying to get out of striking range.

He pounced, leaping in the air toward me.

His chain caught him short, yanking him back hard, and as it did, the iron cuff around his throat shattered where I had broken the sigil.

A naked Brick landed hard on the stone floor. He jumped to his feet, swaying to the side, but caught himself, then shook his head wildly.

He blinked down at me, then stumbled again. “Sutton?” He looked around the room, then back to me.

I got to my feet and rushed to him, wrapping my arms around his waist, and he squeezed me tight. “Your brothers, your parents have been so worried about you.” I looked up at him and held his strong jaw in my hands. “I’ve been worried about you.”

He tried to give me one of his cocky grins, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m okay.” He rubbed his head. “The fuckers snatched me out of my female’s bed. She asked me over…then…” His brows lowered. “She let them in, she knew them.” He cursed. “She served me up to fucking Beelzebub.”

“I know and I’m sorry. We’ll make sure she pays for what she did, but right now, we need to move while Beelzebub’s gone. I need your help to free Lenny and Kurgan.”

Brick turned to the huge hound, and Kurgan growled low at him. Brick’s head immediately dipped, his beast recognizing a stronger male when he was confronted by one.

“Not sure where that big fucker came from,” Brick said, “but he doesn’t smell right. The look in his eyes isn’t right either. I’m…I’m not sure I can protect you from him. He’s a lot older, bigger.”

I could see it cost him to say that. I squeezed his arm. “Jagger knows him. The female in the cage is his intended mate. She’s afraid, but I think he’ll listen to her. I think she could control him if she tries.”

“It might work. My ma definitely knows how to get my dad to do what she wants.”

“Here’s hoping Lenny has the same influence.” We rushed to the side of the cage that Kurgan couldn’t reach and I used my spell to break the lock. “Are you ready?” I asked her.

“No, but I think we have to try anyway, I’m not staying here.” She chewed her lip. “If he kills me, run and don’t stop.”

That gave me pause. “He won’t do that.”

“He almost did the first time I met him.” Lenny pulled up her sleeve, showing me her mauled forearm. The scar was rough and twisted, the flesh misshapen.

“I don’t think he meant to do it. He was confused.” I’d felt it, that confusion, his deep regret when I’d sedated him.

Brick cursed, shifting from foot to foot. “That’s not normal. We don’t do that shit to females.”

Kurgan pulled on his chain and roared, the sound bloodcurdling.

“Stand back,” Lenny said to Brick, her voice shaking. “He’ll see you as a threat.”

“Maybe we should leave him here?” I said. “Send his brothers to get him once we’re out of danger.”

“We need him,” Brick said, worry in his eyes.

“There are hordes of demons down here, and only one thing will keep them back. Yeah, I’m strong,” he said, flexing his biceps, “but one hound, as young as I am, might not be enough to hold them back.” He aimed his pretty eyes at Lenny.

“You need to speak to him with authority. Hounds love touch, love to be hugged. His aggression will lessen if you touch him.”

She paled. “I’m not sure I can.”

“You can do this,” I said, and hoped I was right. “I was able to calm him once before with my magic. If this goes wrong, I’ll try to do that again. While I’m doing that, Brick will hook that chain around his neck. That should slow him down long enough for us to make a run for it.”

She nodded and stepped out of the cage.

“Strong voice,” Brick said. “With the cuff, he knows what’s going on but he’s all beast, he can’t shift, and everything feels like a threat even when it’s not.”

That was Kurgan all the time.

“K-Kurgan,” Lenny said, turning toward him.

Kurgan pawed at the ground, shaking his massive head, then growled low.

“Speak louder,” Brick said. “When my ma uses a certain tone, my dad stops in his tracks. Seen Wills do it with the alpha as well. Works every time.”

Lenny nodded and took another step closer. “Stand down,” she said and lifted her hands. “That’s it.” She took another step.

Kurgan lowered his head.

It was working.

But then he leaped, knocking her to the ground. His jaw wrapping around her leg tight enough to draw blood, then he dragged her away from us. I rushed forward, but Brick grabbed me, holding me back.

Lenny screamed, and that only set him off more. He stood over her, gnashing his teeth. He was confused, no doubt by everything that had happened, being taken from his cell, seeing Lenny again, and the strength of what he was feeling around her.

Her hands were planted against his massive chest.

“He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling,” I called to her, my heart in my throat.

“The only desire he understands is hunger. That’s the only pleasure he’s experienced.

He doesn’t want to hurt you, but biting is the only thing he’s felt that’s good.

You need to speak up, Lenny. You need to show him there are other ways to feel good. ”

“Stop,” she yelled, loud from the force of her panic, then wrapped her arms around his wide furry neck and pressed her face into the side of his.

He eased up, no longer snapping and lifted his head.

She started singing softly, her voice sweet and trembling.

Kurgan stopped snarling completely now and blinked down at her.

She looked up at him. “You don’t want to bite me, you want to hug me. See?”

The huge hound dropped, going limp in an instant, lying on top of her, squashing her.

“No,” she wheezed. “Get up, Kurgan, now!”

He growled, then whined, then lifted up again. Lenny scrambled out from under him, and he wrapped his jaws around her arm and tugged her back.

“Let go of my arm,” she said forcefully. She was shaking, but she placed her hand on his neck. “If you behave, I’ll pet you. If you bite me again, then there will be no more hugs for you. Now you need to let Sutton take the cuff off from around your neck.”

His glowing hound’s eyes slid to me, but he didn’t growl or snap his teeth, so I took it as my cue.

I walked to him, while Brick fisted the back of my shirt, ready to yank me away if he needed to, and I cautiously, then quickly, scraped a sharp stone over the sigil in the iron, compromising it.

It was much easier when I wasn’t hanging on to a bucking, foaming hound trying to kill me.

The metal sparked, then fell away a moment later.

Kurgan shifted from huge hound to the massive male he was. His hand snapped out instantly, grabbing the back of Lenny’s neck and hauling her into his side.

“Be gentle with her,” I said.

She looked up at him with huge eyes.

“My female,” he said and dipped his head, pressing his nose to her hair, scenting her. His eyes darkened when they landed on Brick, and he growled again. “Lenny is my female, pup,” he said with the beast in his voice.

Lenny looked like she was close to passing out from terror.

Brick lifted his hands. “Your female, brother,” he said, then to me under his breath, “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that Jagger looks after him.”

Brick frowned but kept his eyes on Kurgan. “Do you know how to open a gateway?”

Kurgan frowned, then shook his head no.

“Shit.” Brick squared his shoulders. “We need to get the females away from Beelzebub, and we need to protect them from the demons.”

“Protect, yes.” Kurgan bared his teeth. “You’re a pup. Weak. I’ll protect. I’ll kill the demons,” he growled.

Brick bristled but was smart enough not to let Kurgan know he was offended. “Do you know the way out of here?” he asked Kurgan.

Kurgan buried his nose in Lenny’s hair again. “Yes. I’ll take my female to my den.”

I’d seen the way Kurgan behaved in his den. He’d seen everything as a threat, but now Lenny had taken control, he seemed to have gone into protection mode, at least when it came to pups and females. I just hoped she could maintain it.

Kurgan started walking, and Lenny limped beside her unhinged mate, her leg bleeding from his bite, trying to keep up. He stopped, snatched her off her feet and held her to him. She gasped in surprise.

“I’ll protect you,” he said to her, then he kept walking.