Page 55

Then the hounds, along with Rune and his demons, used the shadows to move in and surround the huge building.

I watched with my heart in my throat as Jagger, War, and Rune stormed the building from the front. Rome and Lothar had gone around the back with several of Rune’s demons—for tonight, at least, they were working together.

Shouts broke out inside the building, and the demons outside ran in to see what was going on. The sound of fighting grew louder—things breaking, screams, roars.

A moment later, a dark figure ran from a side door. “Did you see that?”

Brick followed my line of sight. “Someone’s trying to get away. Fuck.”

“There’s two of them.” Only they weren’t running away. They’d jumped into one of the trucks yet to be unloaded and were backing it up to the edge of the river inlet. “They’re going to dump the poison into the river. We have to do something.”

“Stay here,” Brick said, then he bolted across the field toward them.

As I watched, Brick yanked the driver from his seat, and they attacked each other.

I couldn’t see the other demon, he’d raced around the side of the truck.

I had to do something before he got in, finished backing it up, and dumped the barrels in the river.

I couldn’t physically fight him, but maybe I could slow him down.

With no other choice, I sprinted as fast as I could across the field, calling my magic forth as I ran, letting it swirl and grow inside me to heights I’d never been able to get it before.

Brick was snarling. He’d shifted, and his jaws were locked around the demon’s leg, shaking him hard, while the demon—oh gods, it was Tarrant, stabbed at him with a knife.

I threw out a hand, forcing my power into his shoulder, wrapping around it, searching for the weakest point, and forced it out of the joint. Tarrant screamed, and a bloody Brick dug his fangs deeper, shaking him harder.

Poe ran around the side of the truck and was headed for the driver’s side.

I dove for it, bounding up and onto the seat and yanked the keys out of the ignition.

I would not let these fuckers hurt anyone else.

Poe grabbed my jacket and jerked me back.

I hit the ground hard, and I gasped for breath, but managed to quickly scramble to my feet before he could advance on me.

He smirked. “Give me the keys, Sutton. Now.”

I shook my head and, lifting my hands, let my magic dance across my fingers. “Stop where you are. I’m warning you.”

“What do you think you’re going to do, you fucking traitor?”

With a growl, I tossed the keys as far as I could and they landed somewhere in the long grass edging the clearing, then I straightened my spine. “I’ll break every fucking bone in your body, one by one.”

His eyes flashed with fury, but he laughed, and it grated down my spine.

“Try it,” he said as he strode toward me.

I aimed my magic at him, but he didn’t slow. It didn’t touch him.

Poe tore his shirt down the front, revealing his chest, and the same sigil he’d carved into me. “You can’t touch me.”

I was screwed.

I turned to run, but it was too late. He dove on me, knocking me to the ground. Flipping me to my back, he grinned down at me. “Gotcha.”

Brick screamed, a sound like I’d never heard before coming from the hound.

Shoving my forearm against Poe’s throat, I spun to Brick.

He was battered and bleeding from deep wounds all over his body.

I threw out my other arm, to fire my powers at Tarrant, to stop him from hacking into Brick—but Poe grabbed my wrist pinning it to the ground.

He shook his head. “No you don’t. Now you get to watch the pup die. It’s what a traitor like you deserves.”

Growls and snarls filled the night and Poe lifted his head, and bared his teeth.

The hounds, they were coming.

“Tarrant,” Poe yelled, getting his attention.

The demon stopped his attack on Brick, and turned to the hounds barreling down on us.

He didn’t look worried, though, no, he smiled.

Brick went flying, hitting the side of the truck and staying there, suspended, bleeding and barely conscious, while Tarrant lifted his hands, calling out words in a demonic language.

The hounds slammed into an invisible barrier, and were tossed back with snarls and growls.

They rushed back, and Jagger shifted into his human form, slamming his fist into the invisible wall between us.

He was standing so close to me, I could clearly see his face, and how it was contorted with rage.

He slammed his shoulder into the barrier next and roared.

But it was no use, Tarrant’s shield was too strong.

Tarrant closed his eyes then and called to Beelzebub, asking him to open a gateway.

Poe grinned at him, then down at me. “It’s almost time to go. You’re not getting away from me again. Never again.”

I stared into his black eyes. “I’ll never be yours,” I said, fury burning through me. “Do you want to know why?”

He gripped my wrists so tight my hands were going numb and my bones were close to breaking. Hissing, he lowered his head, so close his nose touched mine. “Enlighten me.”

“I already belong to someone else,” I fired at him. “I’m mated, to a hellhound. I’m mated to Jagger.”

His face turned bright red. “You’re lying.” He shook his head. “You’re fucking lying.”

“You can’t smell him? His scent’s all over me. It’s inside me.” I grinned up at him, it was hateful, gleeful. “And no matter what happens, he will come for you. No matter what you do or where you take me, he will find me, then he’ll make you scream.”

Poe yanked the neck of my shirt to the side, checking for Jagger’s mark and finding it. His eyes flared, and he shrieked, the sound like nothing I’d ever heard in my life.

He grabbed my throat and hauled me off the ground, choking me.

All the hounds had shifted now, all of them in their human forms, and they held up their hands, palms out. Battering Tarrant’s power, weakening the barrier, firing hellfire at it. I saw then, as the fire hit it, a shimmering wall. It trembled, thinning.

Jagger would get to me, I just had to stay alive. My sight washed with red, and my claws burst from the tips of my fingers. Thrashing, I clawed at his fingers around my throat, at his wrist as he carried me toward the edge of a cliff, high above the rushing, furious river below.

“You know the saying, don’t you, sweetness? If I can’t have you…” He jerked me forward and pressed his mouth to my ear. “Nobody can.”

His arms tensed, about to toss me over the edge into the freezing river, but I dug my claws deeper, hanging on to him, and swiped with the other hand, shredding the skin at his chest, destroying the sigil there.

He slammed his fist into my side and tried to shake me off, but I refused to let go. If I was going over the side, he was going with me.

Gasping from exertion, I aimed my magic at his ankles, and with a cry, I snapped one, then the other.

He roared and collapsed on the ground, almost sending us both over the edge.

My legs dangled, and I scrambled to find purchase.

Using my claws, and Poe as an anchor, I dug them into his skin and crawled up his prone body.

Poe swiped his own claws at me, trying to dislodge me, but I refused to let go. I slammed my power into his elbows, wrenching them the wrong way, and bone burst through skin. I didn’t stop, I crawled over him, the way he had me. “You don’t get to die, asshole, not yet.”

“You fucking bitch,” he hissed. “You fucking whore. I’m going to?—”

I grabbed his jaw and broke it. He screamed, and I stared into his furious, hate-filled eyes.

“You will never force a female to endure your disgusting touch ever again. You’ll never blackmail another female into accepting your revolting kiss out of fear for the people she loves.

You’ll pay for what you’ve done, for all the people you hurt. ”

Poe flailed on the ground and I kept a steady stream of my power pumping into him, keeping him broken, while I looked up, meeting Jagger’s furious stare. He was so close, but I couldn’t reach him. The barrier still stood. It shuddered, but remained intact.

Then a bloody and ash-covered Rune strode forward, joining them, and with a bloodcurdling sound, he aimed his power at Tarrant. Brick dropped to the ground. With Rune’s added strength, Tarrant wasn’t able to hold him up any longer.

Brick struggled to his feet, then with a growl, he leaped. He knocked Tarrant down, and with a vicious snarl, wrapped his jaws around Tarrant’s throat.

The barrier shuddered.

Poe suddenly bucked beneath me, and I fought to hold him down. I hissed. “You’re not going anywhere.”

I was lifted away suddenly, dragged off Poe. I thrashed, trying to fight.

“It’s me, sunshine.” Jagger wrapped me tight in his solid arms. “It’s over, baby. You did it.”

I looked around me. The barrier had collapsed, the fighting stopped.

Brick was leaning against the truck, naked and bleeding, and War stood over Tarrant, while Rune used his power to bind him.

Ash floated through the air, from the demons who hadn’t survived the fight, but Rune and the other hounds all seemed okay.

Jagger held me close, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face there. “Thank the goddess you’re okay.”

“Seeing you lying here with Poe, fuck.” He growled. “I thought…” His throat muscles worked. “Can smell your blood, sunshine, how badly are you hurt?”

“Just some scratches, a few bruises.” I lifted my head. “I’ll be okay, but right now I need to help Brick.”

Jagger didn’t put me down; he carried me to the younger hound and only then lowered me to my feet. I treated him while Jag and his brothers gathered the drums and set them all on fire.

War had several of his brothers come in their trucks to take us back to the clubhouse, and when they arrived, Jag helped me into one of them with Rome and Lothar.

“Wait at the clubhouse for me, sunshine,” he said.

“You’re not coming with me?”

“Not until I know Poe and Tarrant are where they belong.” His eyes turned red.

“Killing him would feel so fucking good, but knowing he’s in the deepest pit of Hell, suffering every moment of every day, right alongside Tarrant feels even better.

” He pressed a kiss to my lips, then shut me in.

I watched as he strode over to Poe, grabbed him by the throat and dragged him to the gateway War had just opened.

Then the hounds stepped into Hell, taking Tarrant and Poe to live out a fate worse than death.