Page 52 of Demon Rejected

The young wolf returned. He shifted back to the skinny young man. “I found an exit. It leads outside, towards the desert.”

Sparky stepped closer to Matt and started to melt the locks on his cuffs. She could cut the leg cuffs. However, only the hand cuffs had to open for him to escape. Sparky was like a sea of flames, an impressive wolf made of fire.

“There’s another wolf trapped in the other room. And there’s a door," he added as I kept Matt’s hands still while Sparky was chewing the cuffs with her licks of fire.

“You’re so badass," the boy added.

“Do you think you could get the kids out?" I threw a look toward the other six teens who leaned against the walls, eyes closed, smelling like despair. “My people should be right outside the walls. A biker guy named Ziggy. Tell him Scarlett found Matt, and I’ll follow as fast as I can.”

“Okay."

The boy shifted back and walked towards the group of teens. Two of the girls shifted into small brownish wolves. The other stayed in human form. I hoped they were going to get out. They had to.

Sparky worked fast. Matt clenched his teeth, the fire must be uncomfortable for him, but his wounds will heal.

“I love you, Scarlett," he whispered as the handcuffs fell off with a click.

“No time for sloppy romance movie scenes now. Let’s get you out. Can you shift?" Shifting would have helped him heal his wounds faster, but I saw on his face that he couldn’t shift. He was too weak even to stand.

“I’ll try," he muttered, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Sparky was next to me, her teeth bared and ready to attack if anyone would have come my way.

“Matt, I can’t carry you. You have to stand."

He draped his arm over my shoulders. We needed two attempts, but I got him on his legs.

“Go slow on the pizza," I muttered as I tried to maneuver his muscular body toward the door.

The young wolf, whose name I didn’t know, ran back inside. He shifted and took Matt’s other arm. Together we balanced the giant and walked with him towards the door. Light streamed from outside. I hope everything will work out, but I didn’t want to risk jinxing it. As soon as we reached the door, I saw it opened toward the desert. There were no guards, just a large wolf who I knew. Ziggy gave me a look and Sparky hid behind me.

“Take it from here," I told the boy and leaned Matt against him.

Matt was about to say something, but if there was another tortured soul inside those walls. I had to see him. I returned and asked Sparky what she felt. We walked close to the wall, avoiding everything we could until I found another door. It was a sliding door slightly open on one side. I slipped through it.

A gorgeous guy who smelled different from anyone I knew lay on an operation table. No, it was an autopsy table because it had that little drain on its side. He was still breathing, but his chest and abdomen were split open. I moved closer and saw his heart beating. Fuck. He was in bad shape. I was standing there, in the door like an idiot, not knowing what to do. I was too weak to carry him and was afraid that moving him from the table would do him more bad than good.

Sparky cried softly next to me.

“Do you think we can close the wound on his stomach?”

Only a shifter could stand such horrible pain and still live. The man was not much older than maybe twenty-five. He had long, straight black hair and the most delicate features I ever saw, all well balanced by a strong jawline. I leaned over and watched his heart. So beautiful and scary.

“You can touch my heart," he whispered, opening his eyes, his lashes fluttering like butterfly wings.

His arms looked strong and muscular. Still, his pallor worried me. Unhooking him from the drip as fast as I could, I looked toward Sparky again. She was strong today, her fur made of fire, and her eyes burned with the intensity of two red gems. Touching his belly, I pushed the open flaps of meat together and signalled to Sparky to jump up. I did my best to tell her not to burn him too severely, but what did I know about pushing organs back in and cauterizing wounds? Sparky floated and started licking his belly with her fire mouth. She burned his skin flaps back together slowly.

“Good girl, just a bit longer." It was the only thing that crossed my mind. Try to make him whole again.

When she finished, he opened his eyes. I never saw eyes like that--blue, a shade so pale they almost looked like the pale illusion of blue that appears on top of fresh winter snow. The stranger was strong enough to grab my wrist and look at Sparky in shock. During that moment, I saw something was impossible--a wolf made of energy the same way as Sparky was made out of flames, only his energy wolf was blue, the same shade as the eyes of the stranger with the long lashes.

Sparky cocked her head toward the wolf. I looked around, searching for a wheelchair or anything that could help. Hopefully, Ziggy will return to look after me. Damn, I should have asked him for help. Now it was too late. If I saved this guy, I had to get him out of here.

“You’re on fire." He said it slowly, with a thick accent that sounded Italian, but I couldn’t place it. His eyes flapped open for a second before closing again.

A slow, familiar clap erupted from behind me.

“I knew that the right bait would bring you to me."