Page 24 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)
A low growl vibrated through Fane as he loomed next to me like a storm cloud materializing over the horizon. “Don’t do it, Teague.”
I didn’t have to say a word for him to know what I was thinking. A sour taste coated the back of my tongue. We were still so in tune with each other .
Would that ever go away?
Probably not.
“I think it’s time I told them the truth,” I said into his mind.
Fane gripped my chin and forced me to meet his mismatched irises, the burn of his touch a hundred times more potent than Saint’s. “You know the risks, Teague. If you tell them, other demons could find out and attempt to take the amulet from Barric.”
A bitter laugh slipped out, and I covered it up with a cough, grabbing my water to sip it. “Barric is pretty much untouchable right now. His hideout is completely inaccessible to anyone outside of his psychotic Collective Nosterium—and me.”
“That doesn’t mean a worse creature, maybe a royal demon, can’t kill him and steal it when he leaves the manor,” Fane said. “He can’t stay there forever.”
I set my water down before my trembling hand could drop the glass. “With the other members protecting him, Roman’s magic, and the Infernal Sol, I’d say Barric is a serious threat. There aren’t many who could take him right now.”
And yet, I was supposed to.
Seeing the resolve in my expression, Fane hopped off the table and directed his snarl at me. “Don’t tell them about the Admordum Nexia Covenant. Knowing how close they might come to having a third of their species wiped out in one shot will only create panic.”
Although I hated to admit it, Fane was right.
“They’re drawings of the Infernal Sol,” I blurted, catching everyone’s attention. “It’s a powerful demon amulet that Barric has in his possession.”
Saint’s eyes widened as he realized my intent, but he squeezed my leg in encouragement. “I’m right here with you,” he whispered .
Fane mumbled a few insults at the young shifter before backing up and leaning against the tan wall, practically pouting.
Again, the big idiot shouldn’t have betrayed me.
“The amulet is hiding The Collective Nosterium, and it’s the reason they’re becoming unhinged—demonic, even.
” When we first returned from the Underworld, I’d told the pack about the rituals and grotesque creatures the members transformed into.
“That amulet is protecting Barric and making him nearly unstoppable.”
“How long have you known about this amulet?” Ari asked, his shoulders swelling as he sat taller in his seat.
“A while.” I stopped picking at the chocolate chip cookie and wiped my fingers on the napkin. “Coltrane has been seeking it for years, way before Barric even knew it existed.”
Camus laced his fingers together on the table, his knuckles showing white as he tried to keep his composure. He knew there was a lot more to the story. “What does all of this have to do with you? Why would Captain Coltrane be so obsessed with you?”
I choked back my anxiety and pushed forward. Just rip the fucking Band-Aid off. “Because before Barric had it, the Infernal Sol was mine.”
No one spoke as I purged my secrets all over the council meeting room, but the tension thickened with every word that dropped from my mouth. Saint released my knee and gripped my hand, giving me the courage to continue.
Fane remained posted on the wall, but his energy crackled around me, giving me his strength.
I really wanted to shove it back at him.
And also thank him for it.
“So that’s why I’m apparently the only person who can get the damn thing off him,” I said before taking a shaky breath. “But I have to try to heal from the remaining piece poisoning me.”
The silence was unbearable as everyone let the information sink in. Fane wasn’t why I’d been super powerful and dangerous. The demon amulet was.
Did they think I was nothing now? Just an ordinary bitten shifter who wasn’t strong enough to save Hawk or defeat Barric?
“Don’t think like that,” Fane said. “You are strong enough.”
“Not right now.”
Camus slammed his fist against the table, rattling everyone’s drinks. “You knew this whole time what was happening with Barric’s inner circle and you kept it a secret? You knew what was wrong with my mate?”
The Mohan alpha’s lips curled back to reveal his teeth, fury pulsating off him.
The air fled my lungs as I got a peek at the alpha he used to be, the one who tormented Fane when he was a kid. Camus and Fane’s father had caused plenty of the demon shifter’s scars.
Camus still owed Fane an apology. And I hadn’t forgotten my promise to get that from him, even if I had to pry it out with my bloody talons.
“I kept this information quiet because I didn’t want the wrong people to find out.” And the last time I checked, Camus’s mate didn’t give a damn about him or their daughter. Why would he care about Reese’s mental state now?
Camus’s nostrils flared. “I knew something was different about you. Maybe I should have listened to my daughter and kept you out of Mohan Wilds. ”
Saint shot to his feet while Fane pushed away from the wall.
“Careful, Camus,” Saint warned. “She’s the reason so many shifters survived. Don’t be so arrogant to think they would have been saved without her.”
The door burst open, and three shifters on Silver Ridge’s security team escorted Logan, Wrath, and Ruin inside.
And I thought the air was thick after I spilled my guts, but nothing could beat the choking tension as the former high lord of Savannah entered the room.
Growls rippled around the table, and nearly every pair of shifter eyes glimmered with an otherworldly sheen. Rage perfumed the air, tasting like blood and salt.
“I think we interrupted something important,” Logan muttered to Wrath as his gaze fell on the screen of Coltrane’s drawings.
Wrath arched his eyebrow and angled his head toward me. “Something we should know?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I said, needing to focus on keeping Ruin alive.
As the security team motioned for the three demons to sit in chairs arranged against the wall, Ruin lifted his chained hands to wave at me.
“Hello, beautiful. You’re looking as radiant as ever.”
The shackles were for show. Ruin could get out of them—as he demonstrated in the dungeon—but he couldn’t remove the Malbraxis manacle around his right wrist.
Wrath shoved his brother into the seat between him and Logan. “Be quiet.”
Fane perched on the table beside me again. “Good luck shutting him up without a muzzle. ”
Ruin scowled. “Don’t I get to say my piece before you all decide my fate?”
“We’ve already decided your fate.” Ari cracked his knuckles and then ran his hand over his thick, cropped black hair. “You will be executed for your crimes against shifters.”
I shot to my feet. “No, he won’t.”
Ari crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Why are you set on keeping Ruin alive?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
The only people who knew about Ruin’s bond with Roxie were those of us who had been in the Underworld—not that I didn’t trust the shifters.
Okay, so I didn’t trust them.
The shifters currently present were fine, but what if they let the news of Ruin’s bond to Roxie slip to the wrong person? We still didn’t know all the identities of those involved in The Collective Hunt. I couldn’t risk losing my connection to Hawk or my shot at stealing the amulet from Barric.
Ari sighed, seeing the resolve on my face. “We can’t allow Ruin to live. We just can’t.”
Anger heated my blood, and my shifter and demon side stirred, my pupils thinning into black diamonds.
“No one is killing Ruin.” My voice deepened, and energy churned within me.
The alpha power I inherited from Barric longed to burst out and make every shifter in this room drop to their knees.
Ari tensed as he felt the challenge throbbing from me. “You have no authority here, Tate. You are not an alpha, and you’re technically not part of any pack. This decision is not yours.”
The hell it wasn’t.
Ari spoke, but his words became muted as sweat coated my brow from the strength I exerted to keep my alpha side from breaking free.
This time wouldn’t be like the hints I showed before.
This time would be a full-on show of power, and I wouldn’t be able to deny it or play it off as part of Fane’s bite.
“Let it out, Teague.” Fane rested his hand on my shoulder, his nostrils flaring and pupils in slits. “Show them you don’t submit to a fucking soul.”
My gums ached as my canines lengthened. “But they’ll know this didn’t all come from you.”
“So what?” Fane jerked his hand toward Ari. “You are ten times more powerful than him. Show them.”
Trembling, I turned to Fane, reminded of the time at Corvin Manor when he helped me stand against Barric’s alpha power.
But I’d had the Infernal Sol then.
“You don’t need it,” Fane said, sensing my doubt. “You never did.”
My control finally cracked, and power flooded my veins, erupting in the air around me.