Page 26 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Seventeen

Fane’s lips crashed on mine, and I felt like a metal pole struck by lightning. A moan burst between us as flames ignited over my body. His calloused hands dove under my shirt, caressing the skin on my lower back.

I was starved for him—his touch and his taste—and I couldn’t get close enough. Any cravings I’d had for the Infernal Sol had never been this intense.

Then again, my feelings for the demon shifter had always been extreme. I loathed him as much as I loved him.

And I wanted him twice as much.

“I hate you,” I murmured against his lips.

Fane palmed my ass, and he hoisted me up, dropping me onto a table. He’d pulled me into a rarely used conference room, dust coating the shelf below the whiteboard and the tops of the leather chairs.

“I’ve heard that one before, Teague. Many times.”

“But I mean it now.”

As he left my mouth, his teeth and tongue trailing down my throat, I quivered. My head tilted back to give him more access.

“Hate me all you want.” Fane sucked on my neck, eliciting a ragged gasp from me. “You’ll still beg for more. Like always.”

Bastard.

He was also correct.

I tore his shirt off and raked my nails down his back. His low groan vibrated through my chest, and the pleasure rippling within the bond had more heat building between my legs. Fane sniffed, his lips curling back as he scented my arousal.

We hadn’t had sex in our physical bodies since before Barric abducted me and locked me in Karn’s dungeon. I trembled with need, and every frayed nerve ending soaked up the demon shifter’s touch.

“Fane,” I murmured, arching into him as his tongue glided over my neck tattoo.

He squeezed my breasts and pinched my tightening nipples through my clothes. A whimper slipped out of me, and moisture pooled between my legs. I rocked against the hard ridge in his jeans, unable to contain my lust any longer.

“I need you inside me, Maverick.”

His nostrils flared again, and the savage snarl that ripped from his mouth made goose bumps erupt over my flesh. When I reached for the button on his pants, he gripped my wrists, lifted them over my head, and pushed me onto the table until my back hit the cool surface.

“Don’t think you’re in control, Teague.” A terrifying grin split his wet lips. “I am.”

“Once you’re inside me, neither one of us will be in control. ”

He didn’t deny it. When we were together, the world fell away, and nothing else mattered but the two of us colliding.

Fane unbuttoned my jeans and thrust his hand between my legs. My back arched off the table as he found my slick heat. I moaned when his fingers pushed inside, torturing me in the best ways imaginable.

“That’s it, my little rebel,” he murmured. “Let me give you what you’ve been craving.”

Between nightmares and sleepless nights, Fane filled my dreams while he did terrible, depraved, and delicious things to me.

But this was no dream.

This was real.

As I rubbed against his hand, panting and ready for more, my thoughts plunged into a dark hole where unhinged Collective members tortured Hawk in the very dungeon I’d escaped.

A bucket of ice water crashed over my scorching body, dousing the flames and shoving me back to reality. Fane felt the change come over me, and before I could kick him off, he backed away, eyes glowing and pupils in slits.

“You don’t get to do this,” I hissed as the loss of his heat had me shivering. “You don’t get to betray me and then make me fall under your spell.”

Silently, the demon shifter snatched his black t-shirt from the floor and shoved it over his head. Those soft black strands fell in his face, and my hand twitched with the urge to run my fingers through them.

No!

I hopped off the table and buttoned my jeans with shaky hands. “I can’t just forgive you for sacrificing Hawk.”

Fane raked his fingers through his hair. “If you think Hawk and everyone else on that mission weren’t prepared to sacrifice themselves for you, you’re delusional.”

My mouth dropped. “That’s bullshit.”

His bitter laugh reverberated through the dim room. “You’re important, Tate. And they all know it. But Hawk would have done it simply because he loves you.”

I choked back the acid trying to ooze up my throat. How could I deny Fane’s words, at least where Hawk was concerned? The others, though…?

Logan would have. Obviously, Fane. But Wrath? Certainly not Mina. Maybe Kourtney.

“I never asked anyone to do that,” I muttered, my chin wobbling.

“You didn’t need to.” Fane stepped into my space and fixed my shirt so it was no longer hanging askew. “Don’t let Hawk’s sacrifice go to waste. Let Saint heal you.”

Guilt ate away at me again, tearing me apart from the inside out, clashing with anger.

Maybe I would allow Saint into my bed. Maybe I’d give in and let him drive a bigger wedge between Fane and me.

I bolted awake in my bed, a cold sweat beading my skin and making my t-shirt—okay Fane’s t-shirt that I stole—stick to me.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered, sitting up and peeling the covers off to get some much-needed air.

The vision of those masked and cloaked Collective Nosterium members chasing a male wolf shifter soured my stomach and made my steak dinner threaten to reappear. This one took place right here in downtown Savannah .

My brows pinched together as I tried to picture the guy. There was no sign of when the Collective’s pursuit of him occurred, but no male shifters had gone missing in Savannah recently. My visions had no time pattern other than always taking place in the past.

Alicia was the only person I’d saved, and that wasn’t because of any vision. I’d been in that ritual room with her, and we wouldn’t have escaped without Roman’s help.

I swung my legs over the mattress and pressed my bare feet into the cool wood floor. My body ached as I stood, probably from tossing and turning. The stupid sickness and cravings for the Infernal Sol didn’t help.

Would I ever stop longing for that twisted power?

Nighttime still coated the windows, and when I peered through the panes, the city lights gleamed against the dark backdrop.

Sleep wouldn’t pay me another visit for a while, so I opened the dresser on the left side of the room and took out a pair of black leggings. Getting some fresh air would do me good, and maybe I could clear the vision from my mind.

And maybe I’d stop thinking about what happened—or almost happened—between Fane and me in that unused conference room earlier.

On the way out of the compound, I ran into some of Ari’s security team, each member shooting me surreptitious glances. Word must have already spread about my lineage.

Just perfect.

As if having Fane Maverick as my mate and sire and Saint Grimstone as my fated mate didn’t garner enough attention.

My sneakers barely made a sound on the sidewalk as I ambled down the deserted streets. The cool spring nights evaporated as summer reared its ugly, sweaty head. Soon, I’d be sweating through my leggings and tank top.

A few nightworlders nodded in my direction, and even fewer humans staggered around, drunk and on their way home from bars.

By the time I reached Addison Street, I realized where my legs were instinctively carrying me. In my vision, three masked pricks had chased the shifter past the Addison Street Coffee Shop and into a back alley between a bagel shop and a brewery.

The sight of the attack could jog my memory and help me identify the shifter. Maybe it hadn’t happened yet, and I could save him.

A taunting voice laughed in the back of my mind.

Yeah, wishful thinking.

I turned down the alley anyway, stepping over a crushed beer can and a discarded paper bag from River Street Sweets. Damn, what I wouldn’t give for some of Dylan’s spicy desserts.

Scraps of trash scuttled over the asphalt like dead leaves in the warm wind. The scent of hops and barley perfumed the air as I passed the brewery’s back door, the Employees Only sign flashing red.

The neon tubes forming the O faded and winked out. I halted, staring at it as déjà vu descended my back.

In my vision, the O had also gone out.

My pulse elevated as I searched the alley and recognized a dingy white sneaker sitting atop a pile of wooden pallets. In my vision, the white sneaker was there, too, but the shifter smeared a huge crimson stain onto it when he fell onto the pallets.

Unease settled through my stomach as I ambled forward, my shins bumping into the tower of wooden slats .

I licked my lips and then sniffed the air.

It wasn’t blood.

It was ketchup. And it was still wet.

Fresh.

Fuck .

Footsteps suddenly hit the pavement, and a figure emerged through the opening of the alley, bolting in my direction. My heart crashed against my ribs, and fear—not mine—slid through my veins like it did in my visions as the guy pumped his arms and legs.

No, the shifter.

Holy shit!

This was my vision.

As the guy approached and his face materialized through the shadows, my mouth dropped open. A dark head of cropped hair, equally dark eyes, and a square jaw formed.

Marcel, one of the shifters who cornered me in the kitchen once at Silver Ridge, panted as three masked Collective Nosterium members chased him.

He was their next bitten victim.

Instead of hiding in the shadows like Fane would have wanted, I waited until Marcel passed, and then I jumped out and rammed my shoulder into the closest masked douchebag.

She let out a ragged gasp, staggered back, and fell on her ass. The other two halted, probably shocked at my presence. Did they think I’d be under house arrest for my protection?

Not happening.

Marcel cursed as his shoes skidded on the pavement. “More are coming!”

I glanced over my shoulder as three cloaked members slithered from the other direction, blocking the exit. Frost glided down my spine as each group closed in .

“Look at what we trapped,” another female said while the other one scrambled off the ground, grabbing her abdomen. “Barric will be delighted.”

“Do you actually think I’m out here alone?” My laugh rang through the alley. “Who’s really trapped? Us or you?”

As the members peered at one another, their creepy whispers floated through the air, and I searched the backstreet for another escape route.

Two against six didn’t make for the best odds.

Someone had stacked wooden crates near a hanging sign for the bagel shop.

Marcel and I could jump, scale the sign, and climb onto the roof of the coffee shop.

Easy peasy.

“I hope you have a plan, Tate,” Marcel muttered as his back brushed against mine, his sweat filling the air.

“Of course I do.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a transformative hilt. “Can you climb?”

Marcel followed my eyeline and nodded once he saw our way out. “But they’ll just follow us.”

“I’ll distract them,” I whispered. “Then I’ll be right behind you.”

“Fane is going to kill me if you die.” He wiped sweat from his forehead. “So please don’t die.”

I chuckled and rubbed my thumb over the transformative hilt, turning it into a sword. “I’ll try my best.”

A snarl slid out from behind the closest Collective member’s mask. “What are you going to do with that?”

The dim lights glinted off the blade as I whipped it through the air. “Kill you.”

Instead of using my sword, I darted forward and sliced my talons across his stomach. Blood perfumed the air, and more of the metallic scent exploded when I decapitated another member .

“Go!” I pushed Marcel toward the crates, and he sped away and sprang onto the roof in seconds.

After stabbing another member and then shoving her into the group, I bolted toward the escape route, my heart racing and blood pounding.

Excitement thrummed within my body. Finally, my visions were good for more than intel after the fact. I actually saved someone!

As I leaped onto the tower of crates, the alley swam. Weakness encased my legs, and a cloud of confusion and dizziness struck me.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

I swayed and was helpless to stop from careening backward. I hit the concrete like a brick, all the air bursting from my lungs.

Pain thundered in my skull, and stars spotted my vision while a briny taste coated the back of my mouth. When I blinked away the haze, the five remaining Collective Nosterium members loomed over me, their white masks hiding their expressions, but I sensed their glee pulsating through the air.

I was so screwed.