Page 3 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Two

Roxie stepped closer, keeping a safe distance from my legs. “Do you like screaming, Tate? I can’t wait to hear you pleading for me to stop.”

If my hands weren’t bound, I’d knock that smug look off her face. Unfortunately, the chains were strung through a metal loop bolted to the ground and drawn so tight I could barely move.

“Did you forget I was in Heldrok, Roxie? Prison guards and even inmates tortured me daily. I doubt your skills are anywhere near theirs.” A taunting smirk tugged at my lips. “You are usually lacking in most areas. Why would this be any different?”

Her blue eyes scorched through dark, sooty lashes, and the blade she gripped flashed under the dim lantern lights. “You’re going to eat your words soon, Tate.”

My laugh echoed through the grimy cell. “You’ll never be as good as me. I was a master torturer in Heldrok too.”

“That was before the Infernal Sol was torn out of your body.” She motioned the dagger over me. “Without it, you’re nothing but a sad, weak little shifter.”

Ruin’s chains jingled as he moved down the bars. “Rox, babe, physically torturing Tate won’t be any fun. If you really want to get to her, make her watch that sad SPCA commercial with the chick singing about angels while they play sad clips of abandoned animals.”

My head angled toward him. “Who wouldn’t be tortured by that commercial?”

He shrugged. “It would definitely get to you, since you were, you know, kind of abandoned yourself.”

I flipped him off.

Roxie kicked my thigh, making pain flare within it. “I’m standing here with a fucking knife, ready to maim you, and you’re acting as if I don’t exist.”

“I know you exist.” A heavy sigh rushed out of my lungs. “You’re just not that much of a threat.”

Pissing off the psycho raven who hated my guts for some unknown reason wasn’t my brightest idea, but Roxie got sloppy and distracted when she was angry. I could use that to my advantage.

“Not a threat?” Her nostrils flared, a feverish excitement twisting her expression. “We’ll just see about that.”

She spun, marched out of my cell, and vanished into the shadows of the corridor.

“You’re not doing yourself any favors by riling her up,” Ruin mumbled under his breath. “She’s become quite good at torture.” He ran his hand down the bruises and welts marring his bare torso.

My throat tightened. She did that to him?

I choked my emotions back down. I would not feel sorry for the asshole who lied to me for years and killed innocent shifters.

Roxie returned and dropped a leather duffel bag on the ground. “Let’s see just how much endurance you have, Tate.”

She darted forward, dodging my kicks, and threw a glittery powder in my face.

Son of a bitch.

“Malefic ash?” I coughed. “Are you going to torture me while I’m unconscious?”

Pressure hit my legs as she sat on them. “I only gave you enough to keep you docile.”

“So you can’t torture me unless I’m drugged?”

She lifted a dagger, uncorked a tiny glass vial, and doused the blade. “Don’t worry. You’ll still feel everything. The Devil’s Nightshade will make sure of that.”

Frost crystallized over my spine. The toxin intensified pain by a hundred.

I smiled through the dread clogging my veins. “Do your worst, Roxie.”

“Gladly.”

The blade sliced into my arm, and fire flared across my limb.

A droplet of sweat glided down my jaw and settled in the hollow at the base of my throat. My body ached, and dried blood flaked off my skin as fresh rivulets of it dribbled out of shallow cuts and holes.

Roxie had been torturing me for over an hour, but I hadn’t screamed. Not even once .

And her frustration showed in her flushed face and stormy gaze.

“This is your worst?” I tsked, cracking a smile. “Your worst is comparable to me barely half-assing it.”

A snarl burst between her lips, and she dragged a blade coated in Devil’s Nightshade down my stomach.

Flames seared my abdomen, and stars popped along the edges of my vision. This time, I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out, a coppery tang filling my mouth.

When the pain subsided, I chuckled. “Still not good enough, Roxie. That one actually tickled.”

She climbed off my legs and riffled through her leather bag of tricks, her hands shaking with pent-up rage.

Ruin shook his head, his lips thinning. “Stop goading her,” he mouthed.

Roxie returned with a long, sharp metal rod and a small blowtorch. “Let’s see how you like this.”

Acid oozed up my esophagus as she heated the rod and knelt at my side, a frenzied gleam brightening her deceptively angelic eyes.

She jabbed the sharp end of the rod into my shoulder, and a scream burst from my mouth.

Her smile stretched unnaturally wide, and I could have sworn she looked more demon than raven for a moment.

Was the Infernal Sol affecting her too?

She always hated me, but could the amulet be driving her closer to the edge of insanity?

When my scream melted into a manic laugh, Roxie’s satisfied grin dropped. “Just face it, Roxie, you’ll never be as good as me.”

With a vicious growl, she clicked the blowtorch on again and brought it to my chest. Agony washed over me as fire singed my flesh, bringing tears to my eyes. They spilled down my cheeks, and the cell spun in a dizzying vortex.

“You think all you have to do is survive long enough for your psycho mate to find you?” Roxie removed the torch and smoothed a lock of black hair back into her ponytail. “He’ll never be able to find you, not with the Infernal Sol hiding us.”

My lungs expelled a ragged breath as I tried to shake the pain off. “Is that so? He’s pretty good at finding me.”

She licked her lips and bit the bottom one. “Even if he discovers your location, he won’t be able to get to you. All he’ll see of Karn’s mansion is a pile of rubble.”

Well, that could be a problem. Would Fane really be unable to access the mansion even though we had a link, and I was inside?

I gave a lazy shrug, ignoring the urge to flinch from the pain ricocheting through my body. “Do you actually believe I’m the type to wait for someone to save me? I’ll find a way out all on my own.”

She scoffed. “Not happening.”

“It’s happening.”

The click of the blowtorch made me tense, and another layer of sweat beaded my forehead as she brought the flame toward my eye.

“I doubt Barric will care if I blind you in one eye,” she said. “He might even be thankful. It’ll make it harder for you to escape.”

Ruin’s low groan caught her notice. “Damn, Roxie, baby, why don’t you come over here and torture me for a bit?”

Her brows furrowed. “I’m busy. Maybe next time.”

“But watching you inflict all this pain is turning me on.” He gritted his teeth and rocked his hips. “I’m feeling so neglected. ”

Roxie leaned back and studied the high demon, her gaze eating him up. He might have been disheveled, bruised, and dirty, but he still looked like a god, and sexual energy oozed out of every pore.

“I guess I could give Tate a break.” She sneered at me. “Maybe the time-out will give her time to rethink that shitty attitude.”

A mischievous grin spread Ruin’s mouth. “I’ll show my gratitude, Roxie. If you want me to scream, I’ll scream. If you want me to beg, I’ll beg.”

Unable to resist the demon’s lure, Roxie stood, grabbed her bag, and sauntered out of my cell, leaving the door wide open.

What a fucking idiot.

Of course, not even the most vigilant fighter could think straight with Ruin’s sultry, intoxicating attention solely on them. For shit’s sake, even I could feel the attraction pulling her toward him. He had it turned up to a thousand.

She unlocked his cell with a set of keys and then hooked them back on her belt before entering and dropping her bag. “You’ve never been this eager for torture, Ruin.”

“I’ve never watched you work on someone else.” He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m the jealous type.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?” Holding up a knife, she tilted her head toward me. “Are you going to attack me so you can help her?”

His chuckle had goose bumps rising on my nape. “Oh, I am going to attack you, but it has nothing to do with her.”

Her boots halted. “What?”

“I want to feel the sting of your blade while I bury myself deep inside of you.”

Roxie’s sharp intake of air echoed through the dungeon. “That won’t be happening. ”

Ruin cocked his head and sucked his teeth. “Don’t tell me you never thought of climbing up to my VIP section in Wrath & Ruin and offering your body up to me.”

A heavy blush spread into Roxie’s cheeks, and her grip on the knife tightened. “Never.”

That was a lie. She’d said as much when we first went to his club.

“I watched you, you know.” The high demon crossed to the other side of his cell, gripped the crank on a wheel, and turned it, shortening the slack on the chains around his wrists. “When you’d sneak into the VIP section behind the curtain, I watched you from the cameras.”

Once Ruin had the chains to Roxie’s liking and he reclined on the ground, she drew closer to him. “Why didn’t you come join the fun?”

“I would have eventually.” He didn’t even fight her as she grabbed a metal circle from her belt and fastened his chains to the loop in the ground to immobilize his arms. “But I ended up here.”

Was Roxie the one Ruin had been charming? He clearly knew what she wanted him to do and submitted with ease. Had he been luring her in with every torture session?

Ruin was a demon, and things like pain and torment gave him a high. If not for my connection to Fane, I could have ended up chained in the high demon’s bedroom. Or maybe the other way around. I enjoyed giving as much as I got.

“And you’re just now telling me this?” Roxie straddled him and dragged the blade across his chest without drawing blood. “How convenient now that your little Tate is here.”

“I’m not hard for her.” He rocked his hips, and she gasped. “And she’s not the one I dream about while sleeping in this cell. ”

“Bullshit,” Roxie spat.

“She’s not the one I wish for when lying here cold and alone.” He licked his lips. “She’s not the one I fantasize about fucking while the pain of her torture tools make me scream.”

Shit.

Was Ruin faking this, or had he been jonesing for some kinky sex with Roxie?

I rolled my eyes as I worked my wrists in the metal cuffs fastened to my chains. I wouldn’t be able to get the mystical ones off, but these large, bulky ones had some wiggle room.

“Maybe I’ll let you have a taste,” Roxie purred, engaging my gag reflex. “If you’re a good boy.”

Ruin’s chuckle and the rattle of his chains as he moved beneath her covered up my struggling. Fortunately, he made sure Roxie turned her back to me.

“I can’t promise I’ll be a good boy, but I can promise you’ll come harder than you ever have before.”

Her groan made my ears want to bleed.

“We’ll see.” She toyed with the knife while rubbing herself against his length.

“Enough of this coy shit,” Ruin growled.

He yanked his arms and easily broke out of the loop she’d fastened him to, displaying his supernatural strength, even weakened and suppressed by the Malbraxis manacle. Roxie let out a fearful gasp as she tried to scramble off him, but he fisted her ponytail in one hand.

“You don’t think I could get out of here if I really wanted to?”

Could he?

No way. Ruin could make it out of the cell, but he couldn’t take on The Collective and an amulet-wearing Barric.

“I stayed here because I’ve become a fucking addict for your torment, baby.” He slammed his mouth onto hers, swallowing her scream.

Roxie fought for a nanosecond, and then her body melted into his as he stretched back out on the ground, holding her to him.

He had her so distracted she didn’t notice when he grabbed the keys off her belt or even hear the loud clank as he threw them toward me, hitting the bars.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I finally ripped one of my wrists out of the thick cuff. Sharp throbs lanced across my raw flesh. I rolled toward the bars, trying to ignore their pants and groans. Soon, clothes would start coming off.

Would Ruin actually have sex with her?

Of course he would.

My fingers stretched out, fireworks erupting through my limbs, but I wasn’t close enough.

Damn it!

I rolled back over and tried tugging my other wrist out. There was no time for this. If Roxie simply glanced over her shoulder, I was screwed.

The metal rod she’d jabbed me with hit my boot as I struggled, breathing new life into my deflated bubble of hope.

I brought the rod to my hand with my boot and grabbed it before rolling toward the bars again.

My limbs strained as I stretched out as far as I could, the rod touching the key ring.

Sweat slinked down my temple, and my teeth gritted as I overextended every damn muscle.

Finally, the tip slid into the key ring, and I dragged it across the stone ground.

Roxie was still writhing on top of Ruin as his hands gripped her ass. I had to see her screw Hawk. I really didn’t want a repeat of that with the former demon lord .

Of course, this wouldn’t break my heart. Ruin had already done that when I uncovered his betrayal.

After trying a few keys, I found the one that unlocked the metal bind. Unfortunately, the ring didn’t have a key to the Malbraxis manacles. I gripped the rod as a weapon and darted out of my cell, catching Ruin’s gaze, hesitating.

Wasn’t he coming?

But instead of knocking Roxie out while she was vulnerable, he just shook his head at me and then tore her top off.

He wasn’t coming.

I hated the pangs that sliced into my stomach at the thought of leaving him behind. He should be imprisoned for what he did.

Ruin jerked his chin for me to go while he wrapped his legs around Roxie to keep her firmly locked against him.

I shoved back the guilt and bolted through the corridor, gripping the keys so tightly they bit into my palms. A set of stone stairs greeted me after I passed through a few archways, and memories of being led out of here by Karn’s minions washed through my brain.

If I remembered correctly, the next door would open to a small atrium splitting off in two directions. One way would take me to the great room, and the other would take me outside.

Guess which one I was picking?

My hand trembled as I unlocked the door and peered out. A shaky breath spilled from my lungs at the sight of the deserted hallway. I stepped inside and eased the door closed. Only a few more minutes, and I’d be free.

Would I be able to reach Fane once I made it outside?

My scalp prickled seconds before a hard grip tangled in my hair and yanked me back. A familiar woman with a brunette bob and sharp green eyes slammed me into the rugged stone wall.

“What do we have here?” Amelia, Dominic’s mother, sneered while a set of canines grew in her mouth. “A little cub is trying to flee the den.”