Page 36 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

My heart threatened to splinter into a thousand pieces, never to be repaired again, as Marissa drew Fane’s lips toward hers. He didn’t stop her.

He wasn’t stopping her.

My soul screamed in protest, in anguish, while my lungs refused to work. Did Fane feel like this every time he saw me with Saint? But I’d never kissed Saint. And Fane and Marissa had done much more than that when they were younger.

As if the fog cleared from Fane’s mind, snapping him awake, he broke Marissa’s grip and stepped back. “What the hell are you doing?”

Her lips parted, and she fluttered her lashes, closing the distance between them. “I’m only doing what’s right, Fane.”

He gripped Marissa’s wrists to stop her as she reached for him again. “This isn’t right. I have a mate.”

My pulse thundered in my ears, forcing me to strain to hear the conversation as my bottom lip trembled. I should have known Fane wouldn’t kiss her.

He wouldn’t betray me like that .

“She has a fated mate,” Marissa said.

“And I don’t care.” He dropped her wrists and took another step back, the moonlight shining on the scars stippling his face, neck, and arms. “It wouldn’t matter if Tate had ten fated mates. She’s still mine.”

“How can you let her run around with Saint? Tate can’t possibly be giving you all that you need.” A seductive smile pulled at Marissa’s lips as she gripped his shirt. “Don’t you remember what it was like being with me, Fane?”

“Before or after you called me a monster and threw me away?” He raked his hand through his hair, nostrils flaring. “Why am I suddenly good enough for you? Because someone else wants me?”

My agony and sorrow evaporated, and rage blossomed in their place. No one could make him feel that way, like a piece of trash, like he didn’t matter. Marissa rejected Fane years ago, but the sting of it still pulsated through him.

She didn’t get to hurt him and then try to steal him from me. Even though our relationship was rocky, Fane was still very much mine.

Mine .

My animal side purred within—and then growled, ready to yank this leech off my beautiful beast once and for all.

“Back the fuck away from my mate,” I demanded, bursting through the trees.

Fane’s eyes widened as he sensed the deadly intent rising inside me. I’d kill her if I had to.

Marissa’s lips curled back to bare her sharpening canines. “He was mine first.”

My inner wolf roared, and within the next few steps, my black and scarlet paws hit the soft forest ground. Neither Fane nor Marissa had time to react before my agile lupine form launched through the air and tackled her into a bed of pine needles.

Her ragged gasp and the fear searing her gaze had warm satisfaction surging through my veins. As I opened my mouth wide to chomp on her throat, my saliva dripping onto her, the moonlight revealed a flash of silver in her grasp.

Where the hell did Marissa stash a dagger in her painted-on dress?

The fleeting thought passed as my jaws headed for her throat while her hand arched toward my torso. She wouldn’t be able to stab me before I sank my teeth into her flesh.

“No!” Fane’s fury erupted through the air as he dashed for us and snatched the knife from Marissa.

Strong arms wrapped around my middle to jerk me off the female shifter.

What the ever-loving hell?

As someone dragged me from Marissa, adrenaline pumping through my bloodstream, I fought the powerful arms and plunged my teeth into her leg. Her scream rang through the atmosphere, and the coppery, briny tang of blood spilled over my tongue.

Before I could rip her limb clean off, I was lifted into the air, presumably by Saint. He and Fane were probably the only ones brave enough to get between my prey and me. A growl tore from my mouth, but I couldn’t break Saint’s hold in this form.

I shifted back to human, Saint cursing behind me as I tried to elbow him off.

“Just calm down, Tate.” His hold tightened, crushing me to his chest.

Now that Fane had secured the dagger, his attention jerked to us. Seeing me naked in another man’s arms triggered his primal instincts, his feral side, and he snapped .

“Get your fucking hands off her, Grimstone.”

Fane yanked me free, wrenched his black t-shirt off, and shoved it over my head to cover my bare body.

Marissa trembled on the ground, gripping her shredded leg and pouting like a spoiled brat. “Look what you did to me! You psycho.”

I dragged the back of my hand across my lips to wipe off her blood, though I probably just smeared it around. “I’d rather be a psycho than a coward who needs a silver dagger to win.”

She knew silver wouldn’t hurt me as much as it would hurt other shifters, but a few stab wounds would have slowed me down.

“I was only helping, Fane,” Saint said in a rough voice as his own animal side surfaced.

Angry heat throbbed from the demon shifter as he moved toward the other male. “I allow you to be around Tate.”

Oh, he allowed it? I was pretty sure I could make my own fucking decisions about who I spent time with.

Not the point, Tate.

I shook the thoughts off and marched toward the two alpha males as they faced off, silver eyes burning into a blue and a golden-brown one.

“I’m her fated mate, Maverick.” Saint bared his teeth. “I’ll be around her if I want. And I don’t intend to leave her once she’s healed, either, despite what you might believe.”

My lungs emptied with a whoosh as those words settled in the air like toxic smoke.

That was the wrong thing to say.

Fane’s irises smoldered and turned bloodred, like hellfire had taken them over. Slick black talons slid from his fingertips, and the jagged tattoos slashing across his arms and torso twitched, his beast scraping at the barrier .

“Make no mistake, Grimstone. Tate is mine.” He bumped his hard chest into Saint’s. “You will never come close to having what I have with her. She. Is. Mine . Always.”

Goose bumps prickled my skin as thick, choking tension filled the night around us.

Little animals scurried through the underbrush to get away from the two apex predators on the verge of a death battle.

Fane stood a few inches taller, and he was broader than Saint, but the alpha of Blackwater Falls showed no signs of backing down.

“You guys are being ridiculous,” I shouted, my hands trembling. “Back away from each other.”

This confrontation was not some little spat. The pressure had been building around Saint and Fane for weeks. Fane wanted me to heal, but deep down, he was not okay with watching someone else touch me, care for me, and share my bed.

It ate him up and tore his insides apart. And it was all coming to a head. He’d reached his breaking point.

Fane could no longer control the beast within.

“Do I need to fight for her?” Saint’s voice had become barely more than a growl as luminescent gold overwhelmed the silver of his irises.

Spikes protruded from Fane’s spine as his beast grabbed for the reins. “You will lose.”

Marissa chuckled under her breath and stood. She leaned against a trunk, blood oozing down her leg. “I told you Fane could never share you. He’s too possessive.”

My hands curled into fists, the longing to punch her. I wanted to rip out her tongue too, so she couldn’t speak.

“Fane, back off now!” I yelled into his mind, but he either didn’t hear me or had no intention of stopping .

“What the hell is going—” Camus burst through the tree, his words cutting off as he surveyed the scene.

He must have felt the waves of fury and tension rippling from the area. When he noticed Marissa, his lips thinned.

“Do something, Camus,” I hissed. “You’re the alpha here.”

As vicious snarls erupted from Fane and Saint, panic slashed at my heart, and I could hardly breathe.

Camus marched toward them, lethal canines flashing in his mouth as he halted a few feet away. “Stop. Now! ”

Alpha power throbbed around the command and infiltrated the air, prickling my flesh. But it didn’t even faze the two shifters. Camus wasn’t their alpha, so he couldn’t command them, especially since Saint led his own pack. Fane, well, he was in a different category altogether.

Claws extended from Saint’s fingers, and fur sprouted on his neck while Fane remained still, just waiting. His beast would allow his opponent time to shift.

The fight still wouldn’t be fair. Fane’s demon wolf would shred Saint apart.

“You’ll have to do something, Tate.” Camus flicked his hands toward them. “Or someone is dying tonight.”

A few choice words burst from between my teeth as I motioned Camus out of the way and shoved the two guys. Or at least I tried. They didn’t budge.

I was so damn tired of being the reason people were fighting or dying or being tortured.

My life was turned upside down these last few years, and that nineteen-year-old kid who wished for a chance at redemption had been a pawn between leaders, a vessel for dark power, and now the weight of so many lives rested directly on her shoulders.

My shoulders .

And these two decided now was a perfect time to have a pissing contest, with me as the prize.

Obviously, the situation was a little more complicated than that, and they had every right to be hurt and angry, but I just couldn’t handle any more shit.

As rage pummeled my insides, my own alpha power bubbled forward. If Camus couldn’t break them apart, what made him think I could? I wasn’t an actual alpha.

But I was different.

Maybe it was because Fane bit me or because of the spell those witches did to hide me when I was a baby. Hell, having the Infernal Sol for so long had irrevocably changed me.

I slammed a hand on each of them and let the power building inside me burst out like a bomb. “ Enough! ”

Saint broke away and winced, his claws and fur instantly vanishing. Marissa dropped to the ground, even though I didn’t direct the command to her. Even Camus flinched.

But Fane wasn’t affected like the others. He did, however, step back and retract his spikes and claws all on his own.

“You two can’t start fighting,” I snapped. “We have more important things to worry about than who has the bigger claim on me.”

“He doesn’t have any actual claim at all,” Fane grunted.

Saint’s lips thinned. “Yeah, but I’m?—”

“Stop! Both of you.” I pulled a few stray leaves out of my hair. “This is a seriously screwed-up situation, and maybe we should just find another way for me to heal, if it’s even possible.”

“No!” Saint lifted his hands in surrender, the anger draining from his eyes as they cooled to silver. “I promise. No more fighting. I’ll back down if it happens again. Just don’t give up on healing. ”

Fane gave a sharp nod, and then his ghostly form detached from his body, stood behind me, and rested his hands on my shoulders. He stayed silent as he lowered his head and kissed the tattoo on my neck.

Shivers raked down my body from head to toe, and I swallowed back a moan. The demon shifter wouldn’t apologize, mostly because he wasn’t sorry. We were claimed by each other, and he could take only so much before he lost all sense of control.

How could I blame him? When Marissa tried to kiss him, I was ready to kill her.

“Stay away from Saint for the rest of the night, Fane,” I said through our mental link. “I can’t trust that one little smirk from him won’t set you off again.”

“I’ll steer clear. Because any hint of a cocky smile would most definitely bring out my beast.”

Now that the threat of the two alpha males killing each other had vanished—for now—Camus turned his glower on his daughter.

“I’ve had enough of your bullshit, Marissa. Your mother has literally lost her mind, and you still want to act like a brat instead of helping.”

She jerked a finger to her bloody leg. “Look what she did to me?”

“And I’m sure you provoked her by going after him.” He motioned toward Fane. “You rejected him years ago, but the moment he came here with her, you have been trying to assert your claim, however nonexistent it is.”

A blush colored her cheeks, and she pushed off the tree. “Fane was mine first and?—”

“You are banished from this pack.”

The angry flush drained from Marissa’s face, leaving a sickly pallor behind. Barric banished her from Georgia once, but that didn’t stick. And this was her own father.

“Y-You can’t do that.”

“I just did.” A look of pure disappointment twisted his expression as he shook his head. “You will leave and find your actual mate. You and Dorian will work things out. Once you do, you can return with your mate. If you can’t do that, find some other pack to join.”

Was that harsh?

Yeah.

Did she deserve it?

Hell yeah.

Camus gripped his daughter’s arm and pulled her through the trees. When her head angled in my direction, he growled.

“This is not her fault, Marissa,” he said. “You need to take responsibility for your own actions instead of blaming everyone else around you.”

Without another word, I stooped and snatched my clothes and boots from the ground. My heart broke for Saint and Fane, and the guilt eating away at me for this whole mess would make me sicker than the Infernal Sol would.

I marched through the woods and back into the clearing, ignoring the stares that followed. As I passed Reese’s chair, her hand shot out and gripped my arm.

“It’s not fully protected,” she whispered, her eyes wide and alert. “You have a key to the gate.”

My heart screeched to a halt. “What are you talking about?”

“You have a key to the gate,” Reese repeated. “It’s not completely impenetrable like he believes.”

“Are you talking about gaining access to the manor?” We already knew I could do that, but something deep down— instinct, maybe—told me Reese’s crazy ramblings meant something else.

She shook her head, and then the clarity faded from her gaze. Reese released my arm and slumped back in the chair as if she didn’t just spout some cryptic message about the Infernal Sol.

I had a key? To what?