Page 38 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Twenty-Five

My heart crashed against my rib cage with enough force to pulverize bone while Fane’s searing gaze set me ablaze.

I could hardly breathe, hardly think, as the hunger throbbing between us magnified.

Those rough, undeniably powerful hands gripping the metal railing, tendons popping, promised all kinds of delicious, mind-altering pain and pleasure.

I inhaled sharply as those phantom touches dragged down my front, and I felt the brief sting of teeth biting into my breast.

My body was not my own.

It belonged fully to the nightworlder looming above the club like a vengeful god.

Would he punish me for all the terrible things I’d done?

I certainly hoped so.

“I have to go.” The words dropped from my mouth in a shaky breath.

“Tate, wait.” Before I could take more than a step, Saint’s fingers circled my wrist to stop me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. ”

As I spun in his direction, the worry in his expression smothered some of the raging heat Fane’s presence ignited in me—but not enough to keep me there.

Why did Fate pick me for Saint? What did he do to deserve this shit situation? He was too good for me, and he should never be someone’s second choice.

“You didn’t do anything. I just need to… talk to Fane.”

Saint finally saw the demon shifter looming on the balcony, the bouncing lights flashing over his nose and lip piercing. Some of the lust fizzled from the alpha, and he released my wrist.

“I didn’t know he was here.”

Obviously or he wouldn’t have dared touch me like he had a few moments ago. Saint’s brows dipped, probably wondering why Fane hadn’t already stormed over here to kick his ass.

“Go ahead.” Saint dragged his hand through his damp locks. “I’ll be around here if you need me.”

I was such an asshole.

Why did I even let him dance with me?

Because you like him.

I shook the thought off and marched toward the balcony where Fane stood, looking almost exactly how he had the night we met. A shiver rippled down my spine as I made my way across the dance floor, waving at the girls as I passed.

Charla tried to grab me, but Alicia smacked her hand away and jerked her head toward Fane. My legs wobbled as I climbed the narrow stairs, my mind so focused on the demon shifter that the tight space didn’t faze me at all.

How could I think of anything else when that beast was only a few feet away and my entire body hummed faster with every step closer to him?

As I opened the door and entered the VIP section—black walls, chrome tables, leather couches, and ebony floors—the tension in the air was palpable. Fane pushed away from the balcony and approached me slowly, like a predator.

“You need to leave, or you’ll regret it, Teague.” A growl twisted around his words, and the hairs on my nape rose.

I crossed my arms and shrugged. “Why would I regret it?”

His eyes narrowed, and the tattoos on those thick, powerful arms twitched. “Because I’m not in the mood to argue with you. I just want to be left alone.”

“Then you shouldn’t have been watching me, Maverick.” I flicked my hand toward the dance floor. “Did you think I wouldn’t feel you touching me?”

Crimson flashed through his irises. “You were definitely feeling something.”

Heat bloomed in my cheeks, but I kept my chin high. “Were you jealous the first time you saw me in Wrath & Ruin?”

“I don’t remember that.”

The painting in his studio said otherwise.

“You were watching from the same balcony while I danced with Hawk.” I continued to close the distance between us until finally meeting him in the center of the room, his unruly dark hair falling across his forehead.

“I wanted to come up here, to know who you were and why the sight of you, a nightworlder, had fire roaring through my veins.”

Fane’s nostrils flared, and the inkling of his desire spilled into the bond. “Like I said, I don’t remember.”

“After seeing you up here tonight and remembering all those forbidden thoughts I’d had of you then, I couldn’t walk away again.” My fingers traced a line of scars down his arm. “Never again.”

Fane shoved my hand off. “Go find Saint.”

“Too bad I don’t take orders from you or anyone, Maverick.” I stepped so close that the tips of our boots met. “There’s a reason you call me fiera mika.”

“Little rebel.” His top lip lifted, a cross between a smirk and a snarl. “More like pain in my ass.”

“Well, this pain in your ass?—”

My words cut off as Fane moved too fast, backing me into a wall, those pupils thinning to diamonds.

“Go back to Saint,” he demanded, his teeth sharpening. “You were having a good time together.”

I shoved at his chest, like a solid wall of titanium, but he wouldn’t budge. “Stop pushing me toward him. I don’t want him.”

“Didn’t look like that a minute ago.” He grabbed my jaw, his nose running over my throat. “I smell him here, where he licked you.”

Flames burst over my flesh while a throbbing sensation began between my legs. I was equally ashamed and turned on. “So why don’t you get rid of his scent, cover it with yours?”

His knee forced my legs apart and rubbed my aching center. “Why do you have to tempt me so damn much? Why can’t you be with him and let him heal you?”

“We can find another way to get rid of this sickness,” I murmured, rocking my hips and letting the friction build. “It doesn’t have to be him.”

“No.” Fane pushed away, leaving me cold and trembling with need against the wall. “Let him scratch this fucking itch for you.”

Hot rage crashed over me, but it didn’t lessen the ache blooming deep in my core. “Why are you so adamant about this? When Saint held me away from Marissa after I shifted, you freaked out. And now you’re telling me to go have sex with him? ”

Fane’s massive fist slammed into the wall near my head, breaking easily through plaster and drywall. Bits of the materials rained on my boots, white particles speckling the black like snow.

“After I calmed down that night, I realized something,” he said.

My breaths grew ragged, anticipation crackling in the air. “What’s that?”

“I would rather share you with him than watch you die.”

As the words poured out of Fane’s mouth, each one another dagger to my heart, the desperation and anguish he tried to shield from me broke through his barriers. The urge to reach for him and take his pain wrapped around my neck, stealing my air.

But if I tried, he’d only raise those brick walls again and vanish into the shadows.

So instead, I plastered my palms to the icy wall behind me, my eyes burning with unshed tears. “I love you too much to be with anyone else.”

Fane’s clenched fists trembled by his sides as his nostrils flared like those of a wild animal on the verge of attacking. “And I love you too fucking much to be selfish, no matter how much I want to. No matter how much it hurts to see you with him.”

“Just tell me the truth, then,” I pleaded, my voice barely audible over the thudding music. “Tell me if you remember us before Kaspin’s spell.”

Fane’s lids lowered, those thick, sooty lashes creating half-moons on his cheeks. He stood there, his muscles tightening and chest heaving as a battle raged through his mind. My bottom lip quivered while I helplessly watched him struggle .

We’d been through so much, too much, together, and there might never be a perfect, peaceful life for us.

But I never wanted perfect. I just wanted him. More than I wanted air.

When Fane’s eyes finally opened, those blue and gold orbs seared all the way to my soul. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard.

“I remember,” he finally whispered. “I remember every fucking thing.”

Tremors raced through me, and if I hadn’t been leaning against the wall, I would have fallen. “Everything?”

“I remember the first moment I saw you on this very balcony. You were so fucking beautiful I couldn’t look away. Even when the enchanted bloodstone marked you as Warin’s killer, I still wanted to touch you, taste you, bury myself in you.”

“You did?” He’d certainly been good at pretending to hate me.

Well, we did hate each other, but that didn’t mean we didn’t want each other.

“I remember sinking my teeth into your throat to give you my shifter bite, and for the first time in my entire life, I didn’t feel alone. I would never be alone again. You would be with me.” He lifted my hand and held it to his chest, his heart racing. “ You would be here. Always.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks as memories of that night flooded my mind. “I never knew anyone could feel as lonely as I did until that moment.”

Fane stepped into me, pressing his body into mine as our noses brushed together. “The first time I heard your voice in my head, I was so pissed, but not because I hated the invasion. Not at all. I was ashamed of loving it so much, for wanting to hear it all day, every day.”

I took a ragged inhale, breathing in his familiar scent of warm fire, leather, and cinnamon. “Fane, I?—”

He pressed his finger to my lips to quiet me. “When that agrigon bit you and we had to race toward Logan’s, I was so scared of losing you. And it had nothing to do with the Infernal Sol being destroyed if you’d died.”

A sob slipped out of me, and I grabbed his shoulders, my fingers digging in. “What else did you lie about, Maverick? Are all these tattoos real, or do you paint them on to make your look more badass?”

His broken laugh made my heart ache. “I’ve loved you for a long time, Tate, much longer than you think.

That night in Heldrok wasn’t the first time I realized it.

” His forehead rested on mine, his hot breath teasing my lips.

“Maybe I’ve loved you since the moment we fought in the alley, when you unleashed that smartass mouth. ”

Unable to resist any longer, I lifted on my toes and found his lips. I kissed him with everything I had, telling him how much he meant to me. Fane wasn’t the sharing, emotional type, but he’d just poured his heart out to me. The least I could do was make damn sure he knew I felt the same.