Page 4 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Three

The hatred spilling from Amelia infiltrated my nostrils and soaked through my bloodstream as she growled, poised to kill me.

“I knew you were trouble the moment you stepped into Mohan Wilds.” The gas lanterns along the stone walls cast an eerie glow in her irises as they melted from emerald to gold. “Camus is a fool to have let you in.”

“You’re a fool for trusting Barric and believing in this racist Collective bullshit.” My bitter laugh echoed down the corridor. “Do you really think he gives a damn about any of you?”

Her chin rose, dark strands of hair sliding against her sharp cheekbones. “He’s the only one looking out for shifters—real shifters.”

I tried to shove her off, but claws sprouted from her fingertips and dug into my shoulders as she held me against the wall.

“Real shifters?” I asked. “He’s got you living in the Underworld, performing demonic rituals. You all seem more like demons than shifters. What’s next? He’ll have you sucking down souls?”

“This is the only way to get what we want.” She shrugged. “Sacrifices must be made.”

Amelia had always been a callous bitch, but the blind trust she had—they all had—in Barric was terrifying. He could do no wrong in their eyes. The guy was a cult leader, and they were his loyal followers who’d burn in hell just to please him.

“Would Dominic have agreed to all of this?” Her son didn’t seem like the type to play follow the leader, no matter who that leader was.

Amelia’s lip curled back in a snarl, revealing those sharp canines again. “You don’t have the right to speak of my son. You’re the reason he’s dead.”

“He tried to kill me.” I struggled in her grasp, her claws puncturing my flesh. “Maybe if you weren’t so wrapped up in The Collective, you could have warned him not to do something as stupid as piss off Fane. In a way, your son’s death is your fault.”

“You stupid hybrid freak.” Amelia snatched me from the wall and tossed me down the corridor.

Pain ricocheted through my hip when I hit the ground, my teeth clenching against a groan. I scrambled to my feet and ignored the fireworks erupting through my body.

“I struck a nerve.” That was my intention, hoping she’d shift and me a few moments to escape.

“My loyalty to Barric has limits, Tate. I’m not his mindless slave.” Pops and cracks resounded as Amelia began to shift into her wolf form, her ears elongating and russet fur sprouting along her hands. “Plus, I can permanently maim you without killing you.”

She bolted forward, her sharp claws raised toward my face .

I dropped to the floor and flipped her over my back, but she landed on all fours, not the least bit fazed.

Shit!

Maybe I overcompensated and pissed her off a little too much.

I shot to my feet and sprinted down the hallway as my heart crashed against my ribs. Only seconds passed before Amelia was on my tail, her hot breath skating down my sweaty nape.

“There’s no escaping, Tate.” Her voice came out in a gravelly rumble, the words distorted by the change taking over her body, but she hadn’t fully committed to transforming yet.

Why wouldn’t she shift?

A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and she whipped me around, slamming her fist into my cheek. Stars exploded in my vision, and I plummeted to the ground again, my skull cracking on the hard stone. Roxie’s keys fell from my grasp.

Son of a bitch.

The copper taste of blood spilled into the back of my mouth as a weight pressed against my chest. When I opened my eyes, sharp teeth, dripping with saliva, eclipsed my sight.

“You’ll pay for your part in my son’s death.” Amelia’s knee dug into my sternum. “You and that lowlife Fane Maverick.”

Golden irises seared into mine, and something about them poured chills down my spine. It wasn’t the fury in them but the ice-cold darkness clinging to the outskirts of the gold, like shadows attempting to overwhelm everything.

Amelia opened her mouth and leaned forward, attempting to bite my throat.

She wasn’t thinking about her loyalty to Barric right now. He wanted me alive for some reason, but she’d rather sink those teeth into me and tear my head off .

I headbutted her nose, and a satisfying crack echoed, a savage snarl following. Warmth leaked onto my cheeks as blood dripped from her nostrils.

Ugh, gross.

Before she recovered, I punched her thigh, and the weight on my chest vanished long enough for me to roll out from under her. My boots dug into the stone ground as I scrambled up and dashed around a corner.

My arms and legs pumped, the Malbraxis manacles shaking on my wrists.

Please let the doors be unlocked.

A short flight of stairs appeared up ahead, but as soon as my foot hit the first step, claws snagged my shirt, and someone yanked me back.

Air burst from my lungs when I crashed into a solid form and then tumbled to the ground. My pulse shot through the stratosphere as Amelia snatched my ankle and dragged me toward her.

My fingers raked over the floor, willing my talons to make an appearance, but the cuffs had my shifter and demon side muted.

“Get off of me!” I gritted my teeth as Amelia flipped me over, her face in a horrifying transition between human and wolf.

And something else.

She didn’t look right.

“Fuck Barric’s rule.” Her jaws snapped, spit flying across my cheek. “I’d rather kill you and pay the consequences.”

Amelia shoved my head sideways into the ground as she lurched forward, her teeth skimming my throat.

And then someone jerked her off me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jax, Barric’s beta, hauled the female shifter farther from me, his grip on her arm so tight his knuckles showed white.

“She tried to escape. I was only subduing her.” A sinister smile curved her mouth. “With a little extra force.”

“Bullshit,” Jax spat, releasing her. “You were moments away from ripping Tate’s throat out. You know we need her alive.”

My brow arched as I wiped Amelia’s disgusting saliva off my face and neck. They needed me? Barric wanted me alive, but I thought it was just so he could torment me himself.

Ice coiled over my body, prickling my nape.

They needed me.

For what?

“How did she get out in the first place?” Jax asked, pushing back golden curls as he studied me.

Amelia withdrew Roxie’s keys from her pocket as her features slowly became human again. “She had these.”

The beta’s amber eyes narrowed, and he cursed under his breath. “Fucking Roxie.”

“That raven is unpredictable and untrustworthy.” Amelia smoothed her gray sweater and licked my blood off her fingertips. “She probably gave Tate the keys.”

A laugh burst out of my mouth as I sat up, the fight draining out of me. I couldn’t fight them both with injuries and these damn cuffs.

“She was focused on torturing your other prisoner,” I said. “His screams drowned out my escape, and she left her keys on the ground, so I grabbed them.”

Roxie was just as bad as The Collective, but at least Ruin had an effect on her. And he seemed to be on my side. For now, anyway .

Jax snatched the keys from Amelia. “Go upstairs and cool off. Not a word of this to Barric or he’ll kill you.”

Her lips thinned, but she heeded his command and stormed past us, nearly stomping on my legs.

Jax turned to me and reached out to help me up. “Shall we?”

I slapped his hand away and climbed to my feet, choking back the hisses and groans from the sharp stabs of pain. “Just take me back to my cell.”

Roxie and Ruin couldn’t still be going at it.

Maybe Jax wouldn’t care.

A crooked smile tugged at his lips despite my sour tone. “Not yet. Lucky for you, I was on my way to the dungeon to retrieve you.”

“For what?”

“Your father has requested your presence.”

My stomach dropped as his words sank in and the casual way he’d referred to Barric as my father, like it was all out in the open now.

That bastard was as much my father as those creepy foster men were.

Jax’s fingers curled around my upper arm, and he directed me through the corridors. “Things wouldn’t be so bad if you cooperated—just a little.”

“Right, because Barric has such a soft spot for me that he’d overlook the fact that I’m technically a bitten wolf.” I scoffed. “And he blames me for his mate’s death.”

“You might have been born human, but you still have his blood and genes.” The beta scrutinized me out of the corner of his eye. “And you have alpha power. The sheer strength you possess makes a difference to him. You’re not some weakling.”

“And yet I’m dying because of the very amulet he has around his neck.” I peered at Jax, who looked a little thinner and paler than he used to be. “Unless he plans to offer me this so-called cure.”

Jax stared straight ahead as we turned another corner. “Maybe if you cooperate.”

As we stepped through a set of double doors and the familiar gothic décor unfurled around me, my head swam with memories I’d rather forget. Karn’s grand room had been rebuilt, probably with Roman’s magic.

Images of my time here, where my journey with the Infernal Sol started, washed over me, and ice trickled down my back.

Everything from the curling staircase to the iron balcony to the shades of red and stark black was the same.

My boots squeaked on the glossy black-and-white flooring, and I could practically hear the crowd of demons cheering when I fought those two humans.

But Karn wasn’t sitting on the throne of bone and metal now. Barric was, a leer twisting his mouth and sending prickles across my scalp. The same jewel-encrusted chalice dangled from his hand.

“What took you so long?” Barric’s voice boomed through the cavernous room, rattling my teeth.

Jax gave a careless shrug. “We took the scenic route.”

Barric clocked the injuries peppering my body and the blood staining my clothes, and he lifted his nose in the air, sniffing. “I expected to smell Roxie on you—she does love torturing—but why is Amelia’s scent mixed in?”

“We had a little chat on the way here.” Sarcasm oozed out of my every word. “She’s still touchy over her son’s death.”

He sipped from the chalice, stood, and rolled his shoulders, the crystal chandelier and lanterns along the walls glinting on the copper strands in his russet hair.

“Keep an eye on Amelia, Jax. She’s loyal, but her temper is uncontrollable.

I don’t trust her not to snap and do something regrettable. ”

Jax and I traded glances as Barric walked toward a sleek black table on the left, large enough to stretch out on. The Collective Hunt’s symbol—a tree with twisted branches extending on the top and roots growing on the bottom—was carved into the table’s wood.

The beta shook his head, motioning for me to remain quiet about the attack.

Why should I? If Barric killed Amelia for disobeying his orders, that was one less enemy on my back.

“Would you like the cure, Tate?”

My head jerked toward Barric as he loomed at the table, his fingers dragging over a stack of books and a few rolls of parchment.

“Is there one?” I asked.

He angled toward me, a grin curling his lips. “Of course there is.”

My heart gave a hard thump, but I didn’t trust him. He could have been bluffing or screwing with me. “What is it?”

Barric slowly withdrew the blood-red amulet from beneath his gray button-down shirt, sending my pulse into a frantic dance. “The Infernal Sol’s knowledge is greater than I could have imagined.”

The sight of that stone sent hot waves cresting over my shoulders and down my back. Fire coursed through my bloodstream, and the urge to hold the Infernal Sol, to have it in my grasp again, fogged my brain. It took everything in me not to lift my arm toward the damn thing.

You’re mine! How could you betray me and pick him?

When I heard nothing, I gritted my teeth, a snarl rumbling in my throat .

Answer me!

But no response came.

Barric’s taunting chuckle echoed through the room. “Oh, Tate, you’re so desperate to have the amulet back. I can’t say I blame you. It is intoxicating.”

I crossed my arms and breathed through the craving. “Did you bring me out here to tease me, Barric, or do you actually have a cure?”

And if he did, what did he want in return?

Jax strode toward the table, grabbing a silver bowl and a decorative dagger. “Are you sure about this, boss?”

When Barric nodded, Jax approached me.

I took a step back as cold fear slid down every vertebra. “What’s that for?”

Jax stopped a few feet away but didn’t stab me. “We need something from you.”

Barric stroked the amulet, keeping his distance as if he feared I’d try to snatch it off him. “I need your blood.”

My brow furrowed as I stared at the two shifters. “So just take it? You can find some on the dungeon floor.”

“It must be given willingly for this ritual,” Barric said.

Jax flipped the dagger around and offered me the hilt. “Give us your blood for the cure.”

“I’d rather die than help you with whatever sadistic ritual you want to perform.” I contemplated snatching the dagger and stabbing Jax, but Barric would be on me in seconds.

Barric withdrew a phone from his pocket and tapped at the screen. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

The double doors burst open as Wes and his son Torin brought in another shifter, bound in chains and gagged.

“Meet my backup plan.”

Barric’s words were blades to my heart as their captive shuffled forward. Dried blood stained her blonde hair, coated the side of her face, and speckled her tan sweater.

“Enid!” As I darted toward her, Jax gripped my arm and hauled me back.

My knees threatened to buckle under the weight of the realization crushing me, and every breath felt like inhaling glass. Enid was the shifter who starred in my recent vision as The Collective chased her through Blackwater Falls.

“Willingly give me your blood,” Barric said. “Or Saint’s mother will be my next sacrifice.”