Page 56 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

“Maybe I couldn’t fully heal you because of your bond with Fane.” Saint walked to the other side of the table and stood across from me. “You told me time and again that you two weren’t just mates. You have an unbreakable bond that nothing can come between. I tried and failed.”

“So much for being unbreakable.” I spun and slammed my fist into another table, denting it. “He’s fucking dying!”

“Maybe he’s right, Tate.” Wrath gingerly stepped toward me, pain etched across his features. “You and Fane are unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been alive a long time. Maybe you can heal him.”

Saint marched to my side of the table and gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Our bond is gone. There is only you and Fane now.”

“Uh, and the Infernal Sol,” Hawk said, his legs swinging back and forth as he sat on another table. “You are that ancient power now. That has to count for something.”

Ruin shrugged. “No one knows exactly what the Infernal Sol is capable of. If you can snap your little finger and make an entire room full of nightworlders go nuts, you can try to heal one little demon shifter hybrid.”

I brushed away my falling tears and turned toward Fane, my chest heaving with each weary breath. “Might as well try. Things can’t get any worse for him.”

Saint exhaled and then rested his hand on my shoulder. “Picture the wound healing and the poison vanishing, those black veins dissipating. Think about your bond and everything that tried and failed to pull you apart. Death will fail too.”

A million images of Fane and me during our tumultuous relationship rushed through my mind at warp speed. In the beginning, we fought each other and cursed the bond until we were blue in the face. Once we stopped hating each other long enough to let our true feelings shine, we fell hard and fast.

Nothing could have prepared us for what was to come. Instead of battling the bond, we battled to stay together. Fate tried a dozen ways to rip us apart, but nothing worked, not even fated mate bonds.

Not a damn thing.

Death would not succeed now.

Fane twitched, and his lips parted. I felt him all around me—his soul, his presence—and I welcomed him into my arms, where he belonged.

Our journey wasn’t over yet. It hadn’t even started.

I could do this.

The power was within me.

And Fane was mine .

The black veins faded from his skin, leaving only scars and tattoos. Air catapulted from my lungs, and with trembling fingers, I gently pried off a bandage.

The bullet wound slowly knit back together.

“It’s working,” I whispered, my vision blurring as tears burned in my eyes. “It’s working?—”

And then Fane started convulsing.

A scream burst from my mouth as his pain shot through the bond. “Fane!”

My world crumbled, and I couldn’t breathe. The agony falling on my shoulder weighed enough to splinter my legs. Soon, my knees would buckle from the force, and I’d shatter into a million pieces.

This was worse than Jayla’s death. This was worse than losing my innocence at the hands of monsters .

Relinquishing my control to the Infernal Sol to save Dylan didn’t bring the same terror to my veins.

I would rather relive the worst horrors of my life because none of them compared to this. None of them demolished my heart as much as watching Fane die.

If I survived his death, I wouldn’t be Tate anymore. I’d be someone else. Something else.

I’d let the darkness take me whole.

And suddenly everything was dark.

The lab vanished. My friends disappeared. And Fane was gone.

Everything was extinguished as a shroud of blackness blanketed my entire world. I was completely and utterly alone.

Alone.

Where was Fane?

“Fane!” I spun, unable to tell left from right or up from down, cold panic raking across my chest. “Fane! Where are you?”

I screamed his name a dozen times, spinning this way and then that way until I was lost.

Lost.

And alone.

Then a tiny beacon of light materialized within the shadows, and my heart thundered a frantic beat as I ran toward it. A shape formed out of that pinprick of existence, like a tiny star coming into creation in an empty universe.

My feet halted as the huge shape finished forming, and the air was ripped from my lungs. Fane sat in a wooden chair, his shoulders drooping and head bowed.

“Fane!”

His head jerked up as I ran toward him, those beautiful eyes widening. “Tate? What are you doing here? ”

I threw myself into his arms, savoring his scent of fire, cinnamon, and leather.

“Where are we?” I asked through broken sobs.

Fane gently pushed me back, blinking at me as he wiped tears from my cheeks. “I think I’m dead.”

“Not yet.” At least I hoped not.

Was death really just darkness and nothing else? Weren’t you supposed to be with your loved ones who crossed over?

And then it dawned on me.

I was inside Fane’s mind, deeper than I’d ever been before. This was one of his worst fears—that he would spend eternity alone.

How did he become trapped in a fear? Did the mystical properties of Coltrane’s bullet cause this? Or was this the work of the ancient demon power within me attempting to save Fane’s life?

Maybe breaking him out of this fear trance was all I had to do to save him.

“You don’t belong here, Fane.”

His head lowered, black hair falling across his face. “Of course I do. This is where I go when I die.”

I shook him. “You’re not dead yet. You’re trapped in a fear.”

“Fear. Yes. I am afraid.” He explored the black ground, an impenetrable veil of darkness.

Sharp, agonizing pain sliced my heart open as he fell further into his fear. All the hope and light drained out of him, leaving only despair and anguish.

This would not be his end. I wouldn’t allow it.

Fury swelled through my system, melting the ice and bringing fire to my veins. Crying wouldn’t snap Fane out of this nightmare before he died.

“You promised you would never leave me.” My teeth gritted, and I grabbed his jaw, forcing him to meet my stare. “Are you going to break your promise, Maverick?”

A tiny ember of anger crackled inside him. “I don’t want to leave you, but I don’t have a choice.”

I swallowed hard, my fingers digging into his chin. “You promised you’d always be with me to make sure I didn’t fall too far, that I didn’t lose myself to the power now flowing through me.”

Fane snatched my hand off his face and jerked me so hard I fell into his lap. “How am I supposed to get out of here? I don’t even know where here is.”

My pulse spiked as the life slowly returned to him, his rage pushing more of the despair and fear to the background.

That’s it, Fane. Keep fighting.

I kissed him, nibbling hard on his bottom lip until he groaned, and I tasted blood. “Take my hand, Maverick. I’ll lead you out.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” he asked, his breaths quickening and desire mixing with the anger.

“Then I’ll stay here in the dark with you forever.”

From the moment Fane Maverick bit me, I knew we would never be alone, not even in death. If he was trapped in this fear for eternity, then I would be too.

But that didn’t mean I’d stop trying.

I climbed out of his lap and offered my hand to him, my heart thundering again. “What’s it going to be, Maverick?”

As I held my breath, the air crackling and hope bubbling in my center, I poured all my love and strength into the bond. His mismatched eyes drilled into mine, his soul clinging to every ounce of courage flowing between us.

For once, I could be his savior, his beacon guiding the way to safety through a violent tempest. This time, I found him, and I would never let go.

Fane stood, a terrifying and intoxicating mix of beauty and pain, and he wrapped his hand around mine. “Lead the way, fiera mika.”