Page 8 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

When he passed the cup, his chains dragged along the ground. The Collective wasn’t taking any chances with him. Ruin was a high demon, and he had plenty of power to throw around, a point he made with Roxie earlier when he easily broke the loop binding him to the ground.

“Thanks.” I took the cup, giving Ruin a soft smile .

His shoulders relaxed at the gesture, and he sat back on his haunches.

I turned away and hurried to the other side of my cell. No matter how much pain and torture he endured, I had to remember who and what Ruin was.

A bad guy.

A villain.

“My name is Tate.” I folded onto my knees and passed her the cup. “What’s yours?”

“Alicia.” She sipped the water and sighed. Beads of sweat clung to her olive skin, and her cobalt t-shirt and jeans, tight against her curvy body, sported a few rips and tears.

“Do you remember how you got here?”

Lines developed across her forehead beneath messy strands of hair. “I was on my way to meet my mate when I had the strangest urge to go elsewhere. And then these creatures in black robes and masks surrounded me.”

“That was The Collective,” Enid said.

Alicia’s mouth parted again. “The Collective Hunt?”

“Yep.” Saint’s mom wrapped her fingers around the bars, her sky-blue eyes piercing the dungeon’s shadows. “Or at least they used to be. I don’t know what the hell this group is now.”

Demonic, maybe.

“My mate must be going nuts. I just got him back from that horrible hellhole in the Underworld.” After taking another sip, Alicia’s hand began trembling so badly she had to set the cup down. “Knox and I were on our way to?—”

As her words and the name registered, my hand shot through the bars and grabbed her wrist. “Knox? He got out of Heldrok?”

Her head snapped back. “Do you know him?”

“I was there. He helped me.” A humorless laugh slipped out of my mouth. “Knox had Fane deliver a message to you, that he would get out one way or another.”

“You’re that Tate?”

Besides Maddie and Fane, Knox had been my only other friend in the Underworld prison. He’d tried to warn me that Barric was a racist piece of shit, but I didn’t listen.

My stomach plummeted like I was on a roller coaster, and numbness crept through my limbs. Capturing Alicia wasn’t a coincidence. When Barric wouldn’t allow Knox to turn her, his own mate, he left Silver Ridge and joined another pack for her.

I cursed, resisting the urge to punch something, since everything near me was either stone or iron. Instead, I made my way back to Ruin and knelt in front of him.

Please let him be lucid enough to answer me.

“Ruin, have you ever heard of the Admordum Nexia Covenant?”

His head tilted in thought. “It sounds familiar, but I can’t remember the details.”

“I heard Barric, Jax, and Roman talking. Apparently, it’s what they’re gearing up for, doing these sacrifices and siphoning your power.” My fingers curled around the bars, my knuckles turning white. “Please try to remember, Ruin. They need me and the Infernal Sol for it.”

After a few moments of Ruin silently staring off into space, combing through all the knowledge in his mind, his mouth parted. And the color drained from his face.

“Fuck.”

My breath hitched. “What is it?”

When his gaze met mine, the trepidation in them had me shivering. “It’s a ritual fueled by an ancient demonic relic and the sacrifice of a living conduit tied to that dark power. ”

Chills broke out over my flesh, radiating all the way to my bones. “The Infernal Sol is the relic, and I’m the sacrifice.”

Ruin nodded. “The ritual can magically connect living creatures that share a unique quality or characteristic and manipulate them all at once.”

“They’ll use the Infernal Sol and me to…” My words trailed off, and I crashed back on my ass as the realization hit me like a thousand flaming arrows piercing my body.

Oh. My. God.

“Tell me I heard you wrong.” Enid’s voice shook as she reached the same conclusion as Ruin and me.

“They’re going to kill us all,” Alicia whispered. “Every single bitten shifter in one fell swoop.”

Ruin’s chains jingled as he jammed his hand through his hair. “Tate, you have to get the Infernal Sol away from Barric.”

“No shit.”

“You don’t understand. It has to be you.” He gripped the bars, his chest heaving. “You might be the only one who can take it off him.”

Ice swept through my veins, and frost converged over my spine until every vertebra froze solid. “Why me?”

“The amulet is too attached to him now, and it might kill anyone else who tries. It’s why I failed when taking it from you.” Ruin bared his teeth, his nostrils flaring. “Nadia lulled it with magic, but since she kept me out of the loop, I have no idea what spells she used.”

“But if Tate escapes, then Barric can’t use her for this ritual,” Enid said. “That sounds like a better, safer option for her.”

“You really think he’ll stop coming for her if she escapes?” Ruin’s grimace made the tiny shred of hope in me evaporate. “He could always find another ritual and cause more destruction along the way.”

My head bowed as if the weight of the world rested on my shoulders.

In a way, it did.

Ruin was right. I couldn’t run. And no one else could get the amulet from Barric. It was the reason Jax and Roman had to coax him to remove it.

“I have to be the one,” I muttered.

The high demon rubbed his forehead, wincing as if it hurt to think so hard. “Taking the amulet and reuniting it with the remaining piece poisoning you will most likely cure you. The Infernal Sol will protect its vessel.”

Protect its vessel. And steal all my control.

Arctic air rushed over me like I was standing in the center of a tundra overlooking an icy ocean. My feet teetered on the edge, the unbearable wind threatening to push me into the frigid waters. Eventually, I’d lose my balance and fall.

The sea would swallow me whole.

Stealing the Infernal Sol from Barric might cure me.

And it might destroy me.