Page 33 of Savage Sacrifice (The Savage Six #4)

TATUM

R eturning to campus means leaving a part of my heart and soul in Florida with the girl who is my everything.

I can’t stand it. The second my feet touched campus ground once more, I vowed to bring this to an end as soon as possible.

Which is why I’m sitting outside the wolf dorm at three o’clock in the morning.

My gaze drifts to my bedroom window, the pull of exhaustion begging me to rise to my feet and finally get some rest, but I can’t go back on the promise I made to myself and I silently made to Polaris. It doesn’t matter if she knows it or not; I do, and that’s enough.

I’ve been watching Bryony like a hawk, just as we agreed.

The others insist I’m taking it too far, well, apart from Blaze, who was with me until an hour ago, but I don’t think it’s far enough.

If it were up to me, I would have her locked in the alpha office so we could grill her, but Minnie insisted that I not act so feral.

The woman in question is inside the wolf building right now, presumably asleep in Minnie’s room, but my gut has me hiding under the night sky, watching, waiting, claiming the shadows while I lurk like a creeper.

It’s been three days since we left the farmhouse and came home. Without Polaris. Three days, and Bryony hasn’t stepped a foot out of line. It’s the same process, I’m lacking sleep, but if there’s something off and she’s as straight as an arrow in the daytime, then something has to give eventually.

I crack my neck from side to side, rising to my feet to lean against the large tree behind me. Maybe I should have called time on my stakeout when Blaze did, but something is off, and my determination to find out what it is overrules everything else.

My bedroom window calls to me once again, but I shake it off when the creak of door hinges cuts through the night air. I freeze, fighting against the instinctive urge to take a step back. I don’t want to make a single noise, regardless of the cause of the sound.

Lo and behold, though, when I cast my gaze toward the sound of the noise, it’s the front door of the wolf dorm, and the person awake and sneaking out at this time? Bryony.

My jaw falls slack with surprise. I was certain I was making it all up in my head, but why on Earth would she be sneaking out at this time of night? Or morning, if we’re being specific?

I sweep my tongue over my bottom lip, watching as she wraps a coat around her shoulders, shielding herself from the chill as she takes the winding path away from the wolf building.

She doesn’t look angry or like she’s been crying, which tells me that Minnie is okay and likely doesn’t even know she left. I hope, at least.

Regardless, I keep to the shadows, walking along the treeline as I follow after her.

She’s skittish, looking over her shoulder a time or two before she slips down the sandy path that heads to the witches’ dorm.

Maybe she’s just going back for the night.

Maybe I really am being ridiculous.

Maybe I should get the sleep I need.

Wiping a hand down my face, I stay on her tail, following my gut as I keep to the dark corners, watching as she approaches the witches’ building.

I’m ready to leave, but instead of slipping through the double doors as I expect, she makes her way around the side of the property.

The hiding spots are limited around this side, but it’s clear she’s heading downstairs, not up, and if Blaze’s facts about the vampire’s basement are true, then I don’t get the best feeling from the witches’ one either.

I quickly pull out my cell phone, tapping out a message to the group chat. I double-check it’s the one without Polaris before I hit send. I don’t want her worrying about any of this until it’s necessary.

Tatum: Bryony is out. Following. I’ll keep you up to date.

Before I can think better of it, I hurry across the grounds toward the door that remains open and find a set of stone steps leading down.

Ominous as fuck.

Great.

I’m probably walking myself to my own death, but for Polaris, it’s worth it.

Staying close to the edge of the steps, my footsteps go untracked as I dive deeper into the basement. It’s cold, colder than outside, but it’s the whispered voices that send a chill down my spine as I approach the bottom of the stairs.

My pulse quickens instantly, and I have to force myself to relax to hear over the thrumming in my ears.

There are three doors down here: one straight ahead and one on each side, veering off to the left and right. The one on the right has a light shining from underneath it, silently confirming that’s where the whispers are coming from.

Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I try the door to the left, and it silently opens to reveal a dark cleaning closet.

I slip inside, hiding among the shelves filled with cleaning products, old wooden ladders, and a vacuum.

With my back pressed firmly against the wall beside the door, I close my eyes and let my wolf senses take over.

Two deep breaths, and it feels like they’re here in this room talking right in front of me.

“I’m about done with your lack of progress, Bryony,” a man snarls, frustration burning in every word. “One job, you’ve had one job, and your lack of conviction has me wondering if it would be better to choose an alternate route,” he adds, a tinge of despair lacing his threat.

“I’m not slacking, I’m doing exactly as is expected of me, but it takes time. Infiltrating a group of people isn’t as easy as telling someone to do it,” she chides back, and my nostrils flare with anger at what she’s insinuating.

Infiltrating people, as in infiltrating our group, or Polaris specifically? Either way, I don’t fucking like it.

“We haven’t come all this way for you to let us down now. Everything will crumble if you don’t put an end to it,” the man warns again, and I try to place his voice. It’s so familiar, but I can’t quite visualize who it belongs to.

“Everything has been crumbling for a very long time, Father, and if it does, it won’t be from my lack of trying, so aim your blame elsewhere,” Bryony snaps back, and I stiffen.

Father?

How would I recognize her father’s voice?

Not unless he’s on campus, maybe?

Fuck.

“I’ll aim it where it’s deserved. The time, effort, and energy that have gone into you being the one to be the crutch will have been in vain if you don’t live up to your promise.

We’ve followed your direction for long enough.

Hiding the fact that you are a center witch and it almost killing you will be the least of your worries if you don’t get control of the situation. ”

My mind swirls with the endless possibilities of what he means as Bryony huffs in frustration.

“We both know I went through that pain to try and get her under our control. Don’t doubt my methods.”

“Your failures, you mean.”

“If I were failing, I wouldn’t still be deep in her coven group.

I wouldn’t sleep beside her best friend at night.

I wouldn’t wear the blood kin mark of Lincoln fucking James, one of her men, and I certainly wouldn’t know her whereabouts.

” Each sentence is spoken like a cannon blast, threatening to floor me as my hands clench at my sides.

Acid burns in my throat. The truth is always so bittersweet. I need to know it, we all do, but that doesn’t take the sting out of it.

She’s played us.

For what, I’m not entirely sure, but she’s part of something bigger than anything I can wrap my head around.

“You found her?” Disbelief clings to his question, and I can almost picture the smug look on Bryony’s face.

“I have.”

“Where is she? Let’s go right now,” he orders, but Bryony doesn’t rise to his command.

“No. There’s much more at play here. I’ve played my hand in helping them this far; if we can hold out a little longer, it won’t just be them we take down, but the original six themselves.”

“What?”

“You heard me, Father. Show me some patience, and I will make sure the power will forever be in our hands. No more factions doing as they please, no more freedom at the end of it all. Pure control, raw rage, and self-destruction. It will be ours, just as The Renegades have thought for all this time. It’s time the witches took the rightful control of this world. ”

Silence dances in the air for a moment, her vengeance ringing out for not only her father to hear, but me too. Swallowing it down is difficult, but I force it.

“Don’t fail me now, Bryony,” her father finally murmurs, and footsteps begin to echo across the hallway.

Reluctant to get trapped in here against my will, I slip through the door and take the steps two at a time before lurching around the corner of the building, giving myself a sliver of a view as I hide.

Thirty seconds pass before a figure appears and fury coils in my veins.

Professor Whitmore.

Her father is Professor Whitmore.

He looks left and right, not bothering to turn far enough my way before he saunters into the night. I bare my teeth, anger vibrating through my limbs, pleading with me to slaughter him here and now.

It seems one death on my hands isn’t enough for my wolf.

Pressing my back against the wall, I give myself a moment to calm down. Two moments. Three before I take my cell phone out. Two messages are waiting for me.

Wylder: You’re insane.

Minnie: Let me know.

Did she wake from her leaving or because of my message? Regardless, I quickly tap a text out before stuffing my cell phone back in my pocket.

Tatum: Witches’ dorms. Now.

The creak of a door closing cuts through the air and I lurch into action.

I watch as Bryony closes the door behind her, pushing her hair back off her face with a heavy sigh. I bite back the scoff on my tongue. She looks like she’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders.

My world.

Polaris’s world.

I know more than I did yesterday, but there are still pieces to the puzzle we’re missing.

“It’s a little late for sneaking around, wouldn’t you say, Bryony?” My voice cuts through the air, making her startle.

Her eyes are wide under the moonlight as she spins around to face me. The panic in the tightness of her jaw quickly slackens as she acts indifferent.

“Tatum, uh, what are you doing here?” she asks, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind her ears, and I raise my brow at her.

“I would ask you the same question, but I think I already have my answer.”

She plasters a fake smile on her lips as she takes a confident step toward me. “I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to disturb Minnie so I thought I would get some air,” she explains, and I nod, forcing my limbs to relax, as if I believe her likely story.

“Restless?” I ask, and she smiles, humming in agreement.

“What are you doing out here so late?” she quizzes, bundling her coat around her waist as I shrug.

“My wolf needed to stretch his limbs,” I offer, lying through my teeth, and I can’t decide if she believes it or not.

It doesn’t matter either way, not when I see a flash of movement from behind her.

“Maybe we should both try and get some sleep then,” she offers, and I stuff my hands into my pockets, rocking back on my heels.

“I don’t think we’re going to be getting sleep any time soon,” I breathe, watching her eyebrows furrow.

“Why’s that?” she asks, pressing her palm against her coat pocket, and her eyes widen in panic as she notices the usual bulge missing since the little pickpocket behind her stole it.

“Because I know what you’ve been up to,” I state, nodding to the door she departed from a moment ago.

She follows the direction, but now there’s something between her and the door in question. Or more specifically, some one .

Minnie purses her lips, dangling Bryony’s velvety pouch of sand in the air. “It looks like you’ve got some explaining to do.”