Page 28 of Savage Hunt

He slowly licked his lips. “This just makes everything easier too.” His fingertips brushed my neck again as he pulled the strings loose…

“Tate. Tate,” a feminine voice hissed as someone shook me.

I bolted upright and swung my fist at the figure above me, hitting only air. I scrambled out of bed and growled as my nightmares and reality collided.

Where am I? Who’s here? What’s happening?

Screams echoed and blood, sweat, and fear poured into my nostrils. I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from vomiting.

Long, raven hair curtained a pale face. “It’s me, Maddie.” She lifted her hands in surrender and took another step back, leaning against the bars. “The guards moved you into my cell, remember?”

I took in the surroundings as my recent memories flooded forward, but the sickening ones lingered like a sour aftertaste. Laughter from the kids in the pool pounded in my skull as my innocence was stolen time and again.

Many days were spent crying in the bottom of the shower.

But I couldn’t let that sick bastard touch the younger ones. They could still make it out of that place in one piece. Once Mr. Bowden realized my weakness, he used it against me to make me compliant.

The urge to claw my skin off ravaged my system, and my nails dug into my arms.

Something warm stirred in my chest, a presence attempting to comfort me.

My inner wolf.

A sharp intake of air filled my lungs. I hadn’t felt that presence since before we were taken to Heldrok.

I was a shifter. And a trained raven. Anyone who tried to hurt me like that again wouldn’t do so easily. I’d fight and tear them apart if given the chance. Even that bastard Sorin would meet my wicked side if he came after me again. I didn’t need Fane or Knox to fight my battles.

“Tate?”

My head snapped toward Maddie. “What are you doing?”

“You were screaming, so I woke you up.”

I wiped a layer of cold sweat from my forehead with a trembling hand and took several deep, ragged breaths. “Thanks. I just—don’t always wake up calmly.”

Maddie chewed on her bottom lip and took a step toward me. “I have them too.”

“Nightmares?” I scoffed. “Who wouldn’t in a place like this?”

“I had them before Heldrok.” Maddie shrugged. “My unfortunate childhood haunts me.”

I backed up and crashed on my cot, the metal slats hard through the thin mattress. “That’s something else we have in common.”

“Really?” Maddie slowly made her way over and perched on the edge of my bed. “You didn’t have it so good as a kid either?”

I dragged my fingers through my snarled reddish-pink locks. “I grew up in foster care and then lived on the streets.”

Maddie nodded as shadows crossed her brown eyes. “Me too. Not the living on the streets, but the foster care stuff.” Lines developed across her forehead as she stared off into the distance. “My dad was an alcoholic and my mom a drug addict, so I was in foster care and then sent back to my parents until they fucked up again. Neither place was all that great.”

“The streets were usually kinder to me,” I admitted. The parents in the good homes noticed my oddities, or maybe they saw something dark in me.

“I can understand that.” She unbuttoned the top of her jumpsuit and pulled it down to reveal a jagged scar on her shoulder. “My dad tossed me into our glass coffee table after I poured his liquor down the drain.”

I had my fair share of scars from foster homes. In fact, they outnumbered any received from nightworlders. “Those alcoholics really get mad when you take away their drinks.”

The similarities between us continued to pile up. What were the odds that we both grew up in foster care and ended up as ravens in the Savannah chapter? Coltrane herself had recruited us too.

My brows furrowed as an uneasy feeling spread inside. “How exactly did you become a?—”

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