Page 32 of Savage Hunt

“Yeah.” My head tilted as I studied him. “Why?”

The wolf shifter rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “I’m surprised he’s still in power.”

Grimy, murky water dripped from the mop as I twisted the dirty strands of rope. “Why wouldn’t he be in power?” Barric didn’t seem like someone who would easily step down or fail if challenged.

“He hasn’t been the same since he lost his wife and kid years ago.” Knox’s arms fell by his sides as he shrugged. “She was his fated.”

Knots fisted in my chest, and my airways tightened until I could hardly breathe. Fane had experienced a similar loss when Marissa rejected him, but losing a fated mate who loved you had to be twice as hard. And then to add a child on top of that... “What happened?”

Knox dragged his fingers through his tussled chocolate brown locks. “She died giving birth to their child. The son died shortly after.” A wave of sadness darkened his green gaze. “Something like that affects a shifter, especially a wolf.”

“That would affect anyone,” Maddie pointed out.

“Has Barric taken another mate or had other children?” Knox asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

He toyed with the rag in his hand. “That makes him look weak. Alpha’s need a mate and an heir to keep them strong, and Barric’s refusal to have either one will be seen as a weakness. Someone will challenge him eventually.”

“Doesn’t mean he won’t win.” I’d felt Barric’s power, and it wasn’t something easily conquered. I could only withstand it because Fane made me, and he was more than a shifter. The Infernal Sol probably had something to do with it too. “What about Camus, alpha of the Mohan Pack?” I’d never seen or heard anyone talk about his mate, Marissa’s mother.

The shifter scowled. “Reese and Camus aren’t fated mates, and their union was more of an arrangement. Camus wanted to form an alliance with her father’s pack, so the alpha proposed the marriage.” He shrugged. “She spends as little time in Mohan Wilds as possible.”

“Is she anything like her bratty daughter, Marissa?”

He snorted. “Exactly like her.”

Good thing I never had a run-in with Reese. Marissa was enough.

The door opened, and my scalp prickled as familiar yellow eyes seared into me. Mykel’s mouth curved into a vicious smile, and the prisoners and guards scurried out of the colossal dux demon’s way. His black suit fit around his broad frame, and his locks were smoothed away from his face as usual, making it appear even more severe.

All of the moisture evaporated from my mouth because there was only one reason Mykel was in this room, walking directly toward me.

“Time for more torture, Tatum.”

Chapter

Eleven

Mykel shoved me forward, and I stumbled down the long, grimy hallway of torture rooms that stretched for miles within Heldrok. My stomach roiled as agonizing screams pelted against the closed, rusted doors. Vomit, excrement, blood, and sweat perfumed the air and made my nose wrinkle.

“Walking slower will only prolong your pain.” His fingers dug into my arms as he towed me farther into hell. “On second thought, perhaps you should take a slow pace. I would rather torture you for longer.”

I bared my teeth at him over my shoulder. “Do you ever get sick of being a pet? First, you were Karn’s minion, and now you’re Venna’s lap dog, waiting around for her scraps.”

His other hand struck my cheek so hard I broke out of his grasp and hit the wall. Stars burst through my vision while a copper tang oozed up my throat.

The meathead packed a punch.

“Keep your mouth shut, you ex-raven hybrid mutt.” As he snatched my hair and pushed me down the hall, I swallowed back the cries that wanted to erupt from the throbbing in my scalp.

Mykel kicked the door open and forced me into a torture room with a metal table in the center and walls full of chains and devices to inflict suffering. My skull pounded as he picked me up and slammed me on the table, my head thudding against the cold, hard surface.

He had my arms and legs in binds before the room stopped spinning. I couldn’t fight this anyway. I had nowhere to run. Only the guards and the warden knew the layout of this hellhole.

The dux demon’s face hovered over mine, those yellow orbs with slitted pupils burning into me as he dragged a talon-tipped finger down my collarbone. “I’m going to enjoy this session very much.” The pale light gleamed on his teeth as he smiled.

Hours passed as the dux demon cut into me with torture instruments dipped in Devil’s Nightshade to make the experience worse. His rumbling laughter slammed against my eardrums as I screamed and fought the binds pinning my arms and legs to the table.

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