Page 38 of Savage Hunt

I concentrated on their conversation while washing the reeking pile of jumpsuits. They talked about more crazed, out-of-control demons showing up in Heldrok. Had all of them originated from Savannah like the warden claimed?

“Two finally came out of the psychotic trance,” Desiree said. “They don’t know why or how they got like that.”

Tingles glided down every vertebra. Had this strange epidemic been going on for longer than I thought? My first encounter—or I thought it was my first—was when a dux demon attacked Hawk and me without provocation during our field test.

But what if that wasn’t my first encounter? What if this same thing had affected Fane’s brother the night he killed my friends and Jayla?

Maddie leaned over, interrupting my spiraling thoughts. “How did you and Fane Maverick meet?”

Memories of his brother faded, replaced with images of fighting the demon shifter for the first time after he followed me from Wrath & Ruin. “He was trying to kill me.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s kind of a long story.” Not really. I’d killed his brother.

The scars on my side from Warin burned as if the flesh had been torn open again, and my attention lowered to the bucket full of suds.

“Well, he’d kill for you now,” she said with a longing sigh. “I wish I had someone like that.”

Steam curled around my face as I wrung out a jumpsuit. “Things between Fane and me aren’t exactly hearts and roses.” In fact, there were times we still wanted to throttle each other. “We don’t always get along.”

“I’d love to not get along with him.” Maddie wiggled her eyebrows.

I laughed. “He is fun to provoke.”

When I returned to our cell after torturing prisoners, Maddie never questioned where I’d been or why I was usually covered in blood. And when the Infernal Sol still had control, the raven never triggered any psychotic episodes. She seemed to sense the darkness and knew to stay away.

Tight bands wrapped around my heart because I could feel the other shoe dangling over my head. They stuck me in Maddie’s cell for a reason, and it wasn’t so we could become besties. The warden or Venna had plans, and the knots in my gut told me Maddie wouldn’t come out of this unscathed.

No one connected to me ever did.

Sweet Jayla flashed through my mind, making my eyes prickle with unshed tears. I’d had so many nightmares and hallucinations of her recently that I would have crumbled without my visits with Fane. Even Griffin, the guy I beat to death in an organized fight, haunted me a few times during sleeping hours.

Fane and I had to find a way to get out of here before I fell apart or did something unforgivable while the Infernal Sol was in control.

“What do we have here?” Alister, one of Sorin’s minions, strolled to our buckets, licking his lips. “You two are on the menu today.”

I flipped him off. “Why don’t you fuck off, Alister, and find someone else to annoy.”

A sneer pulled at the high demon’s cruel face, his cheekbones eerily sinking in. “I’m going to do more than annoy you, Tate.” He dragged his fingers through his pale blond locks as his gaze roamed over Maddie. “I’ve been wanting to hear your screams again, Mads.”

Her nostrils flared, and she dropped the suit she was washing in the water with a splat. “Go to hell.”

An ominous chuckle tumbled out of Emerick, another one of Sorin’s guys, as he flanked Alister’s side. “Look around, sweetheart. We’re already there.”

Hanren, the third guy in the rec room with Sorin, slithered up to us from behind, his hot breath ghosting down my nape. “Don’t think you’re safe now that you’ve been made into a torturer, Tate. You still have a target on your back.”

Alister reached forward and tried tugging Maddie's hair, but she smacked his hand away. “And since you have a target, so does your cellmate.”

Goose bumps spread over my flesh as the tension in the wash room heightened. Something was about to go down.

The three guards roaming between washing stations peered in our direction, noticing how Emerick, Alister, and Hanren closed in around Maddie and me, but they didn’t move to stop them.

“No one is going to protect you,” Hanren whispered, his golden horns shining under the lights. “Not even your mate can save you now.”

Why the hell did everyone think I needed to be protected or saved?

A commotion on the other side of the room erupted, and the guards jogged toward the brawling vampire and demon. And it gave these three assholes just the distraction they needed.

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