Page 40 of Savage Hunt

My tattoo prickled as Fane’s ghostly image appeared a few feet away. It didn’t take him long to put the pieces together.

“Release him from the fear, Tate. Please.” His mismatched gaze penetrated mine. “Those bullets could kill you, and I need you alive.”

I sighed and scrambled for control from the Infernal Sol. “Since you said please, I’ll do as you wish.”

No one could see Fane, so it looked like I was talking to a wall. Everyone probably thought I was completely unhinged.

As I snapped my fingers, the hallucination evaporated around Alister, and he slumped on the ground. “All gone.” My hard, deadly glare swiveled to Emerick and Hanren. “Stay away from Maddie, or you’ll end up begging for mercy at my feet.”

The two inmates gave each other wary glances, probably wondering if I could do to them what I did to their friend.

I could. And I would enjoy it very much.

Desiree cocked the gun. “Maybe I should just shoot you anyway.”

“No!” Gershan, the huge Viking demon, stormed into the room, his orange braid swishing behind him. “She’s not to be killed.”

My laugh sent chills down my own spine. “My hero, Gershan. And here I thought you didn’t like me.”

He sneered as he approached me and pulled out a pair of magic cuffs. “Turn around, 487331, and give me your hands.”

“Teague, do what he says.”

My beast moved beside me, running his hand over my arm and causing my knees to weaken. A low hum vibrated my throat as he continued to soothe my turmoil and push back the terrible urges.

I held my hands out. “I’ll play the good girl for now.”

Gershan released a breath of relief once he finally secured the cuffs around my wrists.

As the guard led me out, I blew Fane a kiss. “See you soon, lover.”

While we traveled through the maze of hallways to my cell, the amulet cooled and relinquished control, but it didn’t go far. Chains rattled, and when we turned a corner, another inmate appeared between two guards.

Sorin’s brow furrowed as he studied me. Did he expect me to be bruised and bloodied? Maybe unconscious?

“Are you too scared to fight me yourself, Sorin?” I asked, the Infernal Sol wanting to toy with him again. “You have to send your friends after my cellmate and me instead?”

His eyes blackened and teeth sharpened while fury throbbed around him. “You’ll get yours soon enough, Tate.” Sorin craned his tattooed head around after we passed each other. “Fane will too.”

I knew using the Infernal Sol’s powers in the wash room would come back to bite me in the ass. While the guards took Maddie out of our cell for a work assignment, they left me alone. I figured Mykel would retrieve me for more torture—either on myself or to inflict on others—but when two unfamiliar dux demons hauled me out of my cell, I knew something else was coming.

Mykel, Gershan, Tajeed, and Vankis were the only ones who took me to the torture rooms.

Shackles on my ankles prevented me from running, and the ones on my wrists kept me from attacking the COs. The chains jingled as they led me through Heldrok until reaching a familiar set of heavy doors. When they opened them and shoved me into the circular room, my heart rate doubled.

Guards loomed around the second-story balcony, overlooking the combat ring where more officers and a few prisoners lingered.

Did Venna know they’d taken me to the fighting pit? She couldn’t actually want me to fight. What if I lost?

Who was I kidding? Losing wasn’t an option no matter who I fought. Maybe they’d throw Sorin in the ring with me. I’d love to take that bastard down.

As the guards removed my restraints, my attention landed on the high demon casually leaning against the railing on the balcony, his intense stare prickling my nape. Demarcus’s black suit hugged his lean frame, and dark purple hair coiled around his face where the edges of his neck tattoos curled along his sharp jawbone.

“I knew the warden had to be here for a reason.”

My own neck tattoo tingled just as Fane’s voice drifted through my mind, and I spun to find him standing on the crowd's edge.

In the flesh.

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