Page 59 of Savage Hunt

I had to cross this bridge or return to the hellhole known as Heldrok. Guards could swarm this area at any moment.

Ruin and Logan went first while I was next, and Fane brought up the rear. My fingers curled so tightly around the coarse rope railing that it burned my skin. By the time we made it across, my palms would be rubbed raw and bleeding.

Small price to pay to escape hell.

Fane remained at my back, attempting to soothe the turmoil inside me. My knees quaked with every step while my pulse thundered in my ears.

“Don’t look down,” Logan said, peeking over the side.

“Why did you say that!” Of course the mere mention of not doing it made me involuntarily do it.

Darkness stretched beneath us as if we floated in the middle of an abyss, but faint growls whispered on the wind as a putrid stench slinked up from the impenetrable depths.

I never wanted to find out what creatures lurked at the bottom of that cavern.

Prickles crawled over my scalp as if a deadly predator circled us, drawing closer with every breath. Fane tensed, feeling it too.

As I peered over my shoulder, the sharp blades of panic ripped my chest apart. Mykel snuck through the craggy mountainside and stood near the bridge, holding a large weapon that resembled a harpoon gun.

Fane shoved me toward the wooden boards and shielded my body with his as he yelled at Ruin and Logan to take cover.

What cover? We were out in the open on a fucking bridge. We were sitting ducks.

The colossal dux demon pulled the trigger on his weapon, and a harpoon soared toward us. I tried to yank Fane to the side, which would leave me unprotected, but his stubborn ass wouldn’t budge. Pain erupted through both of us as the jagged blade pierced his thigh.

Fane bared his teeth as he examined the bloody prongs on the head of the arrow that had popped out and sank into his flesh so he couldn’t easily remove it. “Fuck!”

Mykel’s wicked laugh sent ice through my veins, and it didn’t take long to understand why the dux demon found this situation so hilarious. The worst part wasn’t the spear piercing Fane’s thigh. It was the cable attached to the spear that connected to the end of Mykel’s weapon.

Fane’s gaze snapped to mine as he sensed the punch of terror that hit me. His expression turned grim once he realized his predicament. My fingers dug into his biceps as I held on, but he shoved me off when Mykel yanked on the cable.

“They can’t have us both, fiera mika.”

I scrambled forward and screamed as Fane was ripped right out of my reach, dragged across the bridge, and right into Mykel’s grasp. Guards poured onto the mountainside to converge on their prisoner.

Chapter

Twenty

Curses erupted behind me, and footsteps hammered the wooden planks as Ruin and Logan closed the gap between us.

“Get her out of here!” Fane yelled while Mykel bound him in heavy chains.

Arms wrapped around my waist to stop me from running to Fane. “No!” I struggled in Ruin’s hold, fighting and kicking as he hurried to the other side of the bridge. “We can’t leave him.”

My heart squeezed and cracked as the distance grew between us, and my breaths became shallow, ragged pants. The bond strained, angry at the separation again. “Put me the fuck down, or I’ll unleash the Infernal Sol’s power, and you’ll wish for death.”

Ruin hissed in my ear as the bridge swayed dangerously to the side. “If you do that while we’re on this rickety thing, we’ll both wish for death as we fall into whatever monster’s lair awaits us below.”

“Stop fighting them, Teague!” Fane’s rough voice in my head punched a hole through my chest. “Let them save you.”

“I won’t leave you.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

After all the pain and torment I caused him, if anyone deserved to be yanked back to Heldrok, it was me.

Agony ripped apart my insides as the guards surrounded Fane. “Venna doesn’t need you alive like she does me.”

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