Page 106 of Savage Hunt

“You’re not getting away that easily, wolf.” A wicked smile twisted my lips as I inhaled the terror pulsating off him. My body hummed and blood sang, hungry for his worst fears.

His jaw elongated as his wolf tried to emerge to fight.

“Nope.” Black talons grew on my fingers, and I pressed them into his throat to halt his transformation. “I’d like to keep you in this form to hear your pleas for mercy—mercy that I won’t grant.”

The color drained from his cheeks, and a dribble of sweat glided down his temple. “Get off me! The council will punish you for this.”

“They hold no power over me. I will crush them all while I smile.” The Infernal Sol had leaked into my voice, deepening and twisting it. Even Dorian noticed the difference.

“What is wrong with you?”

Lots.

“Nothing,” I said, stroking his jaw with my other hand. “I’m perfectly fine.”

No, I wasn’t. I was perfectly evil and certifiable.

“Let’s see what frightens you most.” My head tilted, and I pressed my palm against his cheek. By now, I didn’t need physical contact to pull out fears, but it did bring them to the forefront faster. “Show me what you’re afraid of. You stink of fright.”

I burrowed into his mind while he squirmed beneath me. As an image of him and Marissa materialized, hot pain exploded in my back and through my chest.

A scream burst out of my mouth, and I dropped my hold on Dorian, staggering away. Blood oozed down my front, and more coated my back. The Infernal Sol shrieked, scurrying down inside with the shifter.

I stumbled around to find Dominic clutching the hilt of a bloody dagger, his nostrils flaring. The blade was silver, but there was something else causing the anguish twisting through my veins.

“Demise.” Dominic twirled the knife in the air. “We weren’t sure if silver would do the trick since Fane made you, so we doubled down on a silver blade coated in Demise.”

Chapter

Thirty-Four

My blood dripped from the silver dagger Dominic clutched as poison spread searing pain through my system. No wonder the demon amulet and the shifter dashed away to hide. Demise was lethal to any demon. I’d killed Ziva with just a stab to her chest.

Would this kill me?

“She’s not going down.” Dorian peeled himself off the tree trunk. “Do it again.”

“Give it time.” Dominic examined me from head to toe with a joyous gleam in his moss-green eyes. “It’ll work.”

The tingling of my neck tattoo registered even through the agony gripping me. Fane’s phantom form materialized a few feet away, rage twisting his features into something feral and utterly terrifying.

Was he pissed he wasn’t the one to end me?

Ebony veins emerged over my arms, crisscrossing my skin like black water rivers. As the poison soaked into my bloodstream, the veins stretched up my neck and down my torso. My lungs rattled, and I coughed up black blood.

Dominic smirked. “Told you.”

I turned to Fane, his fists clenched and mouth curved into a vicious snarl. “Looks like they beat you to it.” My energy drained, and I crashed to the ground with a thud.

As I stared at the night sky, the stars and treetops blurring, a violent roar shook the forest. The ground trembled, and birds burst out of the branches to escape the monster.

Dominic and Dorian dropped to their knees as if they couldn’t stand the weight of the yell.

“How did he know!” Panic drained the blood from Dorian’s cheeks, and he looked ready to vomit. “They aren’t bound mates. How did he find out so quickly?”

The other wolf tried to stand, but an invisible force kept him from getting more than one knee off the ground. “I don’t know,” he yelled. “Fuck!”

A wave of agony collided into me, and I rolled over, puking thick, black liquid. Fire consumed me, and it felt like someone drove railroad spikes into my skull. My life was being eviscerated as the poison traveled through my system.

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