Page 19 of Savage Hunt

“So why don’t you punish him or withdraw his privileges?”

“It’s complicated.”

Once we reached my cell, we’d gained some attention from the other inmates who were alert enough to notice the warden escorting me. Again.

“Perhaps you should simply tell Venna what she wants to know,” he said, using a long key to lock the door once I was inside. “She may back off.”

I snorted and leaned against the bars. “You think I should tell her the same information you asked for the other day? How convenient when you also want to know what Ruin is doing in his lab. It makes me wonder if you’re allowing her to torture me so you don’t have to get your hands dirty.”

Humor flashed through his eyes, warming them for a moment. “You may be reaching a little far, Ms. Teague.”

“And I think not, Warden Demarcus.” A pretentious hint coated my words to mock him.

Instead of being offended, he laughed, and more of the ice coating him melted. “Perhaps you should visit Fane soon.”

My brow arched. “Are you going to take me to his cell?”

“No.” He lifted his fingers and quickly ran them across mine that clutched the bars. “Now that you’ve had physical contact, you should retest the limits of your bond. You might find the dampening sigil to be less effective.”

My head jerked back. “How do you know so much about this bond between us?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I make it a habit to know my inmates.”

The warden pivoted and sauntered down the corridor as if he hadn’t thrown me into a tailspin. I couldn’t get a read on him. One minute, he seemed cold and creepy, and the next, he was saving me from torture and Sorin.

He definitely had ulterior motives, and everything he did or said had a purpose. But I’d have to figure Demarcus out later. The urge to see Fane, even in my phantom form, burned within me. If we could use this ability again, maybe we’d continue to grow stronger and find a way out of Heldrok.

Fane’s image appeared in my mind as I rested in my cell, tumbles of dark hair around his burning, multicolored gaze and sharp tattoos cutting into his bronze flesh. I concentrated on the picture of him and let the bond between us drag me to him.

Tingles erupted, and a sense of weightlessness enfolded me. When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in my cell, but I wasn’t in Fane’s either. Stone walls surrounded me with a cement staircase on the left.

I leaned against the cold steel banister across from a heavy door, frowning. Was Fane in that room? Was that why the bond had drawn me here?

Bile coated the back of my mouth as unease twisted in my center. Was he being punished in that room for killing a demon in the cafeteria?

Tiny bolts of electricity crackled in my tattoo as Fane’s phantom form materialized near the exit, and the air catapulted from my lungs. His brows furrowed as he took in our surroundings.

“I was trying to go to your cell.” His deep voice hummed against my skin, vibrating all the way to my bones.

“It looks like we had the same idea and ended up somewhere else in Heldrok.” I pushed off the railing and slowly approached him, afraid he’d disappear if I made any sudden movements. “The warden told me to try to visit you.”

He dragged his hands down my arms. “Warden Demarcus? How would he know anything about our bond?”

I shrugged as my fingers toyed with the buttons on his jumpsuit. “He claims he knows pretty much everything.”

Hot anger flared through the bond. “I don’t trust him. Something seems off about that demon.”

“Yeah, but he did intervene when I got into trouble with Sorin. Twice.”

Fane didn’t need to know all the dirty details.

The tiny muscles in his jaw jumped as his pupils thinned. “Sorin will find out what happens when he touches what’s mine.”

“Yours?” I scoffed even though that word coming from him did something crazy to me. “I’m not a piece of property, Maverick. You can’t just?—”

Fane’s mouth captured mine, effectively shutting me up with a bruising, punishing kiss. Our mirrored moans echoed within the concrete and stone space.

This wasn’t as good as being with Fane for real, but it was all we’d get for now. Who was I kidding? Being with Fane like this was heaven compared to the last few weeks or months. I wouldn’t be surprised if my body back in my cell rolled around in pleasure.

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