Page 106 of Savage Claim

“We’re connected. A bridge flows between our minds.” His thumb gently brushed beneath a cut on my cheek. “I know what you feel, but it doesn’t distort my thoughts.”

I smiled and ran my fingers over his torso, smearing black blood. “I should have known.”

Fane’s hand slid to my shoulders. “I need Tate back.”

“I am Tate, remember?” My palms burned against his hot flesh, his heart pounding in a frantic drumbeat. “You felt when I gave the amulet permission to take over. You know we fused together. There is no Tate without the Infernal Sol. We’re one now.”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe that. Tate’s still in there.”

“Yes, she is. You’re talking to her.”

“Tate, please answer me!” Fane shook me so hard my head snapped back and forth. “Come back!”

My arms wrapped around his neck, pressing my body against his. “I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m here.” I gave him a harsh, bruising kiss and then shoved him off, resuming my dance around the fire as I hummed a haunting tune.

“Claim her.”

Fane’s head jerked toward Wrath. “What?”

“Claim her,” the high demon repeated. “The burst of mystical power deepening your connection even more might be enough to break the amulet’s hold.”

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

Fane dragged his hand through his hair, his gaze flicking to me while I danced. “Claiming her is forever, Wrath. It’s not something either of us can undo once done.”

My poor beast didn’t realize nothing he did would bring the old Tate back. This was her now. This was me. The dark parts merged with the light. The amulet merged with the shifter. We were all one, and there was no severing the pieces again.

As I felt the internal struggle in Fane, a tiny sliver of doubt infiltrated my thoughts. This link between us was a mystery not even the nefarious power within understood. It was drawn to him almost as much as the old Tate was. If Fane claimed this body in the shifter sense, could the binds tying us loosen the amulet’s hold? Would it splinter Tate’s parts again and force me to plunge back into a deep slumber?

I couldn’t take that chance. Fane couldn’t claim me, no matter how much the idea of having him forever tempted me. The hard lines of his form drew my attention, and I longed to run my fingers over the scars digging into his flesh.

He was battle worn and hardened on the outside, but he softened when Tate—when I—was around sometimes. Fane yelled at me and hated me. He protected me and wanted me.

My beast would never fully surrender to the idea of claiming me. Even now, when Wrath pointed out all the good that could come of us being bound as mates, Fane paced with uncertainty, jamming his fingers through his hair.

Before Kaspin’s spell, he would have done it in a heartbeat. The magic still permeated in his veins, shielding his memories and tainting his thoughts. The enchantment wouldn’t allow him to forget I killed his brother, and the urge to murder me was like a drumbeat inside of him. Sometimes it was quiet. Sometimes it was thunderous. The old Tate couldn’t detect it.

But I could.

“Do you have somewhere else to take my family?” Fane asked.

Wrath rubbed the splatters of blood off his face with the bottom of his t-shirt as he considered his options. “I know a safe place.”

The next few moments passed in a haze as I danced, and suddenly Fane and I were the only two remaining in the backyard, the ground saturated with blood and fallen enemies. He approached me with slow, measured steps. I should have backed away, but the savage predator in him drew me closer.

He was so addicting. I couldn’t stop myself from craving his presence.

“What are you doing, beast?” I asked as his hands skimmed over my sides, toying with the hem of my torn shirt. Fane couldn’t have decided to claim me with all that turmoil and uncertainty raging in him.

He tilted his head, motioning to the bloody battleground. “Isn’t this what you always wanted? To have your way with me while surrounded by your victims?”

I gave a low hum at the picture he painted. Such a good artist. I had dreamed of that while we were in Heldrok many times.

“I’ll worship you if you allow it.” Fane dropped to his knees, the firelight flickering over the sharp, ebony tattoos, scars, and blood covering his bare chest. “I surrender. I submit to you.”

That last part sent a wave of pleasure to the shifter within, and she prowled forward, influencing my mind. And that was exactly what I’d feared. Fane hadn’t even kissed me, but the amulet’s hold already wavered.

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