Page 32 of Savage Claim

My brow arched at his suspicious behavior. “Why? What’s going on?” The head alpha’s council met in a large room in that part of the house.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” He ran his hand through his blond locks and winked. “We’re just dealing with some extremely irritating and entitled shifters who think they own the world. Trust me, you’d rather not run into them.”

“Okay…” Did they have a problem with Fane and me staying at Silver Ridge even though we weren’t part of the pack? Maybe Wes, Torin’s father, was spearheading a campaign to kick us off the premises.

Jax patted my shoulder as he walked by. “I knew you’d understand. I told Barric he’d have nothing to worry about.”

Heat tipped the ends of my ears as the beta vanished around a corner. Did Barric think I’d go crazy on that asshole?

My phone buzzed, and I slipped it out of my pocket, a text from an unfamiliar number displaying on the screen.

Unknown: I have something of yours.

Well, that wasn’t ominous at all.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: Your favorite princess.

A gust of icy air washed over my back, sinking all the way to my bones. How the hell had Venna gotten my number?

Me: What do you want?

Her following text had no words. Only a picture.

My veins frosted over at the picture of Kortney Tran gagged and tied to a chair with Mykel threateningly looming over her. Blood streaked her temple, dribbled from her nose, and smudged her eyebrow.

Chapter

Twelve

The hand holding my phone trembled as I studied the picture of a battered Kortney, the smile on Mykel’s face cutting off my air supply. He’d probably tortured the raven and laughed as she screamed. The sadistic prick got off on it. And so did that skank of a princess.

Another text came through, and my vision blurred around the edges until my phone was the only thing in focus.

Venna: Fetch this little birdie or she dies. And come alone.

Screw that. Did Venna really think I’d fall into her trap? I wasn’t that stupid.

Before I could even form a plan of action, my consciousness left my body and flew through the house like a ghost in search of Fane. The pulling in my gut yanked me toward the house’s east wing, exactly where Jax told me to avoid.

Fane sat rigidly at a long wooden table with Barric, Jax, Ari, and a few of the head alpha’s council members. My hackles raised as the shifters on the other side of the table came into focus.

“Please, Fane, you have to know how sorry I am. I was vulnerable when that royal demon approached me.” Marissa fluttered her lashes at the demon shifter, her jade eyes watery. “I didn’t think about what I was doing. Please don’t let Head Alpha Barric banish me from my pack.”

A sour taste coated my tongue, and I wanted to puke at her saccharine voice. This was what Jax hadn’t wanted me to see. They were conducting a hearing over Marissa and Dorian’s murder attempt on me.

Why the hell wasn’t I invited? I was the one they tried to kill! I should have a say in what happened to them too. Not just Fane.

“Marissa, keep quiet,” Camus muttered under his breath while he rubbed his temples. He’d clearly had enough of his daughter. Maybe he wanted her banished so he didn’t have to deal with her bullshit anymore.

The woman—an older carbon copy of Marissa with shorter hair—patted the pleading wolf’s hand. “It’s okay, honey. I’m sure Fane will find it in his heart to plead for leniency. You are, after all, fated mates.” Her glossy lips pulled into a twisted smile.

This was no doubt Marissa’s mother, Reese.

“We were fated,” Fane said with a blank expression. “She is nothing to me now, exactly how you and your daughter preferred it.” He turned to Barric. “Can we get this over with?”

Marissa tried to reach across the table to Fane. “Don’t be that way. We still share a connection. We always will.”

---