Page 107 of Savage Fate

Sheer panic slammed against me, and I bucked within the restraints like a wild animal. But my wolf was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t reach that part of me. Had these creatures cut it out like they did her heart?

Laughter overtook the chanting, and the looming creatures passed the bowl around.

Was this the Nosterium? Were they performing a ritual?

“You won’t get away with this,” I yelled. “My alpha will find you. All of you!”

The man—or rather, monster—tsked and lifted the knife. “Not before he finds your mutilated body.” He used the knife to rip my t-shirt in half and then yanked the material free, revealing my naked torso. The scars on my abdomen gleamed under the flickering candlelight.

Three horizontal scars… from claw marks.

Josh.

Was Bonnie the she he’d mentioned?

Acid filled my mouth. Mine. Not his.

Was Bonnie’s heart in that bowl?

“You’re going to burn in hell, you sadistic asshole.” I—no, Josh—fought against the binds again, spit and blood flying. “Shifters won’t take this lying down. We’re fighters, and we’ll hunt you down and rip you to pieces!”

The creature, maybe the leader of the Nosterium, dragged the knife down my sternum. “I know exactly how much fight shifters have in them. And I will make sure all the right ones live on while the weak are exterminated.”

Wait… What?

He lifted the dagger and slammed it into my chest.

Searing pain crashed over me, and my hearing muted as if someone had clicked a button on a remote. My vision flashed white, washing out all the horrifying black and red of the room.

“You are a small but necessary piece in this puzzle.” The creature yanked on the blade, slicing through my flesh, muscles, and tissue and scraping it against my ribs. “Your death won’t be in vain, Josh.”

I choked and gurgled, blood coating my tongue and spewing out of my mouth as I tried to talk. “You’ll regret this.”

When his hand lifted to his mask, scarlet smeared the white surface like drops of blood in the snow. And then he pulled the mask off, revealing the face of true evil.

Shockwaves rippled through my body—mine and Josh’s—at the familiar beast staring back.

The cloak drifted open at the top to uncover a gleaming red stone dangling from a gold chain.

“Regret is for the weak. Just like you.” Barric laughed as he dragged the blade through my chest, cutting out my heart.

Chapter

Thirty-Two

A blood-curdling screamburst out of my own mouth as I returned to my body. I fought the arms surrounding me, fear still penetrating my very soul.

“Tate! It’s me.”

They tightened the more I bucked.

“It’s me. Fane.”

My shrieks faded, but my mind wouldn’t release the sensations and pain I’d experienced in the vision. It had felt so damn real. My hands frantically searched my chest for stab wounds.

Was my heart still there?

“Tate, it was a vision.” Fane’s gruff voice, full of worry, tried to comfort me. “You’re safe. I promise.”

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