Page 24 of Savage Fate

The evil voice in my head jerked me out of my daze, and I released Roxie’s throat, backing away before I did something regrettable. “Don’t provoke me again.”

She scrambled upright, panic still permeating her blue eyes. She sensed the danger I posed even without the amulet.

“You were going to kill me.” She glanced around the dining hall. “You all saw that!”

Kortney grabbed the chair I’d knocked over and pushed it back under the table. “Well, that’s what happens when you attack someone, Rox. They fight back.”

“She should be locked up for attacking a raven!” Roxie screeched. “Someone, help me subdue her.”

A humorless laugh slipped out. “I’d love to see you try.”

As Roxie stepped toward me, glass shattered, and screams resonated from upstairs.

Being a shifter, the noise traveled to my sensitive ears first, and I bolted out the door and up the stairs.

When I reached the ground level, my boots skidded across shards of broken glass. The scent of blood and death clogged the air. And it didn’t take me long to figure out why.

The body that had been tossed through a large window was sprawled across the hardwoods, blood still leaking from his wounds. A massive hole dug into his chest where his heart should have been.

A hard ball of dread formed in my gut when I stepped close enough to get a read on the guy.

Someone had killed another bitten shifter.

My wolf instincts took over, and I bolted out of the busted window, sniffing the wintery night air. A low snarl pushed between my growing canines as I inhaled the shifter’s blood and found a trail going left.

I took off down the sidewalk, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Human pedestrians barely noticed me as I slipped by.

If I had the chance to find the culprit cutting out shifter hearts, I had to take it.

And what if Barric was at the end of this trail?

A shiver raked over my spine even as fury lashed at my feet, spurring me on. I’d have to face that asshole sooner or later.

Would he have the Infernal Sol on him?

The craving for the demon amulet hit my bloodstream, and downtown Savannah blurred past me, the city lights and dark sky blending together.

Before long, the briny scent of the shifter’s blood intensified, and I sensed a dux demon ahead.

A dux demon?

I turned into an alley and nearly smacked into the tall creature with orange flesh and lethal spikes crawling down his shoulders. His nostrils flared as he sniffed the air, and a forked tongue flicked out.

“Shifter.” His deep voice vibrated my bones as danger swirled around him.

He towered over me, and his muscles bulged beneath his jeans and sweatshirt.

Blood also stained that sweatshirt.

“Why did you kill that shifter?”

When he smiled, jagged teeth crowded his mouth. “Tasty.”

He could have sucked the shifter’s soul, but why cut out his heart too? “Did someone pay you to?—”

The rest of my sentence was cut off as his talons swiped through the air, catching my shoulder.

Son of a bitch.

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