Page 50 of Savage Fate

“You won’t feel that way when he rips your throat out next time.” I grabbed a stuffed animal from the crib and tossed it at him.

He caught it, of course, and set it on a shelf. “He won’t kill me.”

A laugh burst out of my mouth. “Actually, he will. He has even less control than you.”

Saint stepped farther into the room until he was barely a foot from me, his humor fading. “I’m sorry I upset you. I’m trying to deal with this as best I can.” He reached forward and let his fingers graze my cheekbone, sparks flickering. “Just please be a little patient with me. That’s all I ask.”

My heart gave a hard thump at his touch.

“I’ll try.”

When I moved back, his hand fell away. And then the room began to lose focus.

Oh shit.

A vision was coming.

But as the nursery vanished and the rowdy atmosphere of a bar appeared, I realized it wasn’t a vision. My consciousness left my physical form and found Fane.

Fire instantly swept through my bloodstream as a leopard shifter leaned against the bar next to him, her cleavagepractically in his face. He glowered at her but didn’t tell her to back off.

She smile seductively and then sucked on her bottom lip, probably imaging that mouth on him.

Fury wrapped me like a second skin.

Over my dead body.

If she touched him, the world would be less one leopard shifter.

When I returned to the nursery, I stumbled back, and Saint caught my arm.

“You okay, Tate?” he asked, concern twisting around his words. “Did you just leave your body again?”

My lips thinned into a tight line. “Yeah. And I need to go find Fane.”

As I marchedinto Lunar Souls, I found Fane sitting at the bar alone. That raven-haired skank must have left.

I cracked my knuckles. Too bad because I’d really wanted to give her a black eye. Maybe two.

Fane’s shoulders tensed when he sensed me, but he didn’t turn around as I sat down. He just stared at his nearly empty drink.

After a full minute passed and he still didn’t speak, I leaned toward him. “Are you just going to ignore me now?”

He gave a humorless laugh. “Do you have any idea of how impossible that is?”

“You’re doing a pretty good job of it right now.” I snatched his drink and slid it to my other side.

Fane finally turned and sent a dark glare my way. “Give that back, Teague.”

“Not until you talk to me. We haven’t even discussed this whole fated mate thing.”

“What’s there to say?” The veins and tendons in his hand popped as he curled it into a fist on the bar. “Saint is your fated, and there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”

Those words sent goose bumps over my flesh. “I don’t care what Saint is. It doesn’t change the fact that you’ve already claimed me. And no fated mate bond can compete with what we have.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

My eyes narrowed. “This link between us formed the moment you bit me and has pushed us together despite how hard we fought it. We were able to speak into each other’s minds almost from the beginning, and let’s not forget this weird out-of-body thing we can do. All of that seems much more potent than some lame fated mate bond that just popped into existence.”

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