Page 40 of Savage Fate

Having both detected the smell, we darted to the right, where one group of the skalaes had come from. After following the trail, we stopped at a twisted lump on the ground, and Saint cursed.

“Is he like the others?”

Another deceased shifter lay twisted and broken among the forest bracken. I squatted and turned the guy—a bitten coyote shifter—over, frost spreading down my nape.

“Definitely.”

Stab wounds littered his flesh, blood stained his jeans and t-shirt, and his heart was missing.

Saint’s nostrils flared as his bloody fists trembled. “These sub-demons aren’t that smart. Someone else had to have dropped this corpse off, a higher-level demon or another type of nightworlder.”

I raked a hand down my face, gritting my teeth. “If that’s the case, I’m seriously doubting The Collective Hunt’s involvement.”

I startledawake and blinked to adjust to the darkness of the familiar room. The other side of the bed was cold, and Fane wasn’t on the floor either. In fact, the jerkface wasn’t anywhere in Mohan Wilds. The flood of anxiety and nervous energy coursing through my veins told me that.

The bond did not like us being separated.

I sat up and dragged my fingers through my hair, clenching my jaw. If he didn’t return soon, I’d pop out of my body and find his ass. Did he even know more sub-demons had been found in Mohan Wilds or that another dead shifter had turned up?

After Saint and I alerted Camus, he and Beckett hauled the corpse off to the healers to be examined. As suspected, the heart had been cut out with a knife.

Someone was killing shifters, and this was the second corpse to be found among demons. The skalaes weren’t responsible for cutting out hearts with a knife, but a dux demon or higher was very capable of that.

I flung the covers off and stood, knowing I wouldn’t get a wink more of sleep. Instead of aimlessly wandering the house, I headed to Fane’s art studio to check out his latest works. Maybe I’d make one of my own.

A snort slipped out. Yeah right. Mine would look like a child’s finger painting next to his.

I crossed the threshold into the room and flipped on the light, the scent of paint and Fane swirling up my nose. Part of me had stupidly hoped he was standing at the easel, lost in one of his paintings. But the room was empty.

My heart sank as I moved toward the easel near the window and lifted the drop cloth to reveal a moody work in shades of gray, black, and blue. The beginning of a scene took shape.

I gently ran my fingers over the dried brush strokes. The angry slashes whipped across the canvas, and I could practically feel Fane’s frustration. The scene wasn’t finished, because he couldn’t remember it.

Within the edges of the painting, Heldrok’s cafeteria showed through. He must have recalled something about our time there, but the images were too vague or unfocused to grab hold of.

A pang squeezed my heart picturing him trying so hard to recover what he’d lost.

I choked back the lump clogging my throat and lowered the drop cloth onto the canvas.

As soon as I turned to search the finished paintings propped against the wall, Fane’s art studio blurred out of focus, and it suddenly felt like I was falling through a black tunnel…

Panic twistedthrough my insides and slid around my neck as I ran through a maze of hallways, the slick black walls sucking up most of the light. I flexed my fingers, but my claws wouldn’t breach my skin.

Why the hell couldn’t my tiger break free?

I leaned against a wall, breathing heavily while clutching my chest as I tried to connect with my shifter. Her presence had been faint ever since I woke up bound on the floor of that room. I thought they’d somehow cut her out of me.

But she was still there, buried too deeply.

A low laugh slithered down the corridor behind me.

Shit!

They found me.

I bolted forward, my bare feet slapping the hardwoods. Another round of laughter echoed, but this time, it came from the direction I was running in.

My feet stumbled to a halt, blond hair flying in my face. They were coming at me from both directions.

---