Page 110 of Savage Blood
But when I looked at the balcony, my own mouth parted. WrathandRuin stood there, their eyes black holes, complexions like bleached bone, and hair drifting in a phantom wind created by their sheer power.
Goose bumps erupted over my flesh as the brothers pooled their power to break the mysterious hold on their kind.
Some of the heavy tension in the air finally cracked.
It was working.
“I’ll be fine,” I told Saint, jerking my chin toward the brothers. “They’re getting to them. I can feel it.”
Saint and Charla looked less than convinced, their wary glances heavy on me, but I waved them off.
“I just want to find Alicia,” I shouted over the music, the growls, and now Wrath and Ruin’s commands.
“Be careful,” Saint finally said and pulled Charla through the calming crowd.
As I moved across the club and the Bacchus twins continued to push their power at the dux demons, an invisible fist gripped my chest.
With a gasp, I halted and hunched over, grabbing the sun tattoo below my ribs.
The moisture zapped from my mouth, and my heart tapped out a frantic beat as I felt that wicked presence curling over my heated skin and wrapping around me like a soft velvet blanket.
The Infernal Sol called to me, and I couldn’t stop my feet from moving, heeding its command. Sweat slicked my spine, and my every hastened inhale tasted like sweet, seductive surrender.
The amulet was so close. So damn close.
My common sense screamed for me to stop, to find Fane or anyone, but I couldn’t make my body listen to reason. That craving for the amulet seared my bloodstream, inundated my veins, and clouded my mind.
Barric was here, with the gleaming blood-red stone around his neck. He—the amulet—was the reason for this madness.
Why cause this? Was it a way to get to me, or was this part of another ritual he needed to perform before the Admordum Nexia Covenant?
The bright pulsing of the amulet emerged through the shadows first, like a beacon of light drawing me safely to the shore.
Not exactly.
More like the call of a siren leading me to treacherous cliffs and a watery grave.
Barric finally materialized, and frost crystallizedthrough my veins at his sinister smile. It should have halted me in my tracks.
But it didn’t.
I kept going, hypnotized by the dark power.
Another figure coalesced behind Barric, approaching him with a stealth only a skilled hunter possessed.
No fucking way.
My mouth opened as Coltrane, dressed in all black with her usual slicked-back ponytail, cut a path toward the former head alpha. Did she plan on stealing the amulet?Couldshe?
“I never knew how pliable demon minds were.” Barric stroked the amulet, his brown eyes nearly black.
Coltrane’s unexpected appearance lessened some of the amulet’s control on me. Need ceased to consume me fully, and the fog cleared from my mind.
“I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the incredibly powerful stone around your neck.” I jerked my chin toward it, keeping my hands by my sides as temptation brewed through my veins. “From this over-the-top display, I’m sure all of Nightworld will know you have it soon.”
My father gave a lazy shrug. “So what? It’smine.”
A possessive edge curled around that word, almost like a threat to anyone who dared take the Infernal Sol from him. Little did he know someone was about to attempt that very thing.
