Page 129 of Savage Blood
“Get back,” Hudson demanded. “If you kill me, you’ll start a war with my pack. They’ll avenge me and?—”
Hudson’s words sheared off as Barric lunged forward andtrapped the panther’s head between his powerful jaws. And then he ripped it off.
Screams echoed as blood splattered the tiles and the nearby table of food, tainting the dessert platters. My stomach clenched at the briny scent permeating the room.
Fear drifted in the air like condensation on a hot summer day in Savannah. Some of the shifters backed away from the balcony while a few brave ones moved toward the hallways, probably hoping to find an exit.
Would Barric let them leave? Were the doors magically sealed?
He dropped the severed head and let it roll toward the crowd lining the bottom level. Hudson’s body fell, arms splayed out and neck spilling a puddle of crimson across the floor. Barric opened his powerful mouth to release a deafening roar.
As soon as the alpha power hit the air, every shifter dropped to their knees, unable to withstand the invisible force pressing on their shoulders.
“Get down,” Fane whispered. “If we don’t, he’ll know.”
I cursed and knelt, Fane following even though we could have stayed standing. “Why do we have to submit to this asshole?”
“It’s only for show,” he said. “We can’t blow our cover.”
You could hear a pin drop as Barric shifted fluidly back into his human form, Hudson’s blood coating his face and chest.
“Well, that was interesting, wasn’t it?” Barric grinned, showing his bloodstained teeth. “Does anyone else want to complain about my methods?”
No one dared to speak or move. Most of the shifters bowed their heads, staring at the wineglasses they were toasting with not long ago.
“Fantastic.” He clapped and then grimaced at his tattered clothes on the floor. “What a shame. I really liked that tux.”
“But it was worth it.” Jax, wearing a delighted grin, snapped his fingers, and Ben scurried over with a bundle of black material in his hands. “That was quite the show, Barric.”
“I did enjoy it.” The alpha slipped into a pair of black cotton pants with a drawstring and tossed on the black t-shirt before pulling the amulet out and stroking it.
“He’s lost his fucking mind,” a female shifter near us whispered, her head lowered and hands shaking.
“They all have.” The male next to her reached for her hand and squeezed it so tight her tendons popped. “We’ll get out of this, Lauren. I swear.”
Her blue eyes cut to him and narrowed behind her glittery white mask. “I never wanted to be part of this bullshit. Our families are sick for bringing us into this when we were kids. But you just had to come to this, didn’t you, Mac?”
His shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you when we get out.”
Lauren scoffed. “Ifwe get out.”
Had my mother been like Lauren, hating that she was part of this group? Or did she only feel that way once she found out she was pregnant with a human child?
My chest ached as I thought of the woman who sacrificed her life for mine. I liked to think Tamara was a good person who wanted out of The Collective long before I came into existence, but I might never know the truth.
Barric motioned his hand in the air, stealing my attention away from my mother’s memory. “You can all stand now. I have a lot more in store for the night.”
Fane and I climbed to our feet as the others slowly did thesame. They were breathing heavily, most definitely regretting their decision to visit the Underworld.
“Oh, gods, we’re all going to die,” an older male on Fane’s left murmured.
The former head alpha of Georgia used the handkerchief Ben handed him to finish wiping the blood off his face. “The ritual I have planned, which is what I was trying to explain when Hudson so rudely interrupted, will eradicate every bitten shifter in the realm.”
Forced smiles and a slow start of applause rounded the grand room. The rest of The Collective was less excited about Barric’s news now that they’d seen the real monster behind his mask.
Amelia strode across the floor with a wineglass, passing it to Barric. “Let us toast to the Admordum Nexia Covenant.”
The shifters raised their glasses to the ritual for fear Barric would slaughter them like he did Hudson.
