Page 158 of Savage Blood
I could do this.
The power was within me.
And Fane wasmine.
The black veins faded from his skin, leaving only scars and tattoos. Air catapulted from my lungs, and with trembling fingers, I gently pried off a bandage.
The bullet wound slowly knit back together.
“It’s working,” I whispered, my vision blurring as tears burned in my eyes. “It’s working?—”
And then Fane started convulsing.
A scream burst from my mouth as his pain shot through the bond. “Fane!”
My world crumbled, and I couldn’t breathe. The agony falling on my shoulder weighed enough to splinter my legs. Soon, my knees would buckle from the force, and I’d shatter into a million pieces.
This was worse than Jayla’s death. This was worse than losing my innocence at the hands of monsters.
Relinquishing my control to the Infernal Sol to save Dylan didn’t bring the same terror to my veins.
I would rather relive the worst horrors of my life because none of them compared to this. None of them demolished my heart as much as watching Fane die.
If I survived his death, I wouldn’t be Tate anymore. I’d be someone else. Something else.
I’d let the darkness take me whole.
And suddenly everythingwasdark.
The lab vanished. My friends disappeared. And Fane was gone.
Everything was extinguished as a shroud of blackness blanketed my entire world. I was completely and utterly alone.
Alone.
Where was Fane?
“Fane!” I spun, unable to tell left from right or up from down, cold panic raking across my chest. “Fane! Where are you?”
I screamed his name a dozen times, spinning this way and then that way until I was lost.
Lost.
And alone.
Then a tiny beacon of light materialized within the shadows, and my heart thundered a frantic beat as I ran toward it. A shape formed out of that pinprick of existence, like a tiny star coming into creation in an empty universe.
My feet halted as the huge shape finished forming, and the air was ripped from my lungs. Fane sat in a wooden chair, his shoulders drooping and head bowed.
“Fane!”
His head jerked up as I ran toward him, those beautiful eyes widening. “Tate? What are you doing here?”
I threw myself into his arms, savoring his scent of fire, cinnamon, and leather.
“Where are we?” I asked through broken sobs.
Fane gently pushed me back, blinking at me as he wiped tears from my cheeks. “I think I’m dead.”
