Page 2 of Savage Blood
I prayed it was the latter. If the Infernal Sol could carry creatures to different realms, it was a hundred times more powerful than any of us thought. And Barric would do even worse things than he already had.
“How did you get involved with The Collective?” I asked, kicking at a bar, finding not even one microscopic ounce of give to it. “Why do they have you?”
“I was traveling toward Razinhelm when I had the strangest urge to go south.” Ruin curled the chain attached to his left arm around one hand and gripped it so tightly that his knuckles turned white as bones bleached in a desert sun.
Like with shifters, The Collective must have used the Infernal Sol’s magic to lure Ruin in.
“And these motherfuckers came out of nowhere, chasing me.” A growl rattled his throat. “Me, the fucking high lord of Savannah.”
Arctic air blew down my spine, freezing my muscles as memories of a vision crashed over me. A male had been running through an eerie forest, catching himself on the ground as he fell. Those tattooed hands had belonged to Ruin. I’d witnessed The Collective hunting him down.
A manic laugh burst out of him, and some of the haze returned to his electric blue eyes. “Hiding in a cave like a scared bunny, the wolves and bears got me. But they didn’t want to eat me. They have bigger plans. Apocalyptic plans.”
Ice slid through my veins, and I wasn’t sure if it was the familiar crazy vibe suddenly coming off Ruin or his words that spooked me.
What exactly did he mean byapocalyptic plans?
“It’s like looking into a mirror, isn’t it?” Ruin rolled smoothly to his feet and stood, the chain on his wrists hanging down near the ones on his ankles. “Of course, you’re still the fairest of them all, Tate.”
I abandoned my useless search for weak points in the cell and slowly made my way back toward the bars separating us. “You barely came in contact with the Infernal Sol, and it totally mind-fucked you.”
Ruin clenched his jaw as he shook his entire body, as if trying to shed the effects. “If it’s capable of doing this to me, think about how it’s affecting all of them.” He ticked his head toward the ceiling, indicating The Collective roaming upstairs.
“Barric certainly isn’t all there.” He never really was, though. It had all been an act. “What do they want with you?”
“Besides torturing me?” He motioned to the marks mottling his chest. “The Infernal Sol whispers in Barric’s ear, instructing him on how to perform all their little demonic rituals. It must have told him, as the former leader of the Nosterium, my power would be very useful. The amulet probably led him right to me.”
I toyed with one of the power-suppressing cuffs on my wrists.
Yep. Still firmly secured.
Malbraxis manacles had shoved my inner wolf deep inside, and I wasn’t even sure I could bring out my talons, especially since a cuff was locked around each wrist. One usually did the trick for most nightworlders, but Barric took extra precautions after my previous attempt to escape when we entered the Underworld.
“So they’ve been using you to amplify the rituals when they sacrifice bitten shifters.” My fingers absentmindedly worked out a knot in my long raspberry-colored strands. “What’s their endgame? I doubt they’re doing all this just to kill bitten shifters one at a time.”
“I have no idea. They’re pretty good at keeping their mouths shut around me.” The edges of his lips quirked into a sinful smile. “Well, I’ve been working on one.”
My brow arched. “You’re trying to seduce one of them into betraying the others for you? Good luck.”
He tsked. “Oh, Ms. Teague, have you forgotten how irresistible I am?”
As he slowly licked his lips and those eyes darkened into a hypnotic shade of midnight blue, images of us kissing penetrated my mind. Ruin was a master of seduction, and his brand of charm was as intoxicating as it was addicting.
Heat crawled up my throat and into my face as the high demon stalked toward me, his disheveled state and the chains dragging behind him only making the vision even more appealing.
For shit’s sake, I was seriously demented.
My neck tattoo tingled as if reminding me I had a mate, who wasn’t the demon currently trying to tempt me into his deadly orbit again.
An ache swelled in my center, and my heart clenched as I replayed my last moments with Fane. His expression when he realized Barric had me nearly shattered me into a million pieces. And those words…
Had Fane really—finally—told me he loved me?
Please don’t tell me I imagined it.
I choked back the anguish and returned my focus to Ruin. “Your allure has lost all its appeal now that I know the real monster behind your pretty disguise.”
His smile didn’t fade at my harsh words, and he leaned against the bars, still looking like a fucking model. “But you’ve always had a thing for monsters, beautiful.”
