Page 45 of Savage Blood
What the ever-loving hell!
I rolled over, and her sword stabbed the ground. Was she trying to kill me now? Did she forget Barric would slaughter her if she did?
A growl vibrated my throat while a streak of cold fear penetrated my veins. Time was running out. I couldn’t play with Roxie anymore.
I kicked her knee and then swept her legs out from under her. Her squeak of surprise reverberated through the dungeon as she hit the ground, her sword falling from her grip and tumbling across the stone.
“We’re done, Roxie.” The darkness emanating from the small remnants of the amulet clouded my mind, dimming my better judgment.
Roxie had to die. The world would be better off without her.
She’d caused enough trouble.
My lips curled back as my demon side took over, and fear eclipsed her eyes when she realized I no longer cared what killing her would do to my conscience.
“Tate, wait!” Roxie squirmed as I climbed on top of her. “You’re not really going to?—”
“Goodbye, Roxie.” I lifted my clawed hand, the ebony talons glistening like sharp blades.
Unyielding bands of steel lifted me from Roxie before my talons could slash her throat.
Son of a bitch!
“You can’t kill her, Tate.” Ruin held me against his bare chest, chains dangling from his bleeding wrists. “It’ll eat you alive, and I don’t want that for you.”
I inhaled a sharp breath. He’d ripped the chains right out of the stone wall, the iron anchor dragging behind him.
Roxie scrambled across the floor to grab her sword, but Enid kicked it away. When the former raven attempted to escape in the other direction, Alicia stepped in her path.
The two shifters, sporting a few more cuts, welts, bruises, and splatters of blood, had killed their opponents. Tabitha lay crumpled on the ground, her throat oozing crimson and her lifeless gaze fixed on the grimy ceiling. Wide gashes hadtorn the panther shifter’s torso open, and a chunk of flesh was ripped from his neck.
Ruin set me on my feet, but his tattooed arms remained locked around me. “I have a better idea for Roxie, but you’ll have to remove the Malbraxis manacles.”
I glanced over my shoulder to meet Ruin’s broad grin. “And what is your idea?”
“I’ll make Roxie my little Renfield.”
My head jerked back and hit his sternum. “You’re what?”
“I know you’ve seenBram Stoker’s Dracula.” He shook his head, sighing. “I’ll create a bond with her so she can be our eyes and ears in The Collective. Our little spy.”
A gasp escaped Roxie as she sat on the ground, looking up at the four of us like a scared little girl, all her tough bravado disintegrating.
“Don’t do that to me, Ruin,” she gritted out, her voice barely above a whisper.
If we had a spy, maybe stealing the Infernal Sol and stopping Barric wasn’t a lost cause.
“Do it.” I spun around and unlocked the iron manacles, dropping them to the ground with a loud thud. “We have to hurry. Barric knows Alicia’s gone, and he sent others to search the mansion.”
When I finally unlocked the Malbraxis manacles, Ruin groaned, pain flashing in his expression. Those things had suppressed him for far longer than we’d experienced.
After a few moments, his head dropped forward, his irises glittering stones of obsidian. “Grab her.”
Ruin’s voice, a deep, gravelly tenor I’d never heard from him, poured ice water down my back. Did I make a mistake in freeing him from the mystical cuffs?
As Roxie scrambled to her feet, Alicia gripped her left armwhile Enid took her right, and they pinned her against the bars of Ruin’s cell. The high demon slinked toward her and curled his fingers around her wrist, lifting her hand.
“Oh, sweet and sour Roxie, don’t be scared.” A black talon extended from his index finger. “I won’t hurt you. Much.”
