Page 50 of Savage Blood
Chills cascaded over me, and goose bumps puckered my skin as that magnificent and terrifying creature decapitated The Collective Nosterium member with one powerful shake of his head.
My beautiful beast.
Blood dripped from Fane Maverick’s mouth, his burning scarlet gaze meeting mine across the square.
“Fiera mika.”
Hearing his words in my head nearly made my legs buckle, and tears turned the forsaken city blurry.
“You’re here, Fane? You’re really here?”
“I will always find you, Teague. No matter what.”
He wasn’t alone either. My heart swelled as Wrath darted to his brother’s side and helped him take out a giant bearshifter. A black wolf—Saint Grimstone—fought next to Enid, driving back a pair of scaly leopard shifters.
Fane’s head tilted back as he released a bone-shaking growl that rattled the surrounding buildings, bits of debris raining from the dilapidated structures. The Collective Nosterium halted at the appearance of a real hybrid, one of the most dangerous creatures alive.
And the energy in the square changed.
With Fane, Saint, and Wrath here, the odds were no longer in The Collective’s favor.
Roman hit Fane with a blast of magic, just missing him and demolishing the beheaded statue in the fountain. Fane’s snarl poured ice down my back as he slinked toward the witch.
“Don’t kill him,”I said into his mind.“He helped us escape. Barric is forcing his hand.”
Fane’s nostrils puffed, and the spikes running down his spine appeared bloodred under the lights.“I can’t let him take you—even if that means killing him.”
The witch met my eyes, attempting to pass a silent message. As he shot another blast of magic at Fane, who ducked, Roman made his hand into a claw and motioned toward his side.
“Pretend to attack him, Fane. Make it look real enough to fool Barric into thinking Roman was too injured to stop us from running.”
“Oh, I’ll make it look real.”
Unease twisted through my gut at the threat wrapping his words.“Don’t hurt him too much.”
As the large beast darted toward Roman, the mutated shifters scurried out of his way to avoid challenging him.
Fane collided with the witch and raked his talons down hisside. Roman’s wail of pain was real, and so was the blood flowing down his torso.
“I told you not to kill him!”
“He’ll be fine.”
Roman threw a power ball at the demon shifter to force him off, and Fane played along, rolling across the cracked cobblestones. Once he climbed lithely back to his feet, he took off in my direction, leaving the witch bleeding on the ground.
“Run as fast as you can, Teague. The others will be right behind us.”
Alicia now stood with Enid and Saint while Ruin and Wrath fought back-to-back like a well-oiled machine.
Seeing the demon twins together always gave me whiplash.
When Fane reached my side, I spun and bolted across the square, letting him lead.“What if they chase us?”
“Now that they’re losing, Barric would have commanded them to retreat.”The red in his irises flashed brighter.“But they will come for us eventually.”
I was nearlyout of breath by the time Fane and I crawled through a busted window of an abandoned tavern far from the town square. Just enough of the boards covering the hole had been removed to allow Fane’s gigantic animal form to fit through.
We made our way among the broken tables and chairs cluttering the space while shattered glass glittered beneath the lights peeking through the cracks in the boards. Fane walked ahead of me, using his paws to clear a path so I didn’t slice mine.
