Page 51 of Savage Blood
According to him, his were tougher.
“I can smell your blood and feel the cuts and bruises all over you.”His voice rumbled through my head.“Who do I need to kill for those?”
I scoffed.“I can handle my own battles, Maverick. Besides, one of the two shifters is dead.”The foul taste of the coyote still lingered in my mouth.
“They did taste weird,”Fane said, picking up my thoughts even when I didn’t project them.“Death and decay.”
He led me up a narrow flight of wooden stairs, and I shoved back the anxiety small spaces usually caused. I didnothave time to freak out.
When we reached another door, Fane transformed into his human shape, all tattoos, scars, and sculpted muscles. And that perfect, quarter-bouncing ass.
Sensing my shifting emotions, he glanced over his shoulder with a smirk. “See something you like, fiera mika?”
“I see lots I like.”
He chuckled and unlocked the door, revealing a small apartment. A layer of dust coated nearly every surface, tickling my nose. The wooden floor, worn and scuffed with age, groaned under our steps. The boarded-up windows, nailed haphazardly like the occupants had been in a hurry, let in a few slivers of light.
“Come on, I brought you some clothes just in case.”
Thank the gods for that. I really didn’t want to walk around in the buff. Even though I was a shifter, I wasn’t comfortable being naked in front of everyone.
In a cramped bedroom at the end of the hall, Fane padded to a duffel bag on the small bed and withdrew a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for himself.
Too bad. I would have liked to admire his bare form a little longer.
“Whose place is this?”I asked as he pulled out clothes for me.
A wooden dresser, covered in dust and grime, sat against one wall. On a rickety table next to the tiny bed, a few unlit candles collected dust.
“Just a friend’s. He left shortly after Princess Venna took over.”
Once I shifted into my human form, he hissed at the blood leaking down my side.
“I’m fine,” I said. “It doesn’t hurt.”
Adrenaline still pumped through my veins while happy energy hummed within my body now that my mate and I were together. The pain was nothing.
Fane vanished for a few moments and returned with a damp towel to wipe off the blood coating my side. A lump clogged my throat, and I grabbed his jaw, forcing him to meet my eyes.
“I still can’t believe you’re here.” My voice cracked as my vision blurred from unshed tears.
Fane tossed the towel aside and pulled me to him. “Of course I’m here. Did you really think I wouldn’t find a way to get to you?”
I nuzzled his bare chest, inhaling his warm scent, letting it infiltrate my lungs like a drug. If time wasn’t an issue, I’d make him hold me for the next hour.
“But how did you expect to get into the manor?” I asked.
He got lucky we had already escaped.
Actually, he got too lucky.
I drew back to see his wry smile. “You knew, didn’t you?”
He gave a noncommittal shrug. “Roman contacted Zane at Maleor Suprema, and he passed along the information to us.”
“So you knew Roman was on our side, but you nearly killed him anyway?” I pulled out of his embrace and punched his shoulder. “What the hell, Fane?”
“Roman still helped Barric get the Infernal Sol and abduct you.” He grabbed a black t-shirt off the bed and stuck his thick arms through the sleeves. “He deserves a little pain, way more than I gave him.”
