Page 99 of Savage Blood
“No!” Saint lifted his hands in surrender, the anger draining from his eyes as they cooled to silver. “I promise. No more fighting. I’ll back down if it happens again. Just don’t give up on healing.”
Fane gave a sharp nod, and then his ghostly form detached from his body, stood behind me, and rested his hands on my shoulders. He stayed silent as he lowered his head and kissed the tattoo on my neck.
Shivers raked down my body from head to toe, and I swallowed back a moan. The demon shifter wouldn’t apologize, mostly because he wasn’t sorry. We were claimed by each other, and he could take only so much before he lost all sense of control.
How could I blame him? When Marissa tried to kiss him, I was ready to kill her.
“Stay away from Saint for the rest of the night, Fane,”I said through our mental link.“I can’t trust that one little smirk from him won’t set you off again.”
“I’ll steer clear. Because any hint of a cocky smile would most definitely bring out my beast.”
Now that the threat of the two alpha males killing each other had vanished—for now—Camus turned his glower on his daughter.
“I’ve had enough of your bullshit, Marissa. Your mother has literally lost her mind, and you still want to act like a brat instead of helping.”
She jerked a finger to her bloody leg. “Look what she did to me?”
“And I’m sure you provoked her by going after him.” He motioned toward Fane. “You rejected him years ago, but the moment he came here with her, you have been trying to assert your claim, however nonexistent it is.”
A blush colored her cheeks, and she pushed off the tree. “Fane was mine first and?—”
“You are banished from this pack.”
The angry flush drained from Marissa’s face,leaving a sickly pallor behind. Barric banished her from Georgia once, but that didn’t stick. And this was her own father.
“Y-You can’t do that.”
“I just did.” A look of pure disappointment twisted his expression as he shook his head. “You will leave and find your actual mate. You and Dorian will work things out. Once you do, you can return withyourmate. If you can’t do that, find some other pack to join.”
Was that harsh?
Yeah.
Did she deserve it?
Hell yeah.
Camus gripped his daughter’s arm and pulled her through the trees. When her head angled in my direction, he growled.
“This is not her fault, Marissa,” he said. “You need to take responsibility for your own actions instead of blaming everyone else around you.”
Without another word, I stooped and snatched my clothes and boots from the ground. My heart broke for Saint and Fane, and the guilt eating away at me for this whole mess would make me sicker than the Infernal Sol would.
I marched through the woods and back into the clearing, ignoring the stares that followed. As I passed Reese’s chair, her hand shot out and gripped my arm.
“It’s not fully protected,” she whispered, her eyes wide and alert. “You have a key to the gate.”
My heart screeched to a halt. “What are you talking about?”
“You have a key to the gate,” Reese repeated. “It’s not completely impenetrable like he believes.”
“Are you talking about gaining access to the manor?” We already knew I could do that, but something deep down—instinct, maybe—told me Reese’s crazy ramblings meant something else.
She shook her head, and then the clarity faded from her gaze. Reese released my arm and slumped back in the chair as if she didn’t just spout some cryptic message about the Infernal Sol.
I had a key? To what?
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