Page 65 of Savage Hunt

Mykel’s laughter bounced around the torture room. “Just a little spell.”

Wrath started for Fane, but Venna stepped in his path.

“Fane is my prisoner. Not yours. I brought him and Tate here, and I have the authority to take them when I want.” Her brows dipped before smoothing out. “I wonder how they managed to escape in the first place.”

The veins in Wrath’s neck pulsed, and his skin paled as the demon rose toward the surface. “They’re more resourceful than you thought.”

Venna studied him for several long moments as tension thickened the air. “Your debt has been paid, Demarcus. Hopefully, we’ll never need to see each other again.”

“Don’t return to my prison, Venna, or you’ll be thrown in a cell. You and I are done.” He marched out, slamming the door behind him, rattling the torture instruments on the walls.

The demon princess strolled to Fane who still kneeled on the ground, dazed. “You’re going to do what you do best, Fane.” She gripped his chin and forced him to look at her. “You’re going to hunt Tatum Teague down.”

Violet bolts streaked through his irises. “I’ll find her. And she will suffer for killing Warin.”

Icicles crystallized in my bloodstream, and the room spun. Venna had wiped out everything we’d gone through and reminded Fane of his revenge quest. He didn’t remember his feelings for me or our bond.

Would he really kill me?

The dangerous, wild look in his eyes made the answer perfectly clear.

Fane Maverick would kill me. And he’d enjoy it…

My eyelids opened, and I was back in the cave in my body. I bolted into a sitting position, startling Ruin who stretched out near me.

“What’s wrong?” The firelight cast shadows across his worried expression. “Was it a nightmare?”

The worst fucking nightmare imaginable. “Venna put a spell on Fane.”

Logan slipped off the rock he was sitting on and kneeled in front of me. “What are you talking about?”

All the moisture vanished from my mouth as I attempted to speak through the lump growing in my throat. “He’s going to kill me.”

I walked under another low-lying tree branch while Ruin and Logan had to duck under. “Why can’t we just find Fane and capture him? We can take him back to Savannah and break the spell.”

Logan scoffed. “Oh we’ll just capture Fane. Why didn’t I think of that?” He smacked his forehead, sarcasm dripping from his words. “How hard could that be?”

“You’re both high demons—one of you is a lord—and we have Nadia, a powerful witch. Nik is also a super strong, badass dux demon.” I flicked my hand around the heavily forested woods where Nadia and Nik walked ahead. I was beginning to think they had something going on. They were always together. “We can grab one hybrid.”

“You know exactly the kind of creature Fane is.” Logan pulled a vine out of our way. “And under a spell, he’s a wild card. We can’t risk trying to detain him in that state. He could kill any one of us, including you.”

“Our best course of action is to return to Savannah.” Ruin pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned as I opened my mouth to protest. “From there, we can find a way to break the spell Kaspin cast on him.”

I stayed quiet and marched ahead, unable to continue the conversation without lashing out. Now that the dampening sigil had been removed, the Infernal Sol waited in the wings for an opportunity to come out and play.

When I woke up in the cave last night and explained everything, I’d expected Ruin and Logan to immediately take action. I thought they’d concoct a plan to head Fane off and capture him.

They were more concerned with getting back to Savannah. Technically, they wanted me back on Earth to hide me from Fane while they searched for a solution. They were worried he’d kill me, and once he did and the spell broke, he’d go on a rampage.

I stepped over a rock that turned out to be a small sub-demon that tried to bite my boot. With a snarl, I shoved it off our path and trudged forward. Ruin and Logan whispered behind me, probably wondering if I’d sneak off in the middle of the night to find Fane.

While traveling through the Underworld, they also questioned me about our bond. They were startled when I revealed that we could astral project to each other. Keeping that a secret now was kind of pointless. How else would I explain what I’d seen?

Prickles slinked over my nape, and I halted as eyes drilled into me. I turned back to Logan and Ruin. “Do either of you sense something?”

Ruin searched the area with a furrowed brow. “No. Do you, Logan?”

He shook his head. “Just a forest full of sub-demons and vicious little creatures that may or may not want to eat us.”

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