Page 1 of Savage Claim

Chapter

One

The sharp edge of bricks dug into my palms as I stuck my boot into a thick knot of ivy to climb higher. City lights cast a glow across the deserted blacktop just a few feet away. My heart pounded and breath quickened.

Freedom was within my grasp. I only had to clear this wall.

A cold wind coming off the Savannah River whipped my long raspberry hair around as I breached the top, inhaling several gulps of icy air, a smile tugging at my lips. When was the last time I was on the outside?

Seemed like a lifetime ago.

Maybe it was.

As I swung my legs to the other side, my boots dangling over the sidewalk, a prickling sensation coiled over my neck, and it had nothing to do with the winter temperatures.

Son of a bitch.

Hard fingers gripped my calf, digging in like rods of steel, and I was yanked from the wall. An embarrassing squeak burst out of my mouth as I fell through the air and landed against a solid chest, unyielding arms caging me in.

“Where do you think you’re going, fiera mika?”

That rough, rumbling voice still poured heat through my belly, and his intoxicating scent of fire, cinnamon, and leather infiltrated my senses. Part of me longed to melt against him while the other wanted to punch that infuriating smirk off his ruggedly handsome face.

Fane Maverick was the bane of my existence.

But he was also my heart.

He just didn’t remember that.

“Put me down,” I hissed, struggling in his grasp, my feet flailing in the air as my fist beat into his chest. He might as well have been a marble statue for all the good my fighting did.

His chuckle grated on my eardrums, and he unceremoniously dropped me. Luckily, my reflexes were that of a shifter and demon, so my boots hit the ground before my ass did, and I stood up.

“Bastard,” I muttered under my breath.

He folded his arms, the long-sleeved Henley straining against his broad form. “This is the third time I’ve caught you attempting to sneak out of Barric’s compound this week. Why do you keep trying when you know I can sense your presence drifting farther away?”

Despite the tension between Fane and me—and the fact that Kaspin’s spell still had him thirsting for my death—our bond continued to strengthen over the last few months while we’d been with the Silver Ridge pack. Sharing the same bedroom might have had something to do with it.

Cirilla claimed that the more time we spent together, the stronger our link would grow. It didn’t matter that we could barely stand each other.

“Well, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” I flicked my hair over my shoulder and marched down the sidewalk. “See you later, Maverick.”

He gripped my arm and yanked me to a stop. “Again, where do you think you’re going?”

I jerked out of his grasp then smoothed my black leather jacket. “On a walk.”

“You can’t just go on a walk, Teague.” He motioned his huge, tattooed hand around Whitaker Street, empty at this hour and devoid of most tourists in the winter. “In case you forgot, a couple of dangerous enemies are after your stubborn ass.”

“How could I forget when you and Barric remind me daily?” Venna had given up on getting the Infernal Sol. She simply wanted to maim, torture, and slaughter me. And then there were the culprits behind the missing shifters who, thanks to Joseph Morric’s information, we knew wanted me for something.

A few days after Joseph’s return, his mind had cleared, but he couldn’t remember jack about his abduction. It was like someone had snuck into the healers’ house and compelled his memories away. Only an extremely powerful nightworlder could have been able to compel a shifter—if that was what happened.

The city lights glinted on Fane’s nose ring as his nostrils flared. “Barric doesn’t know about Julia’s test results on your blood, so that one’s on me. And why am I more worried about your true lineage than you?”

The healer’s tests revealed I was a human born from at least one shifter parent, probably a wolf. According to her, a spell camouflaged the truth, and then Fane’s bite woke up the dormant shifter gene. To everyone, I appeared to be a bitten wolf with no biological connection to shifters.

Apparently, enemies had been after me long before the Infernal Sol decided to burrow under my skin.

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