Page 42 of Savage Claim

Once we were in the hall and around the corner, he pulled me to a stop, gripped my chin, and angled my face to his. “She shouldn’t have said those things. She just wanted to put you down, make you believe you’re beneath her.”

My bottom lip trembled. “I just don’t understand how she could hate me.”

Fane gently used his thumb to brush away a tear that ran down my cheek. “She secretly envies you.”

I scoffed. “I doubt that.”

He lowered his head until his ebony hair brushed my forehead. “I wasn’t messing with her when I said she reeked of jealousy. I smelled it on her like rotten meat.”

His stare seared into mine, and the way he came to my defense had my heart clenching. I was terrified to think—to even wish—that the spell could break on its own. What if Fane changed his mind the moment I believed that and went back to openly hating me? I couldn’t take it.

“Thanks for having my back, Maverick.” I pulled his hand away and put distance between us. “I just need to take a breather and clear my head.”

His brow furrowed, but he didn’t protest or question the walls he felt me erecting. “Stay out of trouble.”

I smirked. “I’ll try, but trouble seems to find me.”

The demon shifter shook his head as he lowered his massive body into a chair, deciding to stay out of the meeting. “I’m aware.”

After meandering through the halls of Corvin Manor, I broke into Coltrane’s office. The door was locked, but I brought a lockpick with me. Maybe I’d subconsciously planned to sneak away and snoop.

Or not subconsciously at all.

Her office still reeked of coffee and overly sweet caramel creamer. I wrinkled my nose and shut the door, hoping I didn’t hurl in her trash can from the overwhelming aroma. Obviously, my shifter senses were way more sensitive to the smell.

A lifetime had passed since she called me in here to propose her special assignment. A bitter laugh slipped out as I rummaged through a file cabinet on the left. What a joke. She’d used me and then tossed me away like a piece of trash.

Nothing of importance stood out in the file cabinet, so I moved to the built-in bookshelves that held a collection of antique leather-bound tomes and current paperbacks and hardbacks. I nibbled on my bottom lip and studied her copy of The Art of War. The book looked pristine except for the top of the spine, as if someone was always pulling on it.

I tried to tug the book out of the shelf, but it wouldn’t budge. Then, I placed my finger on the top and tilted it. A click echoed, and the shelf below rattled.

What the hell?

When I removed the books, a hidden compartment appeared where part of the wall had slid down. I pulled out a worn leather book with embossed gold writing in a demon language, and as I flipped through it, a few of the strange symbols stuck out.

They referred to the Infernal Sol. Somehow, I recognized its name in the foreign tongue. My stomach clenched as frost crawled over my shoulders. How long had Coltrane been researching this amulet, and how much did she really know about it?

I withdrew one of the files in the hidden compartment, opening it to information about a male raven from nearly ten years ago. He was a runaway Coltrane brought in after saving a bunch of kids from a vampire. He went missing a few years after he joined.

As I pulled out two more files with similar scenarios, the blood drained from my face. Their stories were so similar to mine that it had my hands shaking. Had Coltrane sent them on a mission to find the Infernal Sol, one they never returned from?

Was Maddie in here?

I frantically sifted through more than a dozen names until landing on one marked Maddie Reynolds. My pulse pounded in my ears like thunder as I opened the manila folder and scanned the information on my former friend and cellmate.

According to her file, Maddie was charged with infiltrating the Underworld to locate a mystical amulet. There was no doubt in my mind that it was the Infernal Sol. And that had led to Maddie’s incarceration in Heldrok and her eventual death.

The captain had lured these runaways into this organization, trained them, and then sent them on risky missions with a high chance of failure because she knew no one would ever look for them. Like me, they were expendable.

A cold sweat surged down my nape as my thoughts spiraled. Why was Coltrane obsessed with finding the Infernal Sol? She claimed it was a noble cause, to get it out of demon hands, but feeding innocent ravens to monsters wasn’t all that noble. Her actions were premeditated. She searched for suitable candidates and spent time training them. She couldn’t call this a coincidence or accident.

Something in my gut told me Coltrane had bigger plans for the demon amulet than simply getting it out of dangerous hands.

Footsteps suddenly echoed outside of the door, and my head snapped toward it as the handle began to turn.

Oh, shit. No doubt that was Coltrane, and there was no telling what she’d do if she knew I found her dirty little secrets.

Chapter

---