Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Before I realized what I was doing, I set my drink down, unlocked the door, and stepped onto the deck. The cold air puckered my skin, but I ignored it and focused on the hooded outline.
Was it really there or a figment of my imagination?
The person or creature angled in my direction, and as the wind blew, a pair of glowing eyes peered out from the hood.
Adrenaline hit my bloodstream, and I bolted down the stairs of the deck, determined to catch the son of a bitch. My inner wolf howled, longing to burst free and sink her teeth and talons into the threat.
This could be our chance to figure out who was behind the murdered shifters.
But as my boots hit the ground and I looked up again, the bastard was gone.
What the hell!
I called on my shifter senses to analyze my surroundings, my breath fogging in the air. Everything brightened, and some of the shadows receded to reveal more of the yard. My nose lifted, smelling nothing except the faint trail of shifters and a few passing animals.
The thing was gone.
Had it ever been there?
A tingle wriggled down my neck moments before a large hand clamped on my shoulder. I yelped and spun to find a grumpy demon shifter.
“What the hell are you doing out here, fiera mika?” Hard lines carved into his face, and his nostrils flared, his irises smoldering.
“I, uh…” I glanced over my shoulder at the tree line encircling the yard. “I thought I saw one of those cloaked creatures from my visions.”
His expression darkened. “So you decided to come out here alone to investigate?” Fane crossed his thick arms against his bare chest. “Do you think that was a smart idea when we don’t know who’s really behind these murders? Even if it is the Nosterium, that would still put you against an unknown powerful demon.”
My lips thinned. “I’m not a weak little girl. I can take care of myself.”
He flicked his hand toward the trees. “And whatever you saw couldn’t have been luring you into a trap?”
A low rumble vibrated my throat as I held my tongue. I hated that he was right. Still, I didn’t want to be treated like a helpless idiot. “Can’t I go somewhere on my own, Maverick? Do I need a bodyguard every time I want to step outside?”
“Actually, yes. I would prefer that.”
I scoffed. “I can’t live like that. I’m a fighter, and I’m not afraid to face my enemies.”
“You don’t need to do it alone!” His hands curled around my shoulders so tightly they’d leave bruises. “Do you know what I went through when you were gone? Do you know what it felt like when I reached out for you time and again and felt nothing?”
Fane’s nostrils flared as not only fury throbbed around him but anxiety and fear. When he couldn’t find me, the panic had gripped him like a noose around his throat.
Actually, he would have preferred a noose instead of the crippling terror.
“Hawk wasn’t exaggerating when he said I almost shifted in his car and caused us to wreck.” He held his thumb and forefinger together. “I was this close to losing it and never coming back.”
My gaze dropped as regret washed over me, invisible claws tearing through my heart for the agony he’d gone through. “I’m sorry.” I toed the frosty ground with my boot. “I’ll be more careful next time. I’ll think before I act.”
Fane gripped my chin to lift my face to his. “When I woke up and you were gone, that same panic swept in. I thought they’d taken you again.”
My palms pressed against his torso, so warm even in the frigid climate. “Again, I’m sorry. Sometimes, I forget how much my actions can affect you.” For the longest time after Kaspin’s spell, Fane loathed our connection and hated that it caused him any anxiety.
Now things were different. We were mated, and even though our union wasn’t born out of undeniable love for each other, he’d cared enough to save me. He gave up any freedom he might have had to bring me back from the brink of losing myself to the amulet.
His hand moved from my chin and gently settled on my cheek, his thumb stroking across it. “We’re together, Tate, whether we wanted this or not, and the thought of losing you scares the shit out of me. I can’t lose you. I wouldn’t?—”
The breath fled from my lungs, and a crushing weight settled on my chest. He didn’t need to finish the sentence. I knew the rest. The raw, unfiltered confession swirled between us.
He wouldn’t survive losing me.
Our bond was just as unyielding and relentless as any fated mate connection. It was in our blood, infused in our bones, and speckled throughout our souls. I used to think the bond formed when he sank his teeth into me to turn me into a shifter, but it had begun the moment we locked eyes across Wrath & Ruin.
Something gripped me that night while Fane watched me from the balcony and followed me into that alley. Hate and revenge twisted around us as we fought, yet we’d both felt the spark that ignited a never-ending fire. It blazed within us as brightly as a newborn star.
Fate seriously fucked up when she decided to make Saint my fated because, from the first night we met, Fane and I had been bound together. We’d burned a path of destruction trying to fight it, but there was no other way in the end.
I wrapped my hand around Fane’s neck and pulled him down until our lips met. As his tongue plunged into my mouth, I groaned and melted into him. He tasted like my own personal happiness and my darkest desires all rolled into one.
Fane was pure temptation and sin. He was my addiction, one I could never kick.
“My beast still hasn’t settled since you vanished from Mohan Wilds,” Fane murmured against my mouth, his lip ring hot on my skin. “He’s pacing inside of me like a caged animal just waiting for a chance to escape.”
Fane’s demon wolf was a glorious and terrifying creature, but I’d never really been afraid in his presence. Something about him in that form comforted me. “I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.” My fingers skimmed down his abdomen, tracing the dips, curves, and scars. “What can I do to make him feel better?”
A wicked smile curved Fane’s mouth. “The only thing that will calm my inner beast is claiming you over and over again until you beg for mercy. And then beg me to do it again.”
Shivers raced down my spine, and fire poured through my bloodstream. I longed to have Fane unravel me a hundred times over. He didn’t seem worried about Kaspin’s spell right now. Maybe he needed me so much it hadn’t crossed his mind.
Fane wouldn’t hurt me. He had the power to stop himself.
“Well, I guess we better get started.” I licked his piercing and then sucked on his bottom lip. “I can’t let the poor beast suffer.”
Fane grabbed my ass and hoisted me up, my legs wrapping around his waist as he marched under the deck where another sitting area was set up. Icy wood met my bottom as he dropped me on a table, his mouth descending on mine for another fiery kiss that had me panting.
Moisture gathered between my legs, and I rubbed against the hard bulge in his sweatpants, moaning as the friction created sparks of electricity.
“I can never get enough of you.” Fane’s voice was a rough caress as he yanked my hoodie off, leaving me in a thin tank top. He gave a satisfied hum when he saw my hardened nipples pressing against the thin fabric. “I could just eat you up, fiera mika.”
I leaned back on my palms, arching into him. “By all means, eat away, beastie.”
Fane tugged my shirt down and took a hardened bud in his mouth, his hot tongue swirling and licking. A throaty gasp slipped out as sparks of pleasure shot all the way to my center.
How did I ever live without this man? I didn’t know what real pleasure was until he’d given it to me, wrenching an orgasm from me for the first time when his phantom form snuck into my room at the Anderses’.
As Fane’s real hand played with my other breast, his ghostly one detached from his body and roamed over my curves. Goose bumps erupted on my skin, and I cried out as a finger plunged into my entrance.
“Fane!” I jerked against him, and my legs widened, welcoming him inside.
His rough chuckle had my eyes rolling in the back of my head. “I’m just getting started, little rebel.”
My body became a fiery temple he worshiped at, lavishing attention on me. My frantic breaths fogged the air, and soon, steam would rise from us. I hoped no one was awake in the house, because they could probably feel the thick waves of desire crashing around us.
A low growl vibrated Fane’s chest, and his real hand slipped under my tank top, stroking my stomach. His talons dragged along my flesh, making me quiver.
“Feels so good,” I murmured, my head falling back, gazing up at the multitude of stars. Electric bolts crackled over me, hitting my core. My legs opened farther, wanting Fane to take me right on the damn table. “Don’t stop.”
His teeth dragged up my throat while those talons scraped across my ribs. Sharp stings registered as Fane’s claws pressed hard enough to draw blood.
I hissed. “Careful. I think?—”
Fane’s lethal canines pushed into my throat, and even though he’d bitten me plenty of times before while we were intimate, something felt different about this.
For one thing, it hurt, and as I whimpered, those claws and teeth dug deeper.
Panic washed over me, and I tried to shove him off, but he wouldn’t budge. “Fane, stop!”
His vicious snarl had every hair lifting. “I’ll stop when you’re dead.”
A shudder ran through me, fear scraping along every vertebra as I realized Fane was no longer in control. The spell had taken over.
I gathered my strength and gripped the hair above his nape, yanking him back. A violet haze consumed his irises.
Fane didn’t see me. He saw the creature he was enchanted to kill.
“Snap out of it, Maverick.”
His talons burrowed in, and pain erupted in my abdomen as hot blood leaked out, staining my tank top. “Kill you.”
Son of a bitch.
The bloodlust soaking the air had me trembling. All he had to do was apply a little more pressure, and he’d shred my flesh to ribbons.
“Fane, stop. Please.” I spoke into his mind, hoping our connection would loosen the spell’s grip. “You don’t want to do this.”
He either couldn’t hear me, or he was ignoring my pleas. A terrifying, savage grin pulled his lips apart, my blood coating his teeth.
I couldn’t let him do this. Obviously, I didn’t want to die, but I couldn’t let him suffer the consequences of killing his mate. The bond would wreck Fane after I was gone.
It would do the same to me if he was torn from this world.
When I slammed my fist into his temple, it barely fazed him. “Fane, don’t do this!”
His lips curled back to reveal more of those deadly teeth. “You will die.”
As he arched forward to tear into my throat, I angled to the side so he fell toward the table.
Fane wasn’t the only one with super-fast reflexes.
I rolled backward to untangle myself from him and landed on all fours on the table. Adrenaline and fear poured through my veins as I faced off with a beast.
My talons dug into the wood, and my senses sharpened as my shifter side emerged.
If only you had me, we could incapacitate him in seconds.
I wanted to hurl a slew of curses at the voice haunting me. “Don’t make me hurt you, Maverick.”
His deep, chilling laugh was colder than the icy air. “You hurt me?” The black, jagged tattoos twitched as his beast stalked toward the surface.
My heart gave a hard thump. I wouldn’t stand a chance if he transformed into his demon wolf.
There had to be something I could do to bring him back without either of us getting hurt. My few superficial wounds were nothing compared to what he could really do. He’d only been toying with me.
Fane’s shoulders curled forward, and the air around him steamed as he began to shift.