Savage Fate (Den of Shadows #5)

Chapter 28

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

Seeing Fane in such a vulnerable state crushed my heart and stole my breath. I wanted to collapse in his lap and take every bit of pain away from him.

I also wanted to tear apart the three witches chanting in a large circle drawn in chalk around him.

Their irises glowed violet as magic swirled in the atmosphere. White and blue candles cast a golden light across the marble floors and walls.

“Fane!” I crashed to my knees in front of him and grabbed his face between my hands.

His lids fluttered open. “Tate, what are you doing here? I told you not to come.”

“I’m not really here. Not yet.” I choked back a sob. “But I’ll be here soon.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t want you coming, because I knew you’d feel?—”

“Stop being an idiot, Maverick.” My teeth bared as a low growl slipped out. “If roles were reversed, you’d never leave my side, and you’d take away my pain.”

Fane’s mouth clamped shut because he knew I spoke the truth. He would have been in the circle with me no matter what.

“There’s nothing you can do or say.” I traced the scar cutting the left side of his face. “I’m already in Illyria.”

“Tell me you’re not alone.” His chest heaved and breaths quickened.

“I’m with Saint.”

Fane’s brows slammed down. “It had to be him, didn’t it?”

“Well, you shouldn’t have left me at his pack.” As my consciousness began slipping, the room faded. “Just hang on. I’m coming.”

My phantom form zoomed away from Fane, and I crashed back into my physical body as Saint held me against him. I groaned from the dizziness but still attempted to break out of his hold.

“I’m fine,” I muttered. “Fane’s pain just yanked me out of my body.”

Worry lines developed across Saint’s forehead. “Maybe I should carry you.”

I glared at him, which probably didn’t look that intimidating given my pale, sweaty cheeks and glassy eyes. “Try and you’ll regret it.

Saint heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head. “You’re even more stubborn than I thought. Honestly, Fane did me a favor claiming you.”

“Funny.” At least Saint’s sense of humor distracted me. “Let’s go.”

The alpha wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kept me close, shaking his head when I opened my mouth to protest. “Why are you so against asking for help?”

I gave a noncommittal shrug. “I learned to rely on myself while growing up. No one else was there to help.”

“Not anymore.” A warm breeze tossed his black hair across his forehead. “Plenty of people besides Fane care about you.”

“I can’t afford to become reliant on others when most people don’t stick around for long.” Saint had to know that once we broke this bond, he wouldn’t want to be around me. I wouldn’t expect him to.

“Not shifters.” His fingers flexed on my arm. “Once you become family, you’re always family.”

Saint and I weren’t family, though, and he’d regret these words one day. “Let’s just get to Fane.”

It felt like a lifetime passed before the enormous white mansion with huge columns finally came into view, looming like a gleaming beacon in the night. The bond pulled me toward the porch, and my tattoos hummed.

Fane was definitely in there. And if any witches had a problem letting us in, I’d rip their throats out.

“Why are you growling?” Saint asked, his eyebrow arched.

“Because I’m prepared to fight the whole damn coven to get to Fane if I have to.”

The door swung open, and Zane waved us in. “Fane told us you were coming. I can’t say I’m surprised. Where one of you goes, so does the other.” He glanced over his shoulder and nodded at Saint before leading us into a massive foyer of gleaming white marble and gold accents.

The place was like a freaking museum.

I gritted my teeth as another wave of agony rippled through me. “Hurry.”

Zane nodded and picked up the pace, marching down a long corridor. Every second that ticked by without seeing Fane was torture.

Saint’s arm tightened around me. “We’re almost there, Tate. Just a little longer.”

Zane pushed open a set of French doors, and the layer of magic choking the room almost forced my knees to buckle. The witches’ chants echoed against the walls while the candle flames jumped higher.

Fane’s burning eyes snapped to mine, shooting electricity through my tattoos and down my spine. Saint flinched and dropped his arm from around me as if he felt it.

Maybe he did.

Logan hurried in our direction, his face unusually pale. “He needs you, Tate.”

“What do I do?” I asked, knots fisting in my chest.

Sweat collected on Fane’s brow, and he grimaced as the magic continued to pummel against him, trying to break Kaspin’s enchantment. Wind whipped through the room, tossing my red hair back. The three witches looked agitated.

“What’s going on?” Logan asked Jess, one of the witches who attempted to scry for Barric at Corvin Manor. “What’s happening?”

She shook her head, tossing around her blond strands. “The spell won’t release him. It’s engrained so deeply that it’s grown roots in his soul.”

I mashed my teeth to choke back a groan. “There has to be something we can do.”

Lia, the other witch at Corvin Manor that day, pointed in my direction, the candle flames dancing over her alabaster skin. “Are you willing to help?”

“No!” Fane hissed, his fists pressing into the floor as he hunched over. “It’s too dangerous for her.”

I scoffed. “It’s too dangerous for me not to help.” After what happened last night, Fane would never allow himself to be with me out of fear he’d hurt me. I couldn’t lose him. He couldn’t be one of those people who vanished from my life. “What do you want me to do?”

Jess beckoned me toward her and lifted a knife. “Come into the circle.”

“Saint, stop her!” Fane yelled as his pupils thinned into diamonds before rounding back out.

Saint gripped my arm, halting me in my tracks. He winced as my tattoos shocked him, but he didn’t release me. “Tate, I?—”

“Nothing is stopping me from doing this.” My nostrils flared as I tried to pull out of his grasp. We didn’t have time to argue. “This is why I came.”

His fingers squeezed my arm before his hold fell away. “Just be careful.”

“I will.”

That was a lie, and he knew it.

I’d do anything to help Fane through this.

Logan pulled me into a hug, crushing me into him. “If anyone can help break this spell, it’s you.”

“We’re not leaving here until this is finished.” I wasn’t sure what I could do, considering I wasn’t a witch, but the mages thought I could be useful.

As I walked into the circle, Fane’s head slumped, knowing arguing with me was futile.

Jess clutched my hand and put the blade to it. “Will you willingly add your essence to this spell?”

“Yes.” As soon as the word dropped from my mouth, she sliced the knife across my palm. A sharp sting throbbed, and she held my hand over a copper bowl, letting my blood flow into it.

“Chains unseen, now be undone. By moonlit star and rising sun.”

A gust of wind lashed within the circle, whipping my hair around, and the spell mixture sizzled. All three witches chanted, swaying back and forth. Still gripping my hand, Jess towed me toward Fane.

“Threads of shadow, flee the light. Unbind this soul. Reclaim the night.”

His head lifted as we neared, the anguish in his eyes stealing the air from my lungs. “Don’t do this, Tate.”

“Stop being stubborn, Maverick.” I wanted to punch him and then hold him so tightly we melded together.

Jess forced me to my knees in front of him and pressed my bloody palm to the center of his chest. “By flesh, by blood, by wind, by flame.”

Electricity crackled up my arm and down my back as more magic collected in the air. Heat bubbled in my bloodstream, and flames licked at me. A groan slipped out as their spell weaved around me. My energy ebbed from the magic pulling on it.

Jess left me in front of Fane and walked backward to her spot, chanting.

“You can do this, Fane.” I rested my other hand on his cheek, angling his head toward mine to kiss him. “You’re the strongest person I know. Kaspin’s spell is nothing.”

My heart thumped, realizing that once this was over, Fane’s memories would be restored, and he’d remember falling in love with me. This barrier between us would vanish, and he’d be the same guy who sacrificed himself when he allowed Mykel to drag him across that bridge.

I pressed my forehead to his. “This spell will not have the power to control you anymore.”

As the wind howled against the marble interior and the candle flames jumped higher, Fane gritted his teeth while a burst of pain ricocheted through the bond. He tried to shield me from it, but his own strength waned.

“Stop trying to protect me,” I demanded. “I can take it.”

His lips curled back as he growled. “I can’t help it. My instinct is to protect you.” A dry laugh slipped out. “Even when Kaspin’s spell was at its strongest, I still wanted to protect you.”

A giant lump clogged my throat. The guy who loved me had always been inside of him, fighting Kaspin’s magic.

Now it was my turn to fight it.

The chanting grew louder, and the fire intensified, pouring through my veins. Fane cursed, and sweat ran down his temple. Tremors shook his entire body as his skin paled.

“It still clinging on,” the male witch hissed. “We have to go further.”

Jess nodded and held her hands out, palms up. “Dallas, drop the shield,” she told the guy before turning to Lia. “Use the Seal of Elarion.”

Lia pulled a necklace out of her pocket and dangled it in front of her, the black stone beginning to glow. “I call our power to break this claim.”

Violet electricity crackled around Jess’s hands. “Tate, move to the side. I need a clear shot at Fane.”

All the moisture vanished from my mouth as trepidation filled my gut. I wanted to stay right where I was and take the magic for him. Fane sensed my reluctance and shook his head.

“Go, fiera mika.” He reached out and caressed my cheek. “You can’t take this for me. I have to do it.”

I nodded and moved to Fane’s side, my limbs shaking. It wasn’t from the spell but from what I feared was coming. This would hurt Fane, and watching him endure that agony would shatter me.

Was this how he felt the many times Ruin and Nadia tried to extract the Infernal Sol? Had he felt helpless watching me writhe and scream in pain?

The chanting intensified as violet magic crackled on all three witches’ palms. Sweat slinked down my nape, and I clutched Fane’s hand, anticipating something horrible.

But I wasn’t prepared when their magic converged in the center of the circle and slammed into Fane’s chest.