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I pulled on the inner strength that had gotten me through all the pain and torment in my past. This demon could do whatever he wanted, but I would never give up. I would fight to my last breath to get out of this hell. “You’ll die before I break.”
The demons within hearing distance inched back, sensing an impending explosion from Karn, but he only laughed, the sound like arsenic hidden within chocolate syrup.
“You think because you killed a high demon when you were barely seventeen you can take me, a demon lord?” He nodded. “Oh yes, I saw that too, sweetheart. It does make me wonder why Fane, the brother of the demon you killed, would give you a shifter bite.”
“Maybe I’m just that lovable.” I bared my bloody teeth in a vicious smile.
He grabbed my chin. “Or maybe you just possess something he wants.” He scrutinized me with those eerie red eyes as if he could peel back my layers of flesh to discover the secrets still hiding within.
My pulse raced as Karn’s attention lowered to my stomach. He hadn’t seen the tattoo yet. Would he realize the demon amulet had been under his nose this entire time?
Karn reached forward, pinching my shirt between his thumb and forefinger. “What is—”
Boom!
An explosion shook the entire building. Screams echoed, and the balcony across the room collapsed as wood, metal, and demons crashed down, demolishing the black and white tiles.
The demon lord hissed and released my chin, but his wings still pinned me to the wall. “Mora, Riley, go find out what’s happening,” he yelled at the two closest guards. They dashed off, shoving away demons who scrambled for the exterior door beyond the foyer. Karn returned to me, a snarl pulling at his lips. “It’s back to the dungeon for you.”
Another blast ripped through the mansion, and the ground trembled so hard my teeth rattled. The stairs collapsed, and a large portion landed behind us, partially blocking us from view. Karn howled when dust and debris struck his outstretched wings as they unintentionally protected me from the broken shards.
I snorted. He definitely didn’t mean to do that.
“You think this is funny?” Murder shined in his blood-red gaze that perfectly matched the garish color of his suit.
As a tingle rippled through my neck tattoo, my hand automatically lifted to it. The demon lord tracked the movement, and fury crashed over his expression.
And then a roar so loud and ferocious—the same one I’d heard in the forest that night in Mohan Wilds—sliced through the chaos as a black streak crashed into Karn, tackling him to the cracked floor.
ChapterThirty-Seven
My heart screechedto a stop as an ebony wolf with spikes down his spine and across his paws tore into the demon lord, shredding him apart like he was nothing more than soft, delicate silk. Ribbons of flesh flopped onto the ground, making me gag.
“Pathetic half breed,” Karn sputtered as his wings lifted to shove Fane off.
The demon shifter thwarted his attack and used the horns on his back to carve the leathery appendages. Karn shrieked and slashed his talons at Fane.
An invisible fist punched my gut, and I opened my mouth to warn him, but the demon’s hit barely fazed Fane. He darted forward, sinking his teeth into the lord’s neck. Karn’s red eyes widened as the wolf gave a few violent shakes, bones crunching and tendons tearing, spilling black blood across the ground.
The crimson flames in the demon’s irises faded to blue right before Fane gave one more violent shake, ripping Karn’s head off. He spat it from his mouth like a piece of trash, and it rolled across the cracked stone floor, leaving a thick, ebony trail behind.
I remained plastered against the wall as the demon shifter turned, those familiar mismatched eyes glowing like fiery embers ready to ravage everything in its path. He took a few steps, and tremors raced through him, muscles coiling and shifting. The fur and spikes disappeared, and he slowly rose on two feet as he transformed into a naked man covered in scars and tattoos. He used his hand to wipe Karn’s blood from his mouth.
“Fane.” Had he really visited me in my cell? “You found me.”
He tracked every injury marring my body, the muscles in his jaw feathering. “I find things.” Those words held much more than their simple meaning, and the way he looked at me had my pulse racing. “I told you I was coming. Did you doubt that I would?”
Even if I’d believed he was really in my cell, I’d been burned and let down too many time. Why would Fane be any different?
But hewasdifferent. He did come for me.
Another explosion rocked Karn’s mansion, spilling dust through the air, and Fane peeled me off the wall. “Let’s get out of here.”
He led me out of the deteriorating grand room, but instead of heading toward the exit, he pulled me to the right where I’d entered earlier.
“Do you know where you’re going?” I asked over the commotion. A few demons rushed by, barely sparing us a glance as they tried to get outside. “Was this your doing?”
“Of course I know where I’m going.” Fane turned down another hall. “And yes, some friends and I decided to blow up Karn’s mansion. They don’t like him any more than I do.”
