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The goal I’d been working toward since Coltrane found me, the only thing I had going for me, the only thing that would erase just a little of the bad I’d done, had been obliterated into dust. All my plans had slipped through my fingers.
Agony wrapped my chest in unyielding bands of titanium as Hawk’s image, grinning while we sparred, flashed through my mind. We’d never be partners again, and he certainly wouldn’t want me now.
What was I without the ravens?
A fucking nightworlder.
Fane had turned me into one of the creatures I used to police, hunt even. And I wasn’t just a shifter. I was a demon too.
Demons couldn’t be made, but I had no doubt this guy’s freaky nightworlder mix would spread to me from his bite, and I’d become some twisted hybrid like him.
The brother of Jayla’s killer had transformed me into a beast.
Before my brain caught up to my movements, I shoved Fane hard enough that he stumbled back a step. “This is all your fault, Maverick.” Hatred dripped from my words like poison. “You should have let me die.”
His brutally cut jaw hardened even more as he bared his teeth and closed the gap between us again. “Believe me, Teague, I wanted to let you die, but you stole what was mine.”
“What do you want with the Infernal Sol?” I spat. “Or did someone pay you to steal it?” Since he claimed to be so good at finding things and people, maybe someone hired him.
He sneered. “Why doyouwant it?”
“To get it away from people like Karn and you.” I choked back the sickness trying to crawl up my throat.
Logan stepped between us and offered me a glass of water. “Why don’t we all just sit down and talk this through without fighting.” He gave Fane a tight smile. “I don’t want to replace my furniture again.”
Fane backed away, but he didn’t sit. “Maybe your captain sent you here to die.” He snickered. “Who sends a newly minted raven on this kind of mission? And alone?”
“I got the Infernal Sol, didn’t I?” I lifted the glass and downed almost half of the water. When was the last time I had anything to drink? “I would have made it out if I hadn’t—”
My lips pressed together, cutting off my sentence. I couldn’t dwell on my choice to save that little demon girl. She would have haunted me the rest of my life if I hadn't.
Fane’s head tilted as he gave me such an intense stare it made my flesh prickle. It felt like he was trying to see past my outer shell and into the mess that made up my existence.
“What?” My fingers tightened on the glass as fine tremors made the ice clink against the sides.
“How could you kill my brother but sacrifice yourself to save another demon?” Fane tugged on a silver chain around his neck, the end hidden within his shirt. “Do you just pick and choose who you hate?”
I opened my mouth to tell the demon shifter prick to fuck off when Logan’s living room spun in a dizzying whirlwind of green walls, rich hardwoods, and wood and leather furniture.
Fane’s rough hands grabbed my arms to steady me. “I think she’s going to pass out.” He took the water from my hand and placed it out of reach.
As I clamped my lids shut, a groan slipped out, and my head fell forward on his chest.
He cursed and pushed me back. “Logan, get me something to—”
I bent over and hurled the water I’d chugged all over Fane’s boots. “Oops.” He was lucky I didn’t have anything else in my stomach.
Logan tossed Fane a towel, grimacing. “You called that, didn’t you?”
The demon shifter grumbled as he helped me into a chair. “Lucky guess.”
I leaned back in the seat and took a few shuddering breaths. “I’d say sorry, but you shouldn’t have been standing so close, Maverick.”
His lips pulled into a snarl. “Don’t worry, Teague, I’ll let you fall on your ass next time.”
* * *
The faint rubyglow outside from the streetlights cast the room in an eerie red hue, and permanent night filled the windowpanes. Daylight didn’t exist in Vlehull. I rolled over and punched the pillow, trying and failing to get comfortable.
