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Fane bolted forward and caught me just as my knees gave out, yanking a ragged cry from my mouth as pain erupted. But within seconds, the demon shifter began taking that pain.
I leaned against him, breathing in his fire and spice scent, drinking in his presence like a healing elixir. His arms enveloped me, smearing blood all over his shirt, but he didn’t mind.
“Looks like I didn’t need you to bring me back after all.” The lie barely made it off my tongue. His mere image had helped me claw out of the murky fog and shove the Infernal Sol back down.
The edges of his lips hitched, but it looked like it pained him to move even that much. “You’re a terrible liar, Teague.” He walked us toward the couch and gently lowered down with me still in his arms, his face pale and sweat beading his forehead.
“You can stop now,” I muttered, trying to break out of his grip to cut off the flow of my pain draining into him. “It’s enough.”
He grumbled and collapsed beside me, the tiny muscles in his jaw working as he grimaced. “I’ll tell you when it’s enough.”
I shot him a deadly look—as deadly as I could while trying not to pass out.“Seriously, Fane. Stop now. You’ve taken enough.”
“Fine. For now.”He finally relented, and a dull throb returned to my body.
“Did anyone call a healer?” Fane’s rough demand tore through the air, making Nora flinch as she handed him a damp towel.
“Hailey is on her way.” Nora tried to pass me a glass of water, but my hands shook too badly to grasp it.
Logan took the cup from her instead. “I’ve got it, Nora. Thanks.”
She gave him a weak smile and then backed up as if Fane was putting out a shield of thorns and spikes to keep everyone away.
“Try this, my pretty roommate.” Logan ignored the prickly energy from Fane and pressed the glass to my lips, helping me take a few small sips. When he drew it away, the water turned pink with my blood, and a few gray streaks surrounded the rim.
My stomach roiled. Demon blood probably covered my chin from tearing that royal’s throat out.
Knowing what I needed, Fane used the warm, damp towel to wipe my face.
“I never ripped anyone’s throat out before,” I mumbled, my tongue thick and eyelids heavy.
A ghost of a smile pulled at his mouth, and something like pride shined in his eyes. “You did good.”
My lids fluttered, and my muscles began to lose all rigidity. “I’m glad you’re here now.” The room darkened around the edges, making Fane the sole focus.
Panic rolled over him, and he shook me. “No, stay with me, Tate.” He tapped my cheek, his fingers so warm. “Stay with me. Don’t go.”
“Can’t.” Blood trickled out of my mouth, and his arms tightened as he shook me again, but I couldn’t hold on anymore, and my mind slipped away.
* * *
Pain flowedthrough my veins instead of blood, and my body felt like stone on a soft bed. The last thing I remembered was passing out on the couch in the Anders’ living room. Fane’s panicked expression would haunt my nightmares, weaving through all my horrible memories.
Voices poked at my consciousness and thinned some of the fog clouding my head.
“You can’t seriously believe that.” Fane’s words twisted out like sharp barbed wire. “Look at her. Do you think she just stood by? Did she do this to herself?”
“All I have to go on is what Dorian told me. He’s my beta. I do havesometrust in his word.” Alpha Camus sounded tired and frustrated. “He claims that Tate stood by and watched as the sub-demons attacked the wolves. She seemed to have control over them—possibly because you bit her—and she didn’t step in until the agrigons turned on her.”
That piece of shit coward. Dorian ran away and abandoned his pack. He saw the royal and high demon attacking me and assumed I wouldn’t survive.
He clearly didn’t know me at all. Death had chewed me up and spit me out so many times I’d lost count. And now that douche king wanted to pin the wolf casualties on me.
“That’s a bunch of bullshit.” A low growl curled in the back of Logan’s throat as he spoke. “Tate was a raven. She’d never stand by and let anyone get hurt. She also has no control over any demons, and neither does Fane.”
“Stay out of this, demon,” Camus warned. “You have no say in any shifter matters.”
It took me several tries, but I finally pried my eyelids open to Fane’s rainy forest painting on the blue walls I’d stared at many times while trying to sleep. Fane and Logan stood on one side of my room in the Anders’ home, glaring at Camus while Ephraim hovered in the middle, his face strained.
