Chapter 12

Chapter

Twelve

The hand holding my phone trembled as I studied the picture of a battered Kortney, the smile on Mykel's face cutting off my air supply. He'd probably tortured the raven and laughed as she screamed. The sadistic prick got off on it. And so did that skank of a princess.

Another text came through, and my vision blurred around the edges until my phone was the only thing in focus.

Venna: Fetch this little birdie or she dies. And come alone.

Screw that. Did Venna really think I'd fall into her trap? I wasn't that stupid.

Before I could even form a plan of action, my consciousness left my body and flew through the house like a ghost in search of Fane. The pulling in my gut yanked me toward the house's east wing, exactly where Jax told me to avoid.

Fane sat rigidly at a long wooden table with Barric, Jax, Ari, and a few of the head alpha's council members. My hackles raised as the shifters on the other side of the table came into focus.

"Please, Fane, you have to know how sorry I am. I was vulnerable when that royal demon approached me." Marissa fluttered her lashes at the demon shifter, her jade eyes watery. "I didn't think about what I was doing. Please don't let Head Alpha Barric banish me from my pack."

A sour taste coated my tongue, and I wanted to puke at her saccharine voice. This was what Jax hadn't wanted me to see. They were conducting a hearing over Marissa and Dorian's murder attempt on me.

Why the hell wasn't I invited? I was the one they tried to kill! I should have a say in what happened to them too. Not just Fane.

"Marissa, keep quiet," Camus muttered under his breath while he rubbed his temples. He'd clearly had enough of his daughter. Maybe he wanted her banished so he didn't have to deal with her bullshit anymore.

The woman—an older carbon copy of Marissa with shorter hair—patted the pleading wolf's hand. "It's okay, honey. I'm sure Fane will find it in his heart to plead for leniency. You are, after all, fated mates." Her glossy lips pulled into a twisted smile.

This was no doubt Marissa's mother, Reese.

"We were fated," Fane said with a blank expression. "She is nothing to me now, exactly how you and your daughter preferred it." He turned to Barric. "Can we get this over with?"

Marissa tried to reach across the table to Fane. "Don't be that way. We still share a connection. We always will."

"Would you shut up?" Dorian snapped beside her. The facade of perfection around the former beta had completely vanished. His pale blond hair was a mess, and his clothes were wrinkled. Dark circles bruised beneath his bloodshot eyes. "No one is falling for your innocent act, Marissa, least of all Fane. You're as much to blame as me."

Reese glowered at Dorian, but before she could speak, Barric released a low, deadly growl .

"I will force all of you to be silent if I have to." His alpha power throbbed in the room, and every wolf except Fane lowered in their seats from the weight of it.

How could they have this hearing without me? How could Fane not even tell me?

As his gaze began to move toward me, I forced my consciousness back into my body, stumbling into a wall. I didn't give a damn if he'd sensed me. He should have told me the truth.

Well, fuck Fane and the rest of them. I had more important things to deal with.

So much for not being stupid. I was about to walk right into Venna's trap.

Cold sweat trickled down my spine, soaking into my shirt as I ducked under the yellow caution tape at the construction site. I swallowed hard and tried to keep my breaths even while my boots moved over the recently poured concrete. Images from that night years ago rushed through my mind and tried to steal my focus.

Did Venna know she picked the very place my life had been turned upside down? Did she know I'd lost my last bit of light here when Jayla was ripped from my fingers and torn from the world?

The very place I'd killed my first demon.

Fane's brother.

I shook the nightmarish memories off as best as I could and tried not to see the walls of the warehouse that weren't there anymore. The city had it demolished.

But the ghosts of that night would always haunt it.

Metal framework and concrete pillars spotted the space, and when I turned a corner, Kortney came into view, still gagged and tied to a chair. Her dark eyes widened, and she mumbled under the piece of tape.

"Yeah, I know it's a trap, Tran," I said.

Venna emerged from the shadows, dressed in a curve-hugging black leather ensemble with a spiked collar and bracelets, giving a slow clap. "I'm surprised you showed without that irritating hybrid."

I flipped her off. "Still sour that your spell couldn't tear us apart?"

She gave a lazy shrug, her platinum hair flowing around her shoulders. "I have other things in store for you two. Don't worry your little head."

"Enough with the chitchat." I jerked my chin toward the raven. "I'm here. Let Kortney go."

Low laughter echoed from the darkness as Mykel stepped forward, his glamour gone, revealing the citrine irises and horns. "Did you really think it would be that easy, Tate?" His seven-foot frame loomed over Kortney like a monster about to strike. He dropped his massive hand on her shoulder, his fingers digging in until she squirmed. "The fun is just beginning."

I cracked my neck and then rolled my shoulders. "Are we going to fight? Is that what you want?" The transformative hilt I'd plucked from one of the ravens' many hiding spots in Savannah warmed in my pocket at the prospect of battle, but I'd started to lean more on my talons and teeth to fight. The blade was for Kortney.

"I like having a little caged birdie as a pet. I'm not done playing with it yet. We've barely begun the torture." His smile had ice pouring down my back. "You remember how well I torture, don't you, Tate? I loved hearing your screams." He ripped the gag from Kortney's mouth .

"Get out of here, Tate," she blurted. "You shouldn't have come. I can get out of this myself."

Venna took a dagger from her belt, flipping it in the air. "You ravens are all the same, so confident and cocky. You have no idea who you're dealing with, girl." She dragged the tip of the blade down Kortney's cheek without breaking skin. "You little birds come into our nightworlds and dictate how we live. I should kill every last one of you and the witches who give you power." Her laughter rang through the dank, hollow space.

"That would be fantastic." Mykel held Kortney's head steady as Venna sliced the blade across her cheek, drawing blood this time. "Then we can go on a killing spree through the city."

The royal demon chuckled. "As if we don't already do that."

"Enough!" My jaw clenched as my teeth ached to grow into sharp points. "I'm tired of listening to you two idiots. What do you want? Let's get this over with."

Venna whipped in my direction, her sheet of icy hair flying around her, and she tossed the dagger at me.

With my supernatural reflexes, I caught the knife in the air by the hilt before it stabbed my shoulder. But the satisfaction in her gaze told me she hadn't meant for the blade to spear me.

"I want you to take that knife and slit your throat," the demon princess said.

My head jerked back. "You want me to kill myself?"

"If you don't…" She gestured toward Mykel as his talons lowered to Kortney's neck, digging in and spilling blood. "Your little raven friend dies."

The hilt slipped in my hand as a cold sweat dampened my palms. "You can't be serious."

Venna patted Kortney's head, earning a scowl from the raven. "What's the phrase humans say? As serious as a heart attack. "

"If you choose not to kill yourself, Tate, I'll eat this raven's heart first." Mykel salaciously licked his lips. "I bet it's delicious."

My stomach lurched at the images of him literally devouring Kortney. She must have been picturing the same thing because a green hue tinted her cheeks.

"I hope you choke on it," she murmured, catching my eye while the two demons laughed. As her wrist wriggled in the rope tying her arm to the chair, moonlight glinted on the shiny object clutched in her fingers.

She had a tiny pocketknife.

Relief washed over me. She'd almost cut through the rope on one hand, and luckily, her ankles weren't bound to the chair.

"And here I thought you'd want to end my life yourself, Venna." I inched closer, keeping their attention as Kortney continued to saw through her restraints. "What happened to your thirst for revenge? Ziva screamed like a bitch when I stuck that knife in her chest, the one dipped in Demise."

Venna's irises darkened, and her flesh paled as shadows converged over her face. "You'll feel that same pain when you slice into your throat." She jerked her chin toward the knife in my hand. "The Demise on that blade will kill you if the blood loss doesn't."

I lifted the blade and sniffed it, my nostrils stinging from the demon poison. "Why would you give me a blade coated in Demise? What if I use it on you?"

"You won't get the chance to use it on me, Tate, not before you kill yourself." She flicked her long locks, the shiny leather corset and pants looking like liquid tar in the moonlight. "And once you take your last breath, Kaspin's spell will break, and the grief will torment Fane like it did me after Ziva died."

Kortney finished cutting through the rope on one wrist and moved to the other. She'd be free any moment now. And then we'd fight.

I rested my free hand over my pocket, ready to snatch the hilt. "Dominic stabbed me with a silver knife coated in Demise. That didn't kill me. What makes you so sure it will now?"

Venna tsked. "Those shifters were idiots. I'll make sure it kills you. And your hybrid isn't here to save you like last time." Her cheeks hollowed, and those eyes became pits of impenetrable black holes. "You're at my mercy, little girl."

Kortney finished cutting her other bind, and she gave a quick nod.

"Actually, I'm not at anyone's mercy, Venna, least of all yours." I snatched the transformative hilt from my pocket, ran my finger over the rune to activate the sword, and tossed it to the raven.

As the blade extended, she stood and snatched it through the air, spinning toward the dux demon behind her. Mykel staggered back, but he wasn't quick enough. The sword sliced through his wrist with one quick pass, severing his hand.

A booming howl shook the construction site as his unattached limb hit the concrete, black blood spewing from his sheared appendage.

"You bitch!" he snarled, lunging for Kortney.

She jumped out of his reach and ducked to miss the talons on his remaining hand. "I guess you're not going to eat my heart after all, asshole."

I turned to lunge at Venna, but she'd vanished into thin air. Where the hell did she go?

A strangled cry erupted as Mykel kicked Kortney, and she flew across the concrete into a metal beam. I bolted toward her, trying to beat the dux demon before he could resume his attack .

"I'm fine," Kortney hissed as I helped her up. "Just a little dazed."

As the dux demon charged, I stepped in front of Tran and swiped the blade covered in Demise at him. He cursed, stumbling away from the deadly weapon. He frantically peered around for Venna, his mouth parted in disbelief when she was nowhere to be found.

"The princess left you to die, Mykel." I grinned. "She doesn't give a damn about you. You're just a lowly lackey to her. Nothing more."

His upper lip curved back, revealing jagged teeth. "You're going to die a slow, agonizing death and then be eaten and torn apart by demons."

"I doubt it. But you, on the other hand, are about to experience a painful death." As the Infernal Sol stirred, enjoying the violence, a manic laugh bubbled out. "Your screams will give me a peaceful sleep tonight."

The need to hold the demon amulet at bay wasn't as prevalent as it was in front of the Silver Ridge pack. This was a demon, one who knew exactly what lurked inside of me. Kortney had seen a spark of the darkness when I'd ripped into those fortyno demons too.

Mykel took another step back, the fear in his citrine eyes making me giddy. The asshole would finally pay for all he'd done.

"Don't make another move, Tate, or he dies." Venna marched back into the construction site, dragging in the old, weathered witch who enchanted Fane, his bald head gleaming with beads of sweat. Mystical handcuffs were locked around Kaspin's wrists to keep his magic out of reach. "If he dies, you'll never break the spell on Fane."

Motherfucker .