Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

Axel took off, heading for Mason Street with Kortney on his heels. My boots dug in, poised to run, when Fane's hand clamped down on my shoulder.

"This is what they do. Let them go."

My lips curled back, baring my teeth. "I'm going with or without you, Maverick." I darted forward and sprinted through the park.

Fane quickly appeared beside me, his long legs eating up the ground. "I don't even know why I try."

"I don't either," I mumbled. "Your life would be easier if you just let me do what I wanted."

"My life would be easier if I didn't have to fight the urge to kill you."

Ouch.

His words still stung even after hearing them a million times since we'd returned to Savannah with Barric. "Maybe you'll get lucky, and a demon will kill me tonight."

"Not a chance." He gave a sinister grin. "If anyone is going to kill you, it'll be me."

Heat zipped across my spine at the lust hidden within his grin. Something told me he'd want to take me to bed one more time before he snuffed out my life.

Vicious snarls echoed through the nighttime before we hit the corner and turned onto Green Street where the historic brick buildings lined both sides of the road. The windows of each establishment were dark, and the gas streetlamps spotting the sidewalk every few feet brought an eerie glow to the storefronts, wrought iron benches, trees, and asphalt.

Acid curdled my stomach at the unrecognizable menacing look in Hawk's chocolate-brown eyes. Fury stained them as he wildly fought the beasts, almost like he didn't care if he lived or died.

Maybe he wanted to die.

What had happened to him since I'd become a nightworlder?

"It's about time," Roxie said, her sword carving into the hard exterior of a sub-demon. Her gaze danced in my direction, and she scowled. "What the hell is she doing here?"

I couldn't even respond to my former friend for fear I'd attack her, so I sprung on a demon, my talons slicing into him.

"She's helping." Kortney beheaded one of the fortynos and spun to miss a blow from another. "Stop being such a bitch and be thankful."

I never thought Kortney Tran would stick up for me, but I hadn't pegged Roxie for a backstabbing skank who lusted after Hawk either.

"Teague!" Fane caught my attention just as a sub-demon's tail whipped in my direction, seconds away from stinging me.

I ducked, pivoted, and severed his tail with one swipe of my talons.

"Stop getting distracted," Fane hissed into my mind. "Do it again, and I'm dragging you out of here. "

"Not happening."

Black blood dripped from my claws as I forced my way through the hell spawn toward Hawk. He cursed when a fortyno sank his teeth into his shoulder.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, mixing with rage and protectiveness. I leaped into the air, jumped on the fortyno, and dug my talons into his neck. I tore his head off, spraying black blood on Hawk and me, and jumped to the ground as the monster fell.

"What the fuck?" Hawk mumbled, staring at me like I was a stranger with six heads and eight arms.

I could only imagine what he saw—talons, slitted eyes, and speckled in blood.

Movement behind Hawk caught my focus, and I yanked him forward as a sub-demon's stinger lashed through the air where he'd just been. When he looked down at me, for a tiny moment, it was like old times when we were partners, tackling the beasts of the city together.

Hawk and me against the world.

He almost smiled. And then reality crashed down, and he jerked out of my grip.

"Don't touch me," he sneered, staggering back. He used his forearm to wipe demon blood off his harsh face.

Sharp pains ripped through my chest as if his words were blades gutting me. The anguish must have been powerful enough to snatch Fane's attention, fear spiking across our bond.

"Teague? Are you hurt?"

Fane thought one of the demons had injured me. I would have rather fought the pain of their claws, stingers, or teeth than have the guy I'd been in love with for years treat me like scum on the bottom of his boot.

"I'm fine."

But on the bright side, the demon shifter was actually worried about me.

As I turned, Fane's gaze flicked between Hawk and me, and his expression darkened once he realized what had caused the intense bolt of agony. Was he pissed that Hawk intentionally hurt me or that I was upset over another guy?

These days, it could be anything.

I shoved the whirling thoughts away and focused on dispatching the sub-demons as quickly as possible so we could leave. Having Axel and Hawk—I expected it from Roxie—treat me like trash had me longing to return to Silver Ridge.

Once the last fortyno fell, Fane stalked in my direction. The sight of the huge man covered in blood, scars, and tattoos would have most cowering. Not me. The beast had my knees shaking from something other than fear.

"An ex-lover of yours?" He jerked his head toward Hawk as Axel gave him an earful about acting like a reckless superhero.

Was that jealousy flowing through the demon shifter?

If only Fane knew I'd slept with Axel and not Hawk.

The rumble of an engine hit the air as a sleek black SUV drove around the corner, slowing as it neared the carnage of sub-demons scattered across the sidewalk and road. We would have had a major problem if humans occupied the vehicle, but the front license plate marked it as one of Barric's.

Great. The head alpha must have realized I snuck out.

Hawk marched forward like he planned to attack the newcomers, but Axel grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

"What the hell are you doing?" He jerked his chin to the SUV. "That's from Silver Ridge."

The tinted window on the driver's side rolled down to reveal Jax, Barric's beta, his golden curls rippling in the wind as those amber eyes focused on me .

"You leave the compound, and I find you in the middle of a massacre?" His gruff voice vibrated my bones, but the edges of his lips twitched as he stepped out of the SUV, displaying long legs, a trim waist, and powerful muscles. "Fane, you're supposed to keep her from doing this sort of thing. Don't tell me she overpowered you and ran away."

Fane gave a lazy shrug. "She's bound and determined to cause trouble."

I folded my arms. " She is right here. And I'm tired of being treated like a prisoner."

Jax's brows dipped, making the intimidating beta look more like a worried puppy. "You're not a prisoner. We just want to keep you safe."

"You're staying at Silver Ridge?" Hawk slipped out of Axel's reach and stormed toward us, his boots stomping over sub-demon goo. "Why wasn't Captain Coltrane informed?"

Sharp lines cut into the beta's face as he regarded the raven's sword, still out and dripping black blood. "Because it's pack business and not Coltrane's."

"Savannah is the captain's business." Hawk finally realized he had his weapon raised and ran his thumb over the rune to draw the blade back into the hilt. "She oversees the nightworlders."

Sensing the mounting tension, the car doors opened, and two other male wolf shifters stepped out of the SUV, flanking Jax's side. Kortney cursed, and she and Axel slowly moved toward Hawk in case they needed to stop him from lunging at the nightworlders.

When did Hawk become such a hothead? He'd always loved attention and was a show-off during field training, but he never would have confronted shifters with so much animosity. I pivoted and stepped in his direction when fingers hooked in my belt loops and jerked me into a hard chest.

"I don't think lover boy would appreciate your affection right now." Fane's low, rough whisper sent waves of electricity through my veins despite his cutting tone. "He seems to loathe our kind."

Our kind.

How could I forget I was so different from the ravens now? Hell, I'd never really been one of them. How would they feel knowing I was born from at least one shifter?

"Let me go," I hissed, trying to wiggle out of his hold. "We used to be friends. That's all."

"You don't look at him like a friend."

"Jealous?"

"Of Junior? Not a fucking chance." He gave a low laugh that vibrated my back and made my stomach flutter. "And from the look of it, he wants to murder you."

"Like you?" I rubbed my ass against his pelvis, feeling him instantly hardened. "Be honest, Maverick. You've never just wanted to kill me."

His fingers loosely dragged over my throat, his thumb rubbing my tattoo and shooting sparks across my sensitive flesh. "Keep provoking me, and I'll make sure to get my fill of you quickly so I can finally end you."

My lips pressed together to keep a moan from breaking free as fire reverberated from his bite mark. I rubbed against him again, earning a warning snarl from my beast.

Someone cleared his throat, and Gareth, Jax's assistant, arched his eyebrow at us. Fane quickly released me and stepped back to put space between us, but heat still wrapped us like a thick cloud. Obviously, the shifters sensed the sensual atmosphere that had suddenly grown around us .

So embarrassing.

I swiveled back to the ravens, catching Kortney's smirk as she studied Fane and me. The shifters weren't the only ones who noticed the fiery tension.

"I don't give a damn what you think your captain should know." Jax rolled his head, cracking his neck. "Tate is a shifter, and her presence at the compound is our business."

Hawk's nostrils flared while his usually kind eyes hardened to amber stones. "The captain will call Barric when she hears about this."

"Good." Jax motioned to the scattered sub-demon parts. "He'll want to discuss all the Underworld lowlifes clogging the city."

Axel stepped in front of Hawk before he could utter another word. "We should discuss that, Jax. Please let the head alpha know to expect a call from Captain Coltrane regarding this issue. The problem is worsening, and we may need to talk strategy."

At least Axel still had his ego in check.

Jax gave a curt nod. "Will do. And you should thank your shifter assistance tonight." He jerked his chin in our direction. "I'm sure these two did a hell of a lot more damage than you four." His gaze lingered over Roxie, who hid in the background. Out of all of us, she appeared the least battered, barely a hair out of place.

Lazy bitch.

Axel swiveled toward us, the animosity pulsating off him. "Thanks," he gritted out.

Hawk sneered, his hands fisting as if he wanted to punch Axel for even saying it.

"Let's go, you two." Jax opened the back door while the other two shifters slid into their spots. "I don't want to keep Barric waiting. "

I heaved a sigh and marched to the SUV, casting one more glance over my shoulder before hopping inside. The malice had suddenly evaporated from Hawk's expression, revealing a flood of sadness drowning him. I wanted to pull him into my arms.

Before Coltrane sent me on that fated mission, Hawk still had a touch of light and innocence that kept him from really seeing the true evil in this world.

That innocence was nowhere to be found now. He was fully immersed in the darkness, and it broke my heart.

Fane scooted in beside me, sandwiching me between him and Ari, the other shifter in the back seat. Ari smiled at me, and the demon shifter responded with a glower as he rested his arm around my shoulders to tuck me against his side.

"Keep your enemies closer, right, fiera mika?"

One day, Fane would have to admit that he wanted me in his bed more than he wanted to kill me.

"Barric won't be happy when he sees the state you're in, Tate." Jax watched me through the rearview mirror. "He's already pissed you snuck out. When he finds out you fought a bunch of sub-demons, well, be prepared to cover your ears when he yells."

I slid lower in my seat, wishing I could hide. Why the hell did Barric give a damn if I snuck out or got hurt? Why did he care what happened to me at all?