Chapter 37

My head shook as Julia's words replayed in my ears a dozen times. I must have heard her wrong. Only a born wolf's blood would have reacted like that.

"I was born human. Not shifter."

"My senses say you're a bitten shifter, but this test, which is a hundred percent accurate, says otherwise." She arched an eyebrow. "You don't know your birth parents, correct?"

The thought of the people who abandoned me to this cruel world brought a sour taste to my tongue. "No, but I would have known if I was a freaking shifter." I flicked my hand toward Fane. "He bit me."

"One or more of your parents had to be a wolf." Julia stood from the chair and paced the room. "Fane's bite triggered the gene."

Blood pounded in my ears, hammering against my skull, and I stood so fast the room spun. "I was human."

Large, rough hands gripped my shoulders to steady me. "Maybe you weren't." Fane searched me, trying to peel back my flesh and bones to find the truth written in my soul.

" You turned me. This bond came from your bite."

"Fane's bite definitely tied you two together and created a bond." Julia tapped her chin, deep in thought as she made another lap around the room. "He brought the shifter forth, but something is still blocking the magic. That's why you can't change."

Black spots speckled the edges of my vision as my ears rang. I'd grown up as a weak, vulnerable human in foster care and on the streets when I could have had super strength and fucking teeth and claws to protect myself from all of the horrible nightmares that swallowed me.

All the times the nice places tossed me out for being strange flooded to the forefront of my chaotic thoughts. Had they sensed I wasn't human?

Was my entire life a fucking lie? Where were my parents? Who were my parents?

"Did someone put a spell on her?" Fane asked, yanking me off the dangerous merry-go-round that had me spinning.

Julia stopped pacing. "More than likely. That's probably why Tate appears as a bitten shifter."

I clutched Fane's wrists as his hands still rested on my shoulders. "Why would someone cast a spell on me?"

"I don't know." The healer moved toward us. "Maybe they did it to hide you."

Fane's nostrils flared, his muscles turning rigid. "No one can know about this. Have you told anyone?"

Julia shook her head.

A loud knock at the door startled us, and before anyone could answer it, Camus marched inside with his daughter in tow. The alpha's eyes glowed gold, his face was carved out of granite, and his canines gleamed in the soft lights.

Fane released my shoulders and stepped in front of me, his feral growl shaking the hardwoods beneath my feet. "What is she doing here?"

I had to fight back a smile at the hatred coating his words for the female shifter.

"Go ahead, Marissa." Camus glowered at her as she remained silent with her chin held high. "Speak!"

As his alpha power hit the air, Marissa dropped to her knees and whimpered. She probably wasn't used to her father's wrath, but he'd had enough of her bullshit.

"That demon princess helped us," Marissa blurted as if she couldn't hold her tongue any longer. "She gave us the silver knife and Demise."

The tension in Fane's body grew tenfold, and he vibrated as his beast prowled closer. "Venna helped you plot Tate's murder?"

Marissa pressed her lips into a tight line as she glared daggers at her father. "Princess Venna contacted me last week and asked if I'd like to take care of a mutual enemy." She turned back in our direction, and I stepped out from behind Fane. "She said she'd rather you be dead even if it meant destroying the amulet—whatever the hell that is."

So Venna grew tired of chasing the Infernal Sol, or she realized she'd never get it out of me.

Marissa's wild laughter pummeled my eardrums. "Venna was hoping it would destroy Fane in the process."

The demon shifter clenched his hands, his tattoos twitching as his beast form longed to bust free. "I've never been more thankful that you rejected me, or I'd be stuck with your deceitful, arrogant, selfish ass for the rest of my long life."

Her lips curled back in a snarl, and she tried to stand, but Camus slammed his hand onto her shoulder, his fingers crushing her bones.

"I didn't tell you to move."

She whined like a hurt puppy, and the venom in her expression vanished as she pleaded with her father. "Daddy, I'm so?—"

A commotion erupted in the house, and footsteps hammered up the stairs. "Help!" someone called out.

That was Ephraim.

Icy panic ripped through my bloodstream. What if Venna crossed into their territory and hurt Dylan to punish me?

Fane bolted into the hall, and Julia followed as the voices grew louder. Camus grabbed his daughter and threw her into a chair on the right side of the room.

"If you move, I will banish you from this pack," he warned. "Not even your mother will be able to help you."

Marissa's mouth parted, and she lowered in the chair as her father's alpha power wrapped around her.

My heart slammed against my rib cage as I trailed Camus into the next room where several pack members gathered. As Julia rummaged through the drawers, Ephraim and Preston helped an emaciated form into the bed.

"Who is that?" I asked Fane when I made it to his side, trying not to show my relief that it wasn't any of the Anders.

He scrutinized the male shifter dressed in sweatpants that barely hung onto his frail frame. "Joseph Morrice."

My mouth parted. "He's the shifter that went missing from this pack. "

Camus leaned over Joseph and rested his hand on the sickly shifter's bony chest. "What happened, Joe? Where have you been?"

"Locked up." Joseph breathed heavily, speaking those two words consuming nearly all of his strength.

I inched closer, straining to hear.

"So much torment. So much pain." Tears welled in his hollow eyes. "They took so much of my soul. Over and over again."

The air whooshed out of my lungs. If his soul was being sucked out, demons were involved in his disappearance. No other creatures lived off of souls.

A choked sob slipped out of Joseph. "Cells with so many prisoners."

Cells?

Fane and I traded looks, thinking the same thing. Locked up, torment and pain, crammed cells—that sounded a lot like Heldrok.

"Were you in an Underworld prison?" Fane stepped closer to the bed. "Maybe Heldrok?"

Joseph dragged a dirt-covered hand over his grimy face. "All bitten shifters like me."

So Saint was right. They were only taking bitten shifters and holding them in an Underworld prison, or some other place fitted with cells.

A dry cough overwhelmed Joseph, and Julia shooed Camus out of the way with a cup in her hand.

"Here, Joseph, try to sip this."

He took a few sips and rested back on the pillow, his lids closing. "Tate. "

My head jerked back, and the attention of everyone in the room swiveled in my direction. "Me?"

Joseph licked his dry, cracked lips. "There were whispers of a female they were going to bring in soon. They need her for something important."

Fane inched back toward me, a protective move that would have made my heart melt if Joseph's words hadn't sent ice water through my veins. "Need her for what?"

Julia flicked a knowing look at us. Before a few minutes ago, I would have blamed the Infernal Sol, but since shifters were at the center of this mystery, could this have to do with my real lineage and why someone covered it up?

Did they hide me from something horrible? Had that something found me?

A powerful presence filled the room as Head Alpha Barric Hartwell crossed the threshold. "You're not safe here, Tate." His brown hair, copper highlights threaded throughout, was more tousled than usual as if he'd been jamming his fingers through the strands.

The moisture vanished from my mouth as his focus remained on me, the multitude of scars on his arms shining under the lights. The one that sliced his eyebrow and grazed his nose appeared even more dramatic as his irises glowed.

I forgot just how intimidating the head alpha was.

"You're coming to my pack," Barric said—or more like demanded. "No one would dare attack you at Silver Ridge. Not Princess Venna or this mysterious group targeting bitten shifters."

Fane stepped around to block half of my body like a shield. "I'm coming with her."

Deep lines developed across Barric's forehead as he scrutinized Fane. "Why? I was under the impression you were enchanted to kill her. Is she even safe near you?"

"Tate's safer with me than anyone." Fane crossed his arms and opened his legs into a wider stance. "Besides, a whole mess of unmated males live within your pack, and she's not going without me. Tate is mine, spell or not."

Goose bumps puckered my flesh as Fane's power slammed against Barric's. The head alpha fought back a grimace. He did not want the demon shifter near his pack.

After an intense stare off, Barric finally relented. "Very well. You'll stay close and protect her with your life."

Why the fuck did everyone assume I couldn't protect myself? The Infernal Sol made me one of the most dangerous creatures here. Of course, most of them had no idea what dwelled inside of me

I turned to Fane as Camus waved Barric to the other side of the room. "What are you doing?" I knew damn good and well Fane didn't accept me as his intended mate. We might have had sex, but that didn't mean he wanted to claim me.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight." A luminescent glow converged over his eyes, setting my blood on fire.

"So you're just sticking close to make sure you get to do the killing?"

"I'd like to find out why someone suppressed your shifter side, and then I may or may not kill you."

I entered his personal space, my chest bumping his and causing a flare of desire to flood the link between us. "Or maybe you don't want some other male trying to claim me."

A fierce, savage smile pulled at his lips, reminiscent of the lethal beast within—the one that lusted for my body and my death. "You're a hundred percent right about that, fiera mika. If anyone is going to claim or kill you, it'll be me."

To be continued…