Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

The very presence of Fane Maverick stole the air from the room, and every inmate and CO ogled him out of fear or intrigue. Hell, probably both. That rough, gravelly voice inside my head had shivers rolling down my spine while the heat of his gaze set me on fire.

I hadn't seen him in weeks—maybe months—and the sight of him, even muzzled and wrapped in chains, had my blood singing.

"He's something, isn't he?" Maddie's words barely penetrated the fog in my brain. "In case you're wondering, he's in black because he's a demon and a shifter, as in he can shift. It's a rarity."

The urge to go to him had me in a chokehold, destroying any rational thought. I spun in my chair and pressed my feet into the ground to stand.

"Don't, Teague." Fane shook his head and finally broke contact with me as a CO moved to unhook the chains around his torso. "You take one step in this direction, and you'll be on the ground with your hands locked behind your back in seconds. They know to keep us apart."

My molars mashed against the slew of curses I wanted to scream, and I grabbed the bar connecting my chair to the table to keep from standing. Having Fane this close and unable to touch him was pure fucking torture.

"I hate this," I said into his mind. "I'm not sure how much longer I can take not seeing you." I rubbed my neck tattoo, the electric tingles still ricocheting from Fane's presence.

"We'll figure something out," he assured me. "But in the meantime, we have to keep our distance."

Maddie sipped her water before speaking. "Fane Maverick is infamous and so scary he trumps Sorin in that department. Obviously. You don't see the guards putting a muzzle on Sorin."

My nostrils flared at seeing the contraption on Fane. Did they believe he was that dangerous, or did they just want to humiliate him?

Probably both.

"He's totally hot, though," Maddie said.

"Yeah, he is." No one could compare to Fane Maverick. What I wouldn't give for one touch.

As if he heard my thoughts, an invisible hand skimmed along my cheek and then dragged down my back. I shuddered and it took all of my control not to moan. Did I imagine that, or was Fane able to access that power now?

The guard moved, and Fane's gaze seared into mine again, sparking an inferno inside me. Flames pooled low in my belly, and my heart crashed against my ribs in a frantic rhythm.

"Whoa, that is some look he's giving you." Maddie studied us as she nibbled her lip. "I could cut the sexual tension with a freaking spoon. Do you two know each other?"

I let out a shaky breath as Fane's phantom touch continued to tour my body. "We've met."

A CO finally removed the demon shifter's muzzle and unhooked the rest of the chains, allowing Fane to move through the line. As his invisible touch disappeared, I returned to my tray.

Sweat clung to my heated skin from that exchange. A dark voice in my head continued to tell me to go to him, fuck the consequences. One real touch would be worth it.

"How do you know him?" Maddie rested her chin in her hand as she scrutinized me with an excited gleam in her brown eyes. "And how well do you know him? There are some serious sexual vibes sparking between you two for it to be something casual."

There had never been anything casual between Fane and me, not even when we were trying to kill each other.

"I met him at a club in Savannah." Fane had stolen all my attention even as I'd danced with Hawk.

"Before or after you were bitten and turned into a wolf shifter?" Maddie glanced between Fane and me again as suspicion spiraled around her words.

I tried to roll the tension from my shoulders. "Before."

"Is he the one that?—"

A howl echoed through the cafeteria, and a commotion erupted on the far right as a fight broke out among shifters and vampires. Guards sprinted in their direction to break it up.

Maddie groaned. "Why can't they just get along? It's so cliché."

The wolf shifter who stopped the fight in the cages snarled at a large male vampire with searing scarlet irises. Knox's teeth elongated, and claws protruded from the tips of his fingers.

My eyebrows lifted to my hairline. Were shifters able to access part of their animal side? Was the same true for demons? Dux demons already had their sharp teeth and claws out, but high demons like Sorin could transform into something more lethal with talons and terrifying chompers.

Maybe that was why they'd put a muzzle on Fane.

As the guards' focus remained on the growing melee in the corner, my nape prickled. The atmosphere in the room changed as a group of dux demons approached our table from the left while three huge dark fae came on the right.

Maddie cursed. "We've got company."

"I see them." I clenched my fists and readied for a fight. My muscles were sore, my body ached, and I just wanted to take a fucking nap, but relaxing wasn't a luxury in Heldrok. "You think this is because I rejected Sorin?"

"Most definitely."

I grimaced. "You should stay far away from me, Maddie. Trouble follows me."

She shrugged and surveyed the approaching threats. "I'm a raven in a prison full of nightworlders. No matter how much I try to lay low, a target has been branded on me from the beginning."

Still, my presence at her table had shined a spotlight on both of us.

A female dux demon lunged for me, and I ducked out of the way at the last second, swinging my tray in her face. Black blood spewed from her broken nose.

"Did you really think you could get the jump on me that easily?" As a presence formed behind me, I slammed my elbow into a solid mass and pivoted, smashing my fist into the fae's chin.

He staggered back, his mouth parting at my unexpected strength.

Maddie grunted as a dux demon grabbed her from behind and tried to shove her to the ground. She stooped and used his bodyweight to flip him onto the tabletop. Her fist crushed into his mouth, spurting black blood.

"Nice moves." I dodged an elbow from a fae and swept his feet out from under him, so he toppled to the ground.

The raven shrugged, tossing her ebony locks. "You can learn a lot being surrounded by enemies."

Nightworlders didn't hate us this much in Savannah. Then again, these nightworlders were in an Underworld prison, so most of them moved in some of the darker circles.

Maddie cursed. "Behind you!"

An arm came around my neck to choke me, but the fae got the shock of his life when my tattoo sent a bolt of electricity into him.

He cursed and stumbled back, grabbing his arm. "What the fuck was that? We can't use magic here."

I shrugged. "Touch me again, and maybe you'll find out."

A fist suddenly flew at my face, and I ducked to miss it, but another one smashed into my cheek, pain exploding through my right side.

Son of a bitch.

Thick arms grabbed me from behind, and a rumbling voice shook my back. "I'm going to crack you open and suck out your insides, shifter."

The giant dux demon picked me up, my legs kicking in the air, and slammed me onto a table. Stars burst in my vision, and a copper tang oozed over my tongue. He flipped me around, revealing a pair of neon-green eyes, gold spikes across his shoulders, and black tufts of hair sprouting between two large horns on his skull.

Shit . This guy was huge. He wouldn't go down easily.

He licked his lips with a forked tongue. "You'll be tasty."

And he was a flesh eater.

"Get the hell off me, prick." I broke his grip on my arm and punched his jaw, pain bursting across my knuckles as the skin split.

What the hell was he made out of, titanium?

More demons crowded the table, grabbing my arms and legs, sinister laughter bouncing between them. Ice poured through my veins as my heart hammered against my ribs. He and his friends planned to tear me apart, limb by limb, and eat me like a giant turkey on Thanksgiving.

Would the guards just let it happen?

A few feet away, Maddie fought with a tiger shifter and a witch while a demon closed in.

"Maddie, watch out!"

She whipped around, stopping the demon from sinking his talons into her. The raven ducked and then delivered a kick to his chin.

Hands gripped my face, returning my attention to the circling enemies just as the colossal demon pinning me to the table produced a shiv constructed from a horn.

"Time to see your blood." His lips curled back, unveiling jagged rows of teeth as he lifted the horn, poised to stab me in the throat while his friends held me.

Maddie's scream pelted my eardrums while a demon held her back from helping me .

My neck tattoo tingled, and rage burned through my bloodstream, but it wasn't my own. As the demon lowered the horn to stab me, a giant hand wrapped around his wrist, breaking bones.

The demon's shriek ripped through the cafeteria, and he dropped the horn as bones and tendons showed through his flesh. That same hand grabbed his neck and broke it as easily as snapping a toothpick in half.

Fane Maverick released a ferocious roar that rattled the entire room before he plucked one of the other prisoners off me and smashed his fist into the fae's face until he lost consciousness. Fane dropped him and went for the next, snarling like a wild beast.

My wild beast.

Pain lashed my arm as a dux demon bit me, capturing Fane's focus. He grabbed the prisoner off and slammed him into the table so many times his skull caved in, and then the demon shifter ripped his head off.

Most people would have been terrified or at least disgusted. Not me. I wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him, splattered with blood and all.

I broke the other demon's grip and kicked him right into Fane's grasp.

A chilling smile melted over the demon shifter's lips as he held the dux demon. "You shouldn't have touched her." He punched him in the ribs, the crunch of bone rebounding.

Once the demon lost consciousness, Fane dropped him and snatched me off the table. A ragged cry burst out of my mouth at the first real contact in so long. Bolts of electricity zapped between us, and I leaned into him, breathing in his scent .

"You said we should stay apart, or the guards would restrain us."

"Did you really think I'd sit by and watch you get attacked?" Fane's lips crashed on mine in an all-consuming, devouring kiss.

I whimpered as his tongue swept into my mouth, shooting blood and lust through my veins. His fingers dug into my back while his other hand pulled my hair, burning my scalp.

Being with him felt like fucking heaven.

"Fiera mika, I missed your taste."

My hips tilted, pressing into his hard length. I'd let him throw me down on a table and screw me in front of everyone. I didn't care one iota.

Too soon, we were yanked apart, my body screaming at the loss. Five guards held him, trying to get him in the chains as quickly as possible. A CO grabbed me from behind and crushed my face into a table.

Pain throbbed in my temple, and another booming rumble tore through the cafeteria.

"Let her go, or I will rip your spine out." Fane's low, deadly voice lifted the hairs on my arms.

"I will not be given demands by an inmate," Gershan sneered. "This is Heldrok, not?—"

"Shut the fuck up, Gershan, and let her go." One of the guards yelled as they attempted to contain Fane.

"I'll let you chain me without a fight if you release her," Fane said.

Gershan finally relented and pulled me from the table. I staggered to the side and tried to go to Fane, but the guard hauled me back. He slipped handcuffs around my wrists and locked them behind me .

Maddie leaned against a table and wiped blood from under her nose as she did a terrible job of masking a grin. Any idiot could tell a whole lot was going on between Fane and me.

"She's not hurt, Fane." One of the guards fighting to restrain him, a fae, wiped his sweaty forehead. "Now cooperate. Please."

Fane released an annoyed sigh and finally let them chain him.

"It was worth it, Maverick," I said into his mind, still pulsating from that kiss.

"This won't be the last time." His voice was like a caress. "I'll figure out a way to see you." They finally replaced the muzzle on his mouth and towed him from the room.

Gershan shook his head. "You are nothing but trouble."

I rolled my eyes. "Tell me something I don't know."

A grin curved his mouth, and he leaned toward me. "Maybe a little torture will help rid you of that problem."

The shallow cut in my arm dripped blood onto the floor as I sat strapped to a chair in a torture room, the stench of death clogging the air. How many prisoners had taken their last breath in this wretched place?

Two guards, Gershan and a female witch named Leiana, took turns trying to make me scream. They'd unbuttoned and rolled down the top half of my orange jumpsuit to expose more flesh to play with.

"She really isn't a screamer." Leiana frowned. "Kind of takes the fun out of it if they don't react. "

"You could try using a few spells." Gershan scratched his chin with his sharp nails. "That's not against the rules."

A dry laugh burst out of my mouth. "I'm a hard nut to crack."

Gershan narrowed his yellow eyes, but before he could deliver an insult, there was a knock at the door. He marched over and opened it, low voices whispering. His laughter sent chills down my nape, and when he turned to look at me, I only grew colder.

"I know what will get you to scream, 487331." He opened the door to allow an inmate in a blue jumpsuit inside, the sallow lights glowing on his inked and scarred head.

"Hello, Tate." Sorin licked his lips as his gaze raked over me, peeling back my layers and trying to devour my soul.

My wrists strained against the leather binds strapping them to the arms of the chair. "What are you doing here?"