Cadence
Ryker stared at Callum with a feral intensity that sucked all the air from the room. He stepped inside the chamber, slow and deliberate, like a wild animal sizing up a rival for the kill.
Callum didn’t flinch. He moved in front of me, taking up a defensive position that would have been comical if not for the dire situation unfolding. Vines crawled their way up his outstretched arm as his body coiled tight, ready to strike.
This would not end well.
“I don’t like repeating myself,” Ryker said, his voice even but menacing. “Get your fucking hands off my mate.”
Callum stiffened, turning to peer over his shoulder at me. “Did he just call you his mate?”
Dark shadows crept across the floor, and I realized too late that Ryker had unleashed his magic. The inky tendrils snaked up Callum’s legs before Ryker ripped my brother out of my grasp.
“Ryker, no!”
In a blur of movement, Ryker had Callum pressed against the wall, his shadows forming a tight rope around his neck.
“I’m going to enjoy ending your life,” he growled.
Callum smirked.
He fucking smirked, as though his life wasn’t in imminent danger.
A moment later, I understood why.
The vines running along Callum’s arms sprang forward, encircling Ryker’s throat in imitation of the shadows gripping his own.
“Not as much as I’m going to enjoy ending yours.”
The two men glared at each other, and I could feel the magic pulsing through the room, raw and volatile.
Ryker tugged on his shadows. Black tendrils hissed like serpents, constricting Callum’s airway with every breath he tried to suck in. His face turned an alarming shade of purple when he failed to draw air into his starving lungs.
Not a second later, thorny vines slithered up from between the cracks in the stone floor, wrapping around Ryker’s arms and torso, trying to crush him. A vein on the side of Ryker’s neckbulged, and blood trickled down the column of his throat as thorns tore into his flesh.
“Stop it, both of you!”
Neither of them spared me a glance. Primal rage contorted their features, and their muscles strained as each tried to overpower the other.
Ryker growled, a guttural, animalistic sound, and lifted his hand despite the vines restraining him. With a flick of his wrist, his shadows flared, not just binding Callum, but lifting him off the ground entirely. His boots kicked against the stone as he hung there, suspended in midair.
Callum’s own power surged in response. His vines bloomed with thorns as long as daggers, piercing Ryker’s side. Blood splattered across the floor, and Ryker grunted in pain.
“Let him go! You’re going to kill him!”
“That’s the plan,” Ryker bit out between clenched teeth, even as blood trickled down his side and soaked his tunic.
“He’s my brother, you idiot!” I screamed, desperation clawing at my chest.
Ryker faltered, and he dropped Callum. My brother crashed to the floor, coughing and gasping for air as he pressed a hand to his throat.
But the second Callum moved, Ryker lunged.
I made it out of the way as he slammed into Callum with the force of a battering ram. The two went down hard, crashing into the dresser with a splintering crunch. Wood exploded. A drawer flew across the chamber and shattered against the far wall.
They rolled on the floor, fists flying.
Callum struck first, fast and sharp, right to Ryker’s jaw. Ryker snarled and drove his fist into Callum’s ribs. I heard the wind leave Callum’s lungs in a choked grunt.
