Chapter Fifty-Eight
Cadence
As the bond settled over me, panic swirled in my gut.
What had I done?
In a moment of passionate rage, I claimed Ryker as my mate, embraced our bond, destroying the last vestige of hope I had for attaining my freedom.
And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. It felt… right.
I stared down at him, my breath still coming in ragged bursts. He lay sprawled across the bed, his eyes heavy-lidded, his lips swollen from our kisses.
When he looked up at me, it wasn’t with gloating or triumph. He was just… content. Happy, even.
Fuck.
He wantedthis— more than power or control — he wanted the connection. Me. Us.
I could feel it through the bond, the weight of his need tangled with fear, devotion, and something dangerously close to hope.
The realization stole the air from my lungs more effectively than his hands ever had.
My chest tightened as I studied his hand wrapped around my wrist, his thumb stroking absently over my pulse as if he couldn’t bring himself to let go.
The savage conqueror, so desperate for something real that he could barely keep his hands off me.
All this time, I thought he’d only wanted toownme.
But it was more than that. He wanted me to be his other half.
His mate.
And gods help me, I wanted that too.
He tilted my chin, forcing me to look at him. The bond throbbed in my chest, frantic and alive.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
My eyes darted between his, searching. “I want to know what happened. All of it.”
He didn’t have to ask what I meant. It was evident in the way he stiffened, how his throat bobbed as he struggled to swallow his unease.
When he spoke, his words were rough, as though they were difficult to say out loud.
“It was during the assault on the palace,” he began. His fingers traced the curves of my body, as if the feel of my skin anchored him to the present when the past threatened to pull him under.
“By the time we entered the fray, the place was almost overrun. Riordan, he —”
The words got caught in his throat at the mention of his brother, and I cupped his cheek, lending him the strength to continue.
“He was young and full of himself back then.”
“So not much has changed,” I said, trying to ease the tension.
Ryker chuckled, but the sound was tinged with sadness. “No, not really.”
Something dark lingered beneath the surface of his hard expression, and I had an uneasy feeling that I wouldn’t like what came next.
