This time, there was no sidestepping the unbridled storm that was Ryker Ashborne.
His shoulder slammed into my ribs, driving the breath from my lungs as we crashed to the earth together. I tried to roll away, but he pinned me in place with his thighs on either side of mine and his hips bearing down on me.
“Fight back!”
He was seething. I could see it in the way his vein pulsed at his temple and how his upper lip curled into an inhuman snarl.
“Or I’ll keep knocking you down until you do.”
“This proves nothing.”
My protests were weak. Rykerhadproven his point. Traversing the halls of the palace without someone to watch my back was dangerous, but only because he’d made it so.
If not for the cuffs encasing my wrists, I could protect myself from any threat, including other Wraith Borne.
Of course, leaving dead bodies in my wake would lead to questions.
Ryker’s gaze narrowed as he watched my tongue slide across my lower lip, clearing the blood from where the flesh had split.
“It proves everything.” He lifted himself off me, and I stood, not wanting to give him any further advantage.
But my eagerness was short-lived.
His shadows lashed out, wrapping around my ankles and yanking. I hit the ground, my palms landing on a rough stone hidden beneath the grass.
Ryker didn’t hesitate. He landed on top of me, rolling me to my back and pinning me with his weight once more.
“All right, you’ve made your point.”
“Have I? Because I don’t think you get it. I’m stronger, faster, and more experienced than you. I knocked you on your ass in mere seconds, and there wasn’t a damn thing you could have done to stop me.”
“Cocky much?”
But even I could concede he spoke true.
Ryker’s breathing was steady, while I struggled to suck in a breath. Sweat coated my brow, and my limbs trembled.
He had thoroughly bested me.
“And those with only a fraction of my strength could still end you.” His eyes searched my face, and I swallowed roughly. “I am trying to keep you alive, Cadence.”
“I never asked for your protection.”
His jaw clenched, and a low growl rumbled from his throat. “I know you can’t see it, but the things I’ve done, the choices I’ve made, I haven’t done them to hurt you, Temptress.”
“No, only to control me.”
“I’m doing my fucking best!” His fist hit the dirt next to my head, but I didn’t give in to the urge to cower.
His chest rose and fell in rapid succession, and he slapped a hand against his breastbone as he worked to rein in his anger. “I will never be the man who brings you flowers or whispers sweet nothings in your ear.”
Emotion flashed across his face, making him appear younger, more vulnerable.
“I am the man who will hunt down your enemies and lay their bloodied heads at your feet so you, and anyone who ever thought to plot against you, will know exactly what fate awaits them should they try.”
My breathing hitched, and my heart fluttered, but he wasn’t done.
“I am the man who will stand at your back, guarding you from the shadows, even when you don’t want me to. I am the man who will burn kingdoms and drench the ground in blood should so much as a single hair on your head be harmed.”
