His eyes locked with mine, his gaze intensifying.
“It is not me who controls you, Cadence. Every thought, every decision, fuck, every breath… you’re the reason for it all. You are the one who’s truly in control here. You possess the power to unravel me, and that makes you the most dangerous creature in the realm, because I would stop at nothing to bring you back to me.”
I didn’t have time to process his declaration. His mouth descended on mine, and then he devoured me.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Cadence
His kiss was brutal, demanding, all teeth and desperation. My nails dug into the hard muscle beneath his shirt, uncertain if I wanted to push him away or pull him closer.
My body decided for me, arching against his as I moaned. Heat raced through my veins, a wildfire I couldn’t control.
When he broke our kiss, we were both panting. My lips felt bruised, swollen from his assault.
“Don’t you tire of playing these games, wife?” he murmured against my throat as his mouth trailed kisses all the way to my collarbone.
“If you want them to stop, all you have to do is let me go.”
His answering chuckle was far from amused. It held a dark, sinister edge that made my toes curl. Ryker’s hand drifted up my body, squeezing my hip, caressing the side of my breast until his palm wrapped around my throat, his fingers digging into my flesh just hard enough to show me who held the power.
“Does this feel like I have any intention of letting you go?” he said, his breath coasting across my lips as he tightened his hold. His knuckles scraped against my skin as he reached for the drawstrings of my pants, yanking at them with a violent impatience that left me trembling.
When the cord refused to yield, he spat out a curse, his teeth bared like a wild animal. He tugged harder, lifting my hips off the ground with the force of it. The sound of the laces snapping sent a jolt of desire through me, white-hot and blistering.
He didn’t give me a second to recover. Ryker’s hand found its way under the band of my panties. His touch was blunt and unceremonious, knifing downward in a relentless search that made me gasp. He pushed a single finger inside my core, and a guttural sound escaped me without permission.
But that wasn’t enough for him.
He thrust another digit inside, crooking them both upward until he found that spot that had color bursting behind my eyelids. I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming.
“You’re fucking soaked, Temptress.” His voice was rough with satisfaction. “For all your talk of leaving, your cunt knows exactly who owns it.”
I wanted to hate him for being right. But my traitorous body clenched around his fingers, drawing him deeper as my hips bucked against his hand.
“You fight me, even when your pussy is begging for it.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, sounding breathless. “It’s hormones, nothing more.”
“You forget, Temptress, I canfeelyou, feel your arousal through the bond.”
Then something flared to life at the back of my mind. A slight tingling at first, before an intenseneedenveloped me. My core was on fire, and I felt the urge to claw my skin off just to escape the heat.
My face must have shown my alarm because Ryker’s grin widened. “Now you see what we could be, if only you surrendered to what fate had always intended.”
Gods. It washisarousal. I was feeling his desire through the bond.
Overwhelmed, I turned away from him, but he caught my chin with his free hand, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Say you’re mine,” he demanded, his thumb pressing against my bottom lip. “Say it.”
“No.” The word was barely audible.
His smile was all predator as his fingers worked their cruel magic between my thighs. “Then I’ll just have to make you scream it instead.”
He withdrew his fingers, leaving me empty and aching. Before I could protest, he flipped me onto my stomach with alarming ease. The earth was cold beneath my palms as he yanked my pants down in one swift motion.
My face burned with humiliation and arousal, a toxic combination that made me want to weep with frustration. I heard the clink of his belt buckle, the swish of his laces, and then I felt the blunt head of his cock pressing against my entrance.
