Page 9 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

I kicked, made contact with something that made him cry out. But then both my ankles were locked and pinned and I was pulled bodily back to the other side of the bed, flipped onto my back, and my legs caught again and pulled ruthlessly apart so Ruin stood between my thighs, hands clamped under my knees and his body bent over mine, pinning me to the bed.

But then, as my fists closed on the quilts and I struggled to push him away, I realized my hands were free.

In the same moment he gripped my hair and yanked my head back—either to hurt me, or kiss me, I wasn’t sure, I whipped the small blade out of the sheath at my hip and pricked his throat with the tip of it.

Ruin froze, staring down at me, wide-eyed and unmoving, a bead of blood beginning to pool at the point of the knife.

And then he laughed. “You really have been training,” he huffed. His smile was broad and his eyes gleamed with both approval, and a promise for revenge.

“Let. Me. Go,” I snarled. “Or I will plunge this straight up and into your skull until the only thing you can see or taste is steel.”

He snorted, but did as I bade him, lifting his hands, but keeping me pinned to the bed with his hips.

“You used to love it when I touched you.”

I kept the blade against him as I pushed upright with the other arm. “I used to love you. That’s not true anymore, either. Now, it’s your turn to answer some questions: What the fuck are you doing here? And Carnage? How did you make it out of Draeventhall?”

His gaze heated and his grin widened. “But Brenny, I can’t tell you about a Furyknight mission, no matter who you fuck. Even if you were pinned, I’d still outrank you. So… you tell me: How the fuck did you find me out here?”

“She found you because she was doing her job.”

I sucked in a breath as Ruin’s head snapped up just in time for Donavyn to launch himself from the doorway, over the bed, tackling Ruin off me.

The two of them crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs and curses.

4. Crashing In

~ DONAVYN ~

The moment Kgosi told me the girls were in trouble, my heart leaped into my throat. Those endless minutes of racing for his harness, flying to the clearing, sprinting through the city… I kept reaching for her, clawing down the bond, but her mind was closed like a steel trap. Akhane couldn’t even reach her. She’d fled in terror and probably didn’t even know she’d shut herself off. But Kgosi assured me, Akhane could still sense her, awake and fearful.

Ruin? Ruin was here?

Only Kgosi’s reassurance, and his link with Akhane kept me sane as I ran for the city.

When I finally made it to the Stonebridge Inn, Horace, the innkeeper, hadn’t seen Bren, but the moment Horace discreetly mentioned our mutual friend waiting for me upstairs, I knew. I tore up the stairs on silent feet, praying he hadn’t gotten Bren out of there yet, and opened the door to my worst nightmare come to life.

Bren on her back on the bed, pinned by a smiling Ruin.

I’d barely registered her knife, or the fact that his hands were up, only heard his self-satisfied purr, “…Even if you were pinned, I’d still outrank you. So… you tell me: How the fuck did you find me out here?”

I saw red.

“She found you because she was doing her job.”

Bren gasped as I threw myself across the bed, tackling Ruin and taking him straight into the wall behind him in a crash that made me wince because it would bring other patrons running if they weren’t too drunk to care.

But I lost my advantage when we landed on the floor, the wall behind me and the bed on my other side, there was no room to move, to use my greater weight. As I tussled and fought for a grip, Ruin kicked a leg up behind me and sent me over his shoulder.

I cursed as I was forced to let him go and roll, somersaulting back to my feet and whirling straight into a new attack, before Ruin had time to think.

But Ruin was a skilled fighter, and he’d been in the field for months, training daily.

Without hesitation, he kicked—powerful enough to break a femur if I hadn’t turned quickly to take the force on the ass, though the impact shuddered up my spine.

As his body recoiled in the kick, I followed him into the movement, punching straight for his chest while his center of gravity was still low.

But the fucker was quick. Very quick.