Page 21

Ryker

My brother stood before me, his blade drawn and his stance poised. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, his dark eyes glinting with steady determination.

“Are you planning to fight me this century, or do you intend to stand there admiring my pretty face?”

I grinned at Riordan as I tossed my sword from hand to hand. My blade was slender but lethal, and it glistened in the bright sunlight as I angled it toward my younger brother.

Riordan tightened his hold on the pommel of his sword. His grip was firm, but not tense. Relaxed, but ready. He wore a loose, sleeveless tunic, which allowed him the freedom to move quickly and without restriction. I preferred to train shirtless, a decision I regretted as the women who lined the training ground whooped and hollered.

Riordan flashed a roguish grin, his white-blond hair falling into his eyes as he returned their eager gazes.

With a burst of speed, I lunged at him, cutting my blade through the air toward his shoulder. Riordan deflected the blow, but only barely. He sidestepped my advance, but stumbled as he fought to regain his footing.

I tsked. “What’s the first rule of fighting, Riordan?”

“Never allow yourself to get distracted.”

His sullen tone yanked me back to our boyhood when I began teaching him to wield a blade. Those days felt distant now, mere echoes of a time when we were free and unburdened.

I raised my sword again and swung my blade in a wide arc. Riordan deflected, twisting his body to flank my exposed side, but before he could strike, I stepped out of range and then pressed forward as I closed the distance with a grin.

“You’re much faster than I recall, Little Brother,” I said as our blades clashed.

“He has to be,” Eamon called out from the sidelines, his deep voice rumbling with laughter. “Your ruthlessness knows no bounds, and you’re just as likely to skewer him to teach him a lesson,” the hulking man said with a grin.

“True,” Malesh added.

I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face.

“You see, that right there,” Riordan said as he gestured toward me with his sword. “That’s why Cadence is my new favorite.”

I struck Riordan’s blade hard, harder than I should have for a practice session, and the sound of steel grating against steel rang out around us.

Riordan parried before he stepped past me to reset his stance.

“Something on your mind, Brother?” Riordan cooed as he arched a brow.

I heard Eamon and Malesh trying to muffle their laughter from where they stood behind me.

“Should there be?” I grunted as I thrust forward.

Riordan exhaled an exasperated sigh. “You’re an emotional void, you know that, Ryker?”

“Not true. I like you,” I countered, a smirk tugging at my lips.

“Barely,” he muttered. “And I’m almost certain it’s out of familial obligation.”

I barked out a laugh. He wasn’t wrong.

“All right then,” I said as I pointed my sword in Malesh and Eamon’s direction. “I like them, too.”

“That’s because you know we have to follow every rule you set,” Eamon hollered back. “You’re controlling ass wouldn’t have a clue how to make friends with anyone you couldn’t coerce.”

“I can remove you from that list, Eamon,” I warned.

The brute tossed his head back and howled with laughter. When he regained his composure, he wheezed, “My point exactly.”

“How is it going with Cadence?” Riordan asked.

His tone was deceptively light, and my eyes narrowed in suspicion. He lowered his sword, resting his forearm on the pommel.

Apparently, our training session was over.

A chorus of disgruntled groans came from the women watching before they resumed their day.

Sweat coated every inch of me, and Malesh handed me a waterskin. Eamon moved to my other side as all three men watched me expectantly.

“Fine,” I grumbled.

Knowing smirks spread across their faces, and I snarled before I lifted the waterskin to my lips and drank greedily.

These fuckers were far too pleased with my current predicament.

“Is the bond developing?” Malesh pressed, his tone turning serious.

The bond was growing despite Cadence’s reluctance to embrace it. Even now, I could feel it flourishing inside me as it beckoned me to her.

The bond’s pull could drive a man insane.

“It is.”

“But?” Eamon pushed.

“But… I’m no closer to convincing Cadence to accept it.”

For a moment, everyone was silent. Then deafening laughter erupted all around me.

“You thought she’d just fall into line after you forced her to stay,” Eamon teased.

When I said nothing, Eamon balked. “Gods, you did, didn’t you?”

I shrugged as I met Riordan’s concerned gaze.

“Ryker, you need to make this work,” he almost pleaded. “Not only for the power it gives you — though that’s reason enough — but because she’s a weakness.”

The thought of anyone harming Cadence to get to me, pulled a growl from my throat before I could stop it.

“You can’t protect her, and therefore yourself, if she is always trying to escape,” Riordan finished, ignoring my interruption.

“He has a point,” Malesh added.

“Let me ask you this,” Riordan said, as he gripped his chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Do you love her?”

Love?

My feelings for Cadence were violent and unrelenting, searing my flesh and destroying everything in their wake. She was the only constant in my mind, immovable and uncompromising.

But love?

That word felt too pure, too sweet, too… mundane.

What I felt for Cadence… it was an unyielding obsession.

“How do you know if you’re in love?” I asked instead of answering.

A collective groan sounded at my question.

“Is she always on your mind?” Malesh asked.

I thought about the way her lips wrapped around my cock and how her tight little body fit against mine.

“Yes.”

“Do you ache at the prospect of being separated from her?” Eamon added.

The thought of her slipping through my carefully woven web or some other bastard taking my Temptress away from me made my blood boil with fury, almost to the point of pain.

“Yes.”

“Do you find yourself needing to touch her, to be close to her, anytime she’s near?” Malesh asked as though he was recalling a fond memory.

Fuck yes, I did.

My cock agreed as it strained against my trousers. “Absolutely.”

“Then you love her,” Eamon declared.

Riordan snorted. “Or his dick does.”

The three men began bickering, but their voices faded as my mind drifted to my Temptress.

She had crawled under my skin, into my blood, into my very soul.

With a growl, I set my waterskin down. Now that Cadence had invaded my thoughts, there was only one thing I wanted to do.

Claim my mate.