Page 208 of The Queen’s Shadow

Rycon

It had been subtle, but I had heard it.

Kasha screamed.

I nearly blacked out with terror and rage. One second, I was explaining the next exercise to K’yen and the next I was in the meadow.

There was a male on top of Kasha.

He was touching her.

He was touching MY KASHA!

I didn’t stop to try to figure out who the fuck was stupid enough to touch what was mine, I just attacked.

With a snarl, I was on top of the male in seconds, feeding him punch after punch, but he somehow was able to roll me off of him and return the favor. I felt my face break beneath his fists and my mouth filled with the metallic tang of blood. I moved to reach for the gun in my waistband, but he pinned my arm down with his knee.

Bad idea.

By trying to keep my arm down, he ended up putting his damn groin right over my other arm. I punched him directly in the dick and smirked as he howled, throwing himself off of me.

I leapt to my feet and drew my gun, pointing it at the intruder, when I finally realized who it was.

“Aiden?” I asked, still shaking with rage. The need to kill him for touching my mate was coursing through my veins. He hadn’t even just touched her; he had attacked her.

“The fuck is your problem, Chief?” He snarled at me, wiping blood from under his nose with the back of his wrist, before licking his hand clean. “You should be thanking my ass, how the fuck did a daemon get in here?”

“She’s mine.” I snarled at him, cocking my gun. “Come anywhere near her again and the fucking Highlands will be running tryouts for a new alpha, McGregor.”

“Suck my dick, Rycon.” He snapped, and despite the fury that was coursing through me, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch up.

“Present it, asshole.” I shot back. Suddenly, he was grinning too.

“I would, but then everyone would know how much bigger I am than you.”

“That’s not what your sister said last night.”

He held up his palms and cracked up laughing. “Alright, alright, my bad, Chief. I didn’t know she was yours. I thought she was an intruder. I was just trying to help you out.” He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not his.” Kasha piped up, getting up from where she had fallen, and glaring at both of us.

“Yes, you are.” I replied, my tone leaving no room for argument.

“No, I’m not. I don’t belong to anybody.”

I snorted, not dignifying that with a response. She was fucken mine whether she liked it or not, and I would kill anyone who tried to take her from me, including Aiden. I turned to the wolf shifter, deciding I would need to make sure Kasha understood the nature of our relationship at a later date, when we were alone.

“You think I would let a daemon get into Olkuyrbe without my knowledge? You must really think I’ve gone soft.”

“Well, I got in without your knowledge, clearly you’ve always been soft, Chief.” He replied easily, sliding a pack of cigarettes out from the back pocket of his jeans. He lit one up before offering the pack to me, which I accepted with a smirk.

“You say it like you would rather I be hard for you.” I snickered and Aiden snorted, punching me in the shoulder. I wondered vaguely which one of my guards he had seduced to get in here. I would need to do an interrogation later.

“Are you going to introduce me to this little lass you almost killed me over, or are you gonna keep flirting with me all day?”

I eyed him warily. Aiden and I went way back, and I trusted him about as much as I trusted most people I didn’t hate, but I was still struggling with the image of him practically laying on top of Kasha. The thought of introducing him to her made me itch to wrap my fingers around his throat and throttle him again.

I forced back the burning need to protect her from any potential threat and did my best to hold onto the reasonable part of my brain that reminded me it had been an honest mistake.