I wished he would just tell me. “Why are you fighting this? It’s a simple question.”
Was he trying to hide how much he hated me? It made sense. I’d gotten him trapped here. Of course, he would blame me.
“Ness…” He snarled. “I don’t want…”
My breath hitched. “You don’t want what, dragon man? Tell me.”
I watched a light flicker in his eyes. His brows lifted a split second before he grasped the sides of my face and pulled me in. Our lips met. He crushed mine with the force of the impact. I melted in his hands.
My mind went blank. The furious arcana singing inside me faded away once again. I put a hand on Ryder’s thigh to keep myself from completely falling apart. The touch didn’t help. His heat filled my palm and made me want more. I wanted to feel his skin against my hand as I slid it higher along his thigh.
But as soon as it happened, it was over. Ryder reared back and let out a breath. His shoulders sank, like he was relieved.
I reeled, confused. Blinking, I tried to process what had just happened. One moment, Ryder was showering me with passion. The next, he shoved me away and acted like he was glad to be done.
Ryder stood and marched into the kitchen where he grabbed a glass from a cupboard and filled it at the sink. He chugged the entire glass before filling it again.
I let myself fall forward onto my face. With my cheek against the floor, I tried to come to terms with what’d just happened. Twice now, in just as many days, Ryder had kissed me. When I asked him how he felt about me, he’d fought the command.
What did that mean?
“Did you find out what fuels your arcana?” Ryder asked from the kitchen. His voice didn’t betray anything that’d happened. He seemed cool as could be.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t get my head together. Several heartbeats passed before I could mumble ayes.
“Good. Now that we have that out of the way, you can command Alvin to tell the truth. The pack won’t have any reason to doubt you after that.”
Ryder was right, but there would be a fallout after that. If Ryder didn’t stick around to protect me, then Alvin would squash me under his boot. Not even Audra could save me if I exposed Alvin in front of the pack.
“Yeah, that’s an option,” I said.
Ryder made a sound. Still face down on the floor, I turned my head so that I could face him. He watched me from his position near the sink. When I looked at him, he crossed his arms over his chest.
I deserved that. I’d crossed a boundary by using my arcana to get an answer out of him. This was a mess. He’d only kissed me so that the command would have time to leave his system. I shouldn’t have asked such things when I knew he had a mate who’d travelled across the country to find him.
Colorado to New York wasn’t a short trip. Bri had come a long way to get her mate back. I was playing games with their relationship, and I knew it.
I picked myself up off the floor. In the kitchen, Ryder grunted. I tensed. He clutched his chest. No, not his chest. He clutched the medallion around his neck. I ran to him and grabbed his wrist, as if that might keep Beryl from stealing him away again.
“It feels different this time,” Ryder hissed.
I swallowed, uncertain of what I should say. I kept ahold of his wrist as the smell of flowers and wine intensified. Ryder’s breath shuddered out of him. He quickly wrapped an arm around my waist and yanked me tight to his chest.
“Let’s see if this works.”
I began to tell him that Beryl would never allow it, but the red veil covered us both. Wrapped in darkness, I listened to Ryder’s heartbeat. It was barely and instant, but it was long enough to make me doubt his bond to Bri. Could I have been wrong about them?
The red veil parted and dropped us in Beryl’s underground court. Beryl sat across from us on her burgundy lounge. She had her pale white ankles crossed. The slit in her dress revealed her pale thighs. The deep V of the dress showed far more breast than I thought a fae could have.
She grinned at us, her attention flicking between us both. Ryder didn’t immediately release me, so I pushed myself from his grasp. He seemed reluctant to let go. His fingers slid down my arm so he could hold my hand. There was uncertainty in his touch, and the way he gripped my hand tight said he wanted to keep me safe here.
He was the one in danger, though. Beryl watched him like a hungry dog who hadn’t been fed in days. She gently placed her feet on the floor so that she could lean forward.
“Tell me,” she began. “Why haven’t you done as I told you? I made a simple request. One life for yours. It’s not that difficult. Your little puppy will be safer when he’s gone.”
For a moment, I thought she was talking about Alvin. While I had no doubt that Ryder could kill Alvin, I knew that Ryder didn’t want to become our new pack leader. That was a sure-fire way to the top of our pack. He would have a group of broken and scared wolves to look after.
“Harvey Combs is nothing to anyone. Even his own father looks down upon him. No one will miss him. Put the poor thing out of his misery once and for all.”