Page 21 of Bonded Chaos

I could feel the hard outline of his erection pressed against my center, and I peered between us, despite knowing the lower half of his body was concealed beneath the sheets.

When I glanced back up again, steel-grey eyes met mine.

“Kinky,” he rumbled.

I stiffened and mentally chastised myself for losing my advantage. Narrowing my eyes at him, I allowed the fury that had been building since he’d kidnapped me to course through my veins.

“I told you not to touch me without my permission,” I growled.

“I don’t need your permission, Cadence. You’re mine, and I’ll do as I please with what belongs to me.”

As I studied his face, I realized Ryker believed what he was saying.

And that enraged me.

Leaning into him, I let my weight press against the blade. Crimson liquid beaded at the tip, and I watched transfixed as it slowly made its way down the column of his throat.

The room darkened, and before I could stop him, Ryker had gripped my waist and flipped me so that he was the one hovering above me.

I tightened my grip on the hilt of the dagger and willed my arm not to tremble as I held it in place against his neck.

A black mist-like substance appeared behind his broad frame, and my mouth dropped open as I gaped at the mass. Dark tendrils coiled around Ryker’s arms, slithering up to his shoulders like a serpent.

“What are you?”

I was unaware I had voiced my question out loud until Ryker’s answer cut through the haze clouding my mind and chilled me to the bone.

“I am one of a kind, Cadence,” he murmured. “And I can be your strongest ally or your worst nightmare. That choice is up to you.”

My gaze darted back to his beautifully lethal face. His stormy, grey eyes had been completely swallowed by darkness. It consumed the whites of his eyes until only endless night stared back at me.

My heart pounded against my ribcage. I was torn between fear and a thrilling excitement I didn’t dare name.

“They’re shadows,” I gasped.

Suddenly, the moniker Ryker had donned for a century made sense.

The Night Cursed Prince.

Ryker’s lips curled into a sinister grin as his hand snaked up to grip my wrist.

“Don’t test me, Ryker,” I said as I pressed the dagger further into his skin, making more blood well at the site.

If he was in pain, he showed no sign of it.

“Oh, but I will,” he purred, just as his shadows wrapped themselves around my wrists, holding them in place.

Unbothered by the way the blade sliced through his tender flesh, Ryker leaned in close to whisper against my ear.

“Do you feel that, Cadence?” he murmured. “My magic is stirring, fighting my hold to reach you.”

A jolt of electricity shot through me the moment the words left his mouth, and my grip on the dagger faltered.

“There have been no shadow wielders for eons,” I said, struggling to grasp what I was seeing.

“I’m no ordinary shadow wielder,” he purred.

That much was abundantly clear.

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