Page 36 of Whispers of Fate

His fingers bit angrily into my hips, holding my body exactly where he wanted it. I whimpered sharply, shuddering as he grew larger inside me, making me ache. The walls of my cunt pulsed and released with the orgasm thundering through me.

“Ryder!” I moaned while he continued to drive into my body. Then Ryder’s hold released me, he slipped one hand beneath my stomach, and then flipped me. Reaching down, he gripped my ankles, forcing them up against his wide shoulders, and slammed into my core like a rabid beast that’d been unleashed.

“Don’t make a fucking sound, woman,” he warned, tightening his fingers into the delicate flesh on my calves to control my angle. I swallowed a whimper as I trembled under the force of the pleasure he was building in my core.

He didn’t stop, not even when I felt him emptying within me. Ryder’s pleasure and the intensity of anger he unleashed on me with every powerful pump into my core were like violent waves, and it left me rocking in their embrace and aimlessly floating on endless churning white-caps as I was swept out to sea. Sweat rolled down his face and chest. His sparkling golden eyes remained locked with mine as we were swept away on endless waves and were left adrift in a churning sea.

Ryder yanked away, shaking with his emotions too close to the surface. He’d never found it easy to share his pain. I reached for him, clutching onto him like a lifeline.

“Don’t shut me out. Not now,” I murmured pleadingly.

“Release me and go tend to our son, Pet.” The warning was clear in his tone, and it was as if I could actually see him trying to shut down his turmoil. “I need to be elsewhere right now. I can’t—” His chest rose and fell in an unsteady rhythm, as if his wrath and need to unleash destruction were tangible obstructions restricting his breaths.

My palms cradled his face, and I nodded. “I know,” I whispered softly as grief swelled in my throat. “I know, Ryder.”

“I feel like . . .” He shook his head, looking a bit lost inside his own rage and hurt.

“You feel like we failed her. We failed Kahleena.” I sobbed. He leaned forward, placing his forehead against mine before he released a heavy, pain-filled exhale. “I feel it too, my beautiful beast. It’s wrapping around my throat and strangling me until I can’t get air inside my lungs.” I kissed his face, peppering him with the tears falling as I made him feel the emotions that were crushing down over me.

“Syn,” he murmured, holding me with gentle hands.

“This is us, though. Inside this room, it is only you and me, and there’s no shame in grieving our beautiful daughter. I love you, and I don’t see your grief as a weakness. Webothlost her, so don’t make me mourn her alone. Don’t shut me out.”

Dristan’s soft noises broke the moment, and Ryder pressed a soft kiss to my forehead before he used his magic to cleanse and dress us. After rising from the bed, he withdrew his son from the small cradle and settled on the edge of the bed.

“Our baby’s perfect, Synthia,” he admitted, smiling softly at the babe who peered up, smiling toothlessly up at his father. Then our oh-so-adorable son made a crude sound, which caused us both to laugh. “I feel like we failed her and that I am failing you all. I hate that the day we lost her was also the same day Dristan was born. How can such a tragic day be one we also celebrate? We are supposed to be happy, but it feels like we’ll never be free of those who wish to hurt us. I honestly thought that, when we won, we would be done fighting. How fucking stupid was it to think it would be possible?”

“It’s never stupid to hope for peace, but we couldn’t have foreseen this. I mean, how could we? No one knew of the people who’d been removed, or that they remained in a prison she put them in. All we can do is prepare for war, and pray that we get to him before his army reaches our kingdom.”

“I’m going to get that asshole. When I get my hands on Arius, I will make Alazander’s punishments look like child’s play.”

“And I will be right beside you, ensuring he feels every cut.” I reached forward, sliding my fingers over Dristan’s cheek before Ryder handed him to me.

“Feed our son and then handle the guild enforcers who showed up about an hour ago and started asking questions. Now isn’t the time for them to be here, even if they’re seeking information on Alden. Handle it, or I will.”

“Ryder,” I murmured through a shaky exhale of pain.

“The moment you leave this room, you show no emotion to anyone. Shut all emotions down and leave Dristan in the war room with a handmaiden you trust with your own life. I mean it because I won’t fail him again. Lucian and Spyder have been testing the kingdom all night. If he has spies inside our walls, I will rip them apart piece by piece to show him why no one fucks with the horde or my family. I’ve also closed the palace to outsiders, Pet. No one comes in or out without first being subjected to testing.”

He exited the room without a backward glance, and my heart shattered. We may have lost our daughter, but we were also dangerously close to losing Zahruk and Alden as well. No one had figured out a way to remove the contamination yet, and we couldn’t keep them locked inside the rune-warded cages forever. Eventually, Ryder would have to be judge, jury, and executioner for both.

Chapter Twenty-One

Aldenstruckhisfistsagainst the glass, snarling as spittle dripped from his lips. His previously salt-and-pepper hair was darker and fuller. The age lines that had marked his face had faded. He no longer resembled the elder of the guild and the man who was a father to me. Alden looked as if he’d fully transitioned from human, into a pureblooded fae heir.

His nails were razor sharp, with blackened tips that seemed to drip thin tendrils of shadows. Still, more darkness slithered around his arms, rotating in soft spirals that scaled higher to reach his broad shoulders. His formerly gentle, kind gray eyes had turned to a deep-azure, vibrantly flaring with the madness he could no longer conceal.

“Jesus,” Adrian growled from his spot beside me. “This is nuts. It’s some nightmarish bullshit that you never thought would happen to you or someone you know. In a million years, I’d never thought this would be Alden’s outcome. He was straightforward with his choice to remain mortal. Why is he different from everyone else who died after being exposed to this shit?”

Adam grunted in agreement and jabbed inked fingers through his lustrous hair.

“This is so much crap,” he said as he strode closer to the dense glass. Adam’s palms pressed against the boundary, and Alden lurched forward. Surprisingly, Adam didn’t recoil or flinch back away from the barrier.

Alden’s movement no longer resembled anything remotely human. He slithered and flickered in and out of visibility before appearing right in front of him. He also didn’t sound human any longer. The once well-spoken man had resorted to communicating with indiscernible sounds that were comparable to the way Arius had communicated to his guys. It was similar, but it wasn’t the same.

“So, what the fuck is the plan?” Lena asked as her palms settled over her unborn babe. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing. It’s Alden. He doesn’t deserve this.”

“No fucking clue, but if it helps, I don’t think he’s in there anymore. Alden would never look at either of you like he’s currently doing. I hate to say it, but . . . no. I can’t fucking even get that shit past my throat.” Adrian swallowed before dropping his head back to run his palm over his face. “This is messed up. He isn’t some stranger or monster. He’s my fucking mentor, and the only asshole who showed up and stayed beside me without faltering. He never asked for shit other than to help make me a man and a badass enforcer. I can’t think of him being anything else.”

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