What did that mean?
Brynleigh reached out a hand towards the shifter as if in protest. “What? Don’t?—”
“I’m sorry, B.” The man’s voice hardened, the promise of violence clear in his voice.
Danger, danger, danger.
The fae captain gave up pretending to be asleep and threw off the blanket.
He was too late.
Brynleigh shouted, “No?—”
A flash of silver filled the space, and then something popped.
Brynleigh screamed, the high-pitched sound forever ingraining itself in Ryker’s memory. She fell to the ground with a loud thud, her limp body covered in blood. The life-giving substance streamed endlessly from her chest. He’d always remember that, too.
How could he forget the worst moments of his life?
The next few minutes were a blur.
Ryker formed ice daggers, one in each hand. He leaped out of bed, and instincts took over his movements.
The shifter came at him, his murderous intent clear.
Ryker didn’t even remember fighting the other man. All he knew, all he cared about, was that he won.
The shifter was still alive when Ryker was done with him, but he would probably wish for death soon enough.
After Ryker knocked the shifter out and tied him up, he called for backup. He managed to get the request out without his voice shaking, which was a gods-damned miracle.
And then he went to Brynleigh’s side.
Crimson rivers flowed from her chest, staining everything in sight. There was so much fucking blood.
Ryker didn’t stop to think about what he was doing as he fell to his knees. He didn’t think about her betrayal because if he did, he might break.
His military training had him reaching inside her chest and pulling out the prohiberis bullet. He didn’t think the magic-blocking metal could kill a vampire, but he didn’t want to find out.
Even now, after everything, she was still… his.
Ryker chucked the bloody bullet across the room. It clinked, colliding with the wall. He didn’t bother to see where it landed.
He gathered Brynleigh in his arms, her blood coating them both as the wound in her stomach slowly stitched itself together.
They had one, maybe two minutes before the others arrived.
Pressure built behind Ryker’s eyes, and he finally allowed the full weight of what happened to hit him. The shifter came to kill him, and Brynleigh knew.
Sheknew.
He stared at his vampire through a watery curtain, brushing back her hair with a trembling finger. “How could you do this to us?”
He thought he knew her. He thought he loved her. He thought she was his.
Wrong. He’d been fucking wrong.
There was no response. She just lay in his arms, looking far too broken for someone who had caused him so much pain.