He was equal parts afraid and strangely aroused by the way Brynleigh moved with swift, predatory grace. She swung the door open and entered the room like a deadly dancer.
A tall, broad-chested Earth Elf with cropped red hair and green markings running along his bare chest and sinking beneath the waistband of his pants stood before a bed. A naked werewolf kneeled on the middle of the mattress. The woman’s long brown hair covered her breasts. Her back was red and cut in several places.
They turned as one.
“What the fuck?” the elf growled, dangling a whip made of vines from his fingers. “Who the hell are you?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Brynleigh replied in a low voice, shadows twining around her legs. “Are you Tathdel Crystalis?”
The Earth Elf narrowed his emerald eyes. “Who’s asking?”
Black wings burst from Brynleigh’s back through the slits in hersweater, and she smiled. The expression was nothing short of nightmarish.
She snarled, “Your gods-damned reckoning.”
By the Black Sands, Ryker really liked the commanding tone of Brynleigh’s voice. It stirred something deep within him. That fucking bothered him. He shouldn’t like any of this. He shouldn’t even be here.
The thing was, even though Ryker’s presence in this place crossed a plethora of lines, he didn’t regret it. He didn’t regret any of this.
He’d make the same deal over and over again if it meant getting Brynleigh out of prison.
Hearing her admit that she loved him earlier had been like ingesting acid. His entire body had burned at her words. But he would endure far more than that to keep her out of The Pit.
Brynleigh turned to the woman and snarled, “Get out of here if you want to live.”
The werewolf’s eyes widened. To her credit, she didn’t waste a second before wrapping a sheet around herself and bolting out the door.
That was probably the right move.
The door slammed behind the fleeing woman, and the Earth Elf tightened his grip on the whip. He looked between Ryker and Brynleigh, his gaze mistakenly settling on the captain’s.
“I know you.” A wry smile of recognition tugged on Tathdel’s lips. “You were in the Choosing. Why are you here? Fuck right off.”
The amused expression on the Earth Elf’s face disgusted Ryker. He’d read the man’s file. Only a monster wouldn’t be repulsed by the things Tathdel had done. Apparently, Jelisette was not only part of the rebellion and a cold-hearted vampire, but she also had a knack for finding the world’s worst criminals.
This elf did not deserve to be free.
If Ryker had his way and this was his operation, he’d arrest the elf and throw him into The Pit.Thiswas a man Victor Orpheus could torture for weeks on end without issue.
But Orpheus wasn’t here, this wasn’t The Pit, and all the rules Ryker followed were nowhere in sight.
And then the man glanced at Brynleigh.
Ryker barely suppressed a snarl. He didn’t like the way the evil elfwas looking at his wife. Not one bit. If it were up to him, he’d claw Tathdel’s eyes out so he could never look upon his vampire, or any other woman, again.
But Brynleigh had asked him not to interfere, so he wouldn’t.
Ryker raised a shoulder and smirked. “I’m not the one you should be worried about.”
By the time the Earth Elf’s gaze snapped back to Brynleigh, it was too late.
She’d already wrapped the elf in shadows and advanced with the speed of her kind. Darkness swept out of her, coating the entire room in a blanket of pure night.
Even with his fae vision, Ryker couldn’t see a thing. He pressed his back against the wall, his fingers finding the hilt of the knife sheathed on his thigh as he stared into the unnatural darkness.
Nothing impeded his hearing, though.
He had been around death many times. He’d delivered it, witnessed it, called it into being.