Page 38 of The Storm Within

Despite not knowing how much time they truly had before it was too late, Ryker was pretty sure the sand in the hour glass was about to run out.

“Funny, I thought I proved I was a bear, not a puppy, when I mauled your ass,” Ryker shot back, his muscles tensing. He could feel Nate growing weaker, his energy draining.

“You have no idea what you’re up against.” Diobno’s eyes darkened as he took a step forward. “You’ve wandered into a world that belongs to me. You think you can just take what’s mine and leave?”

“He was never yours,” Ryker snarled. “Not now, not ever.”

Diobno’s gaze shifted to Nate, and a twisted smirk spread across his face. “Ah, poor Nathan. Always so eager to escape, always so naive to think he could step out of line without consequences.” He turned his attention back to Ryker, his eyes glinting with malice. “You should have never gotten involved in family affairs.” He pursed his lips, which wasn’t a pleasant sight. “I tell you what. I’ll give you one last chance to walk away from this, unharmed.”

“You really are insane.” Ryker felt Nate trembling in his arms, and it only made his anger flare hotter. “I’ll extend you the same offer, because if you don’t back down and leave my mate alone, I’ll find where your body is hidden and rip it apart.”

“You should have never figured that out. Now I’m about to show you what true power looks like.”

The demon lunged, but his movements were slower than last time. It was clear his rage was driving him forward and not his powers. Ryker didn’t even see any shadows creeping through the room. Still, his gut told him it would be a mistake to underestimate the demon.

And he was right. With a ferocity Ryker hadn’t expected, Diobno blasted him in the chest with dark energy, sending him airborne and causing him to lose his hold on Nate. His mate shot to Ryker’s left, colliding against the nightstand with a baleful scream.

With an unhinged roar, Ryker shifted into his bear and charged after the bastard, intent on ending the demon’s life. No one hurt his mate and lived to tell the tale.

Before Ryker reached Diobno, the room rippled, as though the reality around them was bending. The walls bowed inward, like they were taking a deep breath. The ceiling wobbled then flowed back and forth in little wavelets. The floor beneath Ryker’s paws buckled and groaned, cracking in some places.

He tried to stop, skidding partially toward the hole that had opened up in front of Diobno, like a sinkhole, but instead of earth, the gaping hole led straight into a dark abyss.

Another black void Ryker wanted no part of.

He managed to stop just at the edge, teetering too close for comfort. Backing up a few steps, Ryker snarled across the divide. Even if he shifted back into his human form, the gap was too wide to jump over. Diobno had effectively sealed himself off from getting his throat ripped out.

“I despise you with every breath I take, but I’ll give you points for your stubborn persistence, bear.” Diobno slowly shook his head, his eyes filled with so much malevolence Ryker should have dropped dead.

Shifting, Ryker bared his canines. “I’ll give you death for simply existing.”

Nate whimpered behind him, and Ryker wanted to get to him in the worst way, but turning his back on Diobno would be a fatal mistake. “You’re still pissed off over a joke that was made a hundred years ago. Do you know how fucking petty that is?” He waved his hand to encompass the room. “You’re the one who should be imprisoned in this rathole, not Nate. You’re nothing more than a pathetic, weak manbaby.”

“It was his very father who turned me into who I am!” Power surged around Diobno as the demon glared at Ryker. “Like father, like son. Do you think after enduring five centuries of my brother’s torment, I was going to allow his offspring to do the same? Nate should consider himself lucky I didn’t do to him what I did to my brother!”

“He died in battle against a demon warrior,” Nate croaked out, his voice so weak it was barely audible.

Diobno shook his head, his smile cold and spiteful. “That’s the story your mother tells, Nathan, because it’s the same story I gave her after I took so much pleasure in killing him. The same pleasure I’m going to take with you, dear nephew.”

Nate cried out, the sound low and pitiful. “I hate you!”

Diobno shrugged. “There was never any love lost between you and me to begin with. The mistake I made was killing your father too quickly, robbing myself of the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. But now that you’ve become a pain in my ass, you’ll meet his same fate.”

Thunder crashed inside the room, heavy winds lashing. Ryker backed away from the hole, afraid the wind would shove him forward. The furniture banged and clattered, while the debris from the smashed dresser and smaller objects flew in every direction.

Ryker shielded his face with his arms, fighting against the winds to turn around. Behind him, Nate stood with his arms spread wide, glaring right at his uncle. “You should have taken that secret to your grave.”

How in the hell was Nate doing that? He’d just been at death’s door, and now he looked like a vengeful god. This motel was a damn nuthouse. “Honey bear, I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, but how are you doing that?”

The side of his mate’s mouth curled upward. “It’s the power of gwapes.”

Nate swirled his arms in a complicated pattern, and then Diobno screamed. Ryker spun and saw dozens of icicle missiles striking Diobno from every angle with unforgiving accuracy. The demon finally collapsed, his stare blank and unmoving. The wind seemed to only swirl around Diobno now, as if it had a mind of its own, pushing the demon toward the very hole he’d created.

Then he slipped over the edge, disappearing into the dark abyss.

Damn. Ryker made a mental note to never piss off his mate.

Or Ethan.

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