Page 31 of Soul Bound

Not fucking happening, brother.

Every protective instinct I have is multiplied when it comes to Winslow. Ryker might be my brother, but I’m not letting him anywhere fucking near her.

As he tries to climb up to his feet, I grab his ankles and drag him backward. He loses his balance and slams into the floor on his chest with athud. With the air temporarily knocked out of him, I use this to my advantage to yank his arms behind his back, and using my full weight, I pin them down. The angle I jerk his right arm isn’t right and I hear the loud satisfyingpopof his shoulder popping out of the socket.

Ryker roars in pain, but I keep his arms behind him, not easing up on the pressure, if anything I press harder

“I need you to calm thefuckdown,” I growl into his ear when I lean down. “If you go after her again, I’ll do the same thing to your other arm. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

He growls and fights against my grip in response. Holding him like this makes my broken bones scream at me to stop, but I hold tight.

“Not the answer I was looking for,” I grit between clenched teeth. “Ryker, get control of yourself, or I swear to God I’ll bash your head against the floor until you pass out.”

“I fucking dare you,” Ryker snaps at me.

I bark out a cruel laugh. “Okay.” I shrug before gripping the back of his head with one hand, making sure to keep both arms strapped with my other one. Holding on to his cropped hair, I slam his head forward, and if his nose wasn’t already broken from whatever Winslow did, it sure as hell is now. I only do it once, even though my wolf is urging me to do it again and again. “What about now? Are you done now?”

“Fuck!” He bites out, “Fine. I’m good.”

I don’t believe him. “I mean it, Ryker, if you lunge at her again, I’m going to make you fucking pay. So, are you really good?”

“I’m good.”

I hear a snort above us. “Well, that’s justpeachy. I wasreallyworriedhewasn’t good.” Winslow’s voice drips with sarcasm. “Can I get him anything? A Band-Aid? A drink of water? A tranquilizer dart strong enough to take down anelephant?”

Ryker’s eyes dart to the voice and I feel his chest rattle with a warning growl. “Who thefuckare you?” he asks, his tone is anything but friendly. “You never did answer me.”

“Kind of hard to answer a question when your windpipe is being crushed, don’t you think?” She glares at him, her face void of fear. Any other time I’d be turned on by her bravery, but she has no idea who she’s messing with when it comes to Ryker.

“Winnie.” I shake my head in warning. “No.”

I shove Ryker’s head once more, this time lightly enough it doesn’t cause him to hit his head again, but it’s still a clear warning not to do anything stupid. I haul myself up and off of my brother. My body groans in protest, but I keep my face stoic, hiding the fact I’m in pain. Winslow stands there, still glaring down at Ryker. Her eyes don’t turn to look at me until I’m standing directly in front of her, blocking her view of my brother.

Her two-toned eyes take me in, starting at my bloodied lip and slowly move down to my torn-up arms. I feel the blood dripping off my fingers from the cuts on my forearms. She doesn’t get squeamish or panic at the sight of blood, if anything, it makes her face twist up with anger.

Before she has a chance to say anything, I grip her chin between my fingers and as gently as I can, I force her to turn her head to the side. Her dark hair is in the way, so I push the soft strands off her shoulder so I can look at the damage my brother did to her neck. Four bleeding puncture marks sit on one side, while a singular mark is on the other side.Shit!

A growl escapes my throat as I take in the wounds. I’m worried they are deep enough to scar. If she was a shifter or demon, these wouldn’t even be a problem, but witches aren’t born with advanced healing like we are. The last thing this girl needs is more emotional and physical scars.

I hear my brother grunt behind me as he starts to pull himself off the ground. Without thinking, I whirl around and slam my fist into his face one more time.

“What the fuck!” He spits a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

“The marks might scar, you bastard!”

Ryker’s head swings in my direction, his eyes are luckily still in their human form. “She was an intruder inmyhouse. What the fuck was I supposed to do?”

“She’s like five feet tall and barely a hundred pounds soaking wet! I don’t think she’s a threat to you!”

Ryker pulls himself to his feet, and this time I let him. He’s about an inch taller than me standing at six foot four, he has a couple of pounds on me too. He’s bulker, where I have leaner muscles. But we still look very similar with our dark brown hair and ocean blue eyes. There’s no mistaking us as siblings. Ransom and I are identical twins, so we are always getting mistaken for each other. We make an effort to wear our hair differently, so people don’t get us mixed up as much.

“No one has answered me, who the hell is she?”

I don’t even bother answering him, because I’m still too mad at him at this point. I wrap my arm around Winslow’s waist and pull her to my side. She’s stiff at first when I start to lead her toward the bedroom I sometimes crash in when the electricity is messed up in the trailer I’ve been living in, but she eventually relaxes into me and lets me lead her away. I take the glass pitcher from her hand and place it on the coffee table as we pass.

When we’re passing the front entryway, the front door opens, and Pruitt and Ransom walk in.

“Great fucking timing!” I shout at them as we pass. I’m not in the mood to stop and chat with them. Winslow is bleeding and I need to clean her up before I can talk to anyone. My wolf is totally on edge, I barely have control of him as it is. I know talking to Ransom about what happened will make me snap. My twin knows all the right buttons to push to piss me off, and I can’t deal with him right now.

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