Page 30 of Soul Bound

I smile when I see the next picture, it’s of a white blonde little girl wearing lopsided pigtails sitting on a tire swing. Behind her is a scowling boy, a few years older than her. She smiles at the camera, one of her front teeth missing while he stands off to the side glowering at her.

I didn’t hear anyone approach, but abruptly, I’m picked up and thrown against the opposite wall, the hanging frames shake from the force of my back slamming into the drywall. I suck in a breath to scream for help, but a tattooed hand grips my throat, stopping me from making a noise or taking in any more air. The hand lifts me in the air, my legs dangle helplessly.

“Who thefuckare you and why are you in my house?” a deep voice growls in my face.

I force myself to focus on the face in front of mine, and the first thing I notice is his eyes are glowing gold which tells me he’s a shifter like the rest of them. What kind? Who knows. All I know is he’s strong as hell. He’s holding me seven feet in the air with one arm with ease. When I scan his face more, I realize I know exactly who this man is. He looks just like he does in the picture I was just looking at, but the happy guy that was photographed isn’t here. The very angry, very vicious version of Ryker Weylyn stares at me.

“I don’t like to repeat myself,who are you?” he grits out, his jaw clenching.

I glare at him because: (a) I’m really fucking tired of being manhandled by the Weylyn men, (b) how the hell am I supposed to answer him when he’s restricting my airflow?, and (c) I’m stubborn and don’t answer to anyone,evenif he’s a pissed off wolf shifter.

I feel the slight prick of claws, but I don’t flinch, I’ve felt worse. If he’s trying to intimidate me by hurting me, he’s shit out of luck. I lived on the streets of New York for years, it’s going to take more than throwing me against a wall to scare me. I lost count of how many times I’ve had a knife pressed to my neck as someone tried to rob me or worse, I didn’t let those people break me and I won’t let Ryker.

He’s not expecting me to fight back, they never do. So, when my right fist slams into his nose with a deafening crack, the look of surprise is priceless. I don’t get to savor it for long, because with an animalistic growl, he hoists me even farther up the wall and his claws are no longer just pricking the sensitive skin on my neck, they’re digging in. I feel a warm trickle of blood run down my throat, but I still don’t flinch.

His nose is bleeding now from where I hit him and I smirk at this even though the corners of my vision are starting to blur.

I’m too far up the wall and away from him to use my hands, so I kick out my feet. I land a few kicks to his chest and ribs, but he doesn’t even grunt in pain, which is disappointing to say the least.Stupid shifter strength.

“That wasn’t very smart,” he sneers up at me.

I want to tell him I’ve been chock-full of bad ideas as of late but can’t seeing as I can’t fucking breathe.

I blink back the blurriness that is starting to take over my vision and wheeze in as much air as I can, but it doesn’t help. I grip his hand and try to pry it off of me, but he doesn’t move. His hand is like a vise around my neck and I have no hope of being able to remove it.

Just as abruptly as I was thrown up, I’m suddenly let go. There is nothing to brace myself with, so I free fall multiple feet onto the ground. I land in a heap on my side, gasping for air. I lay my forehead against the cool hardwood floor as I try to catch my breath and regulate my heartbeat again. When the blood stops rushing in my ears and I can hear normally again, I hear the sound of animalistic snarls and shouting coming from my right. Raising my head, I find Ranger wrestling Ryker to the ground.

10

Ranger

Iswear to God, my brothers are determined to kill her.

First Ransom tries to maul her to death in his wolf form and now I find Ryker with his claws jabbed in her neck while suffocating her against the wall.

And she’sbleeding.

I don’t bother to stop and ask my older brother what the hell he thinks he’s doing; my wolf doesn’t allow it, the scent of her blood angering him to the point of no return. Instead, I’m charging at him at full speed. I slam my body into him with no remorse, wrapping my arms around his middle so we both go flying across the hardwood floor. I barely feel the force of impact on the hard floor before I’m flipping us over so I’m over him. I’m just trying to pin him down so he can’t go anywhere near Winslow again, but Ryker has never been one to ease up in a fight. His mode of operation is to fight until his opponent is dead or unconscious.

Ryker can spar with us any day of the week because the human side is in control, but if you attack him and catch him off guard, his wolf is going to think they’re in a fight to the death. He has to be like this, because Ryker spends his days hunting down dangerous rogue wolves, and if he ever eases up in a fight with one of them, he’d be killed.

I knew this even before I hurled us across the room, but I didn’t care. He hurt Winslow, and the fact that she’s now somewhere behind us is fueling my anger. Ryker’s wolf may be in charge, but so is mine.

But the thing is, Ryker and his wolf have no idea how I’ve been spending my extra time. I’ve been fighting—and fightingdirty—for months now in the underground fighting in Canada. While no one I’ve fought is as strong as Ryker, I’ve picked up a few new fighting skills and I’m not going down easy.

Ryker’s right fist flies up and connects with my jaw. I taste blood immediately but don’t loosen my grip on his left hand, rendering it immobile in my vise grip. I slam my elbow repeatedly against his already bleeding face—my wolf fills with pride knowing Winslow had already drawn his blood. Not many people can get the drop on Ryker.

While Ryker is recovering from the multiple hits to the face, I throw his other hand onto the floor, so both hands are now pulled up by his head. I didn’t see it coming but I should have, turning his head, he sinks his now extended fangs into my forearm. The force of the bite causes me to release one of his hands, and he uses that to his advantage.

He twists his body, slamming his knee into my groin as he moves. I curl into myself, unable to help it. I find myself pinned under him, just like I had him just seconds ago when I recover. Ryker’s fist starts to come down on my face, but I quickly block it with my bleeding forearm. Ryker’s tattooed hand grabs on to my wrist and jerks it into an odd angle, the sound of the bone snapping deafening, even over the sounds of our snarls.

With my good hand, I swing upward, clipping him in the chin. His head is thrown back at the force. Even though the pain from my wrist is excruciating, I grab him around the throat with both hands while he’s stunned from my hit. Similar to how he held Winslow against the wall, I sink my claws into his flesh and squeeze hard to restrict his breathing.

Ryker fights against the hold I have on his neck, his claws dig at the skin at my forearms and I know deep cuts now sit there along with the bite mark. His eyes are like liquid gold as he snarls down at me, his extended fangs are still coated in my blood.

I know my eyes have shifted into their silver wolf form and I feel my own fangs descend as I growl up at him. I want to smash my fist into his face a couple more times for hurting Winslow, but I know if I give up the leverage I have on his neck right now, he’ll be on me before I can even blink. I dig my claw deeper and squeeze harder, my wolf is craving the feel of his opponent’s strength weakening. Something that I never used to think much about or like until I started fighting recreationally.

I don’t have a chance to try anything else because suddenly bone-chilling water is dowsed on us. My wolf snarls at the cold assault and I whip my head around to look at the new assailant, only to find my little witch standing there with an empty pitcher. “Break it up, boys!” she yells. Ryker roars in anger and lunges toward the attacker. His sudden movement causes me to lose my grip and I scramble up after him as he charges at Winslow.

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