Page 36 of Forging Bonds: Part One

Rumbles of terrifying growls shake the hallways; River pulls me back against his chest as Reed's power releases and all of the guys remain standing as the Draconian Team is slammed awkwardly to the floor. Kylen's face slams so hard into the floor that I hear the crunch of bone as blood spurts from it.

Chapter Twelve

Neith

Reed moves forward, and River chuckles, “I can smell your fear. It’s probably the smartest reaction you’ve had so far.”

Reed crouches next to Kylen and pulls his head up off the floor with his hair. His voice is deeper and darker as he says, “I think you have misunderstood the situation. You may think that you have done something by calling the Choosing and pulling in a human, but you have forgotten to take into account that she is ours. You should know that if you lay one fucking finger on her, one slither of fucking magic, if she comes to harm at any point because of you or your team, then I will end you. I will rip yourspine out through your throat and smile as you gurgle on your own blood. Consequences be fucking damned.”

“We will tear the world apart and watch it fucking burn if it means that Neith is safe,” River adds, his voice a deadly growl, his arms tightening around me.

Raiden chuckles and moves so that he’s in Kylen’s eye line, “You have no idea what you’ve done by threatening her.”

His eyes swirl with magic as his power level jumps, and the team on the floor makes sounds of distress, apart from Coen, who is grinning like a fucking madman. Raiden’s power grows again. It doesn't grow to the strength that I know that it can, but he’s definitely showing them more than the level of power that he usually walks around with.

“Did you know that there are certain things that you can do to a soul that damage it to such an extent that it’s not even whole enough to get into the afterlife? Instead, it goes to the pit with the other tormented souls where it gets tortured over and over and over again?” He asks Kylen, the threat evident.

The fear is so fucking strong in the air that even I can feel it, and when he speaks, Kylen’s voice trembles.

“You won’t get away with that,” he splutters.

This time, it’s Ransom who laughs, and sounding darker than I have ever heard him, he says, “You’ve misunderstood. We don’t care if we get away with it.”

Kylen’s fear grows, his eyes becoming impossibly wider as he realizes the situation that he’s put himself and his team in.

“Because you seem to be a dumb cunt, let me put it incredibly clearly for you all,” Griff starts, his power hitting levels that I haven’t ever felt from him, “if any of you hurt Neith in any way, physically, emotionally, using any of your magic or any magic at all, then we will kill you all. We don’t carewho’s watching, we don’t care who knows, we don’t care if we get sent to the strongest and most terrifying prison in the realms, and we don’t care if we die.”

I want to interrupt and say, like hell will any of you die for me, but I am in complete and utter shock, and there is a lump of emotion sitting on my chest, I’m not actually sure that I am capable of talking right now.

“We’ll make sure that we aren’t witnessed though and then I will ensure that they don’t find a single microscopic trace of you, you will be smaller than dust on the wind,” Doc suggests.

“We’ll even help look for you,” Evander chuckles.

River’s eyes are dark, but his voice contradicts it as he excitedly says. “Oh, that would be really fun. Looking for you guys and knowing that there were pieces of you scattered around, never to be found, or even better yet, knowing that you’re in a secure location waiting for me to come back and play, slicing and dicing, using some specially designed potions to make you feel like your skins peeling off and then actually peel it off, that’s my favorite.”

I chuckle quietly. I can’t help it. This man, who has his arms wrapped around me, protecting me, is dangerous and deadly, and I fucking love it.

“So really, it’s very simple,” Ransom says, “don’t touch Neith. Don’t hurt Neith, and we’ll all get through the Choosing alive.”

“Technically, we should have already taken Rupert and Kylen’s hands for instigating that fight in the training gym,” Raiden adds a glimmer of dark amusement in his eyes.

“You’re right,” Griff says as he pulls out a large dagger. He strides toward Rupert. The blade slices through his wrist like fucking butter, making Rupert screams in agony, and Griff doesn’t even react to the sound as he then moves to Kylen, who starts to splutter and curse. Griff pays him absolutely no mind, as he does the same to Kylen.

His eyes meet mine, slightly worried by the show of brutality, but I just grin. That’s my kind of fucking justice, and it was hot as shit that he’s done it for me. Once he realizes that I’m not freaking out, he winks.

“Shut the fuck up, you whining assholes, you’re dragons, it’ll grow back in a couple of days,” Ransom says, rolling his eyes.

Rupert carries on yelling, and Ransom flicks his wrist, making Rupert's mouth slam closed as his eyes fill with panic.

“We’re not scared of you,” Kylen says defiantly, pain saturating his voice as it shakes with fear, a direct contradiction to his words.

“You should be. We play by the rules in every other situation, but not this one. If you hurt her, we will use everything at our disposal to make you beg for death,” Evander replies, his eyes beginning to glow blue as his magic spikes for some reason.

Suddenly, all of the team on the floor start to writhe in pain, yelling and cursing. All of them except for Coen, who Evander has managed to avoid with his magic. Coen realizes what’s happening and quickly joins in, faking it so well that I start to panic that he’s really being hurt. Evander pulls his magic back.

“What the fuck was that!” one of them yells, sounding panicked and then getting slammed back to the floor by Reed’s power before he can get up.

Van shrugs, “Your blood boiling in your body.”

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