“Sorry, Synthia, this isn’t our quarrel. Ryder will bring the boy back in one piece—I think,” Zahruk said carefully.
“No! This isn't happening. I don’t know what the fuck just happened, but I need him. I need him alive, dammit. I can't lose anyone else.” My voice cracked with unshed tears. I couldn’t handle it if Ryder killed Adrian because of something I couldn’t control.
“Go home, Synthia, and tell the Guild I took out the problem. Tell Alden if he ever tries to turn another of my creations against me, it will be war,” Vlad snapped, before he went back inside the club, leaving me alone with Ryder's men.
I turned to Ristan, numb with shock. “Tell Ryder that if he killed Adrian, to never think about me again, to never fucking try and contact me again. I will not be owned, and I will not be Transitioning. Transition can take me to bloody fucking hell right along with it for all I care. Tell him I am no longer his.”
Ristan pushed closer and grabbed my arms and shook me a little. “Flower, snap the hell out of it now, before you light up the entire city again.” He got right up in my face, and those patterned eyes swirled at me dangerously. “You’ve got to stop trying to think he is ever going to behave like a human, Syn. He’s not. He is a Fae warrior, and we come from one of the most dangerous places that you couldn’t even imagine in your worst dreams. What you saw in Faery was just a glimpse of what we consider relatively safe. He. Is. Fae. That means he is a fucking predator that is used to taking what he wants, and he will protect and defend what belongs to him by any means necessary. And, before you go on and on about how no one owns you, trust me, he does. You just haven’t gotten it through your head yet, but your heart knows it’s true.” I tried to turn away, and he wouldn’t let me. He just kept after me until I had no choice but to look in his eyes again. He softened a bit when I did.
“Flower, I know this a big change for you. You will Transition, and you don’t have a choice in the matter. You have got to learn our world and ways, and you don’t have much time in which to do it. Ryder may wear the mask of a human, but he has only been in this world for a little over fifteen years. That is a blink of an eye to us. He is still trying to adapt and understand this world, and sometimes it gets messy. Now, I am sure nothing permanent happened to your boy-toy this time. Come on, and I’ll give you a quick sift home.”
I nodded and placed my hand in Ristan’s. I was losing control. I’d kissed Adrian, and it hadn’t been him who I’d wanted to kiss—that damn growl had made my mind go blank, and I’d kissed the wrong male. I'd also failed to take out the target and, what's worse—I was teetering on the brink of Transition, and I could feel it starting to take over.
Chapter Five
When I got home, I could feel the power draining, but it had taken its toll on my body. It had been dark magic, and there had been no light to counter it. I'd been light based, with dark magic as a backup. Dark magic was dangerous, and you had to be careful of using it at all. I’d just done a huge power overload, and now I felt it with every move I made.
The dog was waiting at the door when I arrived, and he growled at me. Great, even my dog hated me. “Mister Fancy Pants, go lay down!” I shouted, frustrated with everything, and scared for Adrian.
The door I'd just slammed closed, flew open. “Get the fuck out here, Syn,” Ryder growled.
“Where's Adrian?” I cried, not knowing if I wanted the answer.
“Afraid I killed your boyfriend?” he asked coldly, his eyes turning hard.
Mister Fancy Pants snarled, but stayed beside me. I swallowed and shook my head. “Leave me alone,” I shouted back.
“You belong to me, you kissed him. You breached the fucking contract, Synthia,” he replied scathingly as he crossed his arms over his t-shirt clad chest.
“I kissed him so you killed him? I couldn’t stop it, dammit, I couldn’t control it. Something inside of me needed to kiss him, not me. And it wasn’t even him this thing inside of me wanted! It was whatever the fuck was growling! So, yes, I kissed him, Ryder, because I seem to have a monster inside of me! And you killed him! So, fuck you, fuck him, and fuck me! Fuck everything!” I was swinging at the air with tears streaking down my face.
“You're close to Transitioning,” he replied carefully, his face still concealed in the shadows of the porch.
“No! I'm not doing it. Period. No fucking way. I control what happens in my life! I want to know what you did to Adrian!” I hated the fact that when I got pissed, I cried. Most of the time I didn’t make sense when it was this bad. It was such a girlie thing to do, and it screamed weakness.