Chapter 12 #4
“How dare you!” she gasped, her cheeks staining red with anger and mortification. She hadn’t realized the Pack would experience her lovemaking with Reule! Or she hadn’t wanted to. Her breasts stung with a chill, as though she’d been stripped naked in front of this dreadful man.
“Listen carefully, my lady,” Rye said, contempt lacing his warning on the “my lady.” “You aren’t Prima yet, so you have no command over me. And I will never allow that to happen. I will never have you deciding life and death for me again.”
“You ungrateful bastard,” she hissed through her teeth. “You curse me for saving your life, and then use that life to threaten me? Is this how you show your love to Reule?”
“Don’t dare speak of my love for my Prime!
You sully it with your very breath! I’ve known him all my life!
Reule, Darcio, and I were born together, raised together, and became men in hardship together.
You, with your overnight passions, can never know what it is to carve a niche of loyalty so deep in your heart as I have. ”
“You call this being loyal?” she said, aghast. “He embraces me, cherishes me, raises me up above all other women he has ever known, and you trap me here to insult me and swear vengeance on me? To deny your fealty? This is how you pay him your respects?”
“I will show my respect by prying those wicked claws of yours out of him before you ever become Prima. I’ll be doing Reule a favor!
” Rye’s hand darted out before she could react, and he grabbed her by the arm.
He drew her up close, his mouth against her ear until she felt the rush of his heated breath.
“I’m Prime Blade for a reason, unfortunate girl.
I lead armies in a harmony of movement and strategy unlike anything you’ve ever conceived of.
If you think I cannot rid myself of one troublesome outlander woman, then you’re mistaken. ”
Mystique’s heart was pounding and she grabbed at his fingers, trying to pry them off her arm where they were squeezing so hard it was agonizing.
She realized how frail she was in comparison to that big, powerful hand.
That he could snap her bone if he desired it.
She looked desperately at the door, wondering why Chayne didn’t come and stop this.
“Oh, I’m more powerful than Chayne,” he answered her thoughts.
“I can block both of our minds from him from anyone. I could wring your neck and no one would know until you were dead on the floor. Unfortunately, I was seen entering the room with you. It isn’t my goal to alienate my Prime in the process of ridding myself of you.
As it is, I’ll have to face his temper come morning because of you. ”
“Rye, please,” she begged him, her eyes smarting with tears of pain. “Explain this rage to me. I saved you, but not Amando, and that makes me evil? I don’t understand your logic. Why have you made me a target? Why is this all my fault?”
“Because we never, never lost Pack until you showed up! Suddenly you’re here and Amando is dead!
A single drop of water in a pond causes ripples for great distances.
You were the drop, and Amando drowned shortly after.
” He shook her hard, making her neck crack.
“Who are you? What are you? None of us knows. Who’s next?
You think I’ll sit back and let you sleep beside my king?
That I’ll allow evil to lie next to him? ”
“You think I’ll hurt Reule? That I’ll kill him?” She was so horrified by the idea that she gagged. “By the Lady, you’ve gone completely mad! Why would I kill a man who’s making me his queen? Giving me a glorious home? Loving me like I have never known love in all of my life?”
“Protecting you, as promised.”
The statement was followed by a blindsiding punch from a huge fist that landed squarely on Rye’s left cheek.
Rye went flying, his gripping hand wrenching Mystique’s arm hard before finally releasing her.
The heir hit the ground with a jarring crash and Mystique felt a familiar muscular arm catch her around the waist, keeping her from toppling over onto Rye.
That arm drew her back into a beloved body of warmth and strength, and her heart ached with relief as she leaned back into Reule, clutching his biceps. He nuzzled her ear gently.
“Are you all right, baby?” he demanded softly.
“Yes. Yes,” she breathed, turning her face to his until her nose rubbed his cheek and she could draw in the familiar masculine scent of him.
“I’ll believe that when I see your arm later,” he said grimly. He turned hard eyes onto Rye, who was trying to orient himself enough to sit up.
“Reule—”
“Don’t defend him, Mystique,” he snapped harshly.
“Reule, he’s sick. Not physically, but in his mind. I could feel it when he held me. It’s like a poison in him that he cannot control. He needs healing and care, not rage and retribution.”
“Damn me, kébé,” he said, turning to kiss her forehead fiercely. “I cannot let this go unpunished!”
“Reule, I’m not asking you for that. Only listen.
” She turned herself toward him. “I think I can heal this just as I healed Chayne. I think … it may have been a combination of the voltage he took and the shock of losing Amando. This isn’t the Rye you know.
Not the Rye I was coming to know. He’s suspicious and paranoid.
Filled with grief that blinds him to truth.
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but it’s just as much a wound as what Chayne suffered, only it isn’t visible through anything but his behavior.
Please. Can’t we place him somewhere safe where I can convince him to allow me to heal him? ”
“I don’t want you anywhere near him,” Reule snapped just as the door opened to admit Chayne and Liandra.
Liandra ran at Mystique and she turned from Reule to hug her newest friend. Mystique had felt relief and safety with Reule, but Liandra’s ready warmth made her want to cry like a child. She resisted the impulse, gathering her dignity as others looked curiously into the room from the hall.
“Chayne, the door, please.”
Chayne obeyed promptly and they were closed into a measure of privacy once more. Reule reached out for Mystique, his hand falling on her waist and drawing her back to his side. Liandra shot her a quick look of amusement over Reule’s possessiveness.
“Rye, you’ve greatly insulted me. Twice now you’ve laid abusive hands on a woman under my care and protection.
There’s a price for that and you will pay it,” he gritted out ominously.
“By the Lord, Rye, this is beneath you! You must be mad, because the man I’ve known for nearly a century would never do such a thing. ”
“Reule, you’re a fool,” Rye said, spitting blood onto the floor as he gingerly touched his face. “She’s leading you around by your cock and you don’t even know it.”
Liandra’s gasp was just barely drowned out by Reule’s roar of fury as he pushed Mystique back and grabbed for Rye.
He hauled the Prime Blade up by his formal jacket, yanking him to his feet, then shoving him into the nearest wall.
Rye fought back this time, clutching Reule in return and using a mighty heave of strength to reverse their positions against the wall, their wrestling bodies crashing into a small table and sending a vase shattering onto the floor.
Mystique couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t bear to see two friends battling each other, nor the possibility of someone getting hurt.
She could tell with a glance at Chayne’s worried features the situation was flaring out of control.
Acting on her well-trusted instincts, she stripped her red kid gloves off and shoved them at Liandra, who took them readily without fully understanding why.
It didn’t matter. Mystique was focused only on Rye.
“Damn you, Reule, can’t you see? She’s been here only a week and already she’s destroying your Pack! Why can’t you see? Why would you pick an outlander whore over your Pack if she weren’t somehow influencing you?”
“By the Lord, Rye, I’ll kill you if you don’t shut up!” Reule promised viciously.
Mystique approached them, watching the straining muscles and power balance very carefully.
She saw Reule look at her just as she reached for Rye.
She held out stretched palms and fingers and waited for only a heartbeat as Reule switched the force of his fight from trying to shove Rye off to trapping him against himself and keeping him from moving.
Mystique’s hands folded around Rye’s face, her palms against his ears, her fingers fitting firmly over his cheeks.
The physical balances of his mind sprawled out before her, showing her the way within seconds.
Reule caught Rye’s weight as the surprised heir succumbed, his eyes rolling back just before they closed. Chayne was there in an instant and the three of them guided the giant down to the floor.
“By the Lady, I swear I’ve never seen him like that,” Chayne whispered. “He was like a zealot. Hating.” He looked up in wonder at Mystique’s guarded eyes. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“No one does. I’d like it kept that way,” Reule said shortly. He wiped the back of his hand across his damp forehead and looked at Liandra. “Is that clear?”
“You needn’t worry about Liandra,” Mystique said sharply.
Reule found her tone surprising and amusing. It pleased him whenever she defended his people. Even when they didn’t deserve it, as he felt Rye did not.
“So, my sweet lady, what would you have us do with your patient?”
“Is there a strong door with a lock somewhere?”
“Your wish is my command. Which is to be expected, seeing as how you’ve been leading me around by my—”
“Reule!” Mystique cut in with a horrified laugh.
Liandra snickered. “Seriously. This isn’t like healing damaged tissue.
What’s wrong with Rye is only partially physical.
I believe his mind isn’t something I can heal without his help or permission.
I can’t explain why it’s different, but my instincts tell me it is. ”
“I’m learning to trust your instincts,” Reule remarked. “And so should you. You ought to have known better than to come here alone with Rye.”
“I didn’t think he would hurt me,” she argued softly.
“Kébé, he practically strangled you last time!”
“By the Lady,” Chayne hissed. “That’s why you were so angry at him. That’s why you wouldn’t make him Shadow!”
“And I should have told you, Chayne, but I was trying to temper my response and minimize his humiliation so he wouldn’t hold it against Mystique.
I wasn’t thinking about his power, that he’d use it against you like this.
I wasn’t thinking at all.” Reule’s self-disgust was obvious.
“I thank the Lord and Lady my shortsightedness didn’t get you killed, kébé. ”
Reule rose to his full height and reached to draw her close. He inspected her carefully, what he could see of her, and gently ran fingers over her bruising arm. “If I hadn’t felt his rage … I’m the only ’pathic being in this city more powerful than Rye. The only one he cannot block out.”
“Hush now,” she soothed in a dulcet whisper, her fingers touching his lips tenderly. “All is well. You’ve kept your promise. And I never once feared that you wouldn’t.”
It was an impressive realization for them both. It made a smile twitch beneath her fingertips. He kissed them before removing them, then drew her up tight along the length of his body.
“How long will this last?” he asked, glancing down at Rye. “I’d rather not drag him out in front of his peers like this.”
“I really don’t know. Can’t you reinforce it somehow?”
“No. He needs to be conscious before I can make a suggestion of my own. Chayne. Find Saber and tell him to send three strong guards here. We’ll go into the hall and make the announcement everyone has been waiting for. It will hold everyone’s attention and allow the guards to move him discreetly.”
“Announcement?” she asked.
He chuckled. “Yes. The one about making you my bride.”
“Oh! I …” She flushed. “I forgot.”
“An auspicious beginning,” Liandra said, giggling. “Amando would have loved this. Well, not the fighting part or seeing Rye acting like a loon, but … well, the funny parts.” She circled a hand as if to wrap up her meaning in an obvious ball.
“We get the point,” Chayne said dryly.
“Come, Mystique,” Liandra said, ignoring Chayne’s sarcasm and Reule’s scowl in order to pull her out of his hold and drag her off. “I simply must have a good seat so I can watch Jocelyn have an apoplexy. I’ll bet she turns purple.”