What in Kali’s name? Why in torment didn’t Tytus stop this nonsense?
Cyprian stalked after the pair. Riley had a bad habit of running head long into danger. She’d effectively interjected herself into the mission yet again, and now she was alone with the traitorous regent. Cyprian pushed through the potted foliage in time to see Feroze and Riley duck into one of the nearby warehouses. Red bled into the corners of his vision, and a rolling snarl vibrated from his chest as he stormed toward the building. Cyprian came to a halt as he passed an open window.
“Now that we are alone, what did you have in mind?” Feroze asked Riley.
“After everything I’ve been through, I’m looking for a man who can take care of me. Are you that man?” Riley asked with a saccharine sweet drawl.
“Stick with me, exotic one, and no harm will come to you.”
“And how does a big powerful man like you make such promises?”
When Cyprian nipped Riley’s wrist, he was hoping the effects of his conjugo serum would force her to seek him out. Instead she was using the chemical lust to fuel her seduction. He should’ve known Riley was too strong willed to be manipulated. Yet he could help himself.
Even though Cyprian knew Riley was playing a game with the regent, he still didn’t like that she spoke to another male in such a seductive voice, or pressed against him. The way Feroze stroked her silky soft shoulders, sent Cyprian’s inner beast into a tailspin.
Enough!
Cyprian threw open the storehouse door and stormed in, bristling with rage. When Feroze turned in shock, Cyprian threw a punch. His fist struck the male’s jaw, with a satisfying crack. Feroze stumbled back. Before he could recover, Cyprian hit him in the gut, sending the regent sprawling on the floor.
“God dammit, Cyprian. What the hell are you doing?” Riley yelled.
“What do you think you’re doing, Little Manx?” Cyprian snarled as he grabbed a length of cord from the wall.
“I was getting Feroze to talk, before you rushed in like a rabid dog,” she countered.
“You didn’t need to be alone with him, to get his handheld. And you certainly didn’t need to paw all over him,” Cyprian rumbled.
He stormed toward Feroze, as the male struggled to get up from the floor.
“I already passed his handheld off to June,” Riley snapped.
“What?” Feroze said in shock, as he checked his pocket and found it empty.
Cyprian was also surprised. He’d been watching Riley fawn over the male, but hadn’t noticed when she retrieved the communicator. Then again, Cyprian had been a little preoccupied.
Feroze quickly pulled an ornate knife from the scabbard strapped to his waist. Cyprian was so angry, he looked forward to the fight. Sadly, all it took to disarm the regent was a well-placed strike to the forearm.
“Pathetic,” Cyprian growled as he secured Feroze’s wrists, then tied the male to a nearby workbench.
“We’ll see who’s pathetic soon enough,” Feroze growled back.
“You hear that. He’s up to something,” Riley informed Cyprian. “I overheard him directing someone to the plantation. I was going to find out who, but you just had to interfere,” she sneered.
Cyprian swiped the screen on his handheld, sending a group message to the other warriors, telling them he had Feroze secured in the warehouse. He glanced at the responding message, then back at Riley.
“Tytus and Aculus are picking apart the data on his communicator.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re too late,” Feroze said stubbornly and with more bravado than was intelligent given his circumstances.
“You know who my family is. So, you know how I’ve been trained, since the day I learned to walk,” Cyprian snarled.
Feroze scowled at Cyprian, refusing to speak.
Cyprian picked the regent’s gilded blade off the floor, and pressed the tip against his own palm.
“It’s dull. That means it’ll hurt more when I peel the flesh from your body. Of course, all this can be avoided if you tell me how you’ve betrayed Cadi.”
“You won’t do any of that. Not in front of the female,” Feroze countered bravely.
Cyprian could see the regent was nervous, with the way he swallowed hard, but the bastard still refused to talk. Feroze was also right. Cyprian wouldn’t force the male to talk with Riley present.
“Riley, go outside,” Cyprian began to say, but Riley interrupted him.
“You think watching the general take you apart piece by piece is going to bother me? You’re wrong. I look forward to it,” Riley snapped. “I watched as a helpless creature was butchered alive, and my friend was murdered.”