Slowly his jaw dropped and his lips parted in shock. It wasn't by much, but enough for me to notice and enjoy. Ezra did too if his amusement was anything to go by.

Raising the thermometer in my hand, I wagged it at him mockingly.

"Well?" I asked, antagonizing him and enjoying his discomfort. It was the first time he hadn't taken what was thrown at him in stride and turned it back on me, making me or my reaction the butt of the joke. It was enjoyable witnessing him do it to Ares and seeing the dark fae reaction, but not so much when it was aimed at me.

Ryder's sharp eyes looked from the glass stick in my hand to me. He blinked, seeming to try to deduce if I had said what he thought I had.

"Rectal temperatures are the most accurate," Ezra added when Ryder just continued to slightly look at me. He was trying to cover the amused smile that mirrored mine using a hand over his lower face like a mask.

When Ryder's eyes shifted to Ezra, he snapped out of his shock. his eyes narrowed on the man before returning to me where they narrowed even further. Dangerously. His eyes slowly dragged down my neck and down my arm towards the thermometer I held. He eyed the tool for a moment before his eyes snapped to the faint mark marking the back of my hand. When his eyes light up. I stilled, my muscles tensing.

Maybe I had spoken too soon earlier.

When his lips curved up into a familiar and telling grin, I could feel the power shift in the room. I hadn't recognized the rush that feeling in control had given me until it was gone. I swallowed again, nearly choking on my saliva when a flash of mischief showed in his eyes.

He leaned back against the lab-like table behind him. His body was lax, lacking any strain the shock my ears had first given him. Placing his palm on the table, he lazily leaned back. No sign of distress was visible.

"If this is what I need to do for love, then so be it," he shrugged. "Though I'd prefer our positions to be switched, it could be far worse." His eyes landed on Ezra as he said the last words. He returned them to me before continuing, the gleam of victory in them mocking. "But don't think it's that simple, sweetheart. Nothing gets handed to us in life. If you want to measure how fine my ass is, you're going to have to come over here and do it yourself." The gleam in his eyes grew as he rose his hands, one cradling the other in front of him. "My wrist is still sore from landing on it wrong. I'm going to need some help with these pants," he lied, evident in the fact he was able to dress in them in the first place.

It was my time to stare back at him in shock and surprise. I was aware enough to keep my mouth from parting and showing it to him.

He was bluffing. His initial reaction was to tell. Unless he had some hidden kinks, hr wouldn't be fine with me following through with the threat. He would cave. There wasn't anything sexy about this like he was trying to make it. He would realize that and backtrack.

Right? After all, most of his humour was fueled by innuendo. He's always been willing to be the butt of the joke if he could make me squirm. Well, he was definitely going to be the butt that was squirming soon.

I walked up to him, my eyes narrowing on his as his grin grew larger.

He would fold. He didn't like losing.

But would he really have lost?

I ground my teeth together. I was going to make sure he could enjoy this.

"Ezra," I called out after stopping in front of Ryder.

I looked back at the man when all I heard was approaching footsteps in response. His face no longer held any amusement as his rare focuses on Ryder.

"Can you hold this for me?" I asked him, holding out the thermometer despite the fact he didn't look towards me to acknowledge my call.

When he took it from my hand, I thought he had agreed. That was before I was behind pulled back by an arm around my waist when I reached for the waist of Ryder's pants. My fingers didn't even get a chance to skim the material of his easily removable pyjama bottoms before chaos ensued.

Ezra pulled me back before turning to shove me behind him. He placed himself between me and Ryder who has reacted to the sudden movement that was otherwise unthreatening.

Moving so quickly that his image blurred in my eyes, Ryder was leaping onto Ezra, his hand encased with flicker blue flames cocked in a downwards attack. Ezra was able to turn back and block Ryder's attack before the blue flames could rid his head of the beautiful brown curls that bounced with his every move.

A circle of glowing hieroglyphics formed around Ryder's fist where it slammed into an invisible shield in front of Ezra's face as his lips softly continued to mouth the words he didn't need to speak.

Before I could think too much of it, I pushed between the two like I had become accustomed to doing during my time with the Ryder and Ares. Except they had never gotten more physical than a hard swat.

After pushing past Ezra, something goes didn't expect me to do given how easily it was, I reached out towards Ryder to push him back like I had done many times, but I never made it.

The first sign that I had done something horribly wrong was the absolute horror that enter Ryder's widening eyes when he caught sight of me. It burned violently down our bond. The second was the terrified shout of my name that came from behind. I could feel the tips of Ezra's fingers brush against the fabric of the shirt I wore, but I had put too much space between us for him to grasp the material and pull me back like I could tell he wanted. The last sign was the charged static hum that caused my hair to rise. I only had a moment to take in the rising strands of hair floating into the peripheral of my vision before pain blinded me.

I threw myself back with a throat tearing scream as the sizzling sound of flesh reached my ears. I landed hard on my ass but barely noticed the pain radiating from my tail bone, not when the one spreading from the palms I was carefully hugging to my chest was so much greater.

I couldn't hear my own scream with how loud the pain taking my attention was. I fell onto my back, writhing in an attempt to escape the hell consuming me.

A ringing sound kept repeating as hands grabbed me, turned me, and fought over me until only two remained. They occasionally brought the relief of a distraction.

My screams had turned into sobs at some point. Tears wet my cheeks, neck, and ran into my hair as I tried to slam my head back to distract myself from the pain.

I hadn't noticed I was crying.

Before the pain could try to distract me from the greater pain, my attempt was rendered useless by a cushioning hand, dragging another hopeless sob out of me.

I carefully shielded my hands as my body was dragged up against another's. The person wrapped their arms around me from behind once I was situated in their lap. My efforts to protect my hands against father harm were rendered useless. They didn't waste time grabbing them with a strong grip and dragging another scream from me with the flare of pain the harsh touch accompanied.

But it was nothing to the inferno that followed.

At some point, I must have lost consciousness from the pain. I went from thrashing around looking for an escape, to waking up to kissing being pressed against my temple as I was tightly being hugged from behind.

"You're fine, you're fine, you're fine," Ryder's strained voice softly repeated between presses of his lips.

My eyes slowly cracked open, feeling sore and swollen. I flicked a dry tongue out over my cracked lips as I squinted against the light. Once my vision cleared, the first that came into focus was Ezra crouched on the ground before me.

His tear-filled eyes lit up when mine locked onto them. One of them was slightly swollen shut. The tear fell over, not able to contain itself, and trailed down his cheek. He lifted his hand to reach out towards me, but stopped, curling his fingers back and retreating when Ryder' hugged me tighter and pulled me back further.

The press of his lips grew harder as he continued to be unaware that I had awoken.

"Ryder, she's awake," Ezra's soft voice informed him.

He froze at the news with his lips firmly pressed to my temple. When he pulled back, I turned my head towards him only to be greeted by relief. His body relaxed like a physical weight had been lifted off of him.

His arms hugged me against hum tighter as he shows his face into my neck. The warm moisture that hit my skin told me the action also served to hide the extent of his relief.

"Thank the Gods," his throaty voice spoke, teasing my wet skin.

I soothingly went to pat his arm in comfort but froze when I noticed my unmarked skin. My brows furrowed. I could have sworn I had heard physical damage be done, even if I had shut my eyes against the pain before I could have seen it.

I jumped when soft hands cupped the backs of mine, revealing them further. "Do they need to be healed longer?" Ryder asked as he leaned over my shoulder to get a better look.

I watched the side of his face as he focused on my palms, searching for any sign of injury. The severity on his face had transformed him into another man.

His search was broken by a faintly familiar ring.

"Shit," Ryder muttered before shifting me in his hold.

I grabbed onto his arm as he pulled a ringing phone from his pocket.

Since when did he have a phone?

My drained body sagged against him as when he set me back. The warmth and comfort that came from his body helped me look back on what had happened in a calm state.

Except, I didn't know what happened. One moment I was reaching for Ryder, trying to defuse the situation his reaction had escalated, the next I was experiencing agony that had me wishing for the sweet end of death.

Rising the phone, he answered it. Immediately he had to pull it away from his ear due to the shouting from the other end. I could clearly hear Ares demanding to know 'what that was in a voice rather terrified me. It was then that I noticed the alarming amount of distress I was receiving from my bonds.

Ryder brought the phone back to his ear, keeping it at a distance. "Geez, calm down Ares. She's fine," he looked over at me before adding with an uneasy frown, "now."

He was right. Aside from a bit of soreness and exhaustion, I felt perfectly fine. I opened and closed my hands, testing to make sure I hadn't jinxed myself.

"Hello?" Ryder asked when all that followed his answer was silence.

"I'm coming to see for myself."

"You don't need to-and of course you'd hand up."

Ryder pulled the phone away from his ear with a sigh and hung up.

"Looks like we're going to have some company soon," he said.

Rising from the ground, Ryder helped me get to my feet. Ezra followed, stating near me in case my unstable legs gave way. Not that Ryder didn't have that covered already.

Once I was on my feet, I was suddenly being shoved down onto a seat.

"What were you thinking!"

I flinched back from Ryder's angered yell, not expecting the sudden shift.

"Don't," Ezra interpreted, stepping forward. "She's not to blame, she didn't know better," he looked him in the eyes. If anyone is, it's us. We never educated her. If anyone's to blame, it's us."

Ryder frowned. His eyes drilled into me filled with anger, but it wasn't aimed at me.

"Every morning when the sun comes up, I'm going to teach you the basics of not dying in the middle of a battle."