“You’re right, and I don’t need you checking on me.” My voice was sharp, cutting through the night like a blade. Then, I ripped my attention to my hounds.

“Escort,” I commanded them, pointing back the way they’d come. Their ears flicked, and Grem whipped around, nudging Assyria’s thighs, trying to get her to take a step back.

“Stay,” she snapped, her voice sharp as any blade. Grem froze, staring up at her while Zeec glanced between us.

The muscles in my jaw vibrated with the force of my anger. “Do not give them orders in direct contrast to mine.”

Assyria’s lips curved into a challenging, saccharine smile. “What’s the matter, Halálhívó? Afraid you’re losing control over your precious beasts?”

I flared my nostrils and counted to ten, working to walk back the rage rising to the surface. “They answer to me above you.”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “They like me better since they spend more time with me now.”

“For good reason, since you’re out wandering where you shouldn’t be,” I growled, taking a menacing step forward. Grem scooted out of my way so I could tower over my mate.

“Well you shouldn’t be out here alone either,” she quipped, crossing her arms.

“I know how to fight and use my magic to my advantage, little imposter. I’ve killed thousands of Angels. In fact, it would make me feel infinitely better to swing my blade through the neck of one.” I jerked on the hilt of my sword, pulling the bronze blade partly out of its sheath to prove my point. Then, I snarled at the dogs again. “Escort.”

This time, both Grem and Zeec popped into action and herded Assyria a few steps back.

She tried to hold her ground while she stared at me, her expression like daggers being thrown in my direction. “Stay,” she gritted out, fingers curling into fists. Then she pushed past their attempts to take her back to camp and stomped toward me.

Fire ignited in her eyes. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” She shoved at my chest, harder than I anticipated, but she didn’t smother the wince that came with it quick enough. “You can’t stand the idea of someone else doing for you what you’ve been doing for me, can you?”

She didn’t know how right and wrong she was.

I snatched her good arm, not wanting to injure the still-healing one. She hadn’t worn a brace during the day since our last visit to the lead healer, yet it still ached, especially at the end of the day. Like now.

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I can do it myself,” I snapped. A voice in the back of my mind told a different truth. I smashed it into a million pieces.

Hurt traveled down our bond, and a tear fell on Assyria’s cheek. Yet she couldn’t wipe it away with her injured arm, so it rolled all the way down. I reached up and caught the bead as it prepared to drop from her chin. Guilt knotted my stomach at the way she looked up at me.

Here she was, offering me an olive branch, and I was throwing it on the pyre.

I blew out a long breath and pressed her into my chest. The scent of her—roses and red wine—filled my nostrils. I inhaled it like it was the most decadent luxury. Because, for me, it was. These stolen moments touching her were not something I should be affording myself.

“Should a group of them drop from above or approach from the front, I would easily slaughter them. Especially with what I have to protect now.”

My arms tightened around her, and I was glad her face was buried in my chest. I didn’t want to read the expression that would flit across it. Not when she’d run from me before.

I clenched my teeth again and cursed myself for admitting something so vulnerable.

This was why I had wanted to be alone, so I had some time to sort through my thoughts and feelings without her influencing presence. Before we reached Ustlyak and the fighting began again. I couldn’t walk onto a battlefield with Assyria’s fire licking the back of my mind.

I looked up at the sky and counted the stars until I felt like I had a semblance of control over myself again. Then, I released Assyria.

She twisted her mother’s ring around and around her finger as she stepped back. “Come back with me?” she asked tentatively.

A long sigh escaped me as I rubbed my jaw. “Fine.” I rolled out my neck and shoulders, then whistled at the dogs to follow us. Both seemed relieved when Assyria and I fell into step and didn’t offer them contrasting orders again.

We walked in silence, tension coiling between us like a snake readying to strike. The bond thrummed with a tumult of emotion from both directions. At least Assyria was as confused about what to feel as I was. She was angry, yes, but an undercurrent of concern melded with it. Wrapping around both was a tendril of pure fear—something I’d never felt from her before.

That only made this ache in my head worse. I had no idea what she was afraid of or why it had suddenly appeared among the rest of her depthless emotions.

The sentries appeared ahead of us, and my fingers itched for my sword. They’d allowed Assyria to walk into danger. They should have had more fucking sense, even if I hadn’t specifically told them not to allow her past. The desire to punish them, to slake the storm of emotion surging in my veins, became too great to ignore.

I unlatched my sheath and stomped toward them. Two had the good sense to widen their eyes and take a step back. The ones who didn’t still trembled as I prepared to unleash my wrath.

“Which one of you didn’t turn her around and send her back?” I growled. Assyria swept up and yanked on my arm like she was going to drag me away from them.

I shrugged her off.

“Don’t turn your anger at me onto them. We both know you’re doing this because you feel like you need to control something,” she snarled into my mind.

I ignored her. “Who?” I spat the word out, leveling my deadly serious gaze on each of the sentries.

“M–m–me,” one cherry-eyed male stammered. “I made the decision. She said she was meeting you, Halálhívó, and I thought–”

“You thought wrong,” I seethed, snatching him by the collar and dragging him forward. I threw him on the ground at my feet. “Remove your armor and prepare for your punishment.”

“Halálhívó!” Assyria hissed. At least she didn’t use my name to admonish me. Someone could obey the rules after all.

“Y–y–yes, sir,” he stammered, unbuckling the shoulder straps. The metal crashed against the ground before one of the other sentries snatched it for him.

“You two,” I pointed at the others, “hold his arms.”

I didn’t have a flog or a nine-tailed whip with me, so the flat of my sheath would have to do. With grim expressions, they positioned the offending male for me. This was just as much of a punishment for them as it was for the one receiving the blows.

Next time, they’d think twice about Assyria’s protection.

I glanced at her and the dogs over my shoulder. “Guard,” I told them. They took close positions on either side of my mate, whose teeth were bared in my direction.

“Rokath, stop. You proved your point to them.”

“When will you learn, little imposter, that I will do whatever it takes to ensure your safety?”

I sucked in a breath and spun my sword in my hand. The long, flat side of the sheath lined up with the male’s back. He wouldn’t bleed but he would certainly have black bruises before the moon rose to its height.

I swung.

The thud that resounded when the blade connected with his back speared satisfaction through me; a jolt of fear traveled down our bond from Assyria.

“One,” the male gritted out. The two holding him readjusted their grips. They were all seasoned soldiers and knew exactly how this would go down.

“Two,” he coughed out as I struck him again.

Assyria’s breath hitched. I glanced over my shoulder at her, noting the slight way her hands trembled. The fourth soldier who had retrieved the armor drew my attention by shifting from foot to foot. I shot him a glare and he snapped into perfect posture again.