Free Ruptured: The Cantati Chronicles by Maggie Mae Gallagher Page A

slamming my body against the nearest wall and stealing my breath. My blade clanked at my feet.
    “What the fuck are you doing here?” Cade snarled mere inches from my face as he restrained my arms, keeping them from my firearm.
    “Saving your collective asses, apparently,” I remarked, aching for my gun or blade.
    “You are not Cantati Forces any longer.” His warm breath washed over my face and made me gag. We were at war, and he worried more about his prize than his men. Some leader he had become. The general needed to know about his weakness.
    “Let go of her,” Quinten demanded.
    Damn him, he’d promised he wouldn’t engage Cade. If I had not been seeing stars from the impact with the wall, I would have given him a piece of my mind. It would have been far easier to bash their heads together. They both had forgotten the full-scale battle happening around us.
    “Or what?” Cade tossed over his shoulder. The certainty in his smug response sickened me. Like he believed himself to be the top dog, and no one would argue against him. Wouldn’t he be surprised when Quinten and I went before the Council?
    “I’ll make you,” Quinten replied, all puffed-up proud, while I struggled to breathe against Cade’s tight grip around on my throat.
    “Yeah, you and what army?” Cade smirked. I wanted to wipe the smugness off his face. If I could only reach my gun, I would take care of Cade. Then Quinten and I would have ourselves a little chat.
    Quinten yanked Cade’s grasp on my throat. I slumped against the wall rubbing my bruised throat, as Cade rounded on Quinten with his fists.
    Horror filled me when Cade rushed Quinten. But he was ready for him. The blows they landed would have made lesser men crumble. It should have made me feel girly and feminine at their chest beating over me. It didn’t. I wanted to jump between them and stop the madness. I pulled my gun and retrieved my blade.
    “I’ll see you in the brig for this, Major,” Cade barked, while throwing a punch aimed at Quinten’s jaw. Quinten dodged Cade’s fist.
    “She’s mine, Cade. Has been for a while. In fact, she’s likely already carrying my child. The Council will reverse their decision. Touch her again and I’ll kill you.” Quinten had a few devices up his sleeve and countered Cade’s assault with a few solid blows of his own.
    Enraged, Cade unleashed the berserker within and pushed Quinten into a defensive attack. Demons swarmed, and I became engaged with the nearest Yathuri.
    All around, men and demons fought. Men died. Demons died. The sounds of the battle diminished, and I glanced around after beheading a Hatha. Cade had Quinten in a dead-lock grip around his neck.
    Sorrow filled Quinten’s eyes as he fought against Cade’s hold.
    “Let him go, Cade,” I shouted. “Enough. You made your point.”
    Cade glanced at me, and I was not certain what he saw. Maybe it was my defiance of his orders. Maybe a part of him sensed that he would never get the chance to claim me and that Quinten threatened his possession of me. Quinten’s face turned red from suffocation. He bucked and fought Cade’s unflinching, unyielding grip. The dead forces at work inside Cade shuttered his expression as he grasped Quinten’s head.
    With a swiftness that stole my breath, Cade snapped Quinten’s neck, the crack of bone sounding hollow in the lifeless space, and I watched my salvation fall. His sightless eyes, the ones that had glanced at me in adoration and hunger a short while ago, stared lifelessly back at me. His strong body, full of compact muscles, collapsed to the ground.
    Dead. Quinten was dead.
    “NOOOOOO!” I screamed.
    I went after Cade. My throat bunched up tight with unshed emotion. I may not have loved Quinten, but I had cared for him, and this monster had taken him from me. The big moments like this stole all rational thought from my body. As a woman who had been dubbed the Ice Maiden, I was all emotions and rage. I was just better at hiding