Chapter 5 - Ryder

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"What's wrong with you? You look like you're about to hyperventilate," Warren whispered in my ear. "Your eyes bugged out of your head when you saw the princess walk in."

"I don't know what happened," I confessed. "Something just ... changed when our eyes met."

Shrugging, Warren snarled his nose and huffed. "I don't know about you, but I definitely wouldn't be getting all hard up over a Summer chick. I much prefer the cold hearts of our Winter vixens. They don't get attached, so it's easy just to plow the snow, if you know what I mean."

Kalen cut in, "On most occasions I would agree with you, Warren, but these Summer girls are hot. Especially the one in the pink dress that came in with the princess. Now she's smoking hot, and I mean that literally and figuratively."

Shaking my head, I explained, "There's just something about her. It's like I'm connected to her somehow."

At my words, it was like a dark cloud settled over Warren. His eyes became dark and menacing.

He turned to me, hissing, "You can't have her. She doesn't belong to you."

Wide-eyed, I stared at my friend and wondered what the hell just happened. One minute he was fine, and the next it was like a demon had possessed him.

Clenching my teeth, I growled low, "What the hell is wrong with you? You have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't say anything about wanting her, and if I did, you sure as hell couldn't stop me."

In all honesty, I did want her, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Fuming, I glared at him waiting for a reply, but he just sat there vacant, like he wasn't even there. A few seconds later he came to and began acting normal again. There was something seriously wrong with him, and I was going to have Heylfred look into it when we got back to the Winter Court.

Hooking a glance over at Kalen, I raised my eyebrows in question.

He shrugged his shoulders and confided, "Ryder, I don't know what's wrong with him, but we need to figure it out soon."

"Yes, we do," I stated. Warren seemed calm so I decided to ask him, "Are you okay?"

Confused, he furrowed his brows and said, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?"

I sat back in my chair, befuddled. "Nothing, I just thought I'd ask." He seemed so normal, but that uneasy feeling of dread had made its way back into my stomach.

King Oberon finally stood to make his announcement about the ritual and the fighting that was going to take place. It was going to be interesting to see how these warriors fought compared to my army. I trained our warriors along with my brothers, Kalen and Brayden; our fighting skills were immaculate.

If I had a guess, I'd say my army could kick their pansy asses any day of the week. As the king started his announcement, I raked my gaze over all the warriors about ready to fight. One caught my eye ... he was the one who couldn't keep his eyes off the princess.

He's going to be a problem, I thought to myself.

He stared at her like a love-sick puppy, and it made me wonder if they were lovers of some sort. If they were, they wouldn't be for long. However, if he won, their bond would be unbreakable. The king finally finished his speech and the fighting had begun.


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