RIKA
My claws extended mid-swing without me consciously deciding to shift them. They raked across her left cheek in four deep parallel lines, tearing through skin like tissue paper. Blood sprayed across the concrete wall behind her. She screamed again, head snapping violently to the side from the force of the blow. Before she could recover I grabbed her throat, squeezed hard enough to cut off her air completely, leaned down until our faces were inches apart.
"Do you know what it's like," I said quietly, my voice dropping into that dangerous register that came from somewhere deep in my chest, "to see your own mate in pain?"
I tightened my grip. Her eyes bulged. Her good hand clawed weakly at my wrist, fingernails scratching uselessly against my skin.
"To watch her suffer right in front
