Into His Command Read Online Free Page A

well. A weakness
     to be exploited?
    “This is not the Royal Regatta, princess.”
    “Now you’re just trying to piss me off.”
    I expected his gloating chortle but his angular face stayed solemn. “Too much thinking , Brooke. Evaluate, do not deliberate. Then commit to the move and—”
    “Control my enemy.” I practically snarled it. “I know, I know . I swear to God, you’re like a broken sound chip from one of my old toys.”
    “Because you would treat this like a child’s game?”
    Wow. He really wasn’t just trying to piss me off. He was out to push every button
     in my book. Three years. For three damn years, I’d worked to earn the respect of him and every other fighter
     who trained here, honing my skills and my work ethics in order to stand next to them
     as an equal, not the scared girl who’d first wobbled her way onto Arcadian soil. His
     dig was as good as offering me a diaper.
    Take this nappy, my friend.
    I lifted my fists and prepared to advance, when something ruthlessly grabbed me from
     behind. My feet left the ground. Adrenalin jacked my blood. Time-honed instincts took
     over my muscles. The wall of a bastard wouldn’t budge. He felt like the freaking Terminator,
     steeled strength clad in thick leather, deployed with frightening precision. I was
     pinned in, twisted around then dropped to the grass.
    Between one breath and the next, my fury burst into panic.
    In two seconds, six years fell away. Day turned to night. The surface beneath my body
     changed from polished walnut boards into a sea of crazy confetti: bits of glass and
     flowers, the remains of the dining room windows, as well as the vase of my birthday
     flowers from last week. Dad had asked me to change out the water. I’d forgotten. It
     smelled awful but I clung to its pungency; anything to block the acrid violence of
     the guns and explosions…
    Mom screamed. Soldiers bellowed. The guy shielding me was one of the loudest.
    We need that chopper now! Those whack jobs aren’t going to stop until this place is
     dust. Land it in the backyard, man. There’s two fucking acres back there !
    Then he’d yelled down at me. Told me everything was going to be okay, though I far
     from believed him. Ordered me to stay completely still, faking my own death to our
     intruders if necessary, as he ran off to find Dillon. The house—the home I’d grown
     up in—kept crashing in around me. More tumbled in when the helicopter arrived, its
     thunder throbbing the air. I’d listened with gratitude and grief. The chopper was
     here to take us to Burlington, where we’d fly to Rome then Arcadia, where we’d been
     offered asylum by King Ardent. The rest of the world would be told the four of us
     died in the attack.
    Terror had kept me glued to that floor. Rage had made me long to burst from it. To
     leap through the rubble and kill every one of those monsters with my bare hands—except
     their leader, Rune Kavill. For him, I’d invent a special death. Something really painful…
    The anger had never left me.
    Often, it’d been the only friend I possessed.
    Right now, it was my best and dearest buddy.
    Let’s go, pal.
    I drove an elbow into Terminator’s ribs. Again. His grunts were like booster rockets,
     empowering the buck of my hips. He’d expected that, and easily pinned his knees into
     the backs of mine. I grinned into the grass. The asshole was either kind or stupid,
     giving me that gift. With his weight pinned there, it was easy to twist up, ramming
     my elbow into his jaw instead.
    “Brooke!” Jagger’s shout was unexpected—and urgent. “By the Creator! Do not—”
    A growl from my new opponent stomped him into silence—and gave me the chance I’d been
     waiting for. The guy’s second of distraction was my scoop of opportunity. I used my
     elbow on his forearm, tilting his weight enough to dislodge one pinned knee. Next,
     a swift roll to my back. Instant curl-up on both legs, locking them around his broad