Riley's POV
My throat burned. A searing, raw pain tore through me as I collapsed to my knees, gasping, sucking in ragged, desperate gulps of air. Each breath was a painful rasp, my lungs screaming for oxygen. My hands flew to my neck, massaging the bruised skin, trying to coax the air down. My vision, still dotted with dark spots from the lack of oxygen, slowly cleared.
I coughed, a deep, rattling cough that shook my entire body. My eyes watered. The sheer shock of it, the cold, brutal reality of what had just happened, hit me with a force almost as powerful as Alpha Nate’s grip. He had choked me. He had tried to kill me. Right here, in the open, in front of everyone, or so it seemed. And nobody had seen it. Nobody had heard it. The thought sent a fresh wave of cold fury through me.
