Reality shrinks in to little more than the span of a heartbeat. The shock and hiss of pain, the gathering, building and loosing of strength, over and over and over, impact after impact, the interlocking physical mechanisms of his body all serving the one, singular goal. Everything he has left, to break this hold over him. He'll do anything. Endure anything. He wrestles Declan to the ground and holds him there under his furious weight, fully intending to trap him under a wild rain of blows until he's subdued all resistance— but with all his focus on the struggle he's easily blindsided by Ronan's interference, soon tangled up in his tightly coiling grip.

He thrashes against Ronan's hold long after his efforts to put his fists through Declan's face become largely futile, rage masking his agonised distress.