“Alpha Ryker. They had their orders and so do you. You will be seen when I have time for you.”
He taps my hand, arrogant ass. “It appears that you have time now.”
“Your assumptionas are wrong. I was in your home over the course of three days, I know you were aware of my presence, but you thought to ignore me. I do not have time for petulent child tantrums. When I have time for you, I will summon you. For now we are done.” I release him and turn around. I want to see if he will attack me or leave like I asked.
I was not lucky enough to have him just leave. I mindlink Linda to come back in. We will just work around?him. He needs to learn his self importance is a myth. He keeps trying every tactic he can think of to keep himself in my sights while I am very clearly working with Edward’s people. I’m not sure why though. If he’s working behind my back, I would have thought he’d want to stay off my radar, not up my nose.
“I think that you should reconsider the location of the school and pack hospital, Ryker.” Claude talks over us, understanding we are having conversations over mindlink while he’s in here. Josh has joined me and stands like the guard he is in the corner. “It really would be more beneficial where I originally planned for it.” Claude is now pacing my Oak Lake office, while Linda and a few Omegas flit in and out and I am doing my best to ignore him. “The location I chose will benefit more people and will give my warriors a better chance at protecting it.”
Ryker
At this point I’m really thinking about taking everyone’s advice and just ripping Claude’s head off. We never caught him on our last visit. Somehow he managed to find out we were coming for him, meaning he has someone in my pack feeding him information. So we had to play it off like we were visiting to reprimand him for his lack of leadership ability and start our investigation over. This time inside our home pack. We were at least able to take care of the pack members that he had been neglecting. Josh and I found a few trusted members who seem to be handling things better than Claude or the people he put into place. At least I can bestow delta class ranks to those who deserve it. They now have authority to help and protect on my behalf and have a direct link to Danny and the rest of my team if needed. I told them to reach out directly to Robin for anything else they needed that Claude wasn’t providing. I’m done trying to be politically correct. I’m going to ice him out and he will have no one and nothing before I finally wipe him off? this earth.
Now I need to find out his contact in my pack and that won’t be easy. He’s been doing this shady sh*t for so long, he’s a master. With the way he avoided us when we visited his home, I am surprised to find that the asshole made the trip to Oak Lake Pack to see me. I don’t understand his game at all. He’s been trying to get to me for two days and now he’s not taking no for an answer.
“Linda, just tell him he’s going to have to wait.” She’s almost as good as Robin at deflecting unwanted people. Robin would have had him out of this territory on day one though.
“Of course, sir. What do I do when he throws a tantrum and refuses to leave?” She raises an eyebrow at me. She has him pegged.
“That’s his only option. He had his chance to talk to me and he couldn’t be bothered to be available. I am busy now. Take a warrior with you just in case, please.” I keep working on my computer. We are almost done with all the transfers and I can get this pack thriving again without my constant presence.
When Linda told him he was going to have to wait his turn, he was pissed. I could hear his growl from here. He raged past her and the warrior, storming into my office. He’s bold and thinks I can’t touch him or that I won’t. I jump over the desk and wrap my hand around his throat stopping him in his tracks. His eyes are challenging, but there is a flicker of fear there too and I will exploit that weakness. What he doesn’t understand is the only reason he is still breathing is because I need to know how deep his cancer goes.
“Im disappointed, Ryker. Your little messenger didn’t put up much of a fight. How will they protect you under a full attack?”
“Alpha Ryker. They had their orders and so do you. You will be seen when I have time for you.”
He taps my hand, arrogant ass. “It appears that you have time now.”
“Your assumptionas are wrong. I was in your home over the course of three days, I know you were aware of my presence, but you thought to ignore me. I do not have time for petulent child tantrums. When I have time for you, I will summon you. For now we are done.” I release him and turn around. I want to see if he will attack me or leave like I asked.
I was not lucky enough to have him just leave. I mindlink Linda to come back in. We will just work around?him. He needs to learn his self importance is a myth. He keeps trying every tactic he can think of to keep himself in my sights while I am very clearly working with Edward’s people. I’m not sure why though. If he’s working behind my back, I would have thought he’d want to stay off my radar, not up my nose.
“I think that you should reconsider the location of the school and pack hospital, Ryker.” Claude talks over us, understanding we are having conversations over mindlink while he’s in here. Josh has joined me and stands like the guard he is in the corner. “It really would be more beneficial where I originally planned for it.” Claude is now pacing my Oak Lake office, while Linda and a few Omegas flit in and out and I am doing my best to ignore him. “The location I chose will benefit more people and will give my warriors a better chance at protecting it.”
As we pull up a party is in full swing behind the packhouse. An Omega greets us at the front door and leads us in and I am hit immediately with Kennedy’s scent. It’s like a balm after a painful injury, a month long injury of her being away from me. My whole body relaxes and every ounce of tension I had from Claude today just disappears.
“Really, Alpha? You got it bad man. I think you just smiled.” Josh laughs in my head and I choose to ignore him, while wiping the stupid look off my face. He’s not wrong, but I’m not telling him that. I still won’t talk about Kennedy with any of them. I need her as my mate, but I can’t have her and don’t want her because she is a human and a weakness I can’t afford. I’ve been too busy to look into human mates and what that means for an alpha. I haven’t told anyone else yet, either. I agree with my wolf, she should be the first to know. I can’t decide if I should tell her, though, or how.
We continued following the Omega through the house, but just like when she stayed at Dark Moon, I wouldn’t need a guide, I would just follow Kennedy’s scent straight to her. Out in the backyard, I hesitate just inside the door to survey the scene. I know where Kennedy is immediately, but I ignore her, or pretend to. Jeremiah has about twenty warriors stationed around the yard seeming to blend in, but clearly on duty. Good, he’s taking my sister’s safety seriously. This is their weakest time, they are both vulnerable until they are marked, mated and the ceremony is complete, bringing my sister into the pack and bringing them both to their full strength.
I hear the sweetest laugh and my vision tunnels, my full attention is stolen and I am instantly angry. I shouldn’t be this distracted by just one person. That is all a mate would be for me, a distraction. I would be so focused on her safety, protecting her, watching her that others would get hurt instead. My wolf’s anger flashes through me and I have no idea what is happening for a second. I have to blink a few times and lock every joint in my body to keep him from forcing me to storm over to her. That’s the only thought he has right now. Get to Kennedy. Once I can focus, I see why though. Beta Ben has her pulled into his side, arm lazy around her waist but holding her hip in a protective way that adds my furious possession to my wolf’s.
Ryker
I have my fists balled to my sides and I can’t look away, but I am mentally willing him to release her. She just needs to know and understand that she can’t be that close to him, or any guy that looks at her like that, then my wolf will settle and we can go talk to them like a normal person.
The exact opposite happens though. Something amusing is said and they all laugh. Ben grips her waist tighter and rubs circles on her hip bone with his thumb… and she leans into him. Oh f*ck no!
“Easy, Alpha. Take a breath before you go over and rip his arms off. They don’t know because you are a dumbass and let your mate go.” Danny warns me. He knows me too well for my liking, but it’s for my own good.
“F*ck off. You know how I feel about mates.” I growl, but take a deep breath anyway.
“And yet, you are about to forcefully claim her in front of all her friends and family. You and your wolf need to figure this out. He doesn’t seem to share your thoughts on mates now that you have found yours.” Josh tries for reasonable.
“You’re not wrong, but there’s no way a human could handle being my mate. There’s too much at stake to risk the pack, risk her life.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.