CHAPTER 11
NESS
I sensed a distance between Ryder and myself that hadn’t been there. The night of the hunt had brought us closer. Perhaps seeing my vulnerability had made him feel something for me. That closeness shattered and left a canyon in its wake. Ryder, who had been so concerned for my safety, had pulled away from me.
That was fine by me. Tall, Dark, and Mysterious could do whatever he wanted so long as he did what needed to be done. His counteroffer was reasonable. I’d felt bad for asking him to kill.
We didn’t need to go that far. My fear had gotten the best of me. It’d become warped. I never wanted to kill Alvin. I simply wanted him gone. That could take many forms.
“I need help finding evidence that Alvin was a bastard long before he began focusing on me.”
Ryder narrowed his eyes.
I explained the prophecy and how it’d hinted that Alvin had been a cruel Alpha long before my hound had shown itself. I had nothing to prove that theory, but I hoped that Ryder could help somehow.
How? I hadn’t figured that out yet.
But he nodded. “Before I do that, I need you to help me first.”
I fought back a grimace. Whoops.
I’d completely forgotten that I was supposed to do something for him. If he would tell me what, then maybe I could practice. Until then, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.
His eyes became distant. A cloud shadowed his face as he tumbled back into his own thoughts. I wondered if a memory had taken ahold of him. If so, then it wasn’t a good one. Sorrow and fury mingled on his features.
I got up and snapped my fingers in front of his face. He came back to the present with a horrid snarl. Blazing eyes flashed at me. I was too tired to be afraid of Ryder. He could have ripped me in half, but I doubted he would go through the trouble of hunting me down only to kill me.
His snarl faded with a sigh. He ran his hand over his face and turned his gaze away from me. I waited for his attention to drift back in time again. When it didn’t, I sat silently so he could tell me his horror story.
I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this. His shadows were too dark. Something lurked in the back of his eyes that I wanted to shine a light on.
“I left my clan for a reason.” His brow fell flat, like he was weighing his words before he said more.
Impatience grabbed ahold of me. I wanted to shake the truth out of him. Instead, I sat on my hands. My thundering heart couldn’t help me make good decisions while it pumped adrenaline into my system.
“I heard that you might have been framed for your clan leader’s murder,” I said, even though I’d done my best to keep my mouth shut.
His sigh turned into a growl. He fixed his angry glare on me. “I wasn’t framed. I killed him.”
My stomach plummeted. Without thinking, I sprang up from my seat and ran for the door. My fight or flight instinct took over. With my hound close to the surface, my mind emptied, throwing logic away so that I could escape.
Ryder caught me around the middle before I could get out the door. He pulled me tight to his chest and whispered softly. My hound thrashed. I kicked and bucked, but Ryder’s hold was firm.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Ryder whispered, over and over again.
I could hear the edge in his voice, how he was close to breaking. I couldn’t stop, though. My hound had enough. She wanted freedom. She wanted to feel safe for once in her life. If she couldn’t find that here, then nowhere was safe.
I wanted to scream, but I swallowed the sound before it could escape me.
“Ness, you’re all right. I’m not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
“You can’t promise me that,” I growled. “You barely know me! Why would you promise that?”
Panic turned the room sideways. My hound scratched at me. My skin would break soon, and the hound would leap out of me. Where would she go? I had no idea. I had to keep her locked away so she couldn’t run too far.
My back hit the couch. Air whooshed from my lungs. Surprised, I stared up at the ceiling. He placed his broad hand over my chest to hold me down. The weight of his touch grounded me.
So, the room had tilted because Ryder had picked me up? I’d been out of control. In my panic, I hadn’t even noticed that he’d lifted me off the ground.