24
NESS
Back at Ryder’s rental apartment, I tugged an oversized shirt over my head and shoved a meal replacement bar into my mouth. There, it turned to concrete, but I swallowed it down all the same.
Vi lingered, but not for long. Once Ryder pulled up alongside us, she gave me a nod and left. I watched my friend go, her red taillights glowing in the night. At least, no one would bother me while Ryder was here. He’d made enough of a show back at the hunting grounds.
I turned to Ryder with gratitude on my lips, but the sight of his grim expression drew me to a halt. I studied him as if I could unlock his secrets with my eyes alone. Ryder gave away nothing.
He shoved a box into my hand and turned his back to me. He gave a half-hearted salute over his shoulder. Heavy with disappointment, my stomach dropped. I stared down at the box. I’d known that Ryder would leave the moment that he got me the evidence that I needed, but that didn’t make this any easier.
I’d hoped he would have at least waited until morning. Not just because I needed sleep. I wanted more time to figure out how to make him stay. I couldn’t do this without him. The searing pain of the slowly healing bite wounds in the backs of my legs proved that.
My hound snarled. She snapped her teeth as if she might be able to hold onto him. Ryder paid me no attention, though. Fury simmered under my skin. It brought that dark presence with it. As Ryder opened his car door, the clouds rumbled.
He paused.
How dare he walk away now? I couldn’t believe that he could leave me like this. He knew what would happen. Maybe this evidence would convince the pack to help me, but Alvin would not go down without a fight. If the pack stood against him, there would be casualties.
If Ryder stayed, if he acted like a barrier, then Alvin wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone.
Ryder had to stay. He had to help.
Lightning lashed the ground near Ryder’s feet. He looked up and narrowed his eyes at me.
“Really?” he asked. “Are you really going to have a temper tantrum right now?”
I gaped at him. “Do you really think my life isn’t worth having a temper tantrum over?”
He clenched his jaw angrily. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Stay. Help me. It isn’t going to cost you anything.”
His eyes widened. “You don’t know a damn thing about me if you can say that. I risked everything to help you, and you couldn’t even tell me that you were powerless to help me! I thought we could be honest with one another. Apparently, I was wrong.”
Thunder rolled. Was that his anger? Or mine? It was hard to tell our storms apart now.
Ryder slammed the car door and stomped up to me. He towered over me, his anger sparking in the air around him. The wind tugged at his hair. He was storm incarnate. “I am a wanted man for the things I’ve done. Sooner or later, they will catch up to me. I will have to pay for what I did, even if I had the best intentions when I acted. Staying here to help you meant losing time. Any moment now, hell will rain down upon my head. Do you want to be there when that happens?”
Yes. The word almost left my lips. I stared Ryder in the eye. My hound dug in her claws.
Though I didn’t know how to help Ryder, I still wanted to be there for him. That was the difference between us. He’d expected something in return for his service. I simply wanted to help. That’s all I ever wanted.
I wanted to help my pack break free from a tyrant. I wanted to stop the cruelty that had broken the ones I loved.
I could have extended that love to Ryder, too, had he not been an asshole about it.
Lightning struck the ground near his feet. The smell of burnt fabric drifted around us as the smoke curled in the air. The sparks dancing around Ryder grew brighter. His eyes flashed white-hot.
I pressed a finger to his chest. “Don’t be a coward. Let people help you.”
“What can you do to help me? You had to lie to keep me here. Otherwise, you had nothing to offer. I shouldn’t have put so much expectation on you. We were both in the wrong here.”
I clenched my jaw and swallowed the words caught in my throat. Overhead, the clouds rumbled with everything I wanted to say.
“Someone from my past found me already. Someone told her where I’d be tonight, and I’m not happy that she wandered into Alvin’s house without protection. Had anyone else happened to find her there…” Ryder’s growl made the very air tremble. “She came to warn me that if I don’t move, then my brother will be here sooner rather than later. No one wants that.”
It was time to let him go. I knew that, even if I didn’t want to see him leave. Ryder had done more than enough to help me, and he’d almost paid for it with his life. If I didn’t let him go, he could die here. I wasn’t going to sacrifice anyone other than myself.