25
Ness
I hoppedonto the edge of the table and twisted the straw in my iced hazelnut mocha. When Ryder told me what the plans for the day were, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do anything without getting some caffeine first.
It helped that I got to see my friends at Bad Moon. I hadn’t been to work in so long. I’d forgotten how the small café made me feel safe and welcome. Perhaps it was the company I found in my coworkers. Or it could have been Audra Miura’s territory that made me feel safe.
All that I knew was that I lost it the moment I stepped away. Here, at my childhood home, my nerves prickled uneasily. I glanced around, searching every shadow for a hint of danger while my packmates casually milled around and laughed at each other’s god-awful jokes.
Ryder had called for a cookout. Summer was coming to an end, so we would soon lose beautiful days to fire up the grill. We also needed to bond again. Funerals weren’t really the best bonding activity.
I couldn’t bring myself to join my packmates, though. I lingered in the kitchen and watched them through the window over the sink. The smell of smoke and meat wafted inside in an attempt to entice me out of my hiding, but I held fast.
Vi kicked open the front door and came in like a blast of thunder. She stomped in her heavy combat boots, her arms full of bread products. At the table, she ceremoniously dumped the buns into a haphazard pile before turning a grin in my direction.
Though my friend wasn’t pack, she was like a sister to me.
“The other two will come by after they close up shop for the day,” Vi said as she swiped a slice of pepperoni from a nearby snack tray.
When the backdoor opened, a pair of voices called out for Vi. Haylee and Kelsey needed help with something. Vi flashed me a grin and flexed her lean bicep before heading outside.
I couldn’t help the satisfied grin that reached my face. Ryder sidled up to me and placed a kiss on my cheek. He stayed close, his breath warming my skin.
“Don’t worry. We’re going to keep them safe.”
I reached up and held onto my mate. He had become the pack’s new Alpha, and I his mate. Maybe we weren’t the best leaders yet, but we could become better in time. We only had to survive that long.
The curse under my skin was sluggish today. It gave me hope that perhaps this would fade. Or our mate bond had reconnected and now took up so much space within me that the curse didn’t have room to move.
I didn’t really have any way of knowing. It wasn’t like I could call up the witch and ask her what this would do. She’d gone into hiding again, this time with better wards. Not even Cerri’s scrying potion could locate the witch again.
When Ryder pulled away to grab a snack from the nearby tray, I hated to see him go. I let my hand hover in the empty air because I wanted nothing more than to pull him back into me. I watched him eat with his back to me.
Soon, Ryder’s brother would catch up. Would Morgan be able to pull Ryder back into their clan in Colorado? I didn’t see any reason why Ryder wouldn’t want to go back home. Even I couldn’t give up my home, and I had suffered so much here. The way Ryder had spoken about his family and clan made me think that he missed them.
“When this is over…” I paused and bit my lip. “When this is over, are you going to stay?”
Ryder froze. He turned slowly, his flat brows arched in the very center as he glared at me. My cheeks warmed with embarrassment.
“Did you really just ask me if I’m going to leave this pack?” He shook his head. “Did you really ask if I’m going to leaveyou? Do we have to have this conversation every day?”
My jaw dropped, and my words failed me. More embarrassment crept up to warm my face. I didn’t realize that I was this insecure.
Ryder left the snack tray, wiped his hands on his jeans, and cupped my face in his hands. He squished my cheeks as he tilted my head back, so I would look up at him.
“I’m not leaving you, Ness. Not for anything or anyone. You are my home. You are the place where my heart belongs now. And so long as your heart belongs here, to this territory and this pack, then so will mine.”
Tears seared my eyes until I wiped them away. I gave Ryder a weak yet teasing smile. “So, you’re telling me that you don’t care about the pack? If I left, you’d abandon them?”
“My god, woman. Quit nitpicking my words. You know I wouldn’t be able to leave them, either. This is my damn pack.” He gave a small shake of his head before leaning in to press his forehead to mine.
We waited like that for several moments, our breath mingling, before I turned and grabbed a couple of twist-ties from the bags that Vi had left behind. I took one twist-tie and wrapped it around Ryder’s ring finger.
“No matter what happens, you belong to me,” I whispered.
The corner of Ryder’s mouth lifted. “That’s a bold statement. I belong to you, but you don’t belong to me?”
I gave him the second twist-tie that I’d stolen. He quickly snatched my hand and wrapped it around my ring finger so that a small knot sat atop my finger, like a gemstone might.