07/28-29/2017

It was only eleven o'clock, so Kristin could make it back before her parents got worried.

Kristin slowed her vehicle when she reached Nightfall's borders, knowing she had to stop or else the wolves doing rounds would make her stop.

She rolled her window down as one of the wolves shifted back to human form.

It was a female, and she looked confused when she saw Kristin.

"Kristin Marino, from Spirit Moon?"

"Yes," Kristin nodded, trying to keep her voice even, "I wanted to see Ryder."

The female looked to another wolf who had shifted into a human.

He walked over, looking at Kristin.

Once he saw who she was, his eyes slightly widened.

"Please, go right ahead," he motioned for her to go.

"Thanks," she said, confused by his response.

It looked like the female was also confused by his response as she gave him a questioning look.

"She is the Alpha's mate," he explained to her.

Oh, right.

Her eyes widened and she bowed her head at Kristin.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay," Kristin smiled, shaking her head.

She really wanted to add,

When she arrived closer to the pack, she realized she had no idea where Ryder might be.

For some reason, she found herself parking in front of the pack building, and walking inside.

She didn't miss the uneasy feeling the building gave her, as she remembered walking through the doors just days before.

All eyes looked to her as soon as she stepped inside. Probably because she smelled like her own pack, they knew she wasn't from Nightfall.

"Can I help you?" A younger female at a desk asked her.

"Uh, is Ryder here?" she asked, not liking everyone staring at her.

"The Alpha?" the girl asked, almost correcting Kristin, "He's in his office."

She pointed to the stairs and gave Kristin a confused look.

"Thank you," she nodded and quickly walked up the stairs, avoiding everyone's gaze.

She walked down the large hallway, trying to guess which door Ryder would be behind.

A door at the far end opened, and Ryder appeared from behind it.

"Kristin?" he asked, probably not shocked that she was here because everyone most likely told him already. He was probably shocked that she had come here unexpectedly.

"Hey," she said, walking over to him.

As she got closer, she felt a weird connection between them, almost like an imaginary force was pulling them together.

Oh, right, the bond.

As she looked up at Ryder, she wondered how she hadn't noticed this before.

Ryder stared at her for a couple of seconds before clearing his throat and motioning for her to come in.

She walked through the door, looking around his big office.

Large windows covered the back wall, and a big desk was in the middle of the room, along with chairs and couches.

Kristin also noted how Ryder hadn't used his father's old office.

Now that she thought about it, no one in their right mind would want to use Rickard's old office, yet she guessed Alphas had set office rooms.

"Are you going to tell me why you came here, or should I guess?" Ryder said, watching Kristin plop down on one of the couches.

Kristin shrugged, "You can guess, if you want."

"Okay," Ryder said, going to sit behind his desk again, "You came here because you missed me too much and you were dying to see me."

Kristin laughed at his sarcastic voice, "Can I ask you something?"

"If I say no, will you still ask?" Ryder smirked from behind his computer.

"Yes."

"Fine, ask away."

Kristin got up to sit in a chair directly in front of his desk.

"Why is everyone staring at me with confused looks on their faces?" Kristin raised a brow at him.

His eyes left his computer to look at her.

"They are?"

"Yes."

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms.

"Well, I guess that makes sense, since they heard rumors that you might be my mate."

"Hmm," Kristin kept herself from giving herself away.

Instead she focused on watching the muscles flex in his arms as he continued to stretch.

"So I guessed right, then?" he asked, placing his hands behind his head.

"Although you'd like to think I came here because I was it's actually because I want some answers."

He ran a hand through his hair, looking out one of the windows, staying silent.

"Ryder?" Kristin waited for him to face her again, "You can't just expect us to be okay, when you didn't explain anything."

"Maybe that's because you never let me explain," he gave her a pointed look.

"What was I supposed to do, Ryder? Alex showed me a video of you and your father talking about overthrowing my pack."

Ryder furrowed his brows, "?"

Kristin shook her head, "Yes, but that's not the point."

"That explains a lot," Ryder muttered to himself.

"What?" Kristin asked, wanting to know what he was thinking.

"That little b*tch. I told you I didn't trust him," he narrowed his eyes.

"Ryder! Are you missing the obvious thing here? are the person I'm not supposed to trust!"

"You really still don't think you can trust me, after everything that happened?" Ryder gave her a flat look.

"I know what happened, Ryder, I saw it," she snapped, trying not to upset herself from memories again.

He clenched his jaw, looking at her.

"I went along with my father's orders to protect you."

Kristin stayed silent, waiting for him to explain.

"Have you ever tried to disobey your father before?" he asked, his eyes darkening.

"Not only my father, but my gave me orders. It was basically impossible not to follow them."

"Didn't you realize how evil your father was, how horribly unstable he was?" She was upset that he was giving excuses. Yes, it was basically impossible to disobey your Alpha, but she was angry that he let his father get out of control.

"Kristin, you don't know anything about my father," Ryder's eyes were dark, "You weren't his son, you didn't grow up with him. You didn't see how he was before my mother died and he completely changed. You weren't there when he was an actual father."

Kristin looked down, feeling bad for what she had said. She never thought about the idea that Rickard wasn't always this evil. She couldn't picture him as a loving father, though she had a feeling he hadn't actually been one-- even before his mate died.

Ryder sighed, his voice going back to normal.

"He told me to say we were mates so he could make an alliance with your father. I knew he wanted to overthrow your pack, and to be honest I didn't really care. My life was sh*t having to deal with him as a father and Alpha, and I just wanted him to leave me alone."

He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends, "And then I met you, and I told myself I wouldn't let anything happen to your pack. I made it look like I was following orders so my father wouldn't question anything. My brother had been trying to get me to help him take the Alpha title for years, but I didn't want to get involved with that mess. Before the arrangement, I didn't really care about anything. All I knew was that I wanted to get as far away from my father as I could. But I decided to start helping Gabriel so we could take down my father. That way, your pack would be safe."

Kristin watched Ryder with fascination as he tried to explain everything.

"Rickard told me he found out you were going behind his back. That's why he turned me against you," she spoke.

Ryder shook his head, "I told Gabriel he'd find out somehow. My father was crazy, but he was smart, and he knew how to stay in control."

"That's when he kidnapped Jess, to punish my brother for going against him," Ryder turned to look out the window again, deep in thought.

"I didn't think he would kidnap you too. He knew we weren't really mates. It was his idea to fake it, after all."

Kristin knew the reason Rickard kidnapped her was because he had found out they really were mates, but she wasn't going to tell Ryder that just yet.

"So yeah, I wasn't really on either side. I didn't want to be the good guy or the bad guy, I just wanted to get away from everything. I could have too, if I would have never met you."

Kristin knew he was saying that because they were mates but she shook her head.

"I'm sorry I complicated your life more," she said sarcastically, "But you do realize you've complicated mine too?"

Ryder stared at her before speaking.

"I told you I'm sorry for bringing you into this. Just be happy you don't have to be involved with it anymore."

"But I have to," she stated, getting up to pace the room.

It was now or never.

"No, you don't. You can go back to your pack and forget about all of this," he replied, cautiously watching her pace back and forth.

Why was he saying this?

"Ryder, you know I can't be involved, right?" she stopped pacing and stood in front of him.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why are you saying all of these things about me going and 'staying out of things'? It's kind of hard to not be involved when your mate's an Alpha!" Kristin through her hands in the air, finally saying what she wanted to.

Ryder froze, looking up at her.

"What did you just say?"

The look on Ryder's face was hard to describe as he stared intently back at her.

•. •. •. •. •.

Chapter Twenty Three!

Finally Kristin said it!

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