08/15-16-17/2017

"What?" Ryder asked, impatiently, waiting for Kristin's conditions.

"One, you have to stop getting angry at everything because you never did that before--"

"Yeah, before my father killed my brother and forced me to be the Alpha? I wonder why," he muttered sarcastically.

"Ryder," her voice softened, causing him to look back at her.

"Anything else?" He demanded before she could start pitying him.

"You have to listen to what I say. You can't just ignore me and do everything how you want," she said, thinking to how she really wanted Allison and Ryder to be able to be in the same room and not cause world war three.

"Okay," Ryder nodded, looking like he was just agreeing to her terms so they could stop having this conversation.

"One more thing," Kristin said, pausing, "We're going to take this whole mate thing slowly."

That seemed to get his attention again because he looked back up at her.

"What do you mean, 'mate thing'?"

Kristin struggled to hold his gaze, trying to keep her voice casual.

"You know, our relationship."

"I wasn't aware we had one," he said, his lips twitching upwards.

Kristin rolled her eyes, "My point exactly. We've only known each other for like three weeks."

"What's your definition of slowly," he raised his brow.

Of course he was interested in this, Kristin thought. At least he wasn't angry anymore. Now, it looked like he was amused.

"Slowly means slowly, Ryder."

"That doesn't answer my question, Kristin."

"It means we are going back to where we were before all of this happened," she stated simply.

"What?" Ryder raised his brows, "We didn't do anything before. You didn't even know we were mates."

"Thanks to you," she replied.

"So we're going back to being what? Roommates?" He said the word with disgust.

"Mhmm," she said, trying not to laugh at his frustration.

"Not going to happen. You're my mate Kristin. We're not going back to being in a fake arrangement."

"You know what I mean, please don't make me explain it," she shut her eyes.

"Why, explaining our 'relationship' is too hard for you?"

Kristin opened her eyes to glare at him.

"You're the only one making it hard. Why can't we just be normal mates in a normal 'relationship'?" He asked, putting quotations up with his fingers.

"Because everything's happening too fast and I'm not ready for everything to happen all at once, okay Ryder," she snapped, embarrassed for basically admitting she was scared for their relationship to go too fast.

"Hey, we're already engaged, remember?" He asked, smirking.

Kristin broke into a smile at seeing his annoying smirk. He was acting like the old Ryder, before all the loss and grief and responsibility had taken a toll on him.

"Yeah, no we're not," she smiled at him.

"You mean I did all that hard work and proposed for nothing?" He said, referring to her made- up story she had told her parents.

"Mhmm," she nodded, happy that the subject had changed so she didn't have to go into detail.

He shook his head at her with a hint of a smile.

"And you said you only had one condition."

"That's all," Kristin shrugged, "Ill probably add more though," she grinned as he rolled his eyes.

Kristin decided to stay longer, secretly enjoying being in her mate's presence. Before, she had been tense and in pain. Now she could finally relax.

They had (sort of) talked things out, and Ryder was back to being his old self for the moment, which Kristin liked.

Now Kristin was lying on a couch, watching Ryder go through paperwork, or as he had said, 'doing Alpha sh*t'.

Every once in a while Kristin would ask him a question about the pack, trying to get to know Nightfall a little better.

"I haven't really met anyone here, how am I supposed to be their Luna? I doubt they even know who I am."

Ryder didn't look up from his papers when he responded.

"That's why you have a thing where you introduce the Luna to the pack. No one really knows the Luna since she's usually not from the same pack anyway."

"What do you mean by a thing?" Kristin looked up curiously. She knew every pack had an event that welcomed and introduced the Luna into the pack, but they were all slightly different, depending on pack traditions.

"You know, where you go on stage in front of the pack and introduce yourself," Ryder looked up with a teasing smile.

She didn't think it was funny though as her stomach filled with anxiety.

Ryder must have noticed her terrified look, "It won't be that bad, Kristin. Everyone's been wanting a Luna anyway. They've been missing one for over three years since my mother died and my father refused to hand his title to Gabe. They'll love you."

Kristin sighed, still anxious that for some reason the pack members would be angry. They had been following Rickard for many years, even if he was evil he was still their Alpha. Kristin wondered how they felt about Ryder killing Rickard.

"There had to be pack members who liked your father as their Alpha. They're going to hate us," she muttered.

"Everyone who supported my father is currently locked in the prison," Ryder simply replied, making Kristin widen her eyes in shock.

"It was only a hand full of them. Most of the wolves secretly hated him. They knew he wasn't right in the head, especially after they found out he killed his old son and daughter-in-law," Ryder's eyes darkened when he said this, and Kristin knew it was probably hard for him to keep reliving his past.

She too had nightmares about Rickard hurting everyone she loved, almost every time she closed her eyes to try to sleep.

"Ever since the rumor started that you were my mate, everyone hasn't shut up about it. They're all anxious to meet you," he reassured her.

Kristin still felt unsure of the situation, mostly afraid to stand in front of the entire pack of hundreds of wolves and say she would be their Luna. It was intimidating, to say the least.

"You know you have to be marked when you are introduced, though," Ryder said, watching her reaction.

Kristin's nerves became even worse as she shook her head.

"Kristin."

"Ryder," she replied in the same tone.

He sighed, shaking his head and muttering something she couldn't hear.

"I already told you, I'm not ready for all of this to happen at once. Can't we just take it one step at a time?" she asked, tiredly, the overwhelming responsibilities exhausting her.

"This is what being a Luna is," Ryder said seriously, "Last chance to back out."

"I have another condition. You aren't allowed to ever question me about being Luna again. Understand, Ryder?"

She was surprised when he chuckled at her tone, raising his hands in the air, "Okay, okay, I won't."

"So now we've established that I am going to be the Luna and you're going to be the Alpha?" She asked, raising her brows.

"Yes," Ryder said suspiciously, wondering where she was going with this.

"Then we can make our own rules. We don't need to follow every weird wolf tradition."

"If you're talking about me not marking you, that's not going to work. You know that needs to happen," Ryder said flatly.

For some reason, butterflies formed in her stomach at Ryder's words... which she hated.

"I'm not saying you don't mark me, I'm saying we can wait a while," she defended herself.

"You really don't want me to mark you, do you?" Ryder asked, slightly amused.

"Not right this minute, no," Kristin snapped, not liking his teasing.

"What are you afraid of?" He shook his head, smirking at her.

"Ryder," Kristin warned, "I'm done talking about this."

"You're afraid you're going to like it?" his smirk grew.

Kristin felt her cheeks heat up at his words, and she avoided his gaze.

She sighed loudly and laid back on the couch, pulling out her phone.

She had about ten messages from Allison about how it was going and if she kicked his butt yet. The last one read 'please tell me you aren't getting it on again,' which made Kristin's blush worse.

"I won't do anything you don't want me to, so relax," she heard Ryder's voice.

"But you should really start coming to meetings. They just pour a sh*t load of information on you, it's so fun," he said, faking his enthusiasm which caused her to let out a small laugh.

"Fine, when's the next meeting?" she asked, looking over to him.

"The next scheduled meeting is tomorrow at ten. The next random meeting could be any time," he finished with annoyance.

"Aren't you the Alpha? Why don't you make your own meeting times?"

"Because random problems keep popping up out of no where and I have to solve them all," he said with a 'duh' tone.

"Ah, I see," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Problems like what?" she asked curiously.

"Problems like where are we taking my father's dead body," Kristin cringed at this, "Where are we taking my brother and his mate's dead body, who's still loyal to my father, where should they be locked up, who should be my Beta, who should be my third in command, what about the trackers and fighters, when should I officially introduce myself as Alpha, what are my rules on rogues, and this last one was this morning's meeting. When am I going to get my head out of my a*s and except the fact that my mate has to be the Luna."

Ryder spoke so fast, Kristin just stared at him even after he was done talking.

"Did you think I was making up every meeting I had to go to?" He asked, chuckling.

"No. I just thought..." she trailed off, surprised at all of his responsibility. Besides the fact that he never wanted to be the Alpha, he was basically forced to be and he had to deal with normal Alpha things and the mess from his father. She felt bad that he had to do all of this on his own and then remembered he had pushed her away when she had tried to help.

"I do wish I was at the last meeting though," she gave him a pointed look, smiling.

He rolled his eyes, "At least everyone will stop asking me where you are and why you aren't living with me."

"Oh, so now you think I'm living with you?" she asked smugly.

"Well are you planning on leading this pack from Spirit Moon, or?" he asked sarcastically.

"I can live in a separate house here, you know," she retorted. She mostly just liked to mess with him.

"That would be wasting an entire house, just for one person," he shook his head, "If we live together, it'll be more efficient."

"Mhmm?" she raised a brow at him, "I'm the Luna, so I can make my own rules."

"Well I'm the Alpha, and I say you're living with me," he stated, crossing his arms.

"Luna's are higher than Alpha's, Ryder. I can overrule you," she laughed as he got up to stand over her and narrow his eyes down at her.

She was laying on her back and she tilted her head up at him.

"I can make you live with me," he smirked, moving so he was kneeling over her, putting his hands on either side of her head to hold himself up.

"Get off of me," Kristin teasingly glared at him, "That's an order."

"You're ordering me around, now?" he scrunched his brows and leaned down closer to her.

"Aw, did I make the Alpha upset?" she teased, seeing his eyes grow darker with her words.

"I told you not to call me that," he growled as he brought his lips down on hers.

Kristin struggled with herself to push him away, but it was hard.

She really didn't want to, the feeling of Ryder's lips moving against her own sent shivers through her body. She blamed the bond for making like it so much.

She weakly pushed his chest with her hands and turned her head to the side.

"You said you wanted me to call you that," she said accusingly, though she was a bit out of breath.

"Exactly," he muttered, brushing his lips down her neck.

She inhaled sharply as he started kissing her skin, barely biting down.

"Ryder," she whined, breathily. "I told you no."

Ryder picked himself up, "I'm not doing anything, relax."

"Yes you are," she pointed out, moving her hand to cover her neck where tingles were igniting from his recent contact.

"If I was going to mark you, I already would have done it," he rolled his eyes, his voice slightly rougher than usual.

"This isn't slowly," she glared at him, wanting his lips to be on hers again.

"It can't be any slower than this Kristin," he grumbled, "We're mates, my wolf wants you."

Much to her disapproval, butterflies exploded in her stomach and her cheeks tinted pink.

"Well tell your wolf to wait," she snapped, angry with her feelings towards him.

Obviously it felt amazing to kiss him, but she didn't want things to move too fast.

She was afraid of letting go with him.

"My wolf hardly listens to me," he muttered, leaning down to brush his lips over her skin again, "Especially now that he's an Alpha."

As he spoke those words, his lips brushed Kristin's skin, causing her to close her eyes.

"Well that's too bad because you are not marking me," she said, fighting the bond.

Ryder sat up when she pushed on his chest again.

"Yet," he smirked, making her narrow her eyes, "Soon, you'll be begging me to mark you."

"You're delusional," she rolled her eyes, trying to recover from her beating heart.

"You can't fight the bond," he warned, getting up to move to his desk again, "You already know how horrible it can be."

Kristin rolled her eyes at him, although she could vividly remember herself this morning curled in a ball in her bed, pain shooting through her body.

"You didn't seem too worried about it," she snapped, frustrated that she was the only one feeling the pain from their separation.

"I haven't slept for the last two days," Ryder looked up at her.

Kristin briefly looked over his tired features again, sighing.

"It's your own fault," she mumbled, knowing he'd hear her.

"I know. But you look exhausted as well, you should sleep."

"Easier said than done, genius," she tiredly replied.

"There's a room upstairs with a bed," Ryder said, ignoring her comment.

She shook her head, secretly not wanting to leave Ryder's side.

He gave her a flat look, "You need sleep more than I do."

She scoffed, "Because I'm not a wolf?"

"Yes," Ryder said with an obvious tone.

"I'm fine," she said so he'd let her stay.

"You still think you can lie to me?" Ryder asked, amused.

"I'll rest here," she huffed, curling up on the couch.

"Whatever," he muttered, shaking his head at her stubbornness.

It only took about fifteen minutes of Ryder focusing on his work until he looked over at Kristin, sound asleep.

"Told you," he whispered, the corner of his mouth turning up.

Kristin was finally sleeping. It did help that Ryder was right there, his scent was all over the room. She finally felt relaxed and safe, in his office.

But alas, even the nightmares crept into her peaceful sleep.

................................................

Chapter Twenty Nine!

I was going to wait until later today to update but I woke up to A TON of voting on this story so I was motivated to write this chapter and upload as soon as possible! It's also a longer one too!

Thanks for reading and continue to support this book by voting!

Chica_2016