01/02/2018

They walked upstairs to the meeting rooms, Ryder still supporting a lot of her weight as her legs were shaky.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ryder asked her before the others walked into the room.

She knew he saw her shaking, but it was just her body reacting from what had just happened. The only reason she was okay was because she needed to attend this meeting and make a plan to stop the rogues.

"This is the last time I'm saying I'm okay," she firmly told him.

He nodded, and she took this chance to try lifting his shirt again.

"Don't," he stopped her again.

"Let me see," she demanded, making him let go so she could lift it up.

She tried to keep an emotionless expression as she looked at all of the blood surrounding a large gash. It was pretty deep, and also really big. It started just below his chest and reached down to his hip.

Without thinking, she reached out and gently placed her hand over his wound.

"Kristin what are you—" Ryder stopped talking suddenly, and gave her a weird look.

She realized what she was doing and pulled her hand away, it was now covered in his blood.

"Sorry," she said, confused, looking at her hand. She hadn't meant to do that. For some reason she had felt the need to touch his wound.

"Come here," he brought her down the hall to the nearest bathroom, still staring at her in a weird way.

She walked over to the sink and washed her hands, watching the red blood swirl down the drain.

She then searched the cabinets for a cloth and ran it under the water, feeling the need to clean up Ryder's wounds.

"Can I..." she held up the cloth, asking Ryder for permission so she wouldn't catch him off guard again.

He nodded, watching her with furrowed brows as she gently lifted his shirt again and brought the cloth to his side.

She tried being gentle as she patted the blood, trying to soak up as much as she could. She finally felt like she could breathe, despite her hands getting covered in Ryder's blood again. She knew it was because she didn't feel helpless in this moment. She felt like she was finally helping with something.

"Just take this off," she told him, pulling on his shirt. It was stained in blood and too dirty for him to be wearing with an injury.

He smirked at her, lifting it over his head, and she was momentarily distracted by his flexing muscles.

"This doesn't hurt?" she asked him, surprised that he wasn't wincing from her touching his gash.

She looked up when he remained silent, finding him still watching her face.

He shook his head, looking into her eyes with an expression she hadn't seen before.

She wasn't sure, but it looked like admiration and fascination mixed together? Apparently no one had cleaned his wounds before, since he was acting like this was crazy.

Wolves, she almost rolled her eyes.

Washing the cloth in the sink again, she finished cleaning the blood that had been surrounding the wound and then pressed the cloth over the gash, holding it there and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. With her other hand, she softly trailed her fingers over his abs, feeling the warmth spread from her fingertips.

After another minute of silence between them, Ryder placed his hand over hers, pulling the cloth away to reveal his wound.

The only thing was, it wasn't there anymore. It had completely disappeared. His smooth skin was flawless, with no trace of a gash.

"That was..." Kristin knitted her eyebrows in confusion, sliding her hand over his healed skin.

"Fast," he replied, nodding at her, a hint of a smile on his lips.

Kristin nodded, not expecting his wound to heal so fast. Yes, wolves healed faster than humans, especially Alphas, but a wound this deep and big? Especially since it had been still bleeding. Usually the wound would start to visible heal, only when the bleeding has stopped. She had seen her own father suffer longer than this.

"Thanks," Ryder smirked, grabbing her hips and pulling her into him. He connected their lips, quickly deepening the kiss.

Kristin didn't complain as she continued to run her hands over his muscular stomach.

Ryder finally pulled away, leaving her breathless.

"Let's go back to the meeting. They're waiting for us," he pulled her along, although she thought he should be angrier and more frustrated with what they were about to do because of what just happened. Maybe he was trying to be positive for her sake, not wanting her to freak out again.

The meeting consisted of her and Ryder, along with Jake, Ethan, Liam, Andrew, and John and Weston, the second in command of the trackers and fighters.

Although it was hard to remain calm when they talked about the freed prisoners now joining the other rogues to attack them, Ryder never released his firm grip on her hand.

Karmin was the scariest part. He had been Rickard's beta and was now out there, somewhere beyond their borders.

They also talked about how this happened in the first place, which it turned out to be an inside job. During the previous attack, the one where Kristin was with Evelyn, a rogue had been captured and sent to Nightfall's prison.

According to Ryder, the rogues had planned it so he could tell them how to break into the prison. Since they had someone in the inside that could communicate with them, it was easier for them to plan an attack.

That was the other thing. In order for the rogues to be able to mind link with each other, Jake said they'd have to have formed some sort of mini pack. That meant they had to have had a leader, an Alpha, whom Ryder assumed would be Karmin now, due to his title blood.

None of them expected for that to happen, which was why they hadn't assumed anything what planned when the rogue 'let himself be captured.'

"That's why the rogue didn't go after me that night," Kristin realized.

"What?" Jake asked, finding this to be new information.

"Of course," Ryder shook his head, "I knew he had a good reason for running away."

"You had probably captured that other rogue at the time, so they had to leave to follow their plan," she explained.

Then they talked about what to do next, what the words on the wall meant exactly, when the next attack might be.

They agreed to double the guards on duty at all times and do twice as many rounds.

The last thing they talk about was that a tracker team was going to be organized by Andrew to be sent out to spy on the rogues and find out their location.

By the time the meeting ended, it was almost three in the morning. Kristin hadn't felt tired though, her adrenaline keeping her alert.

However, once she had rode in the car home with Ryder, and went upstairs to their room, her exhaustion hit her.

She felt physically drained and emotionally exhausted as she laid sideways on the bed.

"Am I finally allowed to sleep in our room?" Ryder asked, pulling off his shirt and throwing it on the floor.

Kristin's eyes looked to his side, checking that it was still perfectly healed.

"I suppose," she weakly said, not having energy to be sarcastic.

Ryder went to shower before getting into bed, and Kristin knew she probably needed to shower too.

However she could only move far enough to her closet, pulling on a clean shirt and shorts.

Going back to sit on the bed, she thought over the events.

It had seemed like forever ago when everyone was at Spirit Moon for the celebration. Everyone had been so happy and worry-free before hearing about the rogue attack.

"What's wrong?" Ryder asked, stepping into the room with wet hair and no shirt.

Kristin was almost distracted, but she felt the tears rolling down her cheeks.

She quickly wiped them away, not realizing she had been crying.

Ryder climbed on the bed and pulled her closer to him, waiting for her to speak.

She sighed in his arms, "Those two wolves, they were so young. They had mates and families..."

Another tear rolled down her cheek as she tried imagining what it would be like to loose Ryder. It broke her heart to even think about the possibility.

"I know," he whispered, trailing small kisses across her jaw and down her neck to calm her.

After a couple of minutes, Kristin's eyes were closing and she was finally giving in to sleep.

Ryder shut the light off and pulled the covers over her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his chest.

•. •. •. •. •.

Chapter 61.

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