02/27/2018

The next day Kristin woke up feeling horrible. Her nose was running and she felt congested with a terrible headache.

She groaned, holding her head as she sat up and squinted at the clock.

It was just past six in the morning, which explained why Ryder was still sleeping beside her.

She peeked over at him, liking how peaceful he looked.

Kristin sniffed, pulling out her phone to try and take her mind off of her pounding headache. It turned out that looking at her screen wasn't helping, so she huffed and sat back, leaning against the headboard.

She peered at the clock again, which read 6:27 and sighed at how slow time was moving.

Just then Ryder shifted beside her, rolling over and facing her, "What's wrong?"

She blinked at him while he rubbed his eyes and stretched.

"Did you have a nightmare?" she watched as his forehead creased.

"No," she sighed, "I think I'm sick."

"Really?" Ryder sat up, looking at her curiously.

"Yes," she hissed, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

She knew he probably thought it strange that she was sick, but she was a human. Wolves didn't get the common cold but she sure did.

"Should we go to the doctor?" he asked, unsure of what to do.

"No, I just have to wait it out," she shook her head, which made her headache worse.

"Are you sure? Isn't there something you can do?" he pressed, watching her wince.

"I—"

"What about medicine?" he interrupted.

"Do you have medicine for a cold?" she wondered, raising her brow.

Her mom usually had some on hand, since she was a normal person who could get sick too.

"Like Tylenol?" Ryder asked.

"I guess that would help my headache," she nodded, watching him quickly go downstairs.

She smiled as he hurried back with a bottle in his hand and a glass of water in the other.

"Here."

"Thanks." Kristin took a small white pill out and handed it back to Ryder.

"You're just taking one?" he looked at the bottle.

"That's extra strength, and it recommends one on the bottle," she paused, "I'm a human remember? One will work."

"Right," he muttered, watching her drink the water, "So how long does this last?"

"I don't know, a couple of days I think. I don't really get sick often," she laid back, pulling the covers over her.

Kristin drifted in and out of sleep while Ryder showered and got ready to go to the pack building.

"I'm coming too—" she started saying before he cut her off.

"Kristin, you're sick," he shook his head, "You have to stay here and rest."

"I don't want to be here by myself all day," she whined.

"I have to at least go check on things and then I'll come back."

"How long will that take?" she asked, looking at the clock.

"Only an hour or two," he assured, although she frowned at him.

"How about I have Evelyn come over while I'm gone?" he asked, although not looking too happy with his offer.

"Really?" she smiled, causing him to sigh and nod his head.

"But you'll still be back soon, right?" she asked before he could leave.

He leaned down to kiss her, "Don't worry."

Kristin was glad to see Evelyn again, although she knew she looked rough, sick in bed. They both caught each other up on what was happening and Evelyn thanked her for persuading Ryder to let her back on the fighters. Not even an hour later, Ryder came back. Evelyn made sure to ignore him as she left, only quickly nodding.

"You know, you should apologize to her," Kristin told him as he turned around from giving Evelyn a look.

She was surprised when he didn't argue with her and only chuckled.

"I brought soup," he held up the bag he was holding.

"I know you heard me," she raised a brow at him.

"Shhh, you need to rest. Here," he set the bag down on the nightstand beside her.

"I should be sick all the time," she replied sarcastically.

"Why?" he furrowed his brow, sitting down beside her.

"Because you're actually nice to me," she smiled, looking in the bag at three different containers of hot soup.

"Wow, you act like I'm mean," he rolled his eyes, turning on the tv on the all.

"You were when we first met," she shrugged, opening a container and grabbing a spoon from the bag, deciding she could convince him to apologize to Evelyn later.

"If I remember correctly, it was you who hated me."

"I was being forced against my will to live with a complete stranger claiming that I was his mate. Can you blame me?"

"You say that like I was lying," he snorted.

"You were."

"I said you were my mate and you are my mate. How is that lying?" he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You forget that you said we weren't actually mates. You lied to me."

"Only because you wouldn't stop freaking out until I said we weren't actually mates. You practically made me say it."

"Well, you were still mean," she teased, stirring her soup.

"And how exactly was I mean?" Ryder asked in a doubtful tone.

"Seriously?" she raised a brow at him, "When I first met you, you were unbelievable."

Kristin set down her soup and sat up, crossing her arms and kicking her legs across the bed onto his lap.

"Hi, my name is Ryder and I like acting like I don't care about anything," she said with a deep, grumpy voice, "I'm also a cocky jerk."

Ryder scoffed, grabbing her legs and pulling her towards him.

"Is that supposed to be me?"

"Yes," Kristin laughed as Ryder pulled her into his lap.

"Okay, well," Ryder grabbed her arms and moved them as he spoke, "My name's Kristin and we aren't mates," he said in a higher voice, "I'm being forced against my will to live with this stranger because we aren't mates!"

"I don't sound like that," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh," he continued with the same voice, "And did I mention we aren't mates?"

"You're right we aren't," Kristin continued with her Ryder interpretation, "But I'm going to first say we are mates, then I'll tell you we aren't, then you'll find out that we are, but I'm just going to keep going back and forth to confuse you."

"You already knew we were mates the whole time," he rolled his eyes.

"I did not!"

"You were in denial," he smirked.

"No I wasn't!"

"Kristin, you took me to the mall to 'find my mate'," he gave her a flat look.

"Okay, true," she climbed off his lap to go grab her soup again, "But I do recall you saying something along the lines of 'why did you bring me here, humans aren't my type'," she gave him a pointed look.

"That's called humor, sweetheart," he smirked.

"Interesting... I didn't find it funny at all," she snapped, ignoring his nickname for her.

"Kristin," he shook his head, smirking, "You're one to talk."

"Why?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

Ryder sighed, looking back to the tv.

"I know you want to say it," she taunted, wanting him to tell her what looked to bother him.

"Nothing," he shook his head, clearly pouting.

Kristin pulled on his arm, feeling his muscles flex under her hands.

"Just admit you are a jerk and I'm always right," she teased, wanting to get a reaction from him.

"At least I didn't kiss someone else when we were living together."

"Ryder," Kristin sighed, not wanting the memory of her kissing Alex to be brought up. The thought of it now made her sick. "I just did that to make you jealous," she admitted.

"I'm sorry," she continued, hugging his arm and looking up at him, "I felt horrible."

Finally he faced her, "You should have. Alex was disgusting."

"It's not a good memory, trust me," she shuddered.

"Okay, I'll stop bringing it up," he nodded, "I know I'm a much better kisser than him anyway."

Kristin smiled, glad he was letting it go. She couldn't imagine being with anyone else, especially now.

"Did it work though?" she teased, sliding her hand down his toned arm.

"What?"

"Did it make you jealous?" she wondered.

Shaking his head, Ryder pushed her back so she was laying down with him above her.

"Did it?" Kristin asked with a smile, wanting to see Ryder's jealous side.

"I knew you were mine," he muttered into her neck, kissing her jaw.

"Ryder," she whispered, "You're going to get sick."

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" he muttered as he brought his lips up to hers.

She laughed and kissed him back until she was out of breath, which was sooner since she was sick.

Ryder started kissing her neck, then switched to her other side.

"Ryder," she warned.

"Hmmm?" she felt him smile against her skin, knowing what she meant.

"I think this side," he nuzzled his nose into her neck, and Kristin almost let him keep going until she registered what he had said.

"Ryder!"

"What?" he pulled away, smirking.

"I'm sick. You cannot mark me right now!"

Ryder groaned, sitting back up and playfully shoved her away.

"When?" he teased, although she knew he was low key serious.

"I don't know," she groaned, not wanting to admit she was scared of the idea of him sinking his canines into her neck.

•. •. •. •. •.

Chapter 64.

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