"Are you mad at me?" I asked Ryder as we continued to walk.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes as he lead us to the infirmary. He was being quieter than I was used to him being, making me unsure whether I should be worried or suspicious.

He rose a questioning brow. "No?"

I didn't believe him. His answer had come out sounding like a question rather than a response. His unusual silence and lack of smirk only backed up my suspicions. You could never know what the sly fox had up his sleeve.

My eyes narrowed on him. What was wrong with him? He seemed fine earlier when he had barged out of his room to let his annoyance be known. Jaxon, his actions, or my feared reactions to him shouldn't have surprised or affected him to the point of silenced anger after witnessing them in various states more than enough in such a short time.

Worry started to triumph the suspicion that always accompanied Ryder when I spotted the dark circles under his eyes, but that was before his eyes dropped down to my neck and his brows lowered in a flash of the anger he has just denied. He tried to smooth them out and hide the outburst when my eyes caught him, but I had already seen it. He looked away, examining the wall beside us as my lips slowly began to spread in the sly and devious grin I was used to seeing on him.

"Hmm, maybe anger isn't the right word," I drawled out while picking up my pace to skip a few steps ahead. I turned to face Ryder, blocking his path.

I didn't know if it was because of the endorphins still running through my veins due to last night's activities, or because of the high from surviving an encounter with Jaxon unscathed, but I couldn't help the giddy excitement that rose from the realization that just struck me. It wasn't often I had something to use against him, the man seemed incapable of being offended, taking everything with a joking smile.

Why not return the favour? It might also help lighten the mood to address the issue bothering him directly, even if it was morally questionable how I was considering broaching the subject.

But then I recalled his words clearly telling me that I was stuck with him. It may have been everything getting to me but anger that I had decided to try to put aside reared its ugly head. It was all I needed to justify my choice of verbal attack to myself. It suddenly became a small punishment in retaliation for the choices he had taken from me.

Ryder eyed me warily as I lightly rocked on the heels of my feet. I leaned towards him, hesitating a moment before continuing.

"Jealous sounds more like it," I said, cocking my head like the mocking action would let him hear the unspoken words clearer.

His eyes narrowed dangerously, making me wonder if I had taken the games he loved playing too far. He was always finding new material to tease me with, but aside from being stuck with him, he hadn't used anything against me that left anything more than annoyance or a fit of slight anger.

My heart clenched painfully as I tried imagining Ryder rubbing it in the morning after he slept with another woman. What I had just done. I might have gone too far, especially considering how he and Ares had been treating each other ever since they met, even if they had recently put up a united front against the greater threat. Maybe it wasn't a smart move to rub it in that I slept with the man he was worried about and had warned me about previously, even if he knew it would eventually happen.

My smile became shakey as I tried to think of a way to take back my words and no doubt the pain I caused him. I swallowed hard when a muscle jumped in his cheek from his clenched jaw.

If I wanted to have any semblance of a normal and peaceful life, then I couldn't continue to live while holding grudges against those that were on my side, wanting the same. They would only lead to unnecessary heartbreak.

Hurting him would get me nowhere and just end up harming me in the long run. I could get back at him in another way. One that would leave either of us with resentment and hatred.

I jumped when Ryder's hands heavily landed on my shoulders.

He leaned forward, bringing his lips to my ear.

I swallowed again past the growing lump in my throat, my heart thumping as his breath calmly brushed over my ear and down the side of my neck.

"There's no need to be jealous. I know what's mine. I'll be getting plenty and more soon enough."

He leaned closer, clamping down on the flesh of my lobe with his sharp teeth. I could feel the smirk on his lips when I tried and failed to jerk away, stilling as a shiver coursed its way down my spine. He bit down until I flinched at the slight sting of pain, afraid he would continue until he drew blood. I guess my words had done what they had intended to a little too well in ways I didn't think to predict. Dragging the skin as he pulled away, he finally released it.

Apparently, Ryder's anger had a bite to it.

The onslaught of emotions that I had experienced since waking not too long ago already suddenly had me craving for the sweet sanctity and calm that sleep provided. Or at least it had been providing periodically in the last little while. At least then he served a purpose other than to annoy.

Pushing on my shoulders, Ryder was suddenly turning me around to face the wall that held white, swinging, double doors that marked the infirmary. They looked out of place, new and shiny in such an old and dark structure.

Watching the door, a nervous sweat began to break on my brows as a new challenge presented its self. Ezra would no doubt be beyond those doors. We were here to see him after all, but even if we weren't, this would have been the first place I would have looked for him aside from a mad scientist's lair if I had to search for him.

"What's wrong, sweetheart? The high from a good fuck running out? I can help you recharge it if you'd like..."

I shrugged Ryder away from my ear with my shoulder. Of course, my efforts to get to him would backfire in unexpected ways. Instead of anger and resentment, I just give him more ammo to use against me.

Ryder's amusement sobered when he caught sight of my nervous features. The smug victory in his eyes dropped, replaced by concern that was accompanied by a slight hint of panic.

"What's wrong?" He asked, no sign of humour in his voice.

The question was one that I had heard more times in the short while I had known him and Ares than I had in the past decade. It brought a small smile to my lips, easing my anxiousness slightly. My heart warmed knowing that regardless of bad jabs, he would be there for me at the first sign I needed him.

I could have been stuck with worse...

I stopped that thought before I could dwell too long on how I already was. Ryder's transgressions didn't seem so bad but that was when they were compared to what the others had already done against me. They and many before them had set the bar low for Ares and Ryder to hurdle over.

Which may have explained while I had fallen so hard when I was shown basic kindness.

Before I could reassure him that everything was fine, I was already contradicting the yet-to-be-spoken words when I bumped into him with a panicked shout when the door swung open. The cold metal of the door was mere millimetres away from colliding with my nose and introducing me to the pain I was all too familiar with.

"Nea!" The panicked shout had my head jerking up as Ryder steadied me from behind.

My eyes met with familiar, mossy, green ones.

Ezra.

He stood with on arm out, holding the door he had swung open, almost hitting me, out of the way. His wide eyes were locked on me as his face grew pale.

"I didn't know you were standing there. Did I hit you?" He asked in a rush.

His voice shook slightly, sounding afraid of the answer he would receive as his eyes looked for it on their own. He went to take a step forward but hesitated when Ryder shifted behind me, tightening his arm around me and pulling me closer.

"She's not the patient, Doc. Keep your eyes over here. I might just make it worth your while." He wagged his brows at him suggestive before glancing towards me from the corner of his eyes.

I smacked at Ryder as I pushed him off me.

"If you're a patient, shouldn't you act more... patient-like?" I asked him.

I already knew that the visit to the infirmary wasn't because Ryder needed it. It was because they wanted me away while Ares talked with Jaxon.

The glint in Ryder's eyes told me of my mistake before he spoke the works that confirmed it.

"Will you kiss it all better if I do?" He asked, leaving forward.

For a moment I thought that he was going to attempt to steal a kiss, but that was before he bent over, clutching at his groin.

He let out a fake groan of pain. "Because it was hard having to listen to you two go at it all night long."

I frowned at him. It only grew when Ezra's light chuckles reached my ears. They didn't last long though, as the humour of Ryder's actions faded and his words sunk in. I could see the moment he rejected what he was saying.

I turned my ire-filled gaze on him, not shying away from the wide eyes that looked back. He might have turned his back on me when I needed him most, but at least he didn't use my words against me for his amusement.

"Why don't you treat him before I give him something he really needs to have looked at," I threatened, drawing more laughter out of the Fox eared asshole who knew how empty my threats were.

Ezra stood frozen for a moment, looking at me with a puzzled gaze. I hadn't noticed it at first, distracted by Ryder's hyena noises, but once he saw that I was aware of him watching me, he looked away, clearing his throat.

"Ah, alright. I was going to send someone to get you later this afternoon since I thought another transfusion would do you well," he said as he stepped aside, leaving room for us to enter through the door. "I guess we can do it now."

"I volunteer Nea to be my nurse," Ryder announced as he walked past him, looking back as he stopped to wait for me. "Having her around will make me feel better faster." He turned rounded eyes that were typing hard to hide their laughter onto me.

"That not for me to decide..."

"Nea wouldn't say no," Ryder interrupted Ezra. "She's not the kind of person to leave me in pain when she can help, even if her words say otherwise."

Ezra flinched at his words. It was a small and barely noticeable movement. I didn't think Ryder even noticed it As he continued speaking.

"Aren't you Nea?" He asked, the grin on his face making me want to prove him wrong.