Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Ryker
What the fuck was I doing? Cade had given me a direct order not to leave home, and yet here I was, looking at a stronghold, but not the Alpha one.
I watched the Narchis sentries make their rounds along the perimeter.
Nobody had noticed my presence so far. Sloppy of them.
I was downwind, but if they’d been looking closer, they could have spotted me.
Given enough time, I was confident I could get inside unseen, but I didn’t have the patience for that.
Two days. That’s how long I’d made it before I’d disobeyed Cade and gone after Rynn and Bastian.
They’d stopped on their way here, spending the night in three different outposts. All I’d been able to think about on my almost nonstop run here was what they’d done those three nights. Knowing Bastian, he’d figured out a way to get them to share a room.
A bed.
I shook my head, ruffling my light grey coat as a low growl bubbled up my throat.
I hated that she made me feel this way. If I could claw out this ever-encompassing need to be near her, touch her, fucking hear that light, raspy laugh of hers .
. . would I do it? I didn’t even know anymore.
All I knew was that fighting this pull I felt towards her was a losing battle.
The sun rose higher above the horizon. Based on the scent trail, Rynn and Bastian had arrived late in the afternoon yesterday.
So they’d spent yet another night together.
I was still pissed at Cade for agreeing to that stupid bet.
Bastian, I couldn’t really fault; it was just his nature.
He thought with his dick most of the time and was extremely competitive, but Cade had to have known there was a good chance this stupid bet of theirs would blow up and Rynn would be even angrier.
He might not care about her well-being, but everything Cade did was for the protection of the Alpha pack first and all of the Velesian realm second.
This seemed like a careless move for him. Then again, I was far from an expert at understanding the motivations of others. Even the other Alphas.
After letting out one long breath through my nostrils, I backtracked to a small supply building and shifted to my human form.
Brisk winter air flowed over my skin as I quickly dressed before stalking towards the main gate.
As soon as the sentries spotted me, they stood a little straighter, watching my approach.
“Ryker,” a guard with pale blond hair and vivid green eyes greeted me warily. His dark brows rose slightly, drawing attention to the three scarred lines that ran over his right eye. “Bastian didn’t mention you’d be coming.”
Two more sentries joined the blond one and his partner, the four of them eying me like they expected me to go for their throats at any moment.
I enjoyed it, their fear. They all tried to hide it behind their even expressions, but scent and body language didn’t lie. These four were scared shitless.
“Where is she?” I tilted my head in a move that was pure wolf. One of the sentries swallowed, and his scent sharpened, becoming more sour. He was definitely on the verge of pissing himself.
I held back the raspy laugh that wanted to come out. Four well-trained guards were about to lose their shit over simply talking to me. Meanwhile, Rynn would have punched me in the face and called me an asshole, and then dared me to do something about it.
Maybe that was why I couldn’t stop thinking about her. At one time or another, even Cade and the others had looked at me with maybe not fear, but definitely wariness.
Rynn might hate me, despise me, but she had never been afraid of me.
“She’s in Bastian’s quarters,” the fair-haired sentry with the scars told me. “Third floor in the main castle. I can show y—”
“I’ll find them,” I cut him off and stalked forward, the sentries immediately parting around me.
“Should we . . .” one of the other guards whispered. “I don’t know . . . warn Rynn or something? It feels wrong to send that thing after her.”
I snorted and kept walking. “That thing.” I was surprised they hadn’t just called me a rabid monster like everyone else. What would they have said if they knew Rynn had been riding my dick a few days ago with her fingers wrapped around my throat?
And that she’d liked it.
“Rynn isn’t our problem,” the sentry who’d spoken to me replied. “She belongs to the Alphas. Besides, the arrogant bitch could stand to get taken down a peg or two.”
Even twenty feet away, I could hear the hatred and disgust in his voice.
That more than his words had me halting in my tracks.
One of the men said something else that drew out more chuckles.
Whether it was about me or Rynn, I had no idea.
It took every ounce of my control not to turn around, gut them all where they stood, and then present their entrails to Rynn.
She would like that. I was sure of it.
Cade would not though. He’d give me a reproachful look and tell me I’d gone too far. Bastian would scold me for not being more subtle about it. If it didn’t involve Rynn, Warrick would approve, but since it did, he’d just scowl and find some way to blame her.
Begrudgingly, I forced myself to keep walking because if I slaughtered the sentry now, it would delay me in tracking Rynn down. I never forgot a face or a scent anyway, so he was living on borrowed time.
People practically flung themselves out of my way as I stalked towards the main castle. The guards posted outside it exchanged nervous looks.
“Can we help you, Ryker?” the one on the left asked cautiously. “We weren’t told you were coming.”
“Rynn,” I growled. “I’m here for her.”
“Right,” he said quietly. “Uhh, she was staying in Bastian’s quarters, but I don’t know where she is now.” He glanced at the other guard. “Do you know where she is?”
“No.” The other man shook his head rapidly. “But Bastian’s room is on the third floor.”
It bothered me how easily they all gave up information about Rynn. I mean, sure, they were terrified of me and she was part of my pack now, but she’d been born into theirs. Where was their loyalty?
I kept walking past them and into the castle, heading up to the third floor.
She was likely out of the room by now, probably in the library or wherever she preferred to research, but I had no idea where anything was because I hadn’t spent much time at the Narchis stronghold and didn’t feel like asking.
It would be easier to just track her scent.
My skin crawled the farther into the castle I went. I hated how enclosed it was and didn’t understand how they lived like this. With nowhere to go, people flattened themselves against the walls as I passed, their tension-filled whispers following in my wake.
Rynn’s scent was faint, so she must not have come this way recently. Part of me was happy I hadn’t found her right away because I knew when I did, Rynn would demand to know why I’d come, and I didn’t have an answer other than because you are here.
I might not be good at handling whatever this was between us or navigating complicated emotions, but I did understand enough to know this would not go over well.
It was so aggravating. She was so aggravating.
I’d never felt like this before about anyone.
It was kind of hard to make new friends when everyone looked at me with fear or disgust. Even the women who wanted the thrill of fucking me were still scared.
My lips curved into a smile. Rynn had never been afraid of me.
Not even when I’d had my fingers wrapped around her throat and my teeth snapping at her face.
She’d just snarled back at me.
That was where my obsession with her had started, but at some point, it’d changed.
I mean, I still loved that about her. How she never backed down.
But I also liked spending time with her in the library when she had her nose buried in those dusty old books.
We didn’t talk. We didn’t fight . . . or fuck.
I just enjoyed her company, her earthy scent, and the way she sneezed and sometimes scared herself because she was so deep into whatever she was reading. I chuckled. She was so weird.
And she was going to be so pissed when she saw my face. I grinned wider. It was easier to get her to see things my way when she was angry. Cold and logical Rynn was more difficult for me to navigate.
She could run from me all she wanted. Sooner or later she’d just have to accept that I’d find her and drag her back home.
She belonged to the Alpha pack, even if she wasn’t technically a part of it, and nothing she did would change that.
Which meant we had all the time in the world to figure out our bullshit.
Assuming Bastian didn’t fuck things up.
I scowled and stopped in front of a door halfway down the hallway.
Based on the scent trails, this was the room Bastian and Rynn had shared.
He’d left this morning, going down the hallway in the same direction I’d come from.
Rynn had left after him but had gone the opposite way.
I hesitated. Rynn wasn’t here. There was no reason to go into the room.
Fuck it. I had to know.
I let myself in, heading straight to the bed. The covers were rumpled. They’d clearly both slept in it. I took a deep breath, and the tension instantly eased from my shoulders. No telltale scents of sex. All they’d done was sleep.
Not on opposite sides of the bed though. I frowned and leaned over the bed more. Their scents were heavily intertwined. A low growl spilt from my throat. Rynn and I might have fucked several times, but she’d never let me hold her. Not the way Bastian clearly had last night.
The dread that had filled my gut at the idea of them fucking came back. This somehow felt worse. It would piss me off, but I could see Rynn hate fucking Bastian. This hadn’t been a spontaneous hate fuck though. They’d lain together for hours. She’d let him hold her.