2. Rylan

I've spent two years watching Terra cry, knowing that I either caused the tears or can't fix them, and I can't do it anymore.

I know that I should be spending my time watching Chet, so that I can figure out a way to show the alpha what he's up to, but instead, I'm here. Looking at her. Looking from a distance as the people I care about enjoy their lives.

Without me.

Watching the mating ceremony from a distance, I spend most of it relieved that Terra isn't the one up there with Zander, until I notice that Terra's approximately five seconds from bursting into tears. When she goes into her apartment, I'm sure that's what happens.

After that, at her mom's cabin at the edge of the woods, I can hear her cry when I'm in my wolf form. It makes me want to howl with rage.

All because of fucking Chet Rifkin and his chokehold on the alpha's trust.

I guess that I have Thorne to thank for the fact that I've just been banished from the pack and I'm not actually dead, which would have been Chet's preferred outcome.

Thorne's mercy is the only reason that I'm standing here today, but maybe it's not so merciful after all if I'm stuck watching Terra suffer over and over again.

I guess that, in a month, it won't matter. I'll be thirty then, and I won't be able to shift, much less be included in the pack. I would happily let myself fade into the human world, except recently, I found out that Chet is back to his bullshit again.

The same shit that got me exiled. Shit that I didn't do. I didn't know it at the time, though. Money went missing from the pack, and Chet accused me of stealing it. The alpha believed him, and I was exiled.

I didn't take that money, and I'm sure that he was the one who did all those years ago…

Because he did it again.

Chet, it turns out, is a gambling addict. His old man used to roll with the alpha's old man, and together, they racked up a ton of debt. Chet made a big show of turning over a new leaf when the old alpha died, but I know that he's been appropriating pack funds and using them to place bets on fights. Fights that never should happen to begin with.

Shifters do their best to shy away from portraying themselves as beasts in the magical world. The magical community looks down on us as it is, so giving in to our more animalistic tendencies is not good politics for any of us.

So, using pack funds to bet on fights between shifters and other magic users in illegal fight rings? Definitely a big no, especially for an alpha like Thorne, who is trying to rehabilitate his pack and his image.

I need to let him know. I'm hopeful that in the process, I can clear my name, but more than that, I need the alpha to find out in order to keep the pack from going under.

Because Terra loves the pack. No matter how I feel about Thorne believing Chet over me, I know that Terra wants to be with Oakwood.

So, I have to tell Thorne. For Terra.

Now, watching her leave the little greenhouse on her mom's property, I give myself just a second to take in her beauty.

Terra's always been so fucking pretty, she's like the sun. It sometimes hurts to look at her, but she lights up anything and everything around her. She's the center of everything to me, and I honestly can't think of a more beautiful person.

On top of that, there isn't a single night when I don't fantasize about her.

She's tall, with strong muscle that curves over her frame. It makes me growl to think about sliding my hands over her, and I know that if I keep going down that path in my head, I'm just going to end up frustrated as always, so I cut off the thought before it gets to her thick thighs and curved ass. Her hair is a beautiful cascade of browns and reds that I love to watch as they move in the wind, but today, she's tucked every last curl into a pair of neat braids that arch down her head and over her shoulders.

I can't see them from here, but her emerald-green eyes shine brighter than any jewel. Knowing that they're clouded with tears? And, of course, that I can't do anything about fixing them?

I fucking hate it.

In theory, I don't know if she's crying about me or not. I guess it's kind of arrogant to assume so.

But I have seen the word "Rylan" on her lips a couple of times.

So. It's pretty fucking reasonable to assume, I guess.

I accepted my exile like a fucking gentleman, and I've been living as a lone wolf ever since. But now that I know Chet is stealing pack funds again?

I need to come back.

What I don't need to do, however, is insert myself back into Terra's life again. She needs to find someone in the pack that she can settle down with. Someone she has a future with.

Someone who is not me.

I growl as I watch her leave her mom's house. She stops at the back porch to undress, presumably to shift, and even though I want to look… I don't.

It's not right. Terra isn't mine anymore.

And I would do fucking well to respect that.

However, when she takes off in the same direction that I last saw Chet and his idiots go toward, my heart ices over.

For two years, I've tried to keep Terra from harm. So, when she launches forward, a sleek auburn blur in the greenery, I follow her.

If Chet tries to fuck with her…

I growl.

It'll be the last thing that he fucking does.

In a worldwhere I don't have the type of terrible luck that I do, Terra wouldn't run after them. It's a common enough trail, but there are multiple trails around that she could use instead.

However. This is the world I live in. Where my luck is shit.

And Terra… She's going straight for the path that Chet and his two goons ran down an hour ago.

My panic mounts as I chase after her. If Chet finds her, he's going to do something bad. A list of scenarios runs through my mind, each one worse than the one before.

He could hurt her. He could take her and use her in the fights that he fixes. He could…

My mind shuts off at the last one, and I sprint forward instead.

Terra's so close to catching up with them. Their scent is getting much harder to ignore, and I wonder for a second if she's tracking them on purpose.

I'm just rounding a bend, maybe five minutes from catching up with her, when I hear a growling noise.

Terra.

My feet fly over the ground. When I round the boulder that marks the edge of the trail, I freeze.

Terra is there.

And two wolves are staring her down.

Without thinking, I launch into them. One of them tries to take a swipe at me but yelps and runs when I go for his throat. The other rushes at Terra, who snaps at him before turning.

I charge him. My snout rams into his ribs, and he yelps, twisting.

He slams into Terra, who runs headfirst into the boulder.

My heart skips a beat as she goes still, but I turn my attention to the other wolf.

He tries to fight me. But he doesn't even come fucking close.

He might have spent the last two years running around with Chet, but the reason that I know about Chet's little fucked up deal is that I've seen it.

I was there.

I've spent two years fighting like hell for everything I am, and it's all because Chet put me there. He placed a bet against me in those fucking cages, and I ruined him.

Now, I'm back to make sure he goes to hell for what he's done.

The other wolf recognizes, wisely, that he's no match for me and beats a hasty retreat. I watch him run up the trail and then turn.

Terra and I are alone.

She's still a wolf. At the risk of being bitten, I shift back, gently running my hands over her body. It looks like one of her paws is twisted at a bad angle, and it might be broken or sprained…

I have to get her back to her house.

Night is falling, and that's good news. It means that I'll be able to creep up the back stairs of the little apartment she rents without attracting much notice. The alley behind her place is dark as hell, which I know because I've spent many nights there, guarding the entrance against anyone who walks by.

Gently, I poke at her ankle. Luckily, it doesn't look sprained, and while she's out cold, I'll be able to transport her faster. I tuck Terra in my arms, ignoring the way her body makes my skin heat, and run back for the pack boundaries.

It's a long run. Every moment that she's out like this, I risk the fact that she could wake up as a wolf and rip my throat out.

It would be a good way to die, I guess.

We manage to get the whole way back to the little main street in Oakwood. As predicted, the darkness behind the apartment is complete. I creep up the stairs and open the door to the apartment.

It's unlocked.

I wish I could be annoyed, but given the circumstances, I'm happy that I didn't have to use the spare key she keeps underneath the welcome mat. Either way, I'm breaking into her space, but at least this way I won't have to explain why I know where her spare key is.

Inside, I look around. I want to put her in her own bed, so she's not in a weird place when she wakes up…

It's weird anyway, jackass.

I huff, but I put her in her bed and pull the covers up. I'm about to go when I hear a whining sound.

Shit.

I'm completely frozen. My eyes are glued to the brown wolf in the bed, and something makes me unable to move forward.

Terra is awake.

Her breathing is faster, and the whining is intense. I'm curious why she's doing that instead of just full on attacking me, but I don't have a ton of time to worry about it because in the space of a heartbeat, everything changes.

Her eyes open.

She blinks, and I see her pupils expand. They change so quickly that I pause, waiting instead of running, as I try to decide if I should check and see if she's okay…

She shifts, and I'm glad that I tucked her under the blanket so that she's not too worried about waking up naked around me.

I see the minute that her eyes focus on me.

She's surprised. That's clear. I can see the shock racing over her face. Her mouth opens and closes, and I clear my throat.

"Hi," I whisper.

It's a terrible opening line. More than that, it's not exactly how I pictured seeing Terra one more time, but then again, I didn't plan on any of this.

Terra's perfect lips purse. She opens her mouth and breathes a single word that makes my heart stop in its tracks.

"Rylan."