Chapter 17

Mack was frozen where she stood, unable to take her eyes off Ruby and Ryker. Her eyes shifted from one to the other while her jaw was nearly on the ground. Two people who should either be dead, or at least not within the sanction as far as Mack knew, stood before her.

Ruby was frozen in place as well, not knowing how to navigate this interaction since Mack was probably told Ruby was dead. Tasha told her the day she woke up that she had flatlined, so the mate bond would have told Tyson that she was dead. Ryker had gotten rid of the bodies of the other two wolves, so no one could dispute that Ruby died, yet here she was… standing on a beach.

The look of confusion on Mack’s face slowly faded. Mack’s eyes twinkled as the sun snuck out of a cloud, telling Ruby that tears were forming in her friend’s eyes. Ruby abandoned all thoughts that this could be a bad thing and rushed to her best friend. As her arms wrapped around Mack, the young she-wolf held Ruby close as the tears flowed down her cheeks and into Ruby’s hair.

“They said you were dead,” Mack whispered in between sucks of breath.

“No. Just in hiding.”

Ruby didn’t know how much time had passed. She did not dare to let go until Mack did, knowing that she needed this just as much as Ruby did. Breathing mellowed out, and tears stopped rolling down their faces. Mack’s grip loosened, so Ruby followed by loosening her own. Ruby took her thumbs and wiped the running mascara off Mack’s face with a smile.

“Why are you all the way out here?” Ruby asked.

Mack forced a laugh. “Tyson said he felt ‘power entering his territory’ and forced some of us to go patrolling. I volunteered to go out this way just to get away from the pack. It’s been a total mess since you’ve been gone.”

“What do you mean?”

Mack jumped at the sound of Ryker’s voice. Her eyes widened at the realization that she had forgotten Ryker was also here. “Since when are you roaming around here? I thought you were going to travel with your father and stay the hell away from around here!”

Ruby’s head snapped over towards Ryker so quickly that she heard her bones pop. “What? How the hell would she know about your plans? You’ve been gone for three years!”

Ryker looked down at the ground as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, I don’t know how to explain this…especially in a way that might not anger you.”

Mack cocked her eyebrow at Ryker, “what do you mean by that? Why are you trying to not-” Mack’s eyes grew even wider, “are you two together now?”

Ryker looked like a deer caught in headlights. Ruby studied him for a second, and thoughts swirled around inside of her head.

Were Mack and Ryker close before he left? Did Mack know where Ryker has been for the last three years and just did not tell anyone? Why would he think saying how he knew her before would anger me?

Oh…my…Gods…

“You two…slept together?”

No one uttered a sound. Even with them being outside, the tension around them was so thick that not even a sledgehammer would be able to break it. Ruby was not even sure why.

Ryker and I are not a couple. So… it should not matter that he slept with Mack…

But he is ours.

He isn’t. We do not bear his mark. He has not asked us to be a Chosen Mate. Nothing is official. Hell, he doesn’t even want to complete the bond! I don’t even feel the bond.

He is still ours.

“We had been together for about two years until about a month ago. We’ve kept it a secret. I would meet him just outside of the barrier after every full moon so Tyson wouldn’t get suspicious when I wouldn’t want to be around everyone for a few days. I left so I could spend time with Ryker, rid his scent off me and my clothes in the neighboring town, and then come home. It’s why I wasn’t home when you came back from Red Cove.”

“Oh.” Ruby did her best to mask her disgust. Ruby didn’t even know Ryker then.

But I didn’t even know Mack was in a relationship. She never told me any of this.

“Why did you two break it off?”

Mack looked over at Ryker with her head slightly tilted, her eyebrows slightly raised, basically telling Ryker “well, go on.”

“I met you, Ruby. As I told you, I felt the bond the moment you were outside of the barrier. After I got you to Nick, I sent a message to Mack.”

“Wait, bond?! You two are Fated? How is that possible? You were Fated to Tyson!” Mack rattled off.

“Tyson told you I was Fated to him? I didn’t think he would want anyone to know that.”

Ruby looked over her friend in search of the missing piece to the puzzle. It did not take long since Ruby knew what she was looking for. Ruby’s eyes landed on the mark that was settled in the middle of Mack’s neck. “He chose you to be the She-Alpha.” It wasn’t a question. Ruby knew the answer. If she had not been overwhelmed at the sight of her best friend, she would have noticed it before.

I have got to get better at this kind of shit.

“Well… yeah. He said I was the only one who would fit to be his She-Alpha. I didn’t sleep around much. I knew the pack well, and no one had any issues with me. Even the she-wolves listened to me, especially after you left.”

Things weren’t adding up to Ruby. She knew for a fact that not many of the she-wolves liked Mack before Ruby transferred. Mack had told her so. They always did their own thing and didn’t pay much attention to anyone else. That’s why they got along. Mack also did not think very highly of Tyson because he would use his status to sleep around. She had warned Ruby to stay away from him the moment she entered the pack. Mack even seemed to be annoyed at the fact that Tyson was interested in Ruby.

I swear to Goddess, I will get better at catching this shit.

“You were sleeping with Tyson all along. Weren’t you?”

Mack almost appeared bored with her resting bitch face. She rolled her eyes before answering the question. “Took you long enough to figure that shit out. I thought they trained naturally born She-Alphas to pay attention to detail.”

Ryker remained quiet during the she-wolves’ exchange. At first, he was next to Ruby after the girls broke out of their hug. He moved so slowly that it was barely noticeable while they talked, but he was now, somehow, slightly in front of Ruby. Why? She had no idea, but he remained there as the two of them talked. What shocked Ruby the most was his reaction to hearing about Mack sleeping with Tyson.

It was almost as if it was not even news to him. He just looked at Mack without a single emotion on his face. There was no dilation of his pupils, no change in his heart rate or breathing. Ryker just remained stoic.

“You’ve been waiting for me to step out far enough from the barrier. Tyson knows that I have a place that he can never find… because you told him. However, the magic that is entangled in the barrier makes you forget how to get there.”

Mack’s lips curled into an evil grin. Not once in the year that Ruby had known this she-wolf did she ever witness Mack grinning this way. Mack always had the confidence and aura that said she did not really care of others’ opinions. Not once did she plot against anyone in the pack. There was never a hint that she was a conniving, heartless bitch. Mack had been playing an invisible game of chess…and no one knew that they were playing the game along with her.

“You were always going to be a threat to the Alpha. It didn’t matter that you didn’t want this pack anymore. If, one day, you chose to come back, there was absolutely no one to stop you. I got tired of sitting in limbo. My wolf deserves to be amongst the hierarchy. She is powerful enough to run a pack, yet no one ever wanted to give her a chance, so I thought I would take matters into my own hands. The day I stumbled upon you and managed to get you to take me back to that town was the day I saw my opportunity. Bag the one man and wolf who could give my wolf everything she ever wanted. After a few months, I thought I could convince you to come back and take the throne back. After about six months, I started to realize that would never happen. You were happy being packless. Then I thought I could tell Tyson where you were and get him to fight you again. This time, even if it meant fighting a little dirty, he would win, and the sanction would remain his. Every time I left that place, I would forget how to get there. I would just have to wait in the neighboring town for you to come and get me to take me back. So I thought, ‘I’ll get close enough to him to get the barrier shared with me so I could have the magic not affect me anymore.’ That didn’t work either. Just when I thought of giving up and just remaining with Tyson, you broke things off with me, and you disappeared.”

Ruby took in deep breaths to keep herself calm. Scarlett paced inside of her mind, snarling. Both of them were angry at Mack, but they also wanted to keep themselves ready for a fight at any moment.

“Today was the first time in a month we felt your power. This time, it was even more off the charts than before. Tyson and I agreed that I would go check things out because it wouldn’t come across as sketchy. We used to explore around here together. How interesting that I ended up finding Tyson’s long-lost mate as well. He will be so happy to hear that you aren’t dead like he thought. Now he can kill you both and never have to worry about our empire being taken from us.”

Ruby couldn’t believe that this was her best friend standing before her. Not once in her time with Mack did she ever think Mack was capable of something like this. She had kept two males in her back pocket that would give her the She-Alpha status that she always dreamed about. If anything, Ruby thought Mack would one day travel and hopefully find an Alpha as her mate. Instead, she had spent years scheming so she would end up on top. Clearly, Mack did not care who she stepped on to get there either. She had stabbed both Ryker and her in the back.

Ruby’s stomach clenched when she realized what Mack had meant about checking things out. Mack was tied to Tyson through the pack bonds and as his Chosen Mate. She had complete control of the West Coast pack and could communicate with all of them. For all Ryker and Ruby knew, Mack could have already alerted the pack and Tyson of their whereabouts.

And Tyson could be on his way right now with the pack. As Mack said, Tyson could fight dirty this time to ensure that he would win.

Ryker must have figured it out at the same time that Ruby did. In one quick movement, Ryker grabbed Mack’s head and snapped her neck. Mack’s body went slack and then crumpled onto the white sand.

“Ruby, run!”