Chapter 19

There was no way she would be able to explain their situation since Ryker did not want to accept the bond and has not acted like a mate since he felt the bond. Well, outside of the crazy possessive incidents. Nick did a small nod to himself and then continued to work on Rainer. Ruby watched the wounds start to close after the serums seeped in. It was a slow process compared to what it could have been if Rainer was awake. There was a weird loophole, in a sense, to Shifter magic where the body had to not be near death to be able to heal quickly.

Why is that? I don’t have a clue. Not like I can ask the Moon Goddess for the answer either.

Nick grabbed a pair of shorts and a shirt from the bottom of his pack, tossed it to her, and then packed away the vials he used into his bag and stood on his feet. Ruby quickly pulled the clothes on, thankful that she would not be naked in case any more of the town would end up coming over. When she was finished, she looked over at Nick. His hands went to his hips, and he scanned Rainer’s body with his eyes. Ruby could only guess he was assessing the body. Whether that was to see if the wounds would be able to close on their own or something else, she had no clue.

A curt sigh and a shake of his head later, Nick finally spoke again. “Not much else I can do here. The serums will assist the healing process and basically kick it into overdrive. Not being connected to a large pack is certainly a downfall when it comes to times like this, but Ryker will get through it. Him and Rainer are stubborn as hell.”

“Are you saying he is too stubborn to die?”

“Pretty much.”

‘Not being connected to a large pack.’ That does not sound accurate.

You’re right.

“Wait, Ryker isn’t connected to any pack. You said ‘large’.”

Nick tilted his head in confusion and gave Ruby a look that read that she should know something she didn’t.

“Ryker is connected to Tasha, Deacon, Trent, Drake, and me. It makes it easier for him to be connected to the others so they can let him know about things happening in the club. And me? Just so he can reach me when anyone is hurt.” Nick looked back down at Rainer and then to Ruby. “Well… when he is conscious anyway.”

“WAIT! Ryker built his own pack with his employees and you?!”

“I guess you could see it that way.”

Ruby glared down at Rainer and fought the urge to kick him. “Ryker has stated numerous times that he did not want to be connected to anyone! To be in any way, shape, or form within a pack! Now you are telling me he is connected with five people?”

“That’s interesting that he didn’t let you in on that.”

This feels like baiting for a trap.

“Don’t you dare try to manipulate me in any way right now to assess my response. My old pack doctor did that all the damn time. I hated it.”

“Fair enough.” He made small nods of agreement. “I wonder why he hasn’t marked you yet.”

Deacon’s presence halted the conversation. He did not appear to be shocked at the current state of Rainer’s unconscious body on the ground. It was Ruby’s turn to tilt her head in confusion.

“How did this happen?” Deacon’s tone did not even seem surprised with the situation in front of him.

“Long story short, my best friend Mack betrayed me and Ryker, and Tyson found us. Or I should say he knew our location and sent some of his men to attack us.” Ruby narrowed her eyes at Deacon. “Why are you so nonchalant about the fact that Rainer is on the ground with wounds all over him?”

Deacon looked over at Nick for a moment and shifted from one foot to another.

He is nervous. Why is he nervous?

“Uh.”

Nick chuckled, “well, I mindlinked him to come here to assist me in getting Ryker to his home.”

Ruby’s head bounced between Deacon and Nick. “You two have a pack bond?”

“Uh.” Deacon had apparently forgotten how to articulate a sentence beyond the single word he now seemed stuck on.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at Deacon for a moment. When he looked at Ruby once again, it almost seemed like a light bulb went off. “You didn’t know that we share a pack bond with Ryker, Tasha, and the other two bouncers and bartenders did you?”

Ruby saw swirling black strings in her vision as her blood began to boil.

Since the moment I met Ryker, he has made it clear he wanted nothing to do with packs. Yet, he has connected to seven people and formed his own pack. None of this makes sense.

“This is a little awkward. Can we just get Rainer home now?” Deacon suggested.

Ruby realized that Deacon had a stretcher to put Rainer on. It was an old fashioned one that had to be carried between two people instead of one of the ones on wheels. Nick handed his bag to Ruby and asked her to carry it for him, which she had no problem doing. She wished she could shake Rainer awake and have him shift so she could talk to Ryker about this information but tried to bury her rage instead since that was not likely in his condition.

“You know, you being his mate makes sense to me now. After he found you, he demanded to know how you were every hour through mindlink.”

“Mhmm.”

There was no way Ruby was going to say anything more. It only would have come out as screaming. Ryker lying to her hurt even though there was no relationship between them at the moment.

He didn’t have to lie. It’s not like I would have judged him for creating his own pack.

Maybe he thought it would be a way of protecting you?

Why do you say that? I don’t see how that would protect me.

He could have had these people looking after you and reporting back to him. Look at the nights with those men at the club. He always seemed to know when people were coming on to you. We wouldn’t know if they were safe people to be around, but he would.

That means he used mindlink to keep tabs on me.

To protect you. As a mate will do.

Still not okay in my book. He should have told me.

* * *

Deacon and Nickmanaged to cart Rainer all the way to Ryker’s apartment above the club. Ruby was able to assist with opening the doors and such to make a smoother transition. They placed the entire stretcher on the bed and quickly stepped away. Rainer stirred as soon as he was placed onto the bed, and neither one of the males wanted to tango with him when he woke up after being attacked. It did not matter how dominant the wolf was because all of them would be dangerous in that situation.

“I’m going to suggest for you to take a shower and rid our scents off you,” Nick proposed. “Since you two are mates, he is not going to take you smelling like another male when he wakes up well.”

“Good idea. Can you two keep this between us? I don’t need everyone in town knowing that Ryker is my mate, much less that my wolf marked his wolf.”

The two males nodded in agreement and left the apartment. Ruby did what Nick advised and took a shower. It felt like heaven to have the hot, steamy water on her muscles and feel all of the dirt and blood wash away. Her shoulder was stiff, but for the most part healed. She could see the puncture wounds, but there was no longer a gash of any kind from the wolves’ canines.

Ruby had no idea how to sort through the events that happened on the beach. Never in her life would she have seen that betrayal coming. Mack seemed to be a loyal friend. Not once, in the year that Ruby had known her, was she not there for her or made her feel like she didn’t belong. Thinking back to all of the interactions she had with Mack by herself or around Tyson, she would not have suspected that they had a relationship going. So the admittance that she had been scheming the entire time to become the She-Alpha of the Sanction, and trying to find a way to rid Ryker of ever coming back to the pack, had her questioning her ability to trust any person she would ever meet.

What if Tasha and Deacon are the same kind of people? Or Nick? Or even Ryker? I have yet to trust the right person since I left home.

I think you are being too hard on yourself.

How can you possibly say that? I did not see any of the horrible qualities in these people, and I trusted them with my life. Both of them tried to kill me!

That’s the thing you aren’t seeing. You saw the good in them.

And ignored any possible chance that they showed me that they were not someone I should trust at all!

Some people are able to hide the devil inside of them… Sometimes so well that not even the Gods themselves would be able to see the darkness within.

Ruby sighed and stepped out of the shower. She put on her undergarments, a large shirt that would probably fit Ryker, and a pair of shorts underneath. Ruby brushed through the entangled mess that was her hair and braided it before stepping out of the bathroom.

With the level of injuries that Ryker endured from the fight, Ruby thought for sure he would not wake up any time soon, and she would be able to go to bed. When she walked to her room, the door was open, which she always kept closed when she wasn’t in it. She peeked her head into the room and saw Ryker laid out on her bed in a pair of shorts and looking up at the ceiling. Ruby’s breath caught in her throat as she felt her heart stop beating for a moment.

How the hell is he awake already?

“Your wolf marked mine.”

Another gulp as she stayed by the doorway, slightly afraid of taking a step closer.

“I know you are standing out there. You can come in here. I’m not going to bite you.”

Damn. I was kinda hoping he would.

Shut up!

Ruby stepped into the doorway. “Are you mad about that?” she managed to ask.

Ryker lifted his head slightly with his right eyebrow raised in a questioning way. “Scarlett marked Rainer to save our lives. Even if I wanted to be mad, it would be stupid to feel that way.”

“The last time we talked about our bonding situation, you stated that you didn’t want to nurture the bond. Then my wolf marks you, making it official. That doesn’t anger you?”

Ryker pulled himself up with only his abdomen muscles and looked at her. Ruby had to stop herself from moaning at the thought of how he was able to have that much strength to do that in one fluid motion.

“Our wolves are marked. We are not. They are connected. We aren’t. Not yet at least.”

It felt like a bucket of ice water was splashed over her when his words reached her ears. On one hand, he just explained that the bond was still not complete. That would mean that he would still be able to reject her and shatter her heart. On the other hand, his words of “not yet at least” meant that he might not be planning to reject her at all. The anxiety of her trauma from Tyson and Mack swirled inside of her, making her want to vomit.

I can’t even trust my own mate to not betray me.

Ruby tried to banish all the negative thoughts away and focus on the ones that angered her instead as she took a few steps into the room. “This whole ‘not accepting the bond’ thing, and keeping me at bay shit, has got to go. I already had two people I trusted stab me in the back and try to kill me. I need to know something now, or I am finding a way out of here and starting over somewhere that no one knows who I am.” She took a deep breath to settle her nerves. Her heart was pounding knowing she was confronting Ryker and opening herself up to being hurt emotionally right now. “Do you plan to accept the bond between us someday?”

Ryker flashed her his panty dropping smile. “Not someone who wants to play any kind of game, I see.”

“Oh we can play games that will make your dick so hard it hurts for all I care. I just don’t play the emotional ones because I don’t have time for that.”

Ruby noticed Ryker’s pupils flare for a moment as well as him shifting his weight for a moment at the indication of sexual games. Something told her that the admittance that she didn’t mind that kind of thing would come back later and bite her in the ass.

Maybe even literally by Ryker’s response.

Ryker stood on his feet and towered over her. Ruby took a few steps back, and somehow her back ended up against the wall. Ryker had managed to shift his body while taking his steps and basically manipulated her trajectory so this would happen.

Sneaky asshole.

Ryker leaned down so he would be at eye level with her as he put his hands on either side of her. He was so close to her that she was surrounded by his amber and berry scent and felt the heat rolling off him in waves. She had to fight the urge to push her fingers through his hair and pull herself into him. Ruby gulped as his face continued to slowly move into hers, and their lips were nearly touching.

“Nothing,” his lips were skimming over her jaw line, “will stop me,” then just below her ear, “from sinking my teeth,” then just over the middle of her neck, “into that pretty little neck of yours.”

The tip of his tongue licked over the spot that would some day have his mark, and Ruby shivered. She felt her panties getting wet, and she had to fight herself from wrapping her arms and legs around him, begging him to do it all over again. Instead, she kept her palms pressed flat against the wall.

Ryker’s nostrils flared the moment that he smelled her arousal. He smirked at her, kissed the tip of her nose, and then had his lips nearly touching hers again. “Night. Sleep tight.”

The absence of his heat felt like another bucket of water splashing over her head. Ruby panted as she replayed the moment in her head. A growl escaped her lips as her hands formed into fists.

Stupid, Alpha. Want to tease me and think you can get away with it? Two can play this game.