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With my luck, he’ll decide to show up again in the middle of me and Ryker fucking like bunnies in the apartment.
That, if nothing else, has me shoving him in the chest.
Like Aleks, I need some space. Just a little.
I know how to get it, too.
“You were telling me about Trish. Please,” I murmur. “It would be so easy for you to kiss me again and make me forget. But I have to know. Please, Ryker.”
It amazes me how different things are. I remember when, once upon a time, I choked out a please and Ryker accepted it as his due.
Now?
He just nods, and says, “Trish knew. She knew you were a born alpha. When she told me, I pretended I didn’t know, then I acted as if it was impossible. She had proof, Gem. It caught me off guard, and when she said she’d tell everyone if I didn’t keep my distance from you, I thought I could keep you separated until I could figure out where she was getting her information from.”
“And then you became Alpha,” I guessed. “And you had to take a mate.”
Ryker sighs. I get it, too. The only way an Alpha gets the gig is by taking over for the last one. He could’ve challenged his father for the position, or he could’ve waited for him to die. “Right. And they all thought it would be Trish because she was obvious that that’s what she wanted.”
Obvious is an understatement. Up until Ryker told me that he didn’t actually choose Trish, I was convinced he had.
Even then, I was having a hard time believing he really wanted me.
I still do.
“I don’t get it, though. Why did it matter what she threatened to do?” Hell, after a lifetime of guarding it fiercely, I gave up my own secret for Ryker’s sake. “She blackmailed you over nothing.”
“Not nothing,” Ryker responds fiercely. “Do you think I don’t know what would happen if it got out that you were an alpha? How many challenges I’d have to fight to get you? I’m a calculating bastard, sweetheart, and I didn’t like those odds. I had one thing on my side. I knew you were meant to be mine. I always knew. I was hoping you knew it too, since it’s an alpha thing. I was hoping our bond was strong enough that, if I was forced to reject you to keep your secret, you’d forgive me eventually.”
Right. And what did I do instead?
I almost tore his heart out of his chest, and then I bolted. Thanks to Aleks’s fang, I managed to hide from Ryker for over a year.
Whoops.
I duck my head, pressing my lips to his chest. I kiss the nearest mark. I think it’s from my pointer finger.
Looking up at him again, I give him a crooked grin. “Aren’t you glad that I didn’t rip this out when I had the chance?”
“Why? It’s yours, Gem. It’s always been yours. Take it if you want. I gave it to you a long time ago.”
I blink. “Ryker—”
A shadow darkens his ruggedly handsome features. “I know where Shane is.”
My jaw clicks shut. Okay. After that solemn declaration, I didn’t expect him to change the subject so quickly. But, yeah, he’s definitely got my attention.
“What? Where?”
Ryker lifts his hand, smoothing the top of my hair. “You want to know why I kicked Trish out? For the same reason that I’m gonna need a new Beta. He’s been two-timing me. He gave his loyalty to a new Alpha long before you came to Accalia for the first time.”
My stomach sinks. I don’t have to ask, I can already guess I know the answer, and still—
“Who?”
“Wicked Wolf Walker.”
Luna damn it!
