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Bringing up Shane’s betrayal is one surefire way to make Ryker bleed without using my claws. Not only because he’s furious with himself for not seeing what was under his nose the whole time, but because he has to deal with the knowledge that his trusted Beta made a move on his intended mate.
Of course I know that Mountainside doesn’t have a true Beta. Like alphas and omega, betas aren’t as common as you would think. Most packmates are a mix of deltas and gammas and, as such, most of his inner circle are delta wolves. Though he’s sure he can trust the other seven members of his pack council, none of them are betas so none of them can fulfill that open spot in the pack’s hierarchy.
His father’s old Beta had stepped down when Henry Wolfson had his accident more than a year and a half ago. For now, he’s slipped back into the role, but only until Ryker finds a replacement.
So, yeah. Sore subject all the way around.
And because, deep down, Ryker is as jealous an alpha as I am, he immediately turns around with a low blow of his own.
He crosses his arms over his bare chest. “Filan.”
I tense. “What about him?”
“You’re still waiting for him to come back. That’s why you won’t move back to Accalia. Why you insist on staying here. You want him to come back to you.”
That’s not just low. He’s scraping the basement with that one.
“Don’t you dare, Ryker. Don’t you dare try to pull this shit on me.”
His jaw clenches. “Yes or no, Gemma. Answer the question.”
He wants to do this? Right now?
Fine.
“Then no. I’m not.”
He whooshes a breath out through gritted teeth. “You’re lying.”
I am. Of course I am. I told Ryker what he wanted to hear, and I hoped he would accept it and just let it go. We don’t need to have this fight—again.
Still, I’m not even a little surprised that he called me out. If Shane can be believed, it’s an alpha thing, being able to sense when someone else is lying. I’ve always been able to myself, but it wasn’t until I really started to spend a lot of time around Ryker that I realized that he can tell, too.
But only when it’s a bald-faced lie. That’s how Shane was able to trick the both of us. He never actuallyliedlied until the night he helped me escape a feral Ryker suffering from moon fever and tried to sell the whole Trish and Ryker story hard. He was lying, but it didn’t matter that I knew. He was ready to reveal his true colors that night and he did.
Before that, he must’ve been careful to twist his words. Aleks was able to do something similar. He made me think what he wanted me to, and it wasn’t until Ryker showed up that I discovered just how much Aleks was hiding from me in the hopes that I would eventually fall in love with him.
I love him, but I’m not in love with him. Iamwaiting for him if only because I’m not just going to leave Muncie without seeing him again. I thought Ryker understood that.
Guess not.
“You wanted me to trust you when it came to Trish,” I remind him, “but you won’t do the same for me.”
“He’s in love with you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Are you telling me that Trish wasn’t in love with you?”
I hate it when Ryker brings up Trish. But Ryker? He hates it just as much when I throw her in his face.
Oh, well. He deserves it.
“That’s not the same thing and you know it.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Gemma…”
I bat my eyes up at him. “Yes?”
