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“Jax, take Ruby home,” he orders.
Jax glares at him and turns around. Every fiber of my being tells me to run after him, take my woman from his arms, but Ryder has me pinned to the spot. His anger radiates off him like a heat off a fire.
As soon as Jax drives away with my mate, he turns me around forcefully and places his forehead on mine. His eyes are fierce, and I cower under the power of the Alpha.
“You told me nothing happened, Brother,” Ryder says, directly into my face, and my flight or fight instincts kick in full gear.
I try to pull away and run but Rachel blocks me in, petting the cat with her eyes narrowed.
“If you ask me, it sounds like your Beta had a rendezvous with the enemy’s most guarded treasure,” she says, eyebrow raising.
Ryder growls, loud and ominous, and pushes me to my knees.
“The truth. Now,” he orders.
I sigh, shoulders dropping. I’ll tell him only what Cole saw and heard. I have to protect my mate’s reputation.
“I was hunting for the pup—”
“And failing,” Ryder interrupts.
I flinch, he’s not wrong. I hadn’t found even a trace or a hint of a smell.
“I went onto enemy territory, thinking they must have done something to the kid. There was a snowstorm, an accident, I helped Ruby out of her jeep. I tried to escort her home, but the storm was too intense. We took shelter, but we needed food. I went out to hunt and she followed me. A bear caught her scent and…well hell, what was I supposed to do? Let her die?”
Rachel's face said that’s exactly what I should have done, and Ryder lets go of my shoulders and walks around me to stand next to her. His face is shadowed in doubt, I can tell he knows there's more, but as my friend he’s trying to believe me.
“Chalk it up to hero syndrome or some shit, I saved her and she fell in love. She’s practically a pup herself, so sheltered she’s probably never been kissed!” I laugh and Ryder crouches in front of me, his long hair falling to the sides of his face as he strokes his trimmed beard.
“Explain why you acted the way you did then, breaking the peace of this safe place and trying to take out the Silver Dawn Beta?” he demands.
I gulp, hard, and his sharp eyes see it. I know he’s calculating my every twitch, every drop of sweat running down my brow.
“I’d do the same for any woman,” I say, truthfully. “He picked her up like she was a stolen thing, baring her for everyone to see. It wasn’t right.” I clench my fists, thinking about all the people who saw my woman naked. Exposed in a way she should only ever be when she’s bent over for me.
“If she comes back I’ll scar that pretty face, so you better tell your little girlfriend to back off. Get her shit in order and choose a mate from her own pack. You belong to us, not some hoity toity pampered brat.” Rachel spins on her heel, depositing the cat on a bar stool and leaves the bar in a huff.
Bob and Cookie watch her go, then bend over and pick up the pieces of the shattered table while Bob curses under his breath.
“Listen to me, Chase,” Ryder says as he stands and holds out his hand to pull me to my feet. “If there’s something else happening here you need to put an end to it. Nothing good will come from this.”
He doesn’t say another word, he walks out of the bar after his sister with Cookie watching him sadly.
I sigh and collapse back in my booth, my head in my hands. Ruby never should have come here, but my heart swells with love for her. She risked exposing everything for me. I think about the way she looked as she tried to face off with Rachel. It was endearing but terrifying. Rachel is a seasoned warrior, scarred and tattooed to tell her story, facing off with her was about as foolish as facing that bear.
Then I remember Jax, and what he said.
I’m going to have to kill him, it’s the only answer to this. Kill him and take what’s mine. My mind churns with all the things I’ll do to him for his finger nearly close enough to sink inside her. I’ll bite the fucking finger off first.
Two mugs of frothing beer slam down on the table in front of me and I blink in surprise as Bob sits down across from me.
“Don’t say a damn thing, just listen,” he says, sipping his beer and watching me with a grandfatherly eye. He’s kinda the pack uncle for both sides, but old enough to be my grandpa. “That girl is trouble, trouble for you, for your pack. Very obviously trouble for my bar. Her mother was the same way, wild and free and feeling every emotion with her whole heart.”
Bob sighs, looking off into the distance as he remembers. His long gray shaggy hair falls over his eyes and he grins into his beer.
“Trust me when I say no woman is worth half the amount of trouble you’re going through. Pick Isobelle, pick Marie, hell you could get away happily picking Grace. You cannot pick Ruby Richardson, no matter how pretty and pert her ass is.”
With one furious movement, I sweep the table with my good arm, knocking both beers off the table and shattering the glass as I grab Bob’s collar and growl.
