The next day was rather odd. Of course, Ryder and I weren't exactly talking—despite his attempts at trying to have a conversation with me—because I wasn't ready to truly embrace the entirety of how blinded by love I was for his huge lie about Preston. And I knew the fable had extended to the pack because they had been teasing us all day with some unknown lover's quarrel instead of trying to defend his actions. If they knew the truth, they'd have a problem with anyone but Ryder killing off their ex-Beta. Even Colin tried rationalizing whatever we were going through, thinking it was still the same as earlier in the week about our sex life. He was more confused than ever because to him, Ryder had been fine up until the funeral before I completely ditched him without word. He was sure to tell me that Ryder freaked out Sunday night at my absence until Aaron said he saw me leave with Andrew. After that, Ryder told him he trusted me and I deserved to put distance between us until I was ready, despite the numerous times of me telling him not to do that.

I guess it didn't stop Ryder from trying to purposely run into me during school and strike up a conversation until I would walk off with one of my friends after stammering some excuse that I couldn't talk to him. It wasn't like he'd be up to address werewolf issues with humans around. It was somewhat difficult though, because I had to cash in my relationships with the friends I had through Stella...who was definitely aloof during school hours despite Trevor not even being here. But it didn't matter how well I could push everything from my mind during the school day because I found myself dropping my stuff off at home before taking off on a run—careless to the fact that I had already worked out thoroughly during athletics.

Without (literally) running into Ryder or even catching Natalie's scent, I had jogged all over town and ended up back on my street, ready to just call it a day before I would hound any of the Donahues with questions about my mom's whereabouts. It was honestly as if she vanished after revealing her ugly truth. But as much as I wanted to right her wrongs, a car pulling into the driveway of Cassandra's house reminded me that there were other issues going on in Tyriette that I could control more than a situation that already happened.

"See you later," I was hearing Meena say reaching over the passenger side window to say to the driver. She jogged over to the house's front door without looking in my direction. I slowed to a walk when I was about to cross the sidewalk at the base of the driveway. The orange and black muscle car stopped when it was even with me and I watched the driver side window slowly roll down to reveal a handsome boy with dark eyes that sized me up. I could smell the werewolf scent all over him, but instead of either of us addressing it, he just nodded over to the short line of cars on the other side of the driveway.

"Is that your blue Shelby? It's nice," he said. I only nodded because I didn't feel I owed him an audible response. I didn't know what it was, but his presence moved me the wrong way. He only smirked. "I'll see you around," he concluded before continuing to back up into the street and drive off. One thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't looking forward to whenever we'd meet again—whoever he was.

I entered the house to see Andrew and Meena releasing from an embrace I had to control myself from rolling my eyes at. My intentions were to just go upstairs to shower and do homework and pay them no mind.

"Hey," Andrew said and I thought maybe he was addressing Meena, but then he repeated the greeting once more to cause me to stop after grabbing a water bottle from the kitchen. I looked over to see him and Meena looking over at me. "Cass called to say she picked up an extra shift at work so she won't be here for dinner and I thought I would order a pizza and invite Meena over."

"Okay?"

Andrew sighed at my rudeness. I didn't know why he was telling me this even though he had been such a menace in the past week or so. "Ash," he named. What? "Eat dinner with us." Part of me waited for the coolness to flow within me to confirm that he was commanding me as an Alpha, but it didn't happen. This was a brother wanting his sister to meet his girlfriend. So I reluctantly obliged, despite not actually wanting Meena to be his girlfriend.

***

This was the first time I really had any association with Meena Leonard. Even though she was quite the extrovert, most of the girls I knew thought she was some flirtatious slut instead of just a social butterfly. Though Stella defended her, none of us interacted with her anyways. Her beauty was just as prominent as her loud voice and her hair was as big as her personality. Thankfully, she and Andrew weren't forcing me into a third-wheeling position all night, but I could tell Meena was speaking out and talking the most to not only try to impress me, but to also entertain the intrigued look Andrew always gave her. I wanted to be happy for him, but I just couldn't.

"Wait, you have a boyfriend, right, A? I can call you 'A' right?" Meena suddenly asked, making me feel like I missed out on a chunk of conversation.

"No," I said and her permanent smile was contradicting her worried frown. I actually felt bad about it by how pure her question was. "...about calling me 'A.'" That seemed to lighten her mood a bit. "But yes, I have a boyfriend."

I noticed Andrew look down and contain a sigh.

"You should've invited him," Meena suggested. "For once, we have extra pizza leftover. We could've tackled the rest of it if we had an extra person."

"Yeah," Andrew said and his eyes met mine. "You should've invited him," he agreed and I didn't know what he was getting at until he asked the next question. "So what's Ryder up to these days?"

I shrugged. "I don't know," I said honestly. "You tell me."

"What's that mean?"

"Exactly what I said," I told him. "I haven't really talked to him since Sunday."

"Sunday?" Meena asked with incredulousness. My eyes widened. "That's a long time."

"It's two days..." That was nothing. We've gone longer without talking or even seeing each other. But her reaction made a lot of sense considering she and Andrew had spent every day together since their first date. I know Ryder and I were seemingly attached at the hip, but we weren't. Andrew and Meena's interactions were unhealthily clingy from my perspective.

"How long have you two been going out?" she asked.

"Since July," I revealed and narrowed my eyes. "No big deal."

"No big deal?" she laughed in disbelief. Finally, her smile actually fell. "The girls around here are beautiful and you're just okay with leaving him on his own to not be on his own?"

"That's not really a problem with us, so yeah..."

"I mean, it isn't with us either," she grabbed Andrew's hand, "but I wouldn't just go without talking to him for days."

I shrugged. "That's because you two just got together and he's really the only person you know here," I analyzed. I had mentioned how social she was with everyone, but that didn't mean anyone truly knew her or vice versa.

"That's true, but I'm not complaining," she took it on the bright side and smiled over at Andrew. I wanted to roll my eyes at the sickening reality that this girl was head over heels for Andrew in a disgusting way that didn't make sense. Ryder and I weren't this all over each other and not this mushy—but even if we were, at least we were mates and had an excuse. These two weren't mates and it was repulsive to me. They clung on desperately to each other with no destined security. "So how did you and Ryder meet? You only got here this summer, so—"

"We met at a lake party..."

She looked intently at me and propped her head on her hand to listen to the rest of our story.

"Don't act shy now," Andrew told me. "You shoved Ryder down our throats for weeks when you first got together—you still do. No need to hold back now."

I rolled my eyes. It wasn't that I didn't want to brag about me and Ryder's relationship, but I didn't want to brag to Meena about us. But maybe I should. Maybe I could describe just how beautiful an imprint is so she would realize she and Andrew could never have it. And that's what I did.

I was sure to notice that with every millimeter of growth in Meena's smile increased, Andrew looked more worried. Not for my strong connection with Ryder that no one could change, but because I had set high standards for his own relationship that Fate didn't side with.

***

Hours later, I was simply upstairs in my room doing some homework and left the couple downstairs to do their own bidding. Suddenly, there were a couple knocks on the threshold of my door and I looked over to see Meena.

"Wow, your room looks so cool. I love the purple," she complimented. Even though she could've been genuine, I couldn't completely trust her intentions. Maybe she just wanted to win me over because I was her boyfriend's sister.

"Thanks," I replied.

"Ryder helped you with it right?" she asked and I swear I saw her contain herself from entering the room to feel the walls herself.

"Yup," I answered, not at all interested in having a conversation with her. I wanted to think to Andrew asking why she was up here in the first place.

"Well I thought tonight was fun," she began. I nodded silently because I didn't want to incriminate myself for not enjoying it. Then, I heard Andrew climb the stairs and appear behind her.

"Ready to go?" he asked her.

"I was just going to invite Ashlynn to dinner tomorrow," Meena revealed. What?

"Aren't I supposed to meet your family tomorrow?" Andrew frowned. They've been going out for two weeks and she wanted him to meet her family already?

"Yeah, but Ashlynn is your family so how cool would it be for them to meet her too?" she smiled and quickly kissed his cheek. I had to control myself from rolling my eyes. Her family probably just wanted us in the room to size up whatever power-trip competition they had in town. "You can even invite Ryder if you want. I have a big family; we always have loads of food. The more, the merrier." Now I knew for sure it was about power. Both Alphas and the one girl related to them both over for dinner?

"I guess," Andrew muttered. Even though I was unable to trust Meena, I wondered if it was just her or just her family's reputation. In either case, I couldn't really judge without getting to know her or them. Maybe I could use this to my advantage. "I don't think she—"

"I'm in," I forged a smile.

"Really?" the both of them asked, Meena with an eager smile and Andrew with a skeptical scowl.

"After all, we're family," I sneered. Maybe my presence there would cause not only the Leonards, but also Andrew to realize that our families weren't meant to be together. The Leonards claimed wealth and false senses of supremacy, but I was an Everton: the family of true power.

***************
Author's note (12/2019): I'll just go ahead and apologize now for not having this book and series done. While my first semester of grad school in a new state has been academically fine, my personal/family life has been through the absolute ringer this year so I've been neglecting my writing. Therefore, this story has been on a hold. I can upload a couple more chapters but the rest will be hopefully added after winter break (~Jan/Feb) so bear with me please and thanks for reading!