After sending Ryder my location, I saw the headlights of Zander's red truck sooner than what it took for Andrew to drive us here. I hoped more than anything that Ryder wouldn't be petty enough to send Zander to pick me up, but I was relieved to see him hop out of the driver's side to approach me timidly.

"You okay?" he asked me. I only sighed and he removed his sweater before putting it around my shoulders since I hadn't accounted that the temperature would drop so much tonight. When he was done covering me, I quickly took him in a hug around the torso. He was stiff for a fraction of a second before he hugged me back and clung onto me just as much. Even though I was still mad at him for lying to me and embarrassed about all that just happened, I needed this right now. At least being in his arms melted some of my problems away. He pulled away and looked at me sincerely.

"I'm okay," I lied before he would ask me again. I watched him nod without fully believing me, but I recognized that maybe he was doing what I did when he usually shut down on me. Only, I appreciated the passiveness for the moment because I was still wrapping my head around everything. He simply let go of me and opened the passenger side door.

Even though Ryder had picked me up seemingly fast, the car ride back felt painfully long without either of us saying anything—not that the words weren't right there for us to verbalize. I, for one, had a lot to say. And I knew he would too because he was Ryder, not the passive imposter that had been driving tacitly. Maybe I didn't prefer his passiveness on either end of his involvement. And I just conveniently let that thought slip through.

"So are you just gonna make dinner plans every night to avoid me?" he finally asked. I looked over at him, but his eyes stayed on the road.

"You always seem to avoid me when you have a problem," I reminded.

"Yeah but I'm working on that, remember?" he asked and then tried to produce a breathy laugh. "It's generally a bad decision for us to—"

"Yet you think lying to me is better than ignoring me altogether?" I interrupted, causing him to look over at me in short bursts that didn't cause him to crash the truck. "Because I trusted you to be honest with whatever is going on with you, yet you went and—"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he interjected. "You're the one who ditched me Sunday and refused any attempt I had at talking to you—"

"Because you lied."

"I lied?" he asked, incredulously. I think I even heard him laugh. "I ask you to lash out at me for killing someone and that isn't good enough for you, but whatever lie you think I told you warrants me three days without you speaking to me or telling me what's going on? Do you get how crazy that is?"

"It's not crazy."

"It is," he insisted and smiled as if this was all some joke. "Just tell me what's going on with you. I didn't lie."

"You didn't lie?" I asked.

"I didn't lie," he assured.

"Then answer me something."

"Anything."

"Did you or did you not kill Preston?"

"Ash, we've already been over this—"

"Pull over."

"What?"

"Pull the truck over. I'm getting out," I raised my voice, causing him to sigh stressfully. He did as I instructed and pulled the truck into the gravel shoulder of the interstate. When I reached for the handle, he locked the doors. I looked over at him, not at all wanting to put up with any more of his bullshit, but he stared down at the steering wheel.

"I didn't kill Preston," he announced. Finally. Why was that so hard to admit the first time?

"I know," I revealed, causing him to look over at me with his apparently glum eyes. I bet his insides were beating him up right now for me reopening the wound caused by the loss of his best friend and for disappointing me with the lie. Ryder shut off the engine and leaned onto the window with his head in one hand.

"She told you," he assumed in a sigh.

"We figured it out," I rephrased. "I just couldn't figure out why you didn't just tell me."

"I couldn't do that to you," he answered.

"Tell me the truth? Obviously —"

"I couldn't let you see your mother that way," he corrected and finally looked over at me. "The Monday when we talked, I was going to tell you everything, but then she showed up on your porch. All I knew was that she was the one who killed Preston and you said you didn't know her, so I did what I had to, to protect you. But when you said she was your mom...I didn't want to ruin your hopes at a relationship with her because of what she did."

"So you rather ruin ours," I asked or assumed.

"Did I?" he asked me and we were at a checkmate situation. "Because I'm pretty sure you seemed like you forgave me when I did tell you I killed him. Not to mention, you thought I was innocent according to Collin and Andrew—"

"You still lied."

"For your own good!"

"Lying to me will never be for my own good, Ryder," I raised my voice. I couldn't understand how he thought covering up a murder was beneficial to either of us. I opened the door and hopped out of the truck, but he was quick to do the same and approach me after rounding the front of the cab.

"I didn't want you to think badly of your mom," he assured and grabbed my waist. But now, I was feeling a tear slide down my face. He reached a hand up to wipe it away and I knew it hurt him. "And something in me figured you couldn't think any worse of me."

"Maybe you're wrong," I told him.

"What?"

I removed his grip on me and took a step back.

"Maybe you're bad for me. I mean you admitted you killed someone and even though I thought you were innocent, I forgave you for it," I revealed. "And you knew I would. That's dangerous, Ryder."

"That's love."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is," he insisted and raised his voice before finally snapped. "God, Ashlynn—"

"You tell me you killed your best friend and then let me walk around for a week thinking you're someone terrible enough to cause enough damage to make your stomach weak at the sight of what she did to him," I hissed. "Everyone relied on whatever destiny it was that dictated your superiority in leadership and then you go and exploit your ability to just kill whoever you deem guilty. You think anyone in this town is actually okay with that? Because they aren't, and yet I let myself look stupid defending you against Stormy and Trevor and—"

Suddenly, he had stepped forward and yanked me into him in order to crash his lips upon mine. The embrace was full of passion that I wanted to return to him, but it also involved enough turmoil to make me pull away.

"Thank you," he told me with a stammer. "I know that this is hard for you, believe me I didn't want to put you through this, but what was I supposed to do, Ashlynn? Natalie is your mom and I didn't want your first impression of her to be some murdering lunatic. And more than that, if everyone found out that I didn't kill Preston, don't you think there would be a war on our hands? A lone wolf has no right to come into town and do as she pleases. Especially not in a situation like this." I hadn't thought about the option as to if everyone found out Natalie killed. She would've already been dead if the Tyriette Tribe knew. Ryder hesitantly reached his hand back up to my face and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. "Nothing has changed with me. I promise you that. I just didn't want to ruin your mom's image for you. I'll make it up to you. I promise."

I grabbed his hand that was on my face and just sighed, reluctantly accepting his apology. Even though that was just one problem dissolving away that probably weighed on me the most, I still stressed over Andrew's relationship and how I messed up Stella's and—

"What's going on?" Ryder asked me in general because he felt the conflicts within me as much as I did. I just gazed at him. "You don't think I'm just going to be okay with whoever stranded you out here alone, do you?"

"No one stranded me," I produced a weak laugh. Ryder winced into a hardened look. "I left."

"From where?"

"Meena Leonard's house," I answered. Ryder looked around briefly before revealing that he had no idea what that meant. It was frustrating thinking of how to explain everything. I didn't know how he could avoid me when he had problems and then handle my questions because I was overwhelmed with stressing over these goddamn situations that I wanted to yell at him in frustration, but it wasn't his fault for not knowing what was happening. "I was supposed to be having dinner with her family and Andrew, but...God, I'm so stupid—"

Ryder took me in a tight hug in my aggravation because he knew I needed the comfort and his patience.

"I should've just invited you like I was supposed to," I whined in his chest. He pulled away and looked down at me with a confused grin.

"No worries," he shrugged. "Maybe you didn't want your murderous boyfriend sitting in just anyone's house to meet the future in-laws," he joked, but I didn't crack a smile. His soon fell.

"Don't say in-laws," I ordered. "And you know, after they ridiculed my family and disrespected imprinting, maybe I could've used the illusion of my murderous boyfriend," I ranted quickly in an exclamation that caused him to widen his eyes.

I looked at him, trying not to lash out for his ignorance, but composed myself. I ended up recounting the exchange in conversation between me and Meena's family. Ryder's face was confused and angry the whole time because until I revealed exactly who the Leonards were, he was didn't fully grasp how they would know anything about my family or imprinting. But the fact that they were longstanding werewolves made him more furious for disregarding a sacred bond for something as shallow and temporary as power. I think that fact along with a huge family pack rolling into town right outside the border was what drove him crazy on every Alpha level possible. Splitting up Meena and Andrew was the least of his worries; he was focused on not being overrun by greedy wolves.