After all the boys had left, it was just me, Ryder, Zander, and Merida sharing a late lunch together. While Merida talked about the drama unfolding at work or informed her sons about the belated condolences from her extended family or friends about Marc, Ryder's eyes stayed down to his food and Zander kept glancing at me with a contained smirk. Even though it was Ryder who could read my thoughts and sense my feelings, it was Zander who could anticipate the chaos raging inside me. Suddenly, I just placed my fork down and sighed while looking at Ryder. I thought it would challenge him to set aside his pride and talk to me about what the hell he just ordered of his pack, but his eyes immediately met mine, void of guilt or apology. The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

Even Merida began glancing between me and her son, noting something was going on and she was about to excuse herself from the table if it wasn't for her motherly ways keeping her here for the fallout.

"Say what you need to say," Ryder said to me.

"Ryder," Merida chastised for maybe his tone towards me, but to me, there was no tone. It was just him being cut and dry which is what we needed because Lord knows we were always emotionally charged. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe she just didn't like her son to be so uncouth. He looked over at her with the same expression though.

"You told me I should communicate more with her, so I am," he responded. "She's the one about to silently explode at this table because she thinks her speaking up is gonna hurt my feelings or something."

"I don't care about hurting your feelings."

That's why you're my mate, he thought proudly, but the alpha in front of me settled with: "Then go ahead," he challenged and sat back onto his chair with his arms crossed.

"Do you really think staging a war is really the best option?"

"No."

No? "Then why are you doing it? Yeah, the Leonards are assholes and my brother is impulsive, but come on—"

"What do you expect—"

"Let her finish," Ryder told his brother.

"Tyriette is too small to have a dozen wolves raging through it."

"We have more than a dozen," Ryder frowned. I glared at his sass.

"Two dozen confirmed, I think," Zander added. I rolled my eyes. "And that was an hour ago."

"Boys," Merida said. Their smirks dropped but Ryder remained looking at me once more. He waved his hand in circles as if asking for more complaints from me.

"Two dozen on your side, another from the Leonards, and then Andrew and Aaron and now Evan and maybe—"

"Is that everyone?" Ryder turned up his nose. I blinked incredulously. "I'm just trying to get an accurate count in my head. Strategy."

That's it. I stood from the table and then Ryder finally snapped out of his pretentious throne and stood as well.

"Wait," he pleaded. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not."

"You're right. I'm not," he reluctantly admitted and then nodded for us to sit back down. I reluctantly obliged. His straightforward honesty was infuriating and attractive all at the same time.

"He's not going to apologize because he's not giving you his battle strategies," Zander excused.

"No, he's not going to apologize because he isn't sorry," I corrected. Then my eyes found Ryder's. "I don't think it has anything to do with strategy, so what is it? Is it about Andrew doing one thing behind your back for once or me talking to Lee this morning or what?"

Now, Zander really fought to control his excitement. Ryder was shaken from his entertained demeanor for his brother; he was now set in his jaw and angry. I finally struck a nerve hard enough for him to stop acting passively.

"Now that you mention it, yeah I am frustrated with Andrew and I'm extremely uneasy about you being in any vicinity with Lee especially without me knowing, so since you brought it up..."

"Here we go."

"I have one question for you."

"Shoot," I challenged. If there wasn't a table between us, we would both be standing toe-to-toe with our arms crossed, neither of us willing to back down.

"Whose side are you on?" he inquired.

That's when I surrendered. The question crossed the line. I simply looked over at Merida.

"Merida, this meal was lovely. Sorry we had to ruin it," I said to her before standing up. In my exit of putting my dishes in the sink, I heard Ryder groan before he slid his chair back to chase me. I let him catch up to me once we were outside and he even closed the front door.

"This time I'm actually sorry," he said honestly. "I said I'm sorry—"

"You should be," I told him. "You said you'd never make me choose between you and my brother," I recalled. It seemed like forever ago when it was just a few weeks.

"And I told you that if you think I'm making you choose, then break up with me," he added. Both statements were true, but I didn't know what was worse. Was he really making me choose sides, or was he calling my bluff knowing that I wouldn't break up with him?

Rock, meet hard place.

"Gah!" I finally exclaimed and paced a short distance to get away from him and his gravity. I could physically feel the anxiety coursing throughout my body.

Ryder sighed. "For the record, I'm not making you choose between us. I was just asking a question," he says because he knows deep down I had a high chance of choosing him. "But..."

"But?" I asked and then watched him take slow steps towards me. His hands found their way to my waist and he looked down at me as if we weren't just bickering back and forth. In this moment, I didn't want him touching me at all, that's how mad I was.

"But I'm glad you didn't answer," he admitted. Why would he be glad? Because that means I still have loyalty to my family? Or because he doesn't want a complete pushover for a mate? Either way, it made me feel sick to my stomach about the situation that could ultimately be avoided.

"I'm not fighting for either of you."

"I know," he said. "That's why I'm glad you haven't picked a side," he revealed. "I don't want you anywhere near the battle."

"Battle?" I quoted. "You're serious about this," I muttered to myself. "War" wasn't just a term for the quarreling alphas that could be solved by passive monitoring of each other in a pissing contest of who has the most wolves; they were actually going to fight each other.

"Of course I'm serious about this," he said with more conviction than the time when he confessed to murder. It turned my stomach even more and he grabbed my warm face with one hand. "We're not as focused on hurting the Everton pack much. We're more focused on the Leonards whose numbers are probably thin considering they're spread out and they haven't found Meena so—"

I finally pulled away with repugnance and saw the pain flash across his face. He looked down at me with the same expression I had towards him because while I was disgusted with what he just said, he was offended with my rejection of him. "What?"

"Do you hear yourself?" I asked him. "'We won't hurt your pack much.' 'We're more focused on the Leonards' because they're an easy target wandering around Tyriette trying to find Meena..." I quoted and paraphrased before I wondered about something. "Wait, do you know where she is?"

"Why would I know where she is?"

"I don't know. Seems like a good way to set yourself ahead for whatever strategy you and Zander have been planning all day by creating a delay," I responded, feeling like I didn't know the boy standing in front of me.

"Ash, you know I wouldn't do that."

"Do I?" I wondered. "Because all of this is beneath you. You don't need to fight a pack of posers or my family to prove who you are and that your pack is as strong as it is. It doesn't matter what Lee says or who Andrew Bites. You're better than that." His brown eyes looked at me and his jaw was tightly shut to prevent him from lashing out on me like he would with Stella. I didn't know if he was angry or sorry or indifferent because he had closed down a thick wall between me and his feelings that I "couldn't hurt." I hoped he was relishing in the chastisement like a toddler learning a hard lesson and accepting the tough love. So when he continued being tacit, I began to leave. Every step I took was a crack to his guarded heart and I felt our guilt combining so much that I looked up at him from my car. It didn't matter if he was feeling guilty right now because he was the one not budging to move. So I called up to him, even though he was watching my every move. "You said breaking up with you is reasonable when you're making me choose between you and Andrew, but expecting me to sit back and be neutral like your actions don't affect me seems a better reason."

***

I got home with the heaviest weight on my heart. I wanted to run upstairs and bathe away my worries and stress that the full moon was gifting me with this month, but that was before I laid my eyes on Andrew. Then, it was my stress turning into anger. I didn't even care Cassandra was sitting in the living room.

"Sign the Treaty," were the only three words I told him with the kitchen counter separating us. He took a bite of his pizza while turning up his nose.

"You've been gone all day with Ryder and that's all he managed to come up with?" he asked with his mouth full. "That's pathetic—"

"It isn't him saying it; it's me," I assured. "Sign the Tyriette Pact and this will all blow over. The packs can combine, Trevor and the Donahues will have loyalty to you and—"

"What if I don't want to combine? What if I don't need their loyalty?"

"I don't give a shit,"

"Hey," Cassandra finally intervened. She walked over to us in question. "What's going on here?"

"Andrew decided it's okay to Bite whoever he wants without respecting a lasting treaty and—"

"And Ashlynn's boyfriend decided to declare war on us because of it—"

"No, it's because he shouldn't have to worry about you when he has the Leonards running around claiming territory that isn't theirs!"

"It isn't even Ryder's territory to take claim over, so I think the point is moot," Andrew reminded.

"You can't even manage your own girlfriend phasing and you think you can handle your own pack and all this territory? Yeah right!"

"Meena phased?" Cassandra asked, but it was lost beneath our argument.

"Oh please. Like that means anything—"

"It does mean something," I hissed. "It's enough for Ryder to get his pack and declare war on you and the Leonards," I announced and then immediately understood why Ryder wouldn't trust me with his "strategy."

"Okay what is going on?" Cassandra asked when Andrew dropped the crust of his pizza and scoffed at my revelation.

"He's going to war with you," I repeated in a more threatening tone. "You and the Leonards."

"Is he now?" Andrew asked before rolling his eyes and picking up another slice of pizza to eat.

"Not if you sign the pact and promise you'll be on his side when—"

"Be on his side?" Andrew laughed. "Who said I'd want to be on his side?"

"Isn't it obvious? He has the training and the numbers and—"

"Where's your faith, little sis?" he joked.

"This isn't some game, Drew," I muttered. "You're going to lose if you don't—"

"Sign the pact? Be on his side?" he finished before closing the pizza box and taking it under his arm. "I'll take my chances." He began retreating to his room.

"You're gonna lose if you don't sign it," I simply said and it caused him to stop. I walked around to face him. I couldn't read his expression when I looked to his face. "Ollie isn't here. Evan is brand new. Aaron is...Aaron and still has PTSD from his time as a wolf. Ryder is your best bet."

"And what about you?" he finally asked.

"What about me? I'm as inexperienced as they come."

He pursed his lips and shrugged at that last bit. "I can't disagree with that, but I just want to clear something up," he responded just as Ryder had not even an hour ago. "Whose side are you on?"

I kept my mouth shut for three seconds and I was no stranger to the disappointed look on his face.

"So there's my answer," he assumed and began backing up towards his room.

"Andrew—"

"Just save it, Ashlynn," he finally raised his voice and flashed his golden eyes. I even expected to feel a coolness run through me at his Command, but felt nothing but disappointment in myself. "Just...shut up," he repeated in a lower volume. There was disillusionment, anger, and betrayal written all across his face. He fought hard to control it all. "If you're on his side, say you're on his side," he hissed and then his eyes returned to a deep hazel. "I better not see you on that battlefield or I'll kill Ryder myself."

He backed away from me and slid the pizza box on an adjacent counter before circling around to the front door.

"Andrew, wait, where are you going?" Cassandra followed him. By now, they were outside and my eyes were filled with tears.

"I'm gonna try to find Meena. I think I know where she might be," I heard him answer. "After that, I have some alliances to make."