Ryder was sent to the police station. Evan was sent to the hospital. Since Andrew got involved, he received in school suspension for the day after being in the assistant principal's office. I was certainly brought into the counselor's office and lied my ass off about what happened because I didn't want to reveal so much what Evan did because I had to protect the obvious werewolf secret but I also didn't want to say so little that Ryder looked like a crazy, possessive boyfriend considering the school was required to report any signs of abuse on a minor. They didn't pry enough to make me turn up my sleeves...and they thankfully couldn't see my migraine. I honestly didn't know what the counselor thought when I left her office.

Of course, Colin was waiting to escort me to class in place of Ryder while being sure to send everyone threatening vibes that said "do not approach us." Everywhere I went, I was accompanied by one of the boys, which I didn't really enjoy because they weren't Ryder or Dakota or my brother. At lunch, I sat with Colin, Kelvan, and surprisingly Brett (who was skipping one of his classes for some reason), but I didn't fail to notice Stormy and Aaron sharing looks together and Bailee glaring at me from the cheerleader table with a curious Stella.

Suddenly, as if I needed anything else to worry about, Trevor sat down with us. I already knew he had been having conversations with Stormy all day.

"What's going on?" Trevor asked. The boys shared a look while silently continuing to eat. "I know there's some stupid three way war thing going on, but Ryder's better than whatever happened this morning. That was personal. Evan isn't even involved in whatever Alpha-ego-fest is going on."

"There is no war," Colin rejected. I guess Ryder was serious yesterday when he said he wouldn't fight Andrew in the conventional sense, but this stemmed from outside forces. Colin didn't even need to mention how Evan was technically involved in the "Alpha-ego-fest" going on.

"What Ryder did was justified," Brett defended to address Trevor's latter comment. His grey eyes flashed to mine briefly before looking back to Trevor. "Imprint's Law."

Trevor rolled his eyes. "I'm a..." he glanced around, "...vampire, remember? I don't know what that means—"

"Then stay out of it," Brett decided. Trevor scoffed at the young wolf and looked to Colin who was at my side.

"I have a right to know," Trevor said. "Full disclosure—"

"It doesn't have anything to do with you so screw your precious 'full disclosure.'"

"It doesn't? Then why is my girlfriend getting her ear talked off and shoulder cried on from Bailee because Ryder almost killed her boyfriend this morning?"

"Ask your new best friend Andrew who decided to bite Evan in the first place," Kelvan suggested and Colin snapped him a look.

"He what?"

"Andrew bit Evan after your party, which is also the same night Meena phased," I explained because I knew Colin wouldn't snap at me for the revelation like he would to the boys. Plus, maybe giving Trevor information would make him leave faster.

"And that leads into Evan being sent to the hospital how...?"

"He put his hands on Ashlynn last night," Brett informed. "Now he'll answer to the Imprint's Law."

"What the hell does that mean?!" Trevor groaned in frustration as I wondered it for myself. I wasn't totally familiar with what it was, no matter how much Brett had defended it all day along with Miles Cameron, who defended Ryder's honor to people swearing he [Ryder] was just back to his delinquent ways. Though, due to Evan's feuds with Preston, many people thought Evan said something foul about him that caused Ryder to react...but those were just the people who didn't hear about my involvement.

"It means," Brett began, "that Evan broke one of the highest Lycan laws and there's nothing he or his alpha or anyone else can do about it."

Trevor let out an unbelievable laugh. "You guys tell me all the time how you aren't dogs, but you all live with that barbaric eye-for-an-eye law—"

"He hurt his mate for no good reason, so Ryder gets to do what he thinks is right until he answers to the Order," Brett raised his voice. I hadn't heard Brett speak as much as I did today and it was full of passion. I wondered what it stemmed from, but I knew I wouldn't find out now because he stormed off.

"So what happens to Ryder?" Trevor asked. No one answered. His eyes shifted to mine. "I'm sorry for what Evan did, but you don't think what Ryder did was justified do you?"

"It was," Colin spoke up. "It still is."

"Well, good thing you aren't in the Order," Trevor sighed. Colin laughed pathetically.

"The Order really doesn't matter. It's our law in our Tier," Colin explained. "The tribe has a protocol for this, but it isn't worth anything more than a High Law."

"Which says what? 'He whose mate is touched can kill'?"

"More like 'he who touches a Mate can be killed,'" Colin explained and then I knew what that meant before he announced that the Tribe's meeting was already scheduled for tonight. It wouldn't matter if Evan was Andrew's new Beta. It wouldn't matter what the Donahues weighed in. It wouldn't matter that Trevor didn't exactly fancy killings. It wouldn't matter that Ryder had the capacity to justly kill. This was between Evan being on the wrong side of a High Law of the Lycan Tier. And it could get him killed.

***

After school I sat in the lobby of the police station, rolling my eyes every time one of the secretaries rolled her eyes at me. However, rolling my eyes was making my everlasting migraine even worse.

"Samantha, just get my son out of there," I heard Merida order at another receptionist while filling out paperwork. Instead of it being harsh and demanding, she sounded like a stressed mother, ashamed and fatigued at the antics of her son despite already knowing the feeling of having to pull him out of jail. Maybe because Marc was no longer there to really plead his case.

Minutes later, Sherriff Bloomingdale was talking to a distressed Merida while someone was going to escort Ryder out of the holding area at the back of the station.

"I don't know what is going on Carol," Merida muttered. "He was doing so well—better than I thought he would after the funerals...but this?"

"I know," Carol said before taking her in a hug. They pulled away when Ryder was through the last locked door and he immediately made a B-line for me.

"Ryder—" Merida addressed.

Ryder actually paused to look sadly at his mother before ripping his eyes away and continuing in his path towards me. It was then when Merida's fatigue escaped as a weep.

"I think he has some...business...to take care of," Carol told Merida before inviting her office as a distraction. Merida watched after her son as he made it over to me. I stood from my seat.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him, but he only pulled up the sleeves to my flannel shirt to see the healing incisions on my forearms. He looked up to my eyes and his own narrowed as if he saw something. He reached out to my face, but I unconsciously flinched away. He sighed stressfully with a growl in frustration because of how much he hated for me to pull away from him...let alone when we considered all he risked today plus his true intentions of wanting to heal me. I grabbed his hand with both of mine because my migraine was so bad that I didn't want to argue. He ended up lacing our fingers, leaning forward to press his lips to my forehead and sighing apologetically. I apologize for scaring you. I'm really sorry for that, he thought to me calmly for a tender moment because in actuality what he did had scared me because his outburst. I didn't know how others were used to his impulsivity and I didn't know how many violent eruptions he had in his life. And yet, I still wanted him to apologize for the fact that he had pummeled who I thought was my friend. But I knew it wouldn't happen because the solemn moment barely happened. With the opening of his eyes, his rage was back.

"Come on," he mumbled and nodded his head and taking a step towards the door.

"Ryder, you just got out of jail—"

"And it'll get taken care of," he assured while lightly pulling me along. He didn't say anything else until he held the front door open for me. "Evan needs to be taken care of too. That's where we're going."

"Evan's at a clinic."

"Not anymore," Ryder huffed, still pulling me along. I wasn't okay with just letting him run off to go kill someone for their new wolf's mistake. And he knew it too because when we got to my car, I stopped in my tracks at the sidewalk.

"Ryder..."

He finally took a hold of my head in his hands. "He gave you a concussion, babe," he told me. "That migraine you've been feeling all day? I've felt it all day too and not from when that punk hit me. It's a concussion. I've had one before; I know what it feels like. He did that to you."

"It's just a headache—"

"I don't care what you think it is, Ashlynn. I know what it—God—!" he insisted with upmost frustration and then paced a few steps away from me. He faced me when there was a yard between us. Maybe because he didn't believe that I was actually defending Evan or maybe because deep down he knew that his justified anger was passionate enough to scare me in close proximity right now. "He hurt you. And...and the last person who hurt you..." ...got killed before Ryder got his revenge.

It made me understand where he was coming from just by the tone in his voice. When he figured out that I had him pegged, I felt him start to calm down and release at least some of the tension in his shoulders.

Even though I couldn't telepathically connect with Ryder all day, I knew what he was feeling right now. He didn't want me hurt. He didn't want me to be in any danger, even if it stemmed from the resident "nice guy" in town. He was desperate to make sure no one hurt me again. But no matter how much Ryder would do, he knew I didn't want him to cause (any more) destruction in this town. He walked to the passenger side and opened the door after putting the code in the door.

"Just get in...please," he said weakly. I looked for any sign of yielding of weakness within him other than in his voice, but I failed. He stood tall and patient. His face showed no emotion other than concern. None of his skin was even broken from his fight. His lack of weakness was juxtaposed within me because I found myself sitting down in the passenger seat, handing him the keys to my car.