The next morning, I had the intentions to ask Andrew about his talk with Natalie, but he was nowhere to be found. Maybe he was off spending the day compromising with Ryder so his pack wouldn't completely torment Natalie or maybe trying to find Meena or maybe he was off making sure Evan was taking care of whatever he needed before he was sanctioned by whatever the Scorned Stone was.

The trend of daily absences continued for everyone at school for the next two days. Ryder and Evan were obviously gone along with Bailee who I knew couldn't handle the rumors circulating about her boyfriend. Colin was gone, probably to tend to his alpha. Meena was still missing along with my brother. Trevor and Stormy also skipped.

"It's like a ghost town around here," Stella joked with me. I hadn't gotten the chance to really talk to her until today so I just kept my eyes on my food. "You think ghosts are a thing? Since werewolves, witches, and vampires are, clearly—"

"I don't know," I mumbled despite wanting to think back to when everyone considered Aaron Hinley to be a ghost of Tyriette's past.

"Then you wanna tell me what the hell happened Tuesday?" she asked and her tone changed. Now I really looked up at her and she put a hand on my forearm. "What did Evan do to you?"

"Nothing that warranted Ryder to go off on him that much," I admitted. When Stella opened her mouth, I stopped her. "Long story. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well you're gonna have to talk about it eventually considering Bailee will go crazy otherwise," she said. Great. I rolled my eyes. "You know he actually broke up with her yesterday?"

"What?" I knew it was bound to happen, but I didn't think he'd actually do it—especially not this immediate. But then again, he didn't really have a choice.

"Yeah. He called her before school, broke up with her, and just left. That's why she skipped. She called me crying last night too," she informed. "So apparently that 'nothing' that happened with you and Evan was something."

I groaned, physically feeling a migraine arise from all this unwanted stress. "I'll handle it," I suddenly found myself saying. The bell rang and I got up to go to class before Stella could ask me any more pressing questions.

***

When I got home after another day of rumor overload, there was a familiar orange muscle car in the drive way with my most disliked Leonard backing out. When he swung his car into the street adjacent to my car, he rolled down the driver side window and I did the same.

"Your brother's an idiot for signing that treaty and slipping into the role of collateral damage," Lee told me. "There's no way we would've targeted him, especially since Meena told us not to, but your boyfriend? Ha—"

"Don't come to my territory and threaten my mate," I growled.

"Oh, it's not just Ryder—it's his whole pack now," he smiled, making me want to jump through the windows to wring his neck, only there was a new car to park itself behind mine on the street. That driver got out and approached the passenger side window of Lee's car.

"We had a deal, Leonard," Ryder said to Lee, "so stay away from my girl or you'll end up like Evan this weekend."

Instead of backing down due to whatever unknown compromise was made between the two boys, Lee looked back over to me and examined my face briefly before running his tongue along his bottom lip.

"I don't know. I think she'd be worth it—" Lee attempted to challenge before I heard the breaking of his car's window frame from Ryder's grasp. Lee's face immediately dissolved into anger at the destruction of his car. Ryder simply stepped away from it.

"Was that worth it?" Ryder simply asked and Lee didn't even attempt to roll up his injured window before driving off in haste. Ryder watched the loud car leave until it turned at the stop sign before he walked over and crouched by my window. "Hi," he greeted.

"Hi," I returned and contained a chuckle. He stood back up and opened my door for me and waited for me to exit after I grabbed my backpack from the passenger seat. It didn't need to be said that we had to talk so he simply walked behind me up to the front door which was left unlocked, since I assumed Lee had been here to drop off his sister who had conveniently resurfaced in wake of the new Lycan compromise in town. That was the only explanation as to why the walkway smelled like a new wolf.

"It doesn't matter," I heard Andrew say from the area of the house that had his room.

"Of course it matters. You signed that pact. This is your land and you let some fake alpha take it from you—" Meena insulted, making me want to walk right into Andrew's room and defend not only Ryder's title, but also my brother's. He didn't deserve her to talk to him like some useless person tossed to the side. But Ryder held me back...only because was doing his fair share of eavesdropping too.

"Hey," Andrew scolded, "Ryder is the last one you should be calling a fake alpha around here. If it wasn't for him, we would've been in a war—that he would've won by the way—and my pack would've been gone in no time."

"Your pack would've been my pack," Meena said and my inner wolf barked crazy.

"I would've been beneath your pack and your family more than I would've being with Ryder and his," Andrew defended. "At least with this agreement, I keep my pack and my sister without owing them anything but my signature and loyalty that they already technically had." The last point about the technical loyalty made me appreciate him. No matter how much Andrew and Ryder bickered, they were indirect family and owed each other no matter how much they didn't want to readily admit to it. "Not to mention he would've killed Evan if I didn't agree. That's enough for my decision."

"That's not your fault."

"Yes it is! I bit him. I'm responsible for him and he lashed out and hurt my sister—a True Alpha's mate. By law, that's a death sentence for most werewolves. And it's my fault for assuming I could just Bite someone and not give him immediate training or attention like I gave Aaron," Andrew expressed. "Ash knew that too and that's why she brought up the fact that he should be controlling himself, especially if he wants to keep his girlfriend."

"Ash—and Evan's girlfriend for that matter—should know not to provoke him then," Meena responded and Ryder had to physically hold me back from confronting her for the sheer victim blaming she was doing.

"She was protecting her friend."

"Her friend shouldn't be going out with a werewolf," Meena reasoned.

"Well no shit, you think we don't know that? That's what Ash was telling him," Andrew informed. "Evan loves Bailee. You think it's easy for someone to just break up a relationship they care about just because some magical Order says so? Abiding by 'should' and 'shouldn't' isn't simple. If it was so easy, we wouldn't be dating. Because we're definitely not supposed to be together if you think 'should and shouldn't' is important."

That was it. That was the response that I knew without a doubt Meena had changed an expression on her face while looking at my brother. She had to. After all, I still had the assumption that they were still only together in hopes that they could consolidate with the strongest Alpha line in history. And now, Andrew was addressing that.

"And you thought the pact didn't matter..." she mumbled to him because it indirectly caused a rift in their relationship. Here it was dividing them without me even trying.

"Meena—" he tried to call out to her and Ryder and I instinctively ran for the doorway to the stairs to act like we hadn't been spying on them. We dashed up half the stairs while Andrew chased Meena's furious exit. "That's not what I meant—"

"Whatever. Yes it is," she dismissed before I heard the front door slam and apparently Andrew left too because it got too quiet. I looked up to Ryder, who was a step or two above me, in sadness for the situation, but then our shared smiles for the dramatics and lurking dropped and he climbed to the top and subsequently took a seat on the couch.

"I hope they break up," was all I said.

"They can't break up," Ryder denied.

"You're kidding right? That little gold-digger is a selfish bitch and clearly only wants him for his title—"

"We made a deal," Ryder announced and then I frowned. "We made a deal and he can't break up with her. Not any time soon."

Ryder proceeded to tell me about the arrangement he and Andrew had come to terms with. After last night, Andrew had approached him wondering about Natalie. Apparently, Natalie had gotten through to Andrew enough for him to plead her case to Ryder about vindicating her for her actions. When Ryder told me this, I wondered on what Earth would Andrew bow down to our mom and also subject Ryder to mercy, but I was wrong. Ryder had made a deal with Andrew that "benefitted" them both. As long as Andrew continued to date Meena and keep her family at bay (because they thought maybe their relationship would be solidified in the future) and eventually convince them to relocate and prey on some other family's land, Natalie wouldn't suffer at the wrath of the Tyriette pack—so long as she stays out of their path. The deal would crumble if Meena and Andrew broke up or if Natalie decided to intervene with any of the werewolf affairs in town.

"Oh so basically you pimped out my brother for your pack," I assumed. It seemed heavily beneficial for Natalie and the Tyriette pack, but where was the payout for Andrew? He's stuck dating a girl he would never settle down with. He was trapped.

"It's not like that," Ryder lied.

"Yes it is," I nodded and stood back up with a stressful sigh. In consideration of this recent compromise and the fact that Ryder and I haven't actually been solid since Preston's funeral, I just wanted to go in my room and suspend Ryder from interfering on my sanity just like school suspended him from the property this week. And unfortunately, I let that thought slip into a telepathic link with Ryder, causing me to hear him growl before following me in with a fury.

"Look, I know things haven't been easy—"

"They've never been—"

"Let me talk," he raised his voice and I saw the brim of his irises darken to a deep red for a second. An absolute coldness ran through me, making me believe he would've Commanded me if it wasn't for my wolf barking just as much. He paced a short distance before halting himself because he knew that movement of his made me nervous. "I'm not sorry about Andrew and I'm not sorry about us." Great. Asshole Ryder was back. He let out a slight breath that led me to believe that thought slipped into his mind too. "I've already told you before that I have to think about my pack's sake too, Ashlynn, not just you. If that means taking advantage of a situation to benefit my guys then so be it."

"'We're mates. That makes Andrew family,' remember that?" I quoted him before scoffing. "Family doesn't exploit each other for personal gain."

"It isn't personal!" he denied. "Sentencing Evan was personal. Making sure that my pack is safe is business. That's my job, Ashlynn—protecting them. And you. I'm not sorry that sometimes not everyone is satisfied by the means needed to get there—"

"Which is what, by the way?" I asked. He shut up and his eyes didn't change. I knew he wanted to sigh in stress. "No, no. You wanted to talk, so talk." He looked at me as if calculating the correct response or maybe trying to reign in his Alpha-anger that was recently centered around the fact that someone was talking back to him. But then I saw a crack in his composition. Something was softer and moistened in his eyes and made me back down. It almost made me want to apologize if I hadn't remembered that he finally deserved to feel whatever vulnerability this was. Instead of doing that, I retreated and sat down on my bed.

"If I told you everything, you'd run away," he said in a weakened tone. "Everything that I know or think of or predict is calculated and twisted and overwhelming even if it seems like I'm being selfish and controlling," he continued. "You already know how I don't say the right things and how I always want us to talk instead of think to each other. That's because I don't want the mistake of lifting that curtain and burdening you with every thought or perspective or piece of knowledge I have."

"You don't know that," I muttered.

"I do know that," he insisted. His chocolate eyes ticked between mine even though there was half a room between us. I was slightly offended at the thought that he considered me unable to handle him. I even desperately tried to read his current thoughts and it was like getting blood out of a stone. His eyes shut instantly. "You're a werewolf and my mate, but we're still wired differently, babe. As much as we love each other, don't forget that."

He was right. Even though we shared something like a lycanthropic gene or sometimes the same heart, we were still two different people. Our love was powerful, but it wasn't everything, no matter how it seemed in the moments we shared. "Trust me though," he continued and eventually kneeled down in front of me, "I'm doing everything only for my pack and for us. That means trying to get the Obsidian pack back together and getting rid of anything standing in the way of that. And as far as I'm concerned, as long as it doesn't hurt those I love, I don't care what I have to do to achieve it."

"You can't say things like that," I immediately responded without thinking and he frowned at me. "You say things like that as if you're blind to consequences and not blessed with True character. I know that you're stubborn and an alpha but those kinds of statements are what made you almost go through with a war and sentence Evan to whatever the Scorned Stone is and—"

He interrupted me with a laugh and that made me frown. It also made me think back to when we had walked to the Donahues' and he thought he was inherently evil. I had told him that maybe he was less dark than the rest of us, but his apathy right now made me want to rethink that notion. He got up from his knees and looked down at me.

"I want what I want and I do what I want. You know this," he told me. Last time I checked, part of you was concerned with what I usually wanted. He had been smiling like an apathetic steam roller ready to gas-light anyone's concerns, but then it dropped slowly. "Or maybe you don't know. Maybe I should've listened to what my father was saying when you got here." His words actually hurt no matter their truth. Everyone knew I had only been here a few months and that I had been absent to who Ryder was for seventeen years. But that's not what I was reacting to—it was the comment that he should've listened to his dad because even though Marc saved me, we all knew he didn't want me and Ryder together. He crouched down to my level again and had that weird glint in his eyes that only reminded me of Zander. But there was still that weird moisture that suggested a buried Ryder was trying to escape and say what he felt in his heart, not what he thought in his mind. I was surprised for him to reveal a mixture of the two. "From the moment I saw you, I wanted you—I didn't need you, just like you didn't need me. Needing you would imply that we were just two halves of a whole and we're not. You have your life and I have mine and I want to share that for the rest of our lives—that's what I saw in you and that's what I wanted—that's what I still want, Ashlynn. But I should've listened to him. God, I should've listened to him."

I refused to feel a tear slide down my face and I swear I could see one welling up in Ryder's eye too.

"He told me to fight it. Ha, my father—a Bitten werewolf rarely blessed with a mate—told me to fight of an imprint as if it was just something I could say 'no thanks' to," he chuckled. "But when we got back from the senior trip, he told me why. It was for you. He told me to get my ducks in a row and tighten up and do all my dirty work before starting anything with you so you wouldn't have to suffer through everything you've been suffering through. I thought he was an idiot for thinking I could go without you and just let you see all of the wrongdoings this entire town has seen me do for years, but I should've listened. Because then, we could've continued getting to know each other in our separate lives as friends before diving into this. We wouldn't be at this point of backdoor deals and harbored resentment that you can't even truly feel because you're tethered to me."

I didn't know how to respond to that. And thankfully I didn't really have to because his phone started ringing and he reluctantly answered it with a sigh.

"Yeah?" he greeted.

"Where you at?" I heard Zander's voice ask.

"Ashlynn's," he answered and his eyes looked directly into mine. I was more distracted on the fact that even when he was admitting to regretting his insubordination of his father, my soul felt settled when he said my name. Though the conversation was charged, both of us were still physiologically calm as if to be a physical representation of our life's conflicts. Our bond was fine, our circumstances were not. "Why?"

"Guess who's visiting, buttmunch?!" a new voice suddenly yelled through the receiver. The volume or the mischief in the tone made me wince into a frown. But I wasn't the only one. Ryder rolled his eyes before doing the same. "Get your ass to the lake so we can catch up Mr. True Alpha. I have plans that need your help."

"Tank?" Ryder's tone dropped significantly from how he greeted. Tank. I had heard his name before in conjunction with the whole Colin situation. The only other thing I knew from him was that he graduated in the spring.

"That's right, Red Ryder. So tell the girl goodbye and get your ass over here—"

While I thought Zander would've pulled his phone away from the obnoxious werewolf he bit, it was actually Ryder who hung up the call and put his phone in his pocket.

"Sorry about that."

"No, no," I dismissed. My apprehension for us to finish our conversation had molded into severe anxiety about it. "Apparently you're wanted elsewhere for the night so go do that."

"Ashlynn," he named and I looked at him patiently. "We're not done here."

"We are though," I countered. "Andrew solved your issue with the Leonards. You solved your issues with Natalie. That's it. That was the conversation. We're done and you can go with your friends now."

"Not that. Us," he corrected. "I love you and I know you're thinking about what I just said, but if I can explain myself—"

"That was you explaining yourself," I recalled. "And you did a fine job at it. You definitely gave me something to think about so like I said, we're done here and you can go with your friends."

"I don't want to—"

"Seriously, I need to think right now," I interrupted him and even raised my voice in frustration. He continued to look at me. "Alone, Ryder."

"And I want you to share your thoughts with me," he said. "I'm not just gonna let Tank boss me around because he rolled into town last minute. I'm here with you for a reason and I'm gonna be here as long as I need because I want you to get it through your head that I'm gonna continue doing what I need to do to protect you and the pack even if it means making deals like I made with Andrew and the Leonards or trying to set up a way that the Obsidian Pack can one day be possible again. It already happened so the best thing I can do is hear your thoughts and maybe adjust my future responses if I'm really that disappointing to you."

I thought about a calculated answer touching on each of his points enough for him to have closure, but not enough for him to drag out the conversation that had essentially tied my heart and head up in confusion. He had a pattern of acting, hearing my opinions and changing his behavior, but I knew it still hurt him to be in any degree of disappointment. Anything I'd say not up to his standards would break his heart.

"I'll share my thoughts with you when I've collected them," was all I settled with. I looked at him with an unwavering persistence in my eyes and I could feel all the muscles in my body tensed as if to symbolize the strength needed to hold up the curtain between our telepathy. He was trying to beat it down and failed and it was enough for him to get the picture that I was just as serious as he was. The ringing of his phone once more was another thing to convince him to leave.

"Sorry, Red. Forgot you call the shots," Tank apologized when he answered.

"Shut the f*ck up," Ryder told him with seriousness in his voice—an aggression he channeled from my rejection and took out on Tank. His brown eyes slid past mine one more while he stood from the couch. I gulped for some reason because I didn't know what he would do. "I'm on my way."