I didn't know how we got here. I didn't know how we kept coming back to each other, no matter the day ahead of us or behind us.

Milo's words had still been ringing in my ears when we returned to the house. The paper was burning in my pocket when Ryder propped me up on my kitchen counter and kissed me hard. All my thoughts ended when I brushed my hand over his rigid cock through his jeans. Ryder threw his head back and let out the most mouth-watering sound I had ever heard.

I teased him, pulling away just before our lips met over and over. His tolerance of my games surprised me until I realized that he was prepared to return the favor. When I spread my legs and bared myself for him, waiting for him to taste me, he let me feel every breath on my wet folds, but refused to offer even the smallest of kisses. It was only when I whispered his name that he gave me what I wanted.

It started on the counter. I should have questioned why he just had a condom in his pocket, but I couldn't be bothered to think about forming words. The thrusts were shallow and fast. He held me tight to his body and I wrapped my legs around his waist, groaning each time he moved. We moved to the dining table, a mess of rough kisses, rougher hands, and loud sighs. He bent me over the scarred and damaged wood as he took me from behind.

I had never been with a man like him and, as much as I didn't want to admit it, I doubted there would ever be another that compared. When my fingers twitched to brush my clit, his thumb was already circling it. when I arched my back, he fisted my ponytail. His eyes caught my fingers curling and his pace quickened.

The sensation came crashing into me so suddenly that my knees buckled. I was limp and moaning in his arms, but he didn't stop or even slow his pace. I was mewing his name when he came. He let out a noise that was close to a roar and my body responded as if it were ready for another round.

He melted into me, face burrowed against the crook of my neck, chest heaving against my back. A hand stroked down my side. I arched into him and let out a low, approving hum.

Teeth brushed against the side of my throat. Marking. He had told me about it. he had said that it would bind us together more strongly, that it would be a sign to others that we were connected. Like a wedding ring on my finger, I would be his and every wolf would know it. His lips traced the skin there. I braced for the sensation of his teeth biting into me then. I didn't know what it would feel like and frankly, I didn't care. I wanted it. I needed it. I closed my eyes.

I was his, completely and utterly.

"Fuck," Ryder ground out, his body moving off mine. "What am I doing?" he whispered to himself.

My mind was still spinning a little dizzily when I heard him do up his belt. Luckily, even in my daze, I knew I should be putting my clothes back on if he was.

Standing in my lacy bra, I watched him pull his shirt over his head. His hair was sticking up at odd angles from where I had gripped it. cheeks were flushed pink and his movements were a little sluggish, like I had taken all of the energy right out of him. A moment ago, I could have screamed his name and he would have snarled in approval. Now, he couldn't even meet my eyes.

"What are we doing?" I asked in a timid whisper.

Ryder considered this for a moment, his mercury eyes stormy. "Pretending."

"It doesn't feel like we're pretending," I managed. I knew he caught the way my hand was rubbing the center of my chest like it could soothe the ache in my heart.

"No, it doesn't."

After a little arguing, we agreed to leave the following morning. We argued a little more when I insisted on going to see my parents before we left. I couldn't deny that I was touched when he offered to come with me. After his first and only encounter, I wouldn't have been surprised if he never wanted to mention my parents again. It must have been difficult to be a third party in that moment, just watching a girl talk to her parents, then getting questioned in a brief moment of clarity. Still, I turned him down, because I had purchased myself a cellphone in the tiny amount of spare time I had and had texted Dawn.

She was going to meet me at my parents' home for a brief conversation before I left.

It was a risk; I knew it was. I had a werewolf waiting for me at home, but I still went to meet with her. Because I didn't have to pretend with her, not really. I could snap at her, demand to know why they hadn't paid for my parents. I could cry. I could scream. I could let it all out.

And I could be done with it. I decided that I would tell her I wanted out.

I updated my phone number with the receptionist at the front and steeled myself for the conversation ahead. Dawn was waiting for me with my parent seated at their little table. The smell of cinnamon buns was so inviting, I almost forgot why I was angry in the first place.

"Oh! Georgia," she gasped, running to embrace me.

When had she ever called me by my real name? it felt odd to be anything other than Huntress to her. Though, in fairness, thinking that I had been dead for all of this time must have jarred her. At the very least, it felt nice to be in her embrace and I melted against her a little bit.

"You're looking well," she said when she finally pulled away. Fingers pinched my cheek affectionately. "You're finally putting on some real weight, not just muscle all the time."

"Almost dying makes you decide to take care of yourself," I replied, then gestured to the two open chairs. "Should we sit?"

I gave her the short version of Ryder's story while I helped my mother apply lotion to her hands and combed my dad's hair. I was captured. It was awful. I lost my fingernails. And when Keiko wanted to play good cop, I had taken the opportunity to sneak out of the bathroom window. I had run and run and run. Dawn nodded along to my words, her hand resting on top of mine for the majority of the tale. She only released me to offer me one of her legendary cinnamon buns which I devoured.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Dawn said. "We thought we had set you up properly in the time we had."

I didn't reply, just rose to stand by my mother. I braided her beautiful hair. I could hear her complaining about how tight I made the braids, saying it wasn't good for the hair or the skin, but knowing it wouldn't come out for the day.

"Why did no one pay for my parents?" I asked finally.

Dawn didn't look a little bit surprised. "We got busy with the move. Well, busy is the wrong word. We were broke. It was all such a whirlwind that we didn't take proper care of our finances. We bought some new houses to help the hunters with moving expenses, needed a new home base for us, had to get new phones for everyone, and bought a new business to be a front. The money hadn't come from the sale of the café yet. It was just bad timing. We would have taken care of it eventually."

"Bad timing that could have left my parents without proper care." There wasn't an ounce of sympathy in my voice.

"Georgia, we wouldn't have let that happen."

I trusted this woman with my life. She was the soothing force to the duo. She was the one who made us belief that we were alright when Armond stared down at us. When my parents were first affected by wolf-drain, she was the person that I sought out. She was a mother figure when I had needed one.

"I won't let it happen," I responded.

"Right, well, they can come with us when you're ready to move. Valemount is small, but I'm sure we could find adequate care for them— "

"I'm not going."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not leaving. This is my home. This is where I'm staying."

Dawn was positively horrified. "Georgia, the king and queen are not dead. They live here, even if it is just part time. They will come after you. God only knows what they will do to you when they get their hands on you. We will all be too far away to save you."

As if they would send anyone in to save me anyway. "Then let them come for me," I spat. "My parents are here. They have a great facility and great staff members to take care of them. I did all of this for them and I will not fail them now."

"And when the king and queen find you?"

"I don't care. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of not having a life, of not doing the things I want to because a wolf might be around the corner, because I have to be a on a diet to stay fast enough to run through the woods, because I have to be ready to move at any time." I didn't realize at first, but I was getting louder and louder with each word. Tear were welling in my eyes.

"Georgia—"

"Nothing you can say will convince me that I should go back to hunting. Putting my life on hold has not made my parents better."

Dawn left me to have a few moments with my parents. I used the time to get myself together, sniffling as I scrubbed the plates from the treats that Dawn provided. How many times would I teeter on the edge of falling apart in one day? 

~~~Distraction Section~~~

Hello and Happy New Year!

I appreciate you all being so patient and supportive with me these last few weeks, it means a lot to me!

Question of the Day: Do you have any New Year's resolutions?

I try to avoid ones that can be toxic or based in diet culture, so my resolution is to spend more time outside and hit a reading goal of 40 books this year!