I woke up in a medical room. Immediately, I was trying to jerk up from laying on my side and rip the syringes out of me, but I was quickly held down by my shoulder.

Ryder! I thought out loud almost instantly.

"It's okay. Calm down," Andrew told me, searching my eyes and I suddenly heard the rapid electronic beeping slow down as soon as I sat back onto the bed. My vision wavered for a second, but the real thing that took me for a loop was the fact that Ryder wasn't in the room. "You've healed all that you can in a short time," he assured. "Healing is need based, so whatever injuries you got while being human will heal quicker than humans, but are gonna take a little time. But Cassandra is adding some extra morphine to your system to help since you burn it off too quickly."

I noticed that Andrew made no emotional attachments to what he said. He looked...out of it.

"How long have I been in here?" I finally spoke.

"A few hours," he said, looking off. He sat back onto the side chair and sighed. Something was wrong...other than me being in here with virtually no mobility in my back. Something was weighing down on my heart, but it wasn't as nearly as lethal as the silver weight drawn into Marc's.

"What happened to Marc Ramon?" I asked him. That's when he growled ever so slightly. "Andrew—"

"Why didn't you tell me you went to his house to stop him and Preston from killing Ryder?" he asked me.

"Maybe because, I don't know, you wouldn't help me from stopping them since you claim to hate him so much," I tried to joke. "I just acted off of impulse and I don't know, Drew, I—"

"You really don't know, Ash," he accused. "It doesn't matter if I do or don't like Ryder. He's your mate and I'm bound to include him in my life and my loyalty ties. So don't sit there and say that you risked your safety without telling me because of my attitude towards him...because even if I truly hated him or he wasn't your mate, I still would've gone with you so you wouldn't end up where you are now and maybe what happened wouldn't have happened."

"No, I do understand how it is," I replied, clinging onto only some of his words because I had shut my eyes briefly and felt my brain throbbing. But it was Marc Ramon's dying words I was hearing. The scene was played back in my memory and it physically pained me. Like...he was my father too and I was hurting like Ryder probably was. Everything was numb right now except the feeling of wetness running down one of my cheeks either from emotional or physical pain. At this point they were the same. And yet I wanted to paralyze the feelings. Even the reorganization of last night's memories were played over and transmitted to Andrew.

"Is that true?"

"What?"

"That he protected you from Preston and wished you and Ryder the best after giving Ryder hell for being with you?" he questioned. I nodded and he scoffed. "He must've lied."

I couldn't understand why Andrew was so angry at Marc specifically, but I could nearly feel his blood boiling. I didn't want to hear it though because he was the man who saved my life. "Andrew," I began again. "What happened to Marc?"

Andrew's eyes, briefly rimmed with a threatening blue color, looked up at mine.

"Marc Ramon is dead," he announced and it confirmed the guilty weight within me. Andrew stood up as I heard someone approach the door, but Andrew walked towards it as well with his fists clenched. Stormy entered, following Cassandra.

"Good, you're awake," Cassandra told me with a sigh of relief. I noticed that Andrew tried to leave the room, but Stormy's hands found his chest to cajole him into staying. "We're gonna get you out of here, okay, sweetheart?"

Of course I nodded and wanted to get out of here. I didn't want anyone to question how fast I could heal a mauling across my back or a severe concussion that I read across the room at the clipboard with Cassandra's writing. I was so hurting internally that I couldn't hear Ryder, nor had I seen him. I didn't even know if he was still alive and that was more pain than any injury I could suffer through.

Cassandra changed all my bandages and Andrew lifted me into a wheelchair while managing to prop the back with melted ice packs so it wouldn't hurt my stitches too badly. We quickly made it back home without too many questions and I think that's why I was so worried.

"So what happened?" Stormy asked me once I was positioned upstairs on the couch, stomach-down. I had my head propped on my arms and my eyes were closed, but I knew Stormy sat across from me, on the coffee table, while Andrew was sitting beneath my legs, putting some ointment medication on my back. A scent made me believe Cassandra was up here too, but she probably lingered at the stairs.

"I left here and went to Ryder's. Preston was there as if he was already waiting for Ryder, and I picked a fight with him...which I obviously lost, and he said that he wouldn't kill me because living without Ryder would be the only thing worse than death," I didn't realize that saying that was making me choke up. "And then Marc had phased to defend me and they fought and Preston figured that he didn't need Marc anymore and he used the silver dagger to kill him. Other than hearing Marc apologizing and telling Merida he loved her, I passed out," I explained. "What else has happened?"

"Merida took Marc to the hospital and he was dead by the time he got there," Cassandra voiced with a crack in her voice.

"That's it?" I asked, opening my eyes and looking up as much as I could. "Preston gets away with murder and—"

"Supernatural cycles are weird, Ash," Cassandra reasoned. I looked at Stormy.

"Sought out werewolves die by silver blades and silver bullets," Stormy nodded, looking at the floor. "If a werewolf is killed in wolf form, they transform back into human form and the death looks like a heart attack or something natural for the most part so it doesn't raise suspicion in the human eyes. Every hunter knows that."

"A heart attack!?" I yelled despite my voice mostly being lost for some reason. "I saw Preston murder him! He isn't a hunter—and even if he could be, he can't just get away with that!"

"Well who are you gonna tell that it'll make sense to?" Stormy asked. "'Asshole Beta werewolf kills ex-Alpha werewolf's werewolf father and goes to trial' headlines in our news? Yeah right. Not even the Order's Council will do anything considering the specialty of the case."

"Specialty of what?"

"Marc Ramon shifted," Stormy said. "He was the break in fate. He shifted because he was bonded to you through Ryder and that bond was strong enough to break his Escape."

"What Escape?"

"The Bite's Escape," Andrew answered. He had the same cold look on his face from before. Full of hatred and anger. "He killed his Maker and lost his power to shift."

I heard Cassandra gasp and I put it together because everyone knew my father was the one who bit Marc Ramon.

Andrew's fist balled up once more and I felt his anger. It raged inside of me too, but there was also mercy. Marc was my mate's father and he was dead, the same as my dad. It rendered my father's murder even more useless. I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't want to. That meant having to mourn all over again and push Preston's persecution to the side.

"Where's Ryder?" I asked, already having tears unwillingly spill over my tear ducts.

"I don't know where he is, but he's alive," Stormy said and then stood up. "I actually have to go now..." Unbelievable. "I am glad you're okay though."

"Thanks," I mumbled. I just wanted Ryder. I needed him. In no way did I think my injuries were more important than him mourning over his dad, but I wanted him to be here so I could grieve with him and know he was safe and just...hold him. Something, anything. And by Stormy not saying anything, he was left in the dark about everything. Off of Merida's perspective, for all I know, she could have thought I was the one who fought Marc and killed him. Another scapegoat for Preston that I couldn't let happen.