07/09/2017

No.

She wasn't Ryder's mate.

Kristin sat in silence, Ryder closely watching her reaction.

"I knew it," she finally spoke, looking up at him.

"Of course you did," he shook his head and leaned back. His dark eyes returning to their normal color.

"So," Kristin paused, inspecting a french fry.

"So?" Ryder asked.

"So, we don't have to be doing this then," she motioned between him and her.

"Kristin, you can't tell anyone we aren't mates."

"And why not?" She crossed her arms.

"Because it will ruin the alliance between our packs."

Kristin scoffed, "Oh, well."

"Think about this," Ryder raised his finger, telling her to be quiet and listen to him. "How about we make a deal."

Kristin wasn't in the mood to hear his idea but she motioned for him to continue.

"If you don't tell anyone, then we can still fulfill the contract, which would keep our packs allies."

Ryder paused to lean forward, resting his arms on the table.

"If you go through with this, we can pretend to be together for our pack's sake, but we really won't have to do anything."

"Doesn't the contract say we have to get married?"

"Technically, yes. However we don't actually have to get married for real. It will all be fake but look real to everyone else."

"But that means I have to live with you," Kristin said making a face.

Ryder rolled his eyes. "Look, I won't try anything. We don't have to get married even though the contract wants us to. Then, we make both our fathers happy. Plus, our packs are stronger and safer as allies."

"Since when are you so concerned about the well being of our packs?" Kristin asked suspiciously. She felt like there had to be something in it for him.

He scoffed, "I might not like my father, but when my brother takes over, I'll care about the pack's safety."

She raised her brow at him, curious about him admitting he didn't like his father.

It was a pretty big deal to disrespect your father when he was your Alpha, Kristin knew that.

However she decided to save that conversation for later.

"I'm not going to do this forever, you know. You're going to find your mate and leave me."

Kristin might have been mistaken but she thought his eyes softened for a second.

"Fine. When I find my mate, the deal will be off. But only when I find my mate."

"Fine." Kristin almost felt bad for whoever his mate would be.

"Okay, so we have a deal?" Ryder said, his smirk returning.

Kristin let out a sigh. She was doing this for the good of her pack, including her family. Plus, she was still able to live her life. It'd just be a longer drive to her parent's house now.

And possibly, more freedom.

She remembered how this was her first time to town without guards.

Ryder held out his hand for Kristin to shake.

"Deal," she said, shaking his hand.

The warmth of his hand helped to reassure her that this could all work out.

"Good, now should we go buy groceries?" Ryder said, grinning.

Ten minutes later, Ryder and Kristin were walking down the aisles of the grocery store.

Kristin was pushing the cart, following Ryder.

"Hey," Ryder said turning around, after Kristin had ran the cart into him.

"Oops," Kristin smiled innocently up at him.

"You did that on purpose."

"I know."

He widened his eyes at her, "Why?"

"Because you're making me follow you around, pushing the cart," she shrugged.

"You better get used to it babe," he winked at her.

She ran the cart into him again, "Don't call me babe."

"Okay babe," he smirked at her, jumping out of the way of her cart.

"Let's just get stuff and leave," she groaned, sick of playing games with him.

It was nine o'clock by the time they arrived to the house.

Kristin decided to be nice and help Ryder carry the groceries inside, only because he had paid for everything when she wasn't looking.

They finished putting them away and Kristin flopped onto the couch, "I'm exhausted."

Ryder chuckled from the kitchen, "Humans."

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to."

"Whatever," Kristin mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Want to watch a movie?" Ryder walked over to the tv.

"You watch movies?" she chuckled.

"Uh, yes," he replied in a 'duh' tone.

Kristin shrugged, "My father and brother never watch tv."

"That's probably because they're Alphas," he said, flipping through the movies that were on. "And boring," he added.

Kristin chuckled, "Are your father and brother 'boring' too?"

"Back to the questions again, are we?" Ryder plopped down on the couch next to Kristin.

She was surprised that he chose the spot right next to her, it was a big couch.

"Why not? We're going to be living together for a while," she shrugged, trying not to focus on their proximity.

"Mmmm," he said, getting side tracked, focusing on the tv screen. A horror movie was playing.

"So?" Kristin looked to him expectantly.

"I thought you were exhausted," he said chuckling.

"Someone doesn't want to talk about their family," Kristin sang.

He snorted, "You got that right. Don't you remember how I said my life's f*cked up?"

Kristin nodded, suddenly feeling very interested in Ryder's life. Sure they were both kids of Alpha's with brothers taking over the title soon. But Kristin felt like Nightfall Pack was actually pretty different than Spirit Moon.

"Gabriel isn't bad, he likes to have fun some times," Ryder said, focusing on the tv, though his eyes were clouded over.

"And your father?" Kristin asked, watching his reaction.

He suddenly turned to Kristin. "My turn to ask a question."

"Okay," she shrugged.

He hesitated before speaking. "What's your father like?"

She raised a brow, wondering why he would care.

"Uh, well, he's usually strict and busy most of the time. When he's in Alpha mode of course."

"Alpha mode?" he asked, laughing.

"Yeah then he switches to father mode some times which is nice."

"My father only has one mode," Ryder said, looking down at the remote in his hand. "He's been in Alpha mode ever since..."

Kristin willed him to continue but he turned off the tv and got up.

"You should probably get to bed."

"Okay, mom," she said teasingly. He rolled his eyes at her but remained quite serious.

Strange. Ryder acting serious?

"Aren't you going to bed?" she asked when he walked towards the kitchen.

"I'm a wolf, remember? I don't need as much sleep as you humans."

For some reason Kristin didn't want to leave just yet.

"You know it's kind of insulting when you point out the fact that I'm human, right?"

He grabbed his phone off the counter and tapped on the screen.

"Okay," he replied.

She just rolled her eyes at him. "Texting your girlfriend?"

"Jealous?"

"Nope."

"Mhmm."

She got slightly annoyed when he stay glued to his screen.

Shaking her head, she began walking towards the stairs.

"Goodnight, babe," she heard his voice.

"Don't call me that," she said as she reached the top of the stairs, knowing he'd hear her. This time however, she was smiling.

•. •. •. •. •. •.

Chapter Five? Check!

Thanks for reading & voting.

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P.S. I've entered this into the Wattys because yolo. (I know, no one says that anymore.)

Chica_2016